Steveo-1969

Bass can definitely survive being hooked in the gills. I've even caught some fish that had a gill completely ripped and hanging out of the gill opening (previous injury not my doing) and they were fine. I've read some people pour Sprite or Mountain Dew on bleeding gills to stop the bleeding. I've also read that you shouldn't do this. So who knows? Me personally, if I have a fish bleeding from the gills I return it to the water ASAP and hope for the best when she swims off.

My girlfriend's family grew up eating raw Spam sandwiches. Yes, that's right. Not fried Spam, raw Spam. One of the grossest things I've ever seen somebody eat. No thank you!

My condolences to you. I still think about my first dog Bocephus. I held his head and loved him while the vet did her thing. I've never cried so hard in my life.

It gets no love here, but I've had a pretty good experience using Gander Mountain brand fluorocarbon. It's thicker than Seaguar or Sunline but handles pretty well for me with KVD L&L, I'm using 10# on a baitcaster right now. I can't compare to Red Label because I've never used that as a mainline, but it's about the same price. $25/400 yard spool.

If I'm by myself I don't say anything. If I'm in a boat I usually say "There's a bite" and then after a successful hookset I say "There's a fish!". I even named my cell phone "There's a fish", so if someone scans for Bluetooth devices that's the device name that comes up.

Looks like a Jitterbug with a skull face... What am I missing here?

Welcome to BR bucky0486. Lots of knowledgeable fisherman on here who will have much more intelligent answers to your questions than I will. With that being said, I'll take a shot... I've never fished with an Avid but they get great love on here. The new Avid X even more so than the Avid with the full cork handle. DEFINITELY try different reels on the rod you choose for balance, great idea! That would have been suggested so you beat them to it. I've experienced a very tip-heavy rod and I agree that it was very tiring to fish with. I use 10# Sufix 832 on my spinning rod and love it. You can fish the braid with or without a mono or fluorocarbon leader, that's really personal preference. Let us know what you choose and how you like it.

I am not the OP, but I was curious too. TW sells a 50 pack of 6" Senkos for $56.89. Holy moly...

"I don't often fish big worms, but when I do it's a 10.5" Zoom Ol' Monster (plum) t-rigged on a 4/0 EWG with 1/2 ounce sliding bullet weight, on a 7'5" MH/XF BC rod with 12# fluoro." This is off-shore ledge fishing.

Congrats on your first smallie! I'm very fortunate that my home river is full of them and consider myself very lucky. I take an annual vacation to Kentucky Lake to get my largemouth fix, but wouldn't trade a river smallmouth on the end of my line for all the greenies in the world.

Congratulations on the win! And great story, you made it easy to read the whole thing.

Cool, thanks. I've been leaning towards silver mirror.

Thanks j bab. I had the opportunity to try on some Costas at a BPS this weekend. Loved the feel of the Fisch frame, and also got to feel the weight difference between plastic and glass lenses. The glass was not nearly as heavy and I thought they'd be. Now it's just a matter of deciding what color lens and pulling the trigger...

I've used Strike King S11 sunglasses the last couple years but seriously thinking about getting a pair of Costas.

I generally bank fish from late fall to late spring on a river and carry a spinning rod, baitcasting rod, and a small tackle bag. Late spring through fall I'm wading with the same small tackle bag and 1 rod. I only fish with jigs, t-rigged plastics and small paddletails so the small bag is big enough to carry everything I need.

Good to know that Vanish has been reformulated. My only experience with Vanish was 4 years ago when I was using 15# as a leader tied to 30# braid on a baitcaster. After having several good fish "vanish" from break-offs I stopped using it for leaders. Last year I switched to using fluorocarbon as a mainline and have used Invizx, Abrazx, Sniper and Gander Mountain fluorocarbon. Gander fluoro doesn't get a lot of attention or love, but I like it a lot. It's thicker than Seaguar or Sunline equivalent pound test, but it handles well. And at $20/400 yards it won't break the bank. I use 10# braid and 8# fluoro leader on my spinning set up. I've used lots of different fluoros and haven't found a bad one yet. You certainly can't go wrong with Seaguar Red Label.

Welcome to BR!!

I'm not a Browns fan but the guys on the MTC radio show were talking about this yesterday afternoon. They were saying it wouldn't be a bad idea for the Browns to trade their 2nd overall pick, rather than select a QB. The argument was they can use the extra draft picks to acquire players for other needs and strengthen the team. Then next year (knowing they will probably have a high draft pick again) they can target a QB and already have a more sound team to play around him. Kind of makes sense.

Gotham has been crazy good this season!!!

Nothing to add except nice Lloyd Christmas reference...

PM sent

Not me. That's why I had to stop doing them 11 years ago. They were too easy and I enjoyed them too much... ha-ha

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/rage-rig.html