Steveo-1969

Ha-ha, yup! I much prefer my "hand scale"...

Go to the thread in the below link. About halfway down the first page there is an entry from @Glenn with pictures on how to safely remove the hook when it's swallowed.

I am a G. Loomis fanboy and I've never fished with a St. Croix rod so take all this with a grain of salt. That being said... if I had a chance to buy G. Loomis rods at 50% off it would be a no-brainer!

Wow, that's crazy. One more reason why I'm glad I'm a self-professed Loomis fanboy! BTW - GO BEARS!!!!!!

Just looking for clarification Mr. Brat as I've never heard of this before. Are you saying the leader connection knot will tear THE GUIDES right off of certain rods during the cast?

You could always take up golf instead.

About March through October I am specifically targeting smallmouth every time I fish. Then November through February I'm specifically targeting walleyes. There is definitely overlap between the two species and of course other species are caught as well.

Oh yeah, did I mention Megastrike also makes an EWG model? ha-ha

"Best" shakey head is opinion of course. Personally I prefer Megastrike Shake2 Pro Model shakey heads. I only fish shakey heads for one week a year while on vacation so take this with a grain of salt as I'm no shakey head expert. But I caught most of my fish on vacation this year with the above head in 3/16 or 1/4 ounce with a Zoom trick worm.

I use 3/16 ounce Strike King Bitsy Bug jigs with Baby Rage Craw trailers. I bite off the first two segments of the Baby Rage Craw to make it a little shorter then thread it onto the hook and over the trailer keeper. The hook point comes out right in the middle of the craw's head.

If I could "like" this more than once I would!!!!!!

I'm sure there are less expensive options out there than what I bought. But you will have to pry this combo out of my cold dead fingers!!!!! G. Loomis NRX MBR 842c (7-foot Medium Fast, rated 1/8-3/8 ounce lure weight and 10-14# line) Abu Garcia Revo LTX spooled with 10# fluorocarbon

You will probably get recommendations for both spinning and casting, but for me it really comes down to personal choice. After using spinning rods exclusively for the first 40 years of my life I bought my first casting rod. I found I enjoy using a baitcaster more than a spinning rod and eventually bought a casting rod that could throw lighter baits. Last Sunday I took my spinning rod fishing for the first time this year and I quickly realized I still prefer fishing with a casting rod!

That's a great smallie, congrats on the new PB!!!

I don't own a boat or a kayak/canoe. I wade fish year round in a river when the water level is low enough to safely wade, otherwise I fish from the shore. Occasionally I'm a guest one someone's boat. When wading I carry one rod and all my tackle fits in a small over-the-shoulder bag (half the size of a bread loaf). When shore fishing (or a boat guest) I carry one spinning and one casting rod with the same small tackle bag.

This year I've tried to fish either Saturday or Sunday each week, though between bad weather, high water level in the river and home obligations that hasn't always happened. The only chance I get to fish consecutive days is our annual Kentucky Lake fishing vacation. Then it's 6 days of 12+ hours on the water each day.

Sorry to be such a pain, but it's not "gooder" it's "bester".

Welcome Ben from a fellow West Virginia river fisherman.

To strangers while I'm fishing the response to "Catching anything?" is always "Not yet". My fishing friends get full details.

That's what I always say too when I don't see the fish. It makes me feel better!

That's a stud right there, congrats! (Umm, please don't be confused. I'm talking about the fish.....)

I was wondering if maybe that Lake Trout was out of season.

Here's a unique tip: Put some kind of plastic bait on the shaky head instead of fishing it bare...

^^^^^ This When I got my first baitcaster I too was concerned about how far I could cast. I mean, Scott Martin was telling me it was important to be able to cast 60 yards and every reel commercial talked about casting distance. Then I realized that sometimes I outcasted my ability to set the hook effectively.

This same thing has only happened to me once. I set the hook and fought a fish for about 2 seconds and the line broke. Retied and threw to the same place and caught the fish on the next cast, my original bait still stuck in the mouth of the fish.