Tony L.

Winter is just around the corner. You'll be able to take a good break and wont have to feel guilty about it--- it is an easy and legitimate excuse to tell the wife. Lots of people simply dint fish during winter months. You can use that time to get involved in other things--- maybe a joint hobby with yourself and the Mrs. Its good for the relationship too. When next spring rolls around, she is not likely to make you feel bad about the kayak because taking it out would be interfering with the hobby that you two are enjoying together.

Colts 10-6

Switching to braid would definitely help your breaking problem, but might not be the best of ideas if you still get birds nests. It is VERY expensive to replace if you have to cut a tangled mess out of your reel. Also think about possibilities of what can happen when using it with a flouro leader. If you have a hard cast that comes to an abrupt stop (such as a birds nest), sure your mainline will stay intact, but that occurrence will put a ton of pressure on the knot at the end of your leader and you will still run the risk of it breaking and sending your lure into space. This is especially true with braid because it has absolutely no stretch and will transmit all of your force directly to the end of the line. If you do decide to go with braid, consider fishing first with hefty topwaters until you get practice. Lures like spooks are easy to cast because they weigh so much and, since they float, easy to retrieve if they snap off. Also seem to be pretty productive this tine of year. Good luck!

I am picturing that in my head, and that sounds like a great idea. I could see the bass keying in on that extra little bit of flash, which would have them aggressively hammering directly into the hook. Looking forward to trying this.

I don't know about washers, but gears definitely can- and do. If you are fortunate enough to own a really good quality reel, hopefully this wouldn't happen in your lifetime. I think that it is an eventuality though. Everything has a limit.

I liked your "hi I'm Wyatt" approach. Its always safe not to come on too strong. Telling a girl that she is beautiful is certainly incredibly flattering, but probably a compliment best saved for the first date. If you guys are in the same class, it shouldn't be too hard to come up with another icebreaker because you already have that much in common. Then you can introduce yourself, ask her about where she came from and what brought her to the same school that you are attending, etc... if you have a good feeling about where it is going, ask her to get together sometime. If you don't feel a connection or learn that she is already seeing someone, you aren't out anything and have nothing to be ashamed of. Maybe continue making small talk and try again at a different time. In any case, you aren't dating her now. If you ask her out and she says "no", that really doesn't change anything from your current situation. The way I see it, you have absolutely nothing to lose, but the potential of a whole lot to gain. My advice though would be to do it quick, because if you have noticed the cute girl in class, there is a good chance that someone else might not be too far behind you.

If there was such a thing as one ideal rod and reel to cover ALL of those species that you listed, the one you described would be about as close as it comes. Normally, it would be preferred to use a light/ultralight rod for bluegill and crappie and a medium/medium heavy for bass. You are set up nicely to tackle some of the most effective techniques for both worlds: some of the heavier panfish baits and rigs, and then the lighter end of the bass fishing spectrum. For crappie and bluegill, you would be good to go for live bait and bobber rigs, small crankbaits, in-line spinners, and medium sized grubs or tube jigs. Not ideal for certain micro sized jigs and tiny tubes. For bass, you have a solid setup for some of what would be considered "finesse" techniques like weightless plastic worms, senkos (my personal favorite bait for catching bass in nearly any situation), small jigs, tubes, wacky rigs, shaky heads, and drop shotting. Also small crankbaits. What you may have difficulty with are heavy jigs, big spinner baits, frogs, large swim baits and "power fishing" techniques. If you are fishing from the bank though, and not a boat, you probably would not be using a whole lot of power techniques anyways. I don't think you would be missing out much. Go any heavier with your setup, you wouldn't be well equipped for bluegill. Go any lighter, and it may not have the strength to fight or hook bass. When you get more into the sport, you can consider buying more specialized setups to specifically go for the bass OR the bluegill to round out your arsenal. FYI- you are ideally situated to tie on a 3-3 1/2 inch curly tailed grub on a 1/8oz jig head or a beetlespin. These are not species specific, and will catch just about anything that swims if fished right

Where are you getting these deals?!?!?

