Chris at Tech

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.

There's wisdom in this post

Wow, that stinks. I don't think I've ever heard of an arrangement like that where the day's catch was owned by the boat. That's a heck of a way to make sure you don't get any repeat customers

Thanks for rubbing fresh salt in the wounds just as they were starting to heal

To me in an ideal world, I'd want a reel with higher capacity for that type of fishing. In this case my suggestion would be to go with 20 lb braid mainline. Just select a mono leader for the situation you're fishing for abrasion resistance, reduce cut-offs etc.

Looking good, ODR!

Yeah, those white wine spritzers you usually drink don't have much "bite" to them

Will saltwater also enter into the equation? If so that's another reason to go with spinning, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Hehe...Jeff was kind enough to make arrangements for some nice adult beverages (in addition to the beer and margaritas that were provided). We emptied a handle of Maker's Mark and then filled it back up with used plastics. I wanted to take it home with me, but my luggage was already heavy enough.

Not much taller...

Especially next to the 6'5" gringo!

And my other big fish for the week...

Jeff forgot the most important picture of the trip. Who's got 2 thumbs and is the 2014 Lake Baccarac Angler of the Week? This guy!

It's OK. Didn't you see that he has the Humminbird with the defibrillator paddles?

X2 on Tinboats.net

Agreed to choose the leader based on cover.

I think there's a medical term for that -- "friggin' NUTS"

I have not swung a rod in friggin' forever. I feel like I'll need to spend the first few hours targeting the dinks just to make sure I still know how to fish

So he's attributing high prices to the existence of too few providers, and his solution is to further reduce the number of providers?

I had a feeling you'd reply along those lines

I don't know why, but I just can't seem to get confident in a lipless crank. I throw it enough, vary my retrieve, etc but just can never seem to have a good day. It's one of those strange lures that I feel like I know when I SHOULD throw, but my results don't really back that up.

Don't forget the 1/16 oz Rooster Tails!

To me, the decision on whether or not to use backing is more driven by how many reel spools worth I can realistically get from the braid spool. My personal preference is ~65 yards of "good" line on my bass reels, so that means that a 100 yd spool of braid is only getting me one reel's worth. In that situation, I don't bother with backing and just use the entire spool. And in my experience, using mono backing, taping the spool and tying the line through the holes in the spool all have a similar result in ensuring the braid doesn't slip.