Boomstick

d**n, those are huge!

Like already suggested, you should definitely be soaking your wood in water at least a solid hour or two before use if not overnight, and you can add the wood 10-15 minutes before you add the food not during the preheat. I do have a recipe suggestion. Back when I used to eat meat, I made this somewhat regularly and it was always a hit. Get a chipotle based hot sauce --- Cajohns Bourbon Infuesed Chipotle Habanero is the best I've found and either a pork roast or (beef) spoon roast and soak in the hot sauce. Then smoke with hickory or mesquite wood chips until medium rare.

Way2slow, that sounds like my feet. The only reason I am able to tell that I am wearing shoes is because the only feeling I have in my feet is cold sensitivity and if I'm not wearing shoes, my feet are colder. The thing with neurologists that I learned from experience is you always want a second and a third option at the very least. My girlfriend has pseudo tumor cerebri, and it took several neurologists before she was properly diagnosed. Perhaps even better, I had some shaking in my vision as a kid and neurologist basically told my mom to "call the exorcist".

I am honestly not sure if they would be able to do anything or not as the issues are a known side effect of the drug. I will ask at my next appointment though.

I think all of mine were mostly clear, maybe some were yellow. Never really paid attention to the color to be honest. The oxaliplatin is also the drug that killed my red blood cell count, as well as causing cold sensitivity, numbness and nerve damage. Everything else was tame compared to that as far as longer term effects go.

I am curious has anybody else here went through chemo and ended up with numbness in the bottom of their hands and feet and stiff and painful joints? I did not have any issues with this until the end of my treatment, when I was no longer receiving the oxaliplatin, the drug that causes it. My doctor says it will likely not begin to improve for at least 6 months, and will take years to recover but it's getting worse. It has gotten to the point I can no longer do things like play guitar and I can barely sign my name. I am now worried it might affect my ability to fish come spring. It basically hurts my joints to not keep my fingers straight. I'd be curious if anyone else has been in the same situation and how they managed fishing.

Welcome back, and from the sounds of it I'm glad you're still with us, as this sounds like it was no minor incident. I hope you are able to make a full recovery.

Happy new year everyone! May 2019 not suck half as much as 2018 (at least for me).

Welcome fellow New Englander

Oh my bad. I forgot the OP was only referring to deep drivers. I honestly don't have enough experience with deep divers to tell if the line matters or not but you're probably right but I can attest to getting better depth with shallow diving baits on fluorocarbon.

On spinning gear, I have fished cranks on 20lb braid and even 15lb braid. But on casting gear even on 30lb braid, the line tends to dig into itself and often causes a horrible backlash. If I start to see issues and pull the line out, then I'm good for a while but I just switched to 40lb braid and it's much less of an issue. It's usually an issue when it's below 50 degrees or so. I was happy all summer with 30lb braid, but I figure since I can change out braid every three years, I'll just run 40lb and be happy in the spring and fall.

There is more than just diameter however. Braid does in fact float depending on the braid, and suspends when pulled down, but can easily be a smaller diameter. I would wager you end up with similar depth between the two if you put it to the test, assuming you are comparing something like 40lb braid (which is the min I would use in the colder climate areas realistically) to 12lb fc - I would put my money on the flurocarbon to get better depth in this case. Now comparing 15lb braid vs 15lb flurocarbon is something else entirely. Sufix 832 is a good braid for cranking as it sinks more than some others. I personally prefer cranking with fluorocarbon or mono but braid works too. I would just get a medium rod if using braid to compensate for its zero stretch. The glass version of the Daiwa Tatula 7'2" MH/R with 15lb flurocarbon has worked extremely well for me with crankbaits and spinnerbaits and chatterbaits up to 1/2oz. I would highly recommend the same rod if you are looking for an all around cranking stick. I use it with a Tatula SV 6.3:1 reel.

Grats! It's always nice when you can win free stuff

I feel much better today! The chills remain but other than that I feel normal now.

The Norman Fat Boy fished on mono line would be a good choice for more aggressive fish. KVD Shallows also work well all year round.

I have heard of a lot of people running a drop shot on heavier lines (and sometimes larger hooks), it doesn't have to be a finesse technique. 50# braid does seem a bit overkill to me though even for a heavier presentation but who knows, maybe it does work for him. It's not something I have ever tried myself. I use what I consider middle of the road gear, roughly $100-150 a rod and reel, yet I have seem people who catch more than I do and never use anything besides a Berkley Shock Rod. I also appreciate this forum as everyone is understanding and respectful of other people's budgets and always very helpful.

I picked up the St. Croix Mojo Bass Topwater rod which is 6'8" M/XF for top water. The advantage of a XF rod is that it will give the lures a better action at the sacrifice of hookup ratio. That said, there does seem to be a decent amount of play in the Mojo Bass topwater rod -- although I have not got to try it yet.

Today, I had a turkey dinner but unfortunately I am getting sick, so I didn't eat much

For Christmas eve, I made beer battered flounder. It was only my second time attempting to make fish fry, and the first time called for 2 eggs but I think they meant to say egg whites because it just tasted like egg with the yolks. This time I went with a more traditional beer batter and used Elysum Bifrost winter all which is a bitter pale ale and it came out very good!

Merry Christmas to you and all of the other forum members as well.

I'm admittedly a Daiwa and Pflueger fan boy, but Shimano, Lews, Abu Garcia etc are all pretty good too. My go to casting reels are the Daiwa Tatula SV for added breaking, the Tatula CT (budget option) or Pflueger Supreme XT for distance, and for spinning reels there isn't much that a more expensive reel will have to offer over the Daiwa BG but the Daiwa RG or Pflueger President is a solid option on a budget. I got my oldest son a Shimano Curado K and my youngest a Pflueger Supreme XT which is not only cheaper, but brakes better, casts further and is a smoother reel all around. The only thing the Shimano might have on it is possibly a more even drag -- not that the Curado is a bad reel or anything, I was just surprised how much I liked the Supreme XT.

I think I recall reading there was some changes in '16 but as far as I can tell, those seem to be actually in the colors offered. It could be hot pink with a hello kitty wrapper for all I care as long as it lets me get on the water and fish comfortably! I got it all figured out now. If I get a long term loan for a low payment, I can the my extra paycheck I get two weeks a year on it, and I'll have it paid off in no time

That's disappointing, but nothing that I shouldn't be able to resolve either. I can work with that.

Does anyone know the differences over the different model years for the Ranger RT188? I found a few good used ones that I might actually be able to swing this year and most of them are '14 or '15s so I'm curious if they made any major improvements say for the '16 model year that would be worth holding out for.

The only problem you're likely to have is if you use braid, the leader knot will likely get hung up on the microguides. The difference is the handle and the guides but all around both are sold for soft plastics.