I just bite the bullet and spend the extra money for senkos and the like. When you divide out the price of the package, they still equal out to less than $1.00 each. Way too expensive relative to other plastics, but still cheaper than lots of other things I could be doing. Against better judgement (and probably to the detriment of my catch rate), the place where I go cheap is on crankbaits. I simply snag and lose too many of them to routinely spend $8-15 each.

5" senkos and zoom trick worms. Fish them SLOWLY

X2 Bluebasser beat me to it. If you are going to buy anything in a jar to go after panfish, get the Gulp! or Gulp! Alive. I'm sure that the dough would work if you already have it, but since you were looking to buy something anyways I'd look at the Gulp maggots or crickets. Both of them have been absolutley dominating the bluegill for me this season. I'm sure that the minnows would be killer for crappie too, but I've never tried that because bluegill are so much more accessible for me during the summer months.

You, my friend, have a way with words. I am really sorry for your loss, and I want to start by saying that I am NOT the type of person to take enjoyment at other people's misfortunes. Having gotten that out of the way, there is something to be said for the way you painted that scene which still has me laughing every time I re-read it. Simply put, it was perfectly delivered. Bravo, oh absent minded sumarai warrior! Bravo. I actually ended up taking "a little off the top" on one of my rods earlier this week too (set the hook a bit hard on what turned out to be a stump- aided by the fact that the rod was pointed straight up while the line was headed straight downward). Here's hoping that our luck turns around and we can go back to slaying the fish instead of our fishing equipment. Cheers

I've used preserved shad as bait for a "variety" of fish before and have had very little success, even with catfish. Fresh will work much better if you have the access.

I am not sure why it took me so long, but I finally rigged my senkos wacky style today when I went to my local fishing spot. To this point, I have normally fished them t-rigged. I had always wanted to try this technique, but seeing how easily these things tear, waited until I had the chance to pick up one of those tools to put an O-ring on. I fished it weightless with a 2/0 octopus hook through the o-ring on the center of the bait. I noticed that I had plenty of strikes, and caught a couple fish, but feel that I missed a lot more hookups than I should have. I was fishing 10lb braid with a fluoro leader. Bass in my area are far from trophy sized. It seems that 4lbs is about the max size and most fish are in the 2-3 pound range, so I scale down to a spinning setup with a medium powered rod and I fish mostly finesse applications. The 6'6" rod I was using was moderate in action because I also use it for live baiting trout and small catfish (that and I have several separate MH baitcasting combos that I use exclusively for bass). In any case, I thought that I could get away with more flex because of the non-stretch braided mainline. Was it a mistake to try and use this setup, or does it simply take a different type of hookset to drive the point home with this technique? In one of my misses, I was fortunate enough to see the bass turn in the water when I struck- so I know that the force was being transferred to it- at least to some extent. I was letting the lure fall on a moderately slack line and, on the pickup, setting the hook with a sharp, upward jerk the instant I could feel weight on the end. Again, I feel like I missed a good number of my hooksets and lost several fish. Could someone please help me diagnose my problem- whether it was in my gear, tackle, or behavior?

I think that, in general, the "more bearings is better" really is a good rule of thumb. All other things being equal, it probably holds true. When you start getting into more premium gear, though, the quality of those bearings (and of the of the reel components) seems to trump numbers.

Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison.... I am incredibly biased towards anything Colts though. All the same, that duo was record shattering

Bug spray and sunscreen. I also have found that rubber bands have come in handy a million times. Now that I am reading comments, TP sounds smart too.

Between the two, I have used the accurist and I love it. Do you have a gander mtn near you? Right now they have them on sale for $39.99 through the rest of this weekend. Rest assured, you will not find a better reel for 40 bucks. If you aren't able to catch the sale, it is still a solid contender at full price. I would also throw pflueger spinning reels into consideration at $100.

