Bluecraw

I tried it once and went back to using Suffix. Everyone has their own preference, and mine is Suffix Siege. I just wish they sold it in bigger spools.

I used Suffix Seige on almost all of my baitcasting reels and love it. I just wish they made it in larger spools, so I wouldn't have to buy 5 spools every time I re-line my reels. Try it and I think you'll like it.

Buzzbait = Spinnerbait above water Spinnerbait = Buzzbait under water

O.K...let me start by saying that I'm not in the Shimano posse, I owned 5 Revo SXs, and I have defended/praised these reels since they came out....and I do like the 4 that I still have. But...I just want to be fair and maybe the first to say that I had to return one of them recently. I had it four months and something wasn't right with one of the gears. I'm not a reel expert, but something was wrong inside when I reeled it, like the gears weren't lubed or something. It wasn't "tight" and smooth like the other reels. It seemed to work fine, but it "felt" messed-up. I don't know what was wrong with it....probably just a lemon. But I had to be honest and give the Shimano posse something more to feed on..... :'(

Nope. I think there are a lot of people here who take them out of the plastic bag and put them in plastic boxes. I used to think the same thing, but I've never had a problem. I know I've had some in there over a year. But I mostly use Zoom. There are some other brands with scent that are slimy and will dry out. I am careful about leaving them out of the sun. I left my bag unzipped one time in the summer and the worms that were in the direct sunlight melted together.

Thanks, guys. I might get that one you suggested and maybe modify it a little.

Does anybody know where I can find the Denny Brauer fishing net? I don't even know if anyone manufactures this thing, but I saw somebody using one at a tourney. I've search the internet for hours!!! Please help! It has an upper-arm support and a pistol-type grip so you can easily scoop-up your lunker with one arm while holding your rod with the other hand. The baitmonkey told me that I have to get one. Thanks.

If you want to try something new, try Suffix Siege. I've switched all of my baitcasters to this line and am very pleased. It casts good, has great abrasion resistance, and near zero line memory. Try it...I know you'll like it. Suffix has a good braid also.

I can say this for sure...I fish with a guy who uses them and his line breaks at least once a trip when setting the hook. I don't use them and never break my line on the hook set. The weakest part of your line is the knot....if it's time to change lures, it's time to re-tie the knot......in my opinion. Plus, I hate those small little things....I can definitely tie a knot faster than using those things. :

I think Marty likes the jitterbug as much as me. : It's also my favorite topwater and would have to agree that the black 5/8 oz is the most productive, with the frog color being my second best. I leave the hook hangers, but I do add slip rings and Gami EWG #4 hooks, with a red one in front. And if you're real obsessed, you can polish that big lip a little for some shiny flare.

I'm with flechero. Either one will do. I have six of the SX model and love 'em, but I fish for largemouth 99% of the time. It really depends if you think the STX is worth the extra $50 bucks....or in my case, the extra $300 bucks. I felt that the extra money for the SX over the S was justified (more bearings, external brake adjustment, etc...and it's black...cool), but I couldn't justify the extra bones for the STX. Either way, you can't go wrong. I've tried all three and they're all great reals.

The only thing I don't like about the back is that I tend to cast with more of an underhand throw and I'm right handed....needless to say, I've broken a few hardbaits whacking the side of the boat. You don't realize how much momentum there is at the tip of the rod until you whack the boat. :-[ I've just tried to make a conscious effort to not drop the tip as much during the cast and I also tend to pitch a lot of the time if my target is within range....and yes, that includes pitching a crankbait and spinners with a 6'6" medium action rod....not the ideal setup for pitching, but I've had a lot of practice.

