Bream Master

I never keep any fish unless I'm fishing with my uncle and he takes bream and catfish for eating. Or, unless the guys are wanting a few trout for dinner. I always encourage C&R with the guys I fish with when it comes to bass. Personally, I don't think the bass fishing in NC is all that great compared to other surrounding states that I've fished in. So, I always do my part and release. By the way, I'm real sensative about people keeping smallies. I'll throw a rock at you or something. Cheers!

Just wondering if anyone is still throwing and catching fish on old, beat-up rattle traps. I've got two that the finish has come off on a bit. I was thinking about puttting them away but was just wondering if they will still produce.

If you have a Gander Mtn., go and purchase their Musky Guide Series IM8 rods. They are about 80 bucks (good rods). Our you could upgrade and get a St. Croix Triumph in XH for about 100. If you're on the budget, Pinnacle has a musky rod for about 40-50 bucks. I forget the exact model because I left that rod up north with some relatives. This rod is not sensative at all though. It's like fishing with a broom stick. Use 80 lb. test Sufix braid with wire leader. I have a Shimano Cardiff 300. I see a lot of musky guys using the Abu Garcias though. Mepps has an in-line spinner that I have been told will catch musky. It will do fine for beginning. I also have a huge rapala I use. Also, try bulldawgs and suicks. Some people use live bait. In that case, try a 1-2 lb. carp. I wouldn't go that route though. There is a special way you have to hook the carp. Release tools are also a big issue with musky fisherman. There are these supersized pliers you ought to invest in if you're going to get serious about musky. Oh, and get a huge net too. Careful about not hurting the fish. A lot of musky guys are sensative about musky fishing and will hurt you badly for a bad release or injury . Musky are hard to catch. So please practice catch and release. Patience is your best weapon when musky fishing. You may be on the water all day and only catch one. Hope this helps. Cheers!

WOW!!!! Oh my!!! That thing is huge. Looks almost too fake to be true. What in the world.

Do not buy the Callisto. It was my first BC reel and it sucked. It looks good. It's shinny. But the performance was horrible. Even for a begginner BC user I realized that. The drag sucks and started making weird noises. I took it back to Gander Mtn. for another one. Same problem after a few casts and fish. If you're looking for a good beginner BC reel, go with the Daiwa Procaster 100H. I think it is 7+1.

Where are you guys purchasing these out of shape plastics? Is there a soft plastics outlet somewhere I don't know about? I'd love to save some money. I'd hate to purposely leave my plastics out in the sun for a day.

I have a 5wt I use for smaller bass fishing occasionally. I was having pretty good luck with Wooly Buggers and Deceivers. I just purchased an 8wt not too long ago and have yet to do smaller striper fishing with it. Can't wait though. There is nothing like a bass on a fly. Cheers!

I've got one of them, dman. They're a little small. I only use it to carry my plastics in now.

Any of you guys have an idea about how to get rid of paint that has dripped onto brick/cement? Daddy and I were painting the house and some paint dropped on the brick wall. Painting is such a pain. Thanks guys.

Thanks Chris! Great tips!

I have a 5'6" light rod for panfish. I like it a lot. I accidentally caught two decent bass on them as well and the rod held up fine.

I was watching a fishing show a while back and caught the middle of the show only so I didn't get to see what the deal was with the planks. The guys were walleye fishing in MN and they attached their line to some board/plank and to me, it just looked like a super-sized bobber. I'm sure it's more complex than that. Why don't you guys fill me in. Thanks.

Guys, Is this the end of the life for my rod? The cork is coming off more with each use. What are some solutions? Thanks.

Hahahaha. Get us some more frog. Cheers.

For you musky guys, what are your thoughts on this rod? After my recent trip to WI all I can think about is landing a musky next time I go back in September. I'm thinking about picking up this rod and just wanted to hear some of ya'lls opinions on it first. Cheers.

I have Gamma 8lb. co-polymer on a spinning reel which hasn't been touched for over a year. This spring, I caught my two biggest bass in TN and it held up fine. I have not tried the flouro. but the co-polymer is worth trying. If you like Yo-Zuri U.S., you will like the co-polymer. I would give Gamma co-polymer a slight edge over Y.Z. Cheers.

I haven't caught one since spring and was just wondering if any of you guys know how deep they get around this time. Thanks.

The humidity here in NC is pretty bad too. I still fish though. Just went out today from 3-7. No sunblock lotion either.

You can try a wooly bugger. I haven't fished for smallies on fly gear...yet... but I have caught some LM on wooly buggers and I'm sure they will work fine for smallies. I have only fished for creek smallies twice and they seem to be a bit smaller than the ones in lakes, rivers, etc. My guess would be to use a W.B. in size 6 or 8. if you're throwing no more than a 5 or 6 wt. rod. Cheers.

Well, oopps, I certainly did not get one of those cards to put in front of my windshield. Do you think they'll track me down and charge me what I owe? Do they have cameras to catch people who don't have those passes and just zoom on by, like myself. So for those who do have passes, you're saying there is some device that detects a certain code off the card while a car is going 70+ mph? Fascinating. Well dang...

Alright guys, Last week I went up to WI for a wedding and I noticed in IL, near Chicago, there were a lot of toll booths. I did stop at the first one and afterwards I noticed some cars beside me just kept zooming on by like they didn't even see the toll lane. So, from then on, I didn't stop at the toll booths either. It's not like they have some guy out there enforcing you to go into the toll lane. Besides, the toll lane and I-PASS both lead back out into the same interstate anyway. Laugh all you want but this really bothered me how I couldn't come to a conclustion about how this system works. Why is there an I-PASS? Why do some stop to pay the toll when others just zoom by? Cheers.

Go to Wal-Mart and buy the Bitsy Minnow, I believe, in green. I was fishing a creek in WI just last week and caught 17 smallies on the little crankbait.

What kind of leaders and tippets are you guys using? I have an 8 wt. and do freshwater striper fishing only. An 8 wt. will work, right? For leader and tippet I was just thinking about attaching straight 20 lb. flouro. but just wanted to get ya'll input as well. Thanks guys.

A friend and I went smallie fishing for the first time last Saturday. We ended up at some canoe rental place on the New River by accident because he mistakened the place we ended up at for some other place. Anyway, we were there so we had to choice but to fish it. The lady there drops us off at New River State Park, here in NC, and the first thing I noticed was how shallow the water was. It was no more than a foot deep and some parts were only inches deep. We even had to get out and push our canoe through the rocks from time to time. We only found maybe 2-3 good holes to fish out of. We finally come across a deep pocket and fish it for a few minutes only because the river was carrying us. My buddy caught a sunfish with a green rooster tail and missed one smallie on a small, cheap spinnerbait. I miss one on a small scented worm. That was it. We did see the fish and they were maybe a little bigger than a small stream trout. I was disappointed. I hear the New River is one of the few places in NC to fish for smallies and we didn't get any action. Where are some of you NC guys doing your smallie fishing? What section of the New River are you guys on? Thanks to those who are willing to share.

I was forced to go into Dick's today and saw a St. Croix 9', two peice, 7 wt. for 79.99. That is a steal. The 7wt. is too heavy for your trout fishing but you can always get another small 3-4 weight for trout. ;D Check out your local Dick's, if you want the rod. If I had 80 bucks to spare, I would do it.