I agree. It REALLY sucks, but he ultimately provided a service (albeit the wrong one) and I don't think that he can be denied compensation after the fact. That would like seeing a doctor and going through the process of getting medications dialed in for a complicated health condition, but not paying until you hit the right combination after the first few attempts. Back to your situation though-- this guy misdiagnosed it from the start. While you can't deny that he provided a service, I feel that it is certainly within your rights to ask your mechanic to knock some of the cost off your bill for his mistake (I'd like to think most people can be pretty reasonable) and likely start looking for someone else to use in the future. On the plus side, at nearly 20 years old, there is a fair chance you would have needed to replace that VRO eventually anyways. You shouldn't need to worry about that now, and if you get a discount on your bill, you will have gotten a good deal for it. I'm really sorry to hear about that situation. Best of luck!

I would definitely recommend that braid. 10lb suffix 832 is what I tried recently and it was strong enough to haul in a very large snapping turtle that took my bait when I was catching frying pan sized channel catfish. In murky water, you can safely get away with not using a leader, at least if you are targeting bass, but it would also depend on whether or not there is structure that might fray your line. Catfish don't need a leader either. Your line could be flourescent colored with flashing lights and a catfish would still bite. Other fish, though, that have either good eyesight or teeth (trout, walleye, pike), a leader is probably a good bet to keep the fish from either seeing your line or from fraying it. In a pinch, the mono you have already could be leader material. Just make sure you PRACTICE TYING LINE TO LINE KNOTS. I lost two quality fish at first because I didn't have my line and leader securely connected. Regarding backing- it isn't necessary, but again is a good idea because it will save you a lot of money. If I fill my spool halfway using mono, then it doesn't take nearly as much braid to fill it the rest of the way. As expensive as that $h!% is, I like to save as much as humanly possible. You will not be disappointed.

Addendum: one place that I would NOT go cheap is on the line you choose to go on this combo. Make sure that you are getting the best line you can afford because that makes all the difference on the world.

Bps Pro Qualifier on a Berkelely Lightning Rod. Those are about as cheap as you can go before you start moving out of the quality gear and into the plastic stuff that wont hold up. Both together would be ~140-150 ish? on average, but if you find either on sale (which happens a lot) the combo would come in at about your price range. Are better things out there? Sure! But anyone who tells you that that isn't a solid combo for the price is just being snooty. Feel free to read reviews on both products. They both really hold their own against the elite gear. Especially the pro qualifier- it outperforms several of the more expensive reels in bass pro's lineup that are supposedly "better". If you are willing to spend more for a shimano or a diawa, you will notice gradual increases in performance. Go any cheaper than that though, and rest assured you will find a MASSIVE drop in quality. Also within that price range (if you can find them on sale) would be be some of the Lews reels which are also solid at the even in the 90 dollar price range. I would again be hesitant to go lower on that because you might wind up with something that has plastic internal components and wears out quickly. You don't need really expensive stuff to catch fish. I am routinely humbled by my grandfather, who never fails to out-fish me with an ancient gander mtn reel mounted on an ugly stik that isn't even the right length/action for bass fishing. I do think, though, that if you are searching for a really quality combo that is starting to break into the top tier of performance and will last a long time, I would take a good look at the one described above.

I've never used it, but I can say that you could step it up to the pro-qualifier for just about the same price if you wait for a sale.

If it is true that the motor was recently rebuilt, and it was rebuilt well I would say that is a pretty sweet deal. As far as people saying that it is cheaply made, you just have to ask yourself one question-- does is still float without taking on water? If it still does this one simple function after almost 20 years, I'd say that it was made pretty solid (as i have heard that most trackers typically are) and that is about all you need it for anyway. As long as you aren't deliberately running it aground, I am sure it will also stay that way You have any pictures?

Your medium setup (vengeance with a pflueger reel) is a lot nicer than you may realize. I imagine that you can have a lot of success using it. If you someday get into fishing heavier cover or for trophy sized fish, you could bump up to a MH. As far as spinning outfits go, I really like what you have. Abu rods are a little more stout than ones from other manufacturers anyway, so it should have no problems hauling them in. You'll be in good shape for the soft plastic techniques that you just described. That's actually very similar to the setup I use in my area. I don't know that I would go as small as an ML for bass, unless they are pretty small in your area. That being said, i have certainly seen it done. Definitely wouldn't use your UL. I just don't think it has enough backbone to properly set the hook on a largemouth. It would be perfect for bluegill and crappie though.