Dan:

My main spinning outfit is a Shimano Stradic 2500 on a St. Croix Avid 7' Medium Power Fast Action. I mainly throw flukes and senkos for river smallmouth and largemouth. The Medium power Fast action is perfect for these uses IMHO

that same seller has some nice painted rapalas going for a lot less.

you're only taking 3 classes?!?! that's awesome!

I just paired a new Citica with an Extreme rod as well. So far, I've been very pleased.

yeah, it's similar to the "driving skill" pill you get when you turn 25 that make your rates go down... :-/

does anyone know where you can buy it online? I've only been able to get it at one Gander Mountain that was pretty far from me and I'm running low on my 6# and would like to get some 12# or 14# for my citica.

wow, that's creepy. it reminds me of how people used to stick the heads of enemies on spikes on a castle wall to show future enemies what to expect, it's like someone wanted to show the pickerel what would happen if they snatched anymore lucky crafts...

I haven't been to Burke in a while, but I have never had a problem parking at the VDGIF parking lot, even though it is pretty small. During the day, can't you just park at the larger county park lot? I can only see it being an issue at night when the county lot is closed, but then again, the dog walkers and bird watchers won't be out at night so the VDGIF lot shouldn't have their cars in it. That being said though, if the parking lot is paid for by anglers' money, then by all means they should get priority. Maybe you guys who go to Burke more often can shed some light on the severity of this problem.

WAY TO GO RON! that's awesome! Where did you get that baby?

lol, that's what I was gonna say!

Great questions, Glenn. I think you created a great resource for the members, especially a lot of the young guys who are trying to pursue professional careers. BTW Glenn, I like the Brady Bunch question. How many votes does that make for Marsha? By my count that's 2 Marsha and 0 for Jan, or maybe I missed some other interviews...

I was gonna say, they look exactly like a topwater bait I've seen used in a show about snakeheads. I thought they would probably be great for bass as well. Beautiful paint jobs.

Panama didn't gain independence from Colombia until the 1900s. It is not a historical map per se, it is a map showing what it would be like if the United States had not taken/bought all that land from Mexico.

I sincerely doubt it, but it's funny anyway.

I believe Bourbon has to be at least 80 proof as well.

I've fished the bank at Algonkian and some of the other nearby parks. Up that far is more smallie territory. Very rocky and I wouldn't go very fast in a boat up there. There are some nice bank spots in some of the parks up that way though. I don't know what the level is at Algonkian right now.

I've been catching a few here and there in a couple of recent outings. Hopefully with all this warm weather I'll have a really good day by the end of the week.

not really excited about the color

I tried a bottle of Eagle Rare for my 21st b-day and I enjoyed it. A bit pricey, but not as expensive as Woodford. I mean to try Woodford soon.

Bill Dance does it all the time as well...

FC, I don't know much about the vehicles you are looking at but personally I would say go for the Tundra if you can wait and solve the chrome problem on the SR5 model. Toyotas are still more reliable than Dodges as far as I know and I've always like the look of the Tundra, and your color and camo scheme look GREAT on that Tundra

here's an update. When they took a biopsy, the doctors poked a hole in my grandpa's lung. They sent him home, telling my grandma to watch his condition. (Which I thought was insane because they live on a rural road miles from an ambulance or hospital...) but anyway, he went in the next day for an oncology appointment. When he got there, they xrayed him to check the hole in his lung and discovered it had gotten larger and his lung had actually deflated! That just proved again to me how tough he is, he had a deflated lung and didn't even know it. Anyway, they canceled his oncology appointment to perform emergency surgery. They ended up closing his lung back up and re-inflating it. Apparently that helped him a lot. My parents went up this weekend and while they were there, my mom called me and while she was on the phone, my grandpa asked to talk to me and he sounded very good. He asked me if I had been fishing over the weekend, to which I replied "no," and he told me "you need to make sure to get your priorities straight, then." Which made me laugh but almost cry too because he was just diagnosed with cancer and he was telling me that getting out on the water should be my priority. I know this was partly him trying to hide his weakness but I also know it was him trying to make me not worry about him. It also meant a lot because he asked to talk to me. I believe this was because in recent years I've gotten closer to him through the common interest of fishing and hunting. Anyway, enough of the emotional stuff, I just wanted to say thank you to those of you who kept him in your prayers. He is doing much, much better right now. His oncology appointment is sometime this week so we'll get a prognosis then but as of now, he is doing drastically better than last week. I ask you to keep praying for him and also my grandma. My mother says that she is an absolute mess and she even fainted the other day. Again, thanks a lot guys, I really, truly appreciate it.

I'm not sure about bearings in casting reels but Shimano typically has fewer bearings in their spinning reels as well--which doesn't stop them from being just as smooth as reels with twice the bearings.

I love the 6# on my spinning rig. It is literally the best line I've tried.

I would agree with the others who said a 6'6" or 7' Medium Power Fast Action rod. That is my main spinning set up and the rod I take when I go wading and can only take one rod because it can throw the most types of baits.