Chris at Tech

Dude - that's a Carolina rig

Huh? First off, adding weight means you're no longer throwing weightless lures. Weighted plastics catch fish, but they're no longer weightless. Secondly, why exactly do you think big fish are not caught on weightless plastics?

Thanks -- would your recommendation change if I was going for a shorter rod? The 85x will fit in my rod locker but the 89x is getting too close for comfort.

I've been pondering picking up a Loomis for a while now. What power would you guys recommend for 1/4 and 3/8 oz jigs (+ trailer)? 3 or 4?

It's simply a matter of preference. Either would work perfectly fine

I never knew "wangs" was a verb. Just thought it was a plural noun

Hmmm...see if it breaks with manual pressure. Alternatively, try a double palomar and see if that helps.

Check the end of the line to verify whether line is breaking, or if knot is simply slipping free.

To me, I don't understand why the Zillion rods don't get more love especially for "feel" techniques. I LOVE my 7'MH

I'd go 3-power

I never got the issue with bleeding. Yes, the line loses it's color a bit but it's not like the bled color causes any issues. Just rinse it off and go. And after a few months, just reverse the braid on your spool for fresh line with fresh color.

I've done an about face in this situation. I tried fluoro on my jerk bait, shallow and deep cranking rods and saw no added benefit for my money so I'm back to mono on those setups. CXX or Sufix would be my choices. Use the money you do not spend on fluoro on cranks and upgraded treble hooks.

If you already have an airline tube, i cannot imagine why it wouldn't work. Alternatively, PVC is a cheaper but still effective alternative. Two things to consider though Make sure the tube is very securely fastened to the rod rack If you'll be leaving the tube on the car unattended, it's worth considering how you'll secure the tube to stay locked, as well as secured to the car

Since the plastic is essentially free-floating behind the weight, the bite can feel different. Sometimes you'll get a distinctive tap, sometimes it'll feel like you just contact with it, and sometimes like me you'll just look up and realize the worm has moved from where you left it

8lb on my spinning gear didn't work out well - too much memory. 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20 lb on my baitcasters has been just fine for me. Take time to spool it, treat liberally with line conditioner and you'll be fine

Nice brownies! I'm heading out tomorrow to target different brownies in the salt - Cobia. If all goes according to plan, I'll be eating well tomorrow night!

I think the conventional wisdom for throwing traps is to use a rod with moderate action. But to me, that all changes if you'll be ripping grass. For that, I personally prefer a fast action rod.

Braid's strength can certainly be a good thing, but it can also work against you There will be those times when a snag just won't come free no matter how hard you try. And in some cases your only recourse may be to cut your line and lose 10, 20,maybe even 30 yards. That's one of several reasons to use a leader - so in the event of a tough snag, you'll lose your hook and a few feet of leader and not lots of expensive braid. If you keep finding yourself getting snagged in the rocks, perhaps also try a lighter weight to see if that helps reduce your snags

Gammy Magic Eye short shank

Set it like you would if the reel was entirely spooled with 8 lb line

Yes - reds are there all year, and you can probably find them tailing in the really skinny water

Treat yourself and go after redfish while you're in a Savannah. You can use your bass tackle and give it a proper workout

The point is understood but I don't think that's totally a fair comparison. When you're fishing in and around heavy vegetation then I think you'll get a lot of folks to admit that heavy braid is the way to go - I'm guessing that even the pro-FC guys would admit to that. I know I would. But just because it was the right choice for Lane on St Johns doesn't mean it's the best line choice in EVERY situation

While preparing for the excursion to Lake Baccarac this past March, the "bait chupacabra" (south-of-the-border relative to the "bait monkey") made be buy way too much tackle. Does that count?

For me I'll say that FC takes a little more "ongoing maintenance" in the form of regular applications of line conditioner but that's a very minor inconvenience. I've used it to fish jigs, plastics, cranks and jerk baits, but going forward will use it only for jigs and plastics not for any performance reasons but just because I saw no improvement over mono or copolymer for moving baits and see no reason to spend more 8lb Invisx on my 2500-sized spinning reels, and 10/12/15/17/20 Berkley 100% Fluoro on my baitcasters have served me well. And palomar only for me.