Brett's_daddy

I just had to share this...lol.

Okay, so I've read about the hollow body frogs and how a majority of you trim their legs to make them "walk the dog" better while some just swear by leaving the legs alone...pros/cons to either? For those of you that do trim the legs I've read where some people trim them even while others trim both legs but leave them staggered in length, the reasoning for this is? I have some of the Live Target hollow body frogs and was thinking of trimming the legs but would like to make sure i do it right!

Cool, now i know. I don't follow the professional tournaments much so I wouldn't know that but I'm glad there is an opportunity for the public to meet and greet the Pros and see all of the big name vendors and their new wares. Since that is the case I would side with Glenn on keeping ICAST geared towards a place for vendors to network with people on the inside of the fishing industry!

Like I said, as long as there is a large national show that IS open to the average Joe which has all the major vendors with their new products and the Pro personalities that many regular fishermen are a fan of then I don't have any problem with ICAST being exclusive. This is just my opinion so take it for what it's worth :).

Maybe if they just advertised ICAST through vendor channels and not post advertisements where the public can see and be notified that would cut down on the unwanted intrusions?

Just out of curiosity @Glenn do they have a trade show/sportsman's show for the general public (i.e. Joe Q. Fisherman) that have all the new goodies and the professional personalities a la KVD etc.? If so then I totally agree with you that ICAST should be off limits to those who have no business being there but if not, that is ICAST's fault/oversight for not having one and if I was a vendor I would welcome the opportunity to show off my new wares to the public and generate even more interest in my products. After all if it weren't for the regular Joe fishermen nothing like ICAST would exist, even the tourney pro's that make millions of dollars from tournaments and advertising started out as just a regular guy who was most likely taught to fish by his father, grandfather, uncle or friend of the family...the fishing industry is driven by the general public's interest in the sport and not the hot shot tournament guys. If the general public's interest in fishing waned and/or they started turning a blind eye to fishing in general ICAST and all of these pro circuit tournaments would eventually dry up and disappear! I know when I was into saltwater reefkeeping they would have a HUGE national vendor show once a year called MACNA where all of the top vendors and new vendors to the industry would gather in a sportsman show style atmosphere to display all of their new products and to network with other vendors and this show was completely open to the public, all they had to do was buy a ticket as these vendors knew that the public was their meal ticket so they welcomed them with open arms. I may be off base here and if I am i apologize and like I said, if there IS a show similar to ICAST that is open to the general public then I agree 100% with you about keeping ICAST privatized and asking the general public to attend the vendor show made for their benefit!

Okay, I did what you guys said to do. Went to the local high school soccer field (which is right next door to where I work), tied one end of my line to the goal post and walked it out. Know what I found? The girl had tied her spool knot through two holes in my spool on the left hand side . Know wonder why it was stacked like a sno-cone to the left...grrrrr. So I tied a double arbor knot around the spool, set the drag back and started to reel in, below is a picture of my spooling job...I think i did a much better job if I do say so myself, what do you guys think? Now I'm thinking I will have to do this to each of the other two reels as well...if she screwed up the spool knot on this one I'm thinking there's a good chance she may have done it on the other's too .

Looks good Glenn and I will purchase this for future endeavors but these reels have already been spooled now and at least 1 was spooled badly and i have to re-spool it so people have suggested i tie the line off somewhere and walk it out and then rewind it evenly.

She used a modified Albright knot to join the lines as I Googled it and they said that was one of the best joining knots.

Going with the soda bottle and I bolt idea but putting a twist on it. Instead of tying my line to a goal post or something and walking until I have unwound the whole spool and start to re-spool it by reeling in slowly and moving with it until I get to the goal post again where it should be theoretically respooled the correct way...how about drilling a hole in a bottle cap, putting an I bolt in the cap, fillthe bottle completely with water and screw on the cap with the bolt, tie my line to that and walk it out until I get to the knot but instead of me actually moving towards the end of my line just standing there and reeling the bottle full of water in to me...would that create enough tension to spool the reel correctly or should it really be me moving towards the end?

But you said to loosen the drag so the line comes of without having to push the spool release and once you get to the knot reset the drag...reset it to what? I should already have it to where the line can come out with a little tension on it right?

