=Matt 5.0=

Interseting observation Russ. On a side note, when I had freshwater I only fed my Oscars goldfish...also, You can catch Oscars one after another in the Everglades with a Rooster Tail. Just watch out for the gators, but that's another story Sounds like you might be onto something tho.

7643 right now, I'll make a new name when it gets closer to 10k

Nice, I'm trying to talk my wife into a new rod this year. Been looking at some of the GL2's. I have a 10'6 Loomis for surf casting, they are sweet.

Yep, pretty much... 8-)

LOL, nope. No flying lures for me. I do remember the commercials tho. The banjo is the only one I've bought off of TV.

That was the idea! At least I wasn't alone in the closet LOL! ;D

I have one doublebladed buzzbait that has the blades side by side with holes in them. It worked wicked when fishing the Loxahatchee wildlife preserve in North Broward County FLA. I caught a ton of bass with it and quite a few Oscars. I agree, you can slow it down. I honestly haven't used it in a few years...it's in my spinnerbait box. Might have to try it this year.

I voted "just being out on the water"

LOL, that's another topic altogether! Where I grew up in Rhode Island a man wasn't a man unless he had killer hockey hair. ;D

Found another one! My friend Steve on the left, ah the 90's 8-)

Russ, great idea for a thread! When I was 10, a friend and I were out on a local pond, (Green Acres in Moosup Valley) he was about 10-15 ft away from me when I broke through and went under. To this day I vividly remember being under the ice and seeing him reach under and pull me out. You are 100% right, NEVER go out on the ice alone.

I use snaps on all my hard baits, I thought it was just me People have told me in the past it's a no-no, but I've never had a problem so......

Don't be sorry :'( Biggest freshwater bass on the banjo was back in '97 3.5 pounds. Pretty respectable for New England. Caught alot of schoolie Stripes down at the ocean... I take it with me sometimes just for fun, my buddy was laughing at me until I started catching with it.

I had some success when the water was 65* and higher. Pretty clear water. Usually on the white/black or white/gray. Fast retrieve, jerk then stop, jerk then stop. When the bass are more aggressive and willing to chase a bait this thing seems to work pretty effectively. Especially around cover (laydowns, boat docks etc) I tried fishing it slow in the colder water without much luck.

And I've caught some pretty decent fish with it too. I can admit it, I'm a man. Sometimes the bait monkey makes you do crazy things!

I think besides spinnerbaits, I exclusively fished some kind of plastic worm T-rigged last year. Had awesome results with Gulp 6" nightcrawler in Junebug. My fishing partner uses a T-rigged original 7" powerworm in Pumpinseed. Thanx to Brent at *** I have some new stuff to try for '07! ;D Have some of his 5" trick sticks and 4" creature tubes, they look awesome.

No experience with it, but here's some good reading, hope this helps... http://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwafuego.html

Sounds pretty cool, got any pics? I'm a salt water reef geek myself.... 8-)

That's what I'm talking about! Looks good guys! Here's two more... the first is my great grandfather with a striper he caught in back of his cottage on the island of Jamestown in Rhode Island. The picture was taken on September 24th 1939. The fish weighed 39lbs and was 46" long. This was given to me by my grandfather (pic 1 at the top) before he died. The second is an old pic of me from 1991, please let's not comment on the mullet..it was the 90's after all

I guess it comes down to your budget. Have you looked at their website? http://www.gloomis.com

Funny you should mention it Fisher! Continue the tradition and take a kid fishing! That's me again, you can see my grandmother has her hand on my shoulder so I don't go in the drink! I was fortunate growing up to have family on both sides with summer houses on the water.

Thought this might be a neat idea. If anyone has any pics from back in the day when you were learning how to fish, post 'em up! This was taken by my father in 1978. That is my grandfather teaching me how to fish for sunfish and bluegills! You gotta start somewhere! This picture is hanging in our living room and is one of my most prized possesions. I am looking forward to taking a picture of my son with his grandfather at the same spot when he is old enough.

In my old hometown theres a rod and gun club that my dad and I used to belong to. They have a pond that's about 4 acres and it's full of smallies.

On the water, and from my dad, and my grandfather. There was no internet back in 1975. ;D

Bah, this bites. Today we had a dose of reality. High for this afternoon at the house was 19*. Wasn't it just last week we were in the 40's....Ah, to make matter worse, my *** soft plastics just came in the mail. I've already read the BPS catalog from front to back 3 times. I'm still trying to find a hobby that involves frigid temps and snow, it's just that all my hobbies are outdoor spring / summer type stuff! Why did I ever move back to New England??? :'(