I read somewhere that the difference between using a single hook and a treble hook isn't so much the hook-up ratio, but the mortality rate of the fish. Believe it or not, fish caught with a treble hook have a greater chance of survival that those hooked with a single hook. Aparently, this is due to the fact that the treble hook will only produce superficial wounds around the mouth of the fish BEFORE it can get to the vital organs of the fish. The arguement is that a single hook has more of a chance to be completely swallowed and puncture a vital organ, thus killing the fish. The reason our weedless rigs work so well is because when we set the hook, the tip does not become exposed from the plastic until the eyelet gets to the closed mouth of the fish giving the resistance to expose the tip and hook the fish in the lip. And yes, if all of this is true, the wacky rig would be the most dangerous for the fish. I'm no scientist, just some food for thought that I read somewhere.

I love the Pro Qualifier. I think it's the best rod that BPS makes. I didn't know they were on sale...guess I'll pickup another one....or two.....

I use the modified clinch knot. Here's a link with pics on how to tie most fishing knots: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/community/inthefield/fieldguides/guidebooks-category.jsp?hierarchyId=11049&oiPage=fieldguides

If you did good with the cheap one and liked it, you'll love the Shimano.....and I'm a Garcia fan.

I used it for a while....tried something else.....now I'm going back to sufix. I found that sufix has minimal memory and more abrasion resistance than other brands.

I'm with CFFF, you don't need to remove the spool. And if you have problems routing the line around the spool to tie an arbor knot, just use a dental pick or something to reach in and grab the line. I used to use a dental pick, but now I use my slip ring pliers to grab the line. Just a technique.....

I'm with Farmer on this. I have two 6' M rods; one for topwaters and one for shallow cranks/spinners. I use 6'6" M for medium diving cranks/spinners and 7' MH for jigs, t-rigs, and deep diving lures. But you're gonna get a lot of different answers. All around, 6'6" M is a good choice for most anything.

Ditto...what Chris said. You'll be thankful on a windy day when you need to dial-up the brake...and the SX is a little smoother.

For pond fishing, I like to use a "backpack" type tackle bag. I have a blue-black one I bought at BPS during their Christmas sales. It was like $10 or $15. It might only be something they carried during Christmas, cause I haven't seen it since. The backpack is MUCH easier to carry around a pond than one with just a shoulder strap...especially when you carry as much tackle as I do. :

....here's that study I was talking about: http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20040424/bob8.asp Here's the section about scents from the article: Accounting for taste There's good evidence to support the efficacy of lures that use chemistry to catch fish. Sometimes anglers spray a fishy or wormy scent on a hard-plastic lure, or a soft lure incorporates such feeding stimulants into its material. Once prey has been taken into a bass' mouth, the fish judges its taste and texture and decides either to chew and swallow its victim or to spit it out, says Paul J. Linser, a biologist at the University of Florida in St. Augustine. He and his colleagues are among the researchers who have studied largemouth bass behavior during this final stage of predation. In some of their experiments, the scientists fed bass goldfish and artificial food balls made of gels of varying compositions. Video recordings of largemouths after they had taken up food but not yet swallowed suggested the fish were grinding their food back and forth at the rear of their mouths between tough plates that have short, rasp-like teeththe so-called pharyngeal pads. This chewing action pulverizes relatively soft food such as invertebrates and strips the scales off piscine prey, says Linser. The experiments suggest that bass rely heavily on their sense of taste at this stage of feeding. Microscopic analyses of a bass' pharyngeal pads show taste buds scattered among the teeth. In lab tests where the artificial food balls didn't contain any feeding stimulants such as pureed shrimp or minced fish, bass spit out the ball within 3 seconds. When feeding stimulants were present, even when they made up as little as 1 percent of the food ball, bass held the balls in their mouth longer and swallowed them significantly more often. Lure makers recognize that the longer a fish holds a lure in its mouth, the more likely it is that an angler can set the hook and reel in the catch.

T-rig or carolina rig, rattle, 4/0 Gammy hook, and dip the tenticles in some red garlic dip-n-glo.

If you're going to try the buzzbait, try the double bladed ones. They move a little slower, which would be better this time of year.

I use the smooth ones for one reason only. It's easier to see if your smooth bead has a crack or is chipped. Cause if it's chipped, it'll cut your line.