Dan:

Who cares what it was designed for? If you think it works well for throwing plastics then use it for that.

Which one is it? Did you make it or buy it and try to sell it as your own creation?

a friend of mine caught a bass on a piece of bread he was retrieving while carp fishing.

No, the Maxx is in a black box and is mono, this one is gold and very prominently says it is 100% fluoro on the box.

I'm 20. Almost all of my time is free in the summer so I'm working at least 32 hours per week.

Speaking of St Croix, I found out the other day that Dick's employees get up to a 50% discount on St Croix rods. We can order them through our manager and they come personalized with our names on them and with the 50% discount. Needless to say, I was very happy to hear that news. As for spending my money on fishing stuff, I already used my discount to get some X-Raps for like $4 and a variety of other stuff. I'm getting to a point where I am pretty satisfied with my gear though so hopefully I won't be buying any new gear unless it is a new item or a replacement for something I've lost.

Jack's worm is great for shaky heading and the minnows and shad baits are some of my favorite baits. Smallies seem to love them and I like how they sink a little faster than the average soft jerkbait.

We just got a new shipment of Berkley Fluorocarbon at my work that I don't believe I've seen before. I'm not sure if it's new or if I just haven't seen it though. Here's a picture: Is this actually a new line? Has anyone tried it and care to review it?

So this week I started my first retail job at Dick's Sporting Goods to earn some money for the next school year. I am working in the Lodge department which is basically hunting, fishing, and camping stuff. I get to wear jeans and a fishing shirt to work everyday and I just spent today sorting all sorts of incoming fishing gear. I have to say that being able to work with fishing stuff is pretty awesome, I'm getting paid to do stuff that I like and it's great. I even have received some tips on some local fishing spots from customers. The only thing I'm a little worried about is the selling guns part. There is a lot of regulations that require strict adherence to procedures so I'm a little worried about making sure I get everything right. Anyone of you other young guys have a good summer job?

I've never actually tried to eat them because I heard they were bony. After hearing some of the other comments, it seems that might be incorrect.

definitely try them around rocks. I fish with football heads in a few rocky rivers and they hardly ever get caught in rocks.

haha, funny joke, but seroiusly, ticks can be dangerous. I've known quite a few people who have recently contracted lyme disease from tick bites. Lyme disease isn't all that bad most times but if it goes untreated it can really mess you up pretty bad. I know one girl who got it last summer and is still suffering from the effects. As fisherman, a lot of us put ourselves into situations with high chances of encountering ticks. Just make sure you know how to find and remove ticks and how to watch for signs of lyme disease.

yeah, Case makes some good stuff, I especially like their soft jerkbaits and the jack's worms. The madtoms are supposed to be smallie killers too.

Case plastics has one at www.madtoms.com

I was fishing a few miles upstream from Kelly's Ford. We found dark blue/purple jerkbaits to work and had success with football head shakey head jigs with natural colored worms in other recent trips. I don't know how that float trip would be because I've only seen a small part of it but from what I have seen, it would be very nice and provide lots of good fishing.

Went out with a buddy to the Rappahannock River here in VA today. Together we caught more than 40 fish! This is by far one of my best days fishing. I caught 6 different species as well, smallmouth (most of the fish caught were smallies), largemouth, rock bass, green sunfish, pumpkinseed sunfish, and some strange minnow type looking fish that was probably about 16 inches long (kinda looked like a carp with the diamond scales but it was silver and was eating bass lures and didn't have a sucker mouth). All fish were caught on soft jerkbaits or a zara spook. I was using Case Sinkin' Salty Minnows and Sinkin' Salty Shads. My friend had two in the 3-4lb range-- one broke off just as he was lipping it and the other broke off as he was trying to loosen his drag. (3-4lbs is a very nice smallie for the northern rivers in Virginia.) Sorry no pictures but I can't take a camera wading, it would undoubtedly get ruined. Great fishing, a beautiful day, and a good friend...Too bad I have to start working soon...

i would add prop baits and jitterbugs to what has already been mentioned.

Whenever I use this slow drag method, I usually cast into the shallows and then drag it from there into deeper water like off a ledge, into a hole, etc...So changes in depth are what I look for when using that method.

maybe try changing up the colors you are using?

he can't be talking about a smallmouth, 15lbs would be a new World Record. I think he means a trout or some other fish.

Bass don't taste all that great so I never keep them and I wouldn't recommend killing any large bass but if you decide to, I guess I would just take a cooler and throw them in the cooler-that way there is no smashing involved

oh, I know, I was just thinking of the prototypical Pink Floyd druggy (there were plenty of them at the concert)

Did he play Dark Side of the Moon? I saw him play Dark Side recently up here in VA. I didn't care for all the political sentiments but it was a very good concert. They had the pig balloon here too but they let it go and I didn't think that was very responsible--letting a giant balloon drift off into the night sky... Some guy asked me for acid while I was at that concert. I thought that was funny because out of all the crazy druggy floyd fans this guy chose me, the young guy with the khaki shorts and buzzcut hair..

Ive only had bass once and it was pretty plain, not worth eating if you ask me.