blckshirt98

This is the best suggestion if you have a place to buy a rod over there. Just pack your reels/terminal tackle/lures in your luggage.

I had a local tackle shop replace a tip and all they did was hold a lighter underneath the tip until the glue was soft enough where the tip would just slide off.

It'll go on sale at some point...BPS will always get around to discounting their house-branded items, just need to sign up for their mailer and keep an eye out on the sale flyers.

I have a reel spooled with straight FC that I like to throw chatterbaits and medium sized crankbaits on. The FC helps the baits get down in the water faster since braid likes to float and take it's sweet time to get down into the water.

It varies state to state, county to county, city to city. In Santa Clara county the Water District could care less about the fish, they just care about the water. Fisherman are a nuisance more than anything. The next county over in Contra Costa, they stock almost all of their lakes with trout/catfish/bass and encourage fishing as a source of revenue and recreation. Just complete night and day in how and why the Water Districts manage their reservoirs.

I just read they found Nile crocodiles in South Florida. I would most definitely not fish from shore! Have never fished sawgrass but if it's got that serrated edge I'd avoid using braided line as it'll start to fray as the sawgrass starts tearing into the fibers!

I quit fishing once I went off to college and for the next 25 years it was all classrooms, cubicles, and being indoors at home watching TV or playing video games. 4 years ago while on a family trip to Pismo Beach my brother convinced me to fish from the pier for the first time in ages, and the wide open bite hooked me again. I started to fish again but mainly in the surf, but a few months later decided to give bass fishing a try again. Lots of stumbling around only fishing a Carolina rig (since that's how i rig in the surf, and it was the only rig I knew), reading online about Texas rigging, reading up on wacky rigging and how if could work because I couldn't fathom how a plain stick with no action or flappers would catch fish, then getting more and more comfortable and confident as I found good spots to fish. Somewhere along the line something just clicked and now I'm confident I can go to any new body of water and catch SOMETHING! For me it's getting out of the house/office and away from the concrete jungle. I still don't like going to places with paved/manicured shoreline or a lot of man made structure when you look around. I like going to a lake and seeing just a lake, walking on dirt trails, hearing the ground underneath my boots, hearing the water and wildlife. As for the fishing, each cast and twitch of the rod is like scratching off a lottery ticket, with a bite being like a "winning" ticket, landing a fish confirming a winning ticket, and the size of the fish being the prize. One other thing I've noticed is that when i fish, all I think about is the fish. Where they could be, how I can get them to bite. I don't think about other distractions in life, not work, not people, just me and the fish. BUT if I'm on the water and there is something I'm thinking about besides the fish, whether it's something going on at work, finances, something someone said, another person, then that's when I know that's something I need to address when I get back to the real world.

Any reaction/power technique you can go straight braid if you'd like! Finesse just add an appropriate FC leader!

The extra 10% off is done by buying gift cards at 10% off during TW's Christmas sale!

Keitech will be fine, the word of mouth on the Impacts will keep them flying off the shelves, especially those that have already had success with them. GYCB was fine after other companies started making stickbaits. Retail is a brutal business, imitation happens all the time, buy what you're confident and successful with, and just be happy you have options to choose from.

American Legacy has their Daiwa Fuego's on sale at $78. If you sign up for the first time you get $25 off a $100 order so you should be able to get an additional $25 worth of stuff for free.

A beginner baitcaster to me is a reel that you won't mind being a sunken cost in case you decide a baitcaster isn't your cup of tea and decide to either let the reel collect dust or sell it. A decent/good beginner baitcaster is one that is cheap enough to be a sunken cost but performs well enough to be used without being replaced with a better reel if you decide you like to use baitcasters. For me a used Citica E series fits that criteria perfectly!

If it fits in its mouth a bass will eat it!

Tackle degenerates buy entire new reels. My first Stradic came with a spare spool that I spooled but have never used.

My advice would be to bring enough energy bars and beef jerky to survive for the length of the trip! Would suck if you closed the car door on the rods when you got up there and suddenly had no food.

Dropshot a 3-3.5" plastic all day long. It'll catch every one of those species.

For hardbaits I like the Plano crankbait boxes with the angled dividers. Medium is the most versatile but the small/large are useful if you have the right sized baits. If you put Owner Safety Caps on your trebles you can fit quite a few into each slot without the hooks fouling the baits and getting tangled. I'll try to take a picture when I get home.

Whopper Plopper is legit, buy with confidence! If they stopped making them today, the ones out there would be worth a pretty penny!

I have a small handful of reservoirs to choose from so if one location has a slow bite I'll try to fish a different reservoir, or, will schedule a day to just pick a completely new stretch of shoreline to fish and explore. Usually one of the reservoirs will have a decent bite, and if not taking the time to explore new fishing areas is always worthwhile. Also if I get skunked I always feel better after I go to the tackle store and buy more stuff!

I've never used a Plueger reel but it seems to be one of those brands that always has positive comments from people who have bought/used them, on any fishing forum.

That's really strange, wonder how that magnetization occurred. Either way I like to use glass beads since they seem to stay clean and have beveled edges. I tried plastic beads sold at tackle stores and cheap ones from craft stores, but the plastic has rough edges or will stick together over time. Glass seems to be the smoothest, cleanest, most inert material for beads.

Dang, that's tough to see! At least a combo survived so you can still get out on the water until you can replace the rest of the gear!

Fluorocarbon will help your line get down and stay down!

I haven't seen anything like that on social media. The closest I've seen to a bucket of plastics are the Cabela's bucket of plastics - http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Bass-Buckets/702054.uts?productVariantId=1224945&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=13442003&rid=20&gclid=CjwKEAjwguu5BRDq8uSKhaKIzDkSJACQ7WJlmheuVXBILxapv6vOtAOAThB0Kr8_jIM1OlIWObLZWxoCnNbw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Gallon-Size-Bass-Bucket/702075.uts?productVariantId=1225627&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=13442004&rid=20&gclid=CjwKEAjwguu5BRDq8uSKhaKIzDkSJACQ7WJlkvWJytEd10ia0x0e_Erhl60PEVfl0NmSADMAfW1gpBoCKIHw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Dropshot 3" to 4" plastics like a nosehooked Reins bubbling shaker until your arm falls off!