Dan:

Good advice. The new ones are out so last year's model is on clearance just about everywhere. I just picked up a brand new Symetre 2500FI on ebay for less than $63 shipped. This is the route I would go.

#1 JMU vs. #7 Villanova I will be watching the PSU vs. OSU game though.

Alright, I've been researching new rods and I cannot for the life of me narrow my search. Right now I'm looking at rods in the $100-$150. I'm looking for a rod to be used for texas rigs, weighless plastics and the occasional light spinnerbait or jig, basically an all purpose kind of rod. Preferably a Medium or Medium Heavy Fast or Xfast with a lower lure weight rating of 1/4ounce and a lower line rating of 8lb test. I also want a split grip model. Does anyone have any experience with these rods that can provide some sort of comparison for durability, sensitivity, weight, and balance. Thanks for any info. BTW, this rod will be paired with a new Citica 201E Falcon Cara T7 Shimano Crucial Dropshot Powell Max American Rodsmiths Magstrike Okuma C3 (not out yet but looks bangin') Damiki Dark Angel (not out yet as far as I know) Kistler Magnesium TS E21 LTX Carrot Stix GBlanks (on ebay here) I should say I especially interested in info about the Cara, the Gblanks, Crucial, and Carrot Stix PS, I know nothing about GBLanks and it is hard to find very much info about them. I'd like to hear some stuff about them, too. The rod I linked to looks awesome, but how does it fish? Do they name their models? What are their higher end models like and what makes them different?

I ordered them a while back and they included one jerkbait, one lipless crank, a spinnerbait, a jig, and a medium diving crank. All were for bass.

Have you tried using bigger baits on the dropshot? I have never dropshotted but it seems that may help with the dink problem. I know lots of people use little 4" skinny baits but some use bigger soft plastic jerkbaits, too. I personally would like an LTBS M XF more than my LTBS M F for my shaky heading. Something about a stiffer tip seems to help the bait crawl over structure and cover better, but that could just be a preference thing. That's what I would use it for

They are Bass Pro shops brand lures.

I like the second. Levels, colors, and contrast?

They are collections of research articles written by experts in a certain field. For example, one journal that I use a lot is called "International Affairs." They release quarterly (sometimes yearly or monthly) editions with articles about the International Relations field. That usually includes topics like conflicts, politics, etc... The articles are written by people who for the most part are very reputable and knowledgeable in their field. They are then sent to peers (other people in the field) who review the article and voice their opinions, complaints about research, etc and then send them back. After those complaints are addressed, the article is published with others in an edition of the Journal. Basically, they are like essays that knowledgeable people right about a topic after they have done a lot of research. They are great for papers because they are respected as academically sound and cover tons of subjects and fields. It is hard to get them in high school because you usually have to pay, but most universities have services that they pay to get access to journals for all enrolled students.

yeah, peer reviewed stuff is the best way to go. You can really find stuff relating to your paper and there are thousands of articles out there. I got all of my journal articles from home using a website called jstor. You can search it like google for published scholarly articles. It makes research a breeze and teachers love when you use journal articles (not to mention you can get some stuff that really helps your argument specifically). Davis, just wait until you get into your later years, that's when the papers get longer.

Alright, I just turned in my paper. Ended up with about 2,600 words (about 10 pages). 15 Peer reviewed journals as sources. Did most of my research yesterday and last night. Went to sleep about 4am, woke up at 9am researched until about 11am. Wrote about 8 pages between 11am and 3pm. I wrote a 24pager in high school, but my average paper in college is around 8 or 9 pages with a few 20 pagers and a few 12-15s

Wayne, I don't know if I ever plan on fishing this lake but I am truly impressed by your willingness to help other members, you are a helluva guy

Tungsten + braid = lost sinker. Braid doesn't like hard objects and is about as abrasion resistant as a spider web. The only tungsten I've ever lost were while carolina rigging with braid. Not if you get the tungsten weights that have the inserts inside of them to protect the line from abrasion. The inserts contribute to the abrasion. The weight I lost was an Excalibur with the insert. The only quality tungsten weight on the market is the Tru-Tungsten. The Tungsten I use is from River2sea and it has inserts. I have NEVER had problems with abrasion caused by the weight.

600 Words? Due Thursday? I'm working on a paper right now. 2,500 words. Due tomorrow. Try that for procrastination. I did an 18 pager in one night before but I had already done most of my research.

they showed a clip on tv this morning on ESPN from a different angle that shows what the ref was probably trying to do. There was a lane between pursuing tacklers and the quarterback to the QB's right, the ref apparently tried to jump laterally into that lane at the same time the QB cut inward to avoid him, then the ref just stuck up his arm to protect himself. The whole jumping and sticking the arm out made it really look bad though, but if you see it from the other angle it makes a lot more sense.

Tungsten + braid = lost sinker. Braid doesn't like hard objects and is about as abrasion resistant as a spider web. The only tungsten I've ever lost were while carolina rigging with braid. Not if you get the tungsten weights that have the inserts inside of them to protect the line from abrasion.

If you are using heavy braid to flip grass the chances are you won't lose it. I bought some tungsten weights for the same use and I haven't lost one using braid.

I think for plastics, a St Croix rated M-F and sometimes M-XF is the way to go. For what its worth, I use a M-F Legend Tournament Spinning rod for all soft plastics but that I don't know if I would say spinning setups are better than baitcasters for plastics for any specific reason, I just use it because it is my most sensitive rod and that is what is important when fishing soft plastics.

congrats, that sounds like a lot of fun.

That type of editing is EXTREMELY easy with Photoshop, especially with the edges being erased, that makes it easier to blur them into the background so you don't have to be as precise while cutting the one picture to put into the other... Anywho, I don't care if it is real, it's cool either way.

That just hasn't been the case in the Potomac. They've been around for awhile now. They seem to have found a niche. That's not to say that the same outcome will happen elsewhere, or even that it won't develop into a bigger problem in Maryland. However, based on what I've experienced I highly doubt that snakeheads will universally destroy all fishing as we know it throughout the country. That is exactly what I meant. The media has built up this hype that made everyone think snakeheads would destroy recreational fishing and it just hasn't happened and people close to the problem have seen that to be the case.

nice fish! Congrats!

I know you can buy Fox urine. I knew some people who used that to keep rabbits out of their garden. I don't know if it would work for cats though...

youre supposed to kill them where i am...illegal to put them back That's pretty much the same everywhere.

My grandpa lives in a rural area and he shoots at cats with .22 bird shot. As for the pellet gun, I would go for a 1200fps model. I used one to kill rats in my backyard when poison wouldn't work. I don't know if 600fps would work optimally. I don't think you should shoot them though, you'll just get in trouble. (Even though the humane societies or shelters would most likely end up killing them anyway....)

I dont understand what you ment by your statement. this is a very serious threat this could destroy all fresh water eco-systems as we know it. and leave nothing left for are childrens children in the way of fresh water fishing... This isn't new for my area. People around Wash DC have been at the center of the "snakehead invasion" for years with some of the earliest snakehead sightings and some of the most developed snakehead populations (just ask Rondef, I think he caught something like 8 this summer alone from tributaries of the Potomac) Your response is exactly what I mean. When they first were introduced in the DC metro area (some ponds in MD and eventually some creeks in the Potomac) people went nuts with anticipation of the end of those fisheries. The local media whipped up pond panic and everyone freaked out. But what they say would happen hasn't happened. Even the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has started to realize there isn't really anything we can do about it and still the ecosystems remain unchanged for the most part. Population numbers from other fish haven't changed enough from average to indicate a negative impact from snakeheads.