What do you reset the drag too?

The worst one is spooled with a 12lb. Big Game mono base of about 30yds. and the bulk of the line is Seaguar Invizx 12lb. fluorocarbon. The next one looks better although still slightly uneven and that has a 30yd base of Big Game mone and the rest is Sunline Shooter Armilo Defier 17lb., The one with braid looks fine although to me it seems like the sales clerk didn't get enough braid on, again it has 30yd Big Game mono base with the rest being Sunline FX2 50lb. braid. She only got 75yds. of braid on plus the 30yds of mono base...that's only 105yds. of total line on a Daiwa tatula CT Type R which supposedly holds 160yds. of 12lb. mono but she showed me the spool and it looked pretty full, she asked if I wanted her to continue putting line on but I didn't want her to over-fill it so had her stop there.

I hate to because I paid to have this done but if i have to I'll take it back and have the guy she said spool most of the casting reels do it again when he's in. Can they re-use the line? It's new line and wasn't cheap so if there's saving it I'd like to.

Okay, I took my new reels to my local tackle shop. I told the girl behind the counter I needed 3 casting reels spooled with line. She acted like she knew what she was doing and said no problem, i can do that for you. So we took the reels out back and she set the first reel up on the machine and clamped it down and then put the spool of line on the other side where a bar holds the spool on. After she was finished she said that it didn't spool on even and instead there was a bit of a cone shape to the line on the spool (more line on one side), she said that she did everything correctly and that the reel wound the line on. Is this going to be a problem for me? Should i take it somewhere else and have them re-spool it?

Daiwa Tatula CT 100XS, 8.1:1 at American Legacy Fishing are $50 off and being sold for $79.

Where did you see this? I can't find any Rage Craws on their site.

If you sign up for their newsletter they will give you a code for $25 off any non-sale item over $100.

I used mine for the first time last night, size 30 in Brown and I should have caught 3 fish on it, 1st fish threw the hook almost to shore, caught the 2nd fish and the 3rd one was too small to keep. I did foul the hook a few times, once on the bill like you said and a couple of times around the line but I just figure that's par for the course and accept it :).

Don't give up on me yet Obi-wan......I said that I think about it sometimes but there's always a video on YouTube of a new lure and some guy catching a 10lb. bass on it that snaps me out of it and releases the Bait Monkey once again!!!

Okay, I have gotten into bass fishing about 4 years ago and really enjoy it! I've had my successes as well as my fair share of failures but it's always been fun regardless. I have scraped every loose nickle and dime I could find whenever I had the opportunity and purchased a fair amount of tackle over the past 4 years...everything from top water (my favorite) to plastics, to jigs to spinnerbaits to cranks to jerks. My wife has been after me lately for the amount of tackle I have and asked me when is enough enough? I have always dismissed it as she does the same thing with shoes, watches and purses so I have always viewed her complaints as just a tad hypocritical but the other day I was looking over my tackle and said to myself...darn, there's a ton of lures here and then a little tickle in the back of my mind was saying maybe the wife is right...when is enough enough? I mean if I can't catch bass with the amount of tackle I have there's got to be something wrong.... . I honestly have about maybe a half dozen more lures on my mental wish list but the Bait Monkey seems to be always rattling his cage to be let out but I know if I do the lil' bugger will bite me and I'll end up with another new lure. I must admit that I give in to some "revenge" buying too, when the wife is being a real witch or she has just treated herself to a new purse or some new shoes etc. I have been guilty of using that as an excuse to procure some new tackle . Seriously though, have any of you hit that point where you take an inventory of all your tackle and say...DARN, I have too much tackle but...you say it quietly so that the wife doesn't hear you?

Yum Christie Craw's are on sale at Dicks Sporting Goods right now for $2 per pack (5 packs for $10).

Under $4 the best one would probably be some Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craws, they typically sell for around $3.79 per pack.

That's because those things SUCK!!! I thought they would be good and bought one last year, ended up bringing it back in a week as the darned thing wouldn't run true and kept tipping over to one side.

I heard that another off-beat color that has it's moments is the Bumble Bee Swirl.