BigAngus752

I am somehow comforted knowing there is not more than one!

This is where mine comes from. His name was Angus. He patrolled my home all night, every night protecting my wife and children while I spent every night away from home protecting other people’s families. He was highly disciplined and highly intelligent and would have given his life for my family. And he was my best friend. The 752 is my first badge number. I’m retired now and Angus has made the trip to the other side where I’m sure he’s waiting at the gate for me. I honor him by using Big Angus for every forum username.

I know he is knowledgable, has overcome some recent hardships, and I'm sure he has plenty of fans that respect him. It's only my opinion so I won't get into the details of my feelings about him but I don't feel that he has characteristics that I think are important when a person is in a position to influence others, including kids (so this applies to all pro sport athletes). I am not suggesting that he is a bad person. If I were comparing his attitudes, principles, and the comments he makes to a pro football or basketball player he would be up for sainthood! But in comparing him to some of the fishermen I admire most I find that he comes up short...for me. And I've never met him personally so I could be wrong as I only see him in short snippets when he is in "competition mode". And with Ike it is not his excitement. It's much, much more than that. He is not any kind of example that should be followed...again, IMHO. But I am not perfect either. I do, however, know what it's like to be in a bright spotlight and in a position of authority or influence. It's tough but you must portray the right example all the time, no matter what is happening or what you feel at the time. With great power comes great responsibility. James Balwin said, "Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them". That is my yardstick for pro athletes (and anyone "famous") and also for myself.

I love to watch the pro stuff on TV but I don't follow all news/info about the pros as much as some people do. That being said, I don't really feel like I can name one pro that I think of as a "jack of all trades" honestly. Paliniuk would be close to that description. I definitely wouldn't pick Wheeler for that. You can watch him lose over and over to the offshore guys pulling smallies on big water. He can do it but doesn't do well at it. JLee is impressive because he will start off so slow you forget about him and then he figures it out and goodbye everybody. I'd call that ability to figure it out after your plan fails as a jack of all trades I guess. Ewin Evers is like that too. Those are some dangerous guys all day long. When I'm watching them fall in the standings I'm always asking myself, "Why is he sticking with that? Why isn't he trying this? After 2 hours of nothing I would be throwing this". I understand that they have their tactics laid out after practicing and based on experience on those bodies of water, intel from guides/pros in the area, etc. But, man, they can beat a dead horse for hours. Maybe that's actually the right thing to do for reasons that I don't understand. My favorite guys to watch are Greg Hackney, Andy Montgomery, Wesley Strader and the like. They are sitting at the bottom of the standings losing by 50 pounds and they are just doing what they like to do! It's hilarious and I'm so happy for them! They just go fish like they want to fish. If it works out for them they love it and if it doesn't work out for them they sit there and talk about how well the leaders are doing and what great fishermen they are. Always saying, "Good for him!" They are just good sports out having a good time. I really want to be THAT kind of fisherman. I don't want to have ANY of Aaron Martens or Mike Iaconelli in my fishing personality. Great thread @DitchPanda. I look forward to hearing what the more experienced guys think about your questions.

Amen brother.

It's also much easier to judge the quality of the information you are getting (and their intentions) when speaking face to face with someone.

What?! I assumed water in the tropical Republic of California never got below 80 degrees! Nice fish, but I think he's from out of town.

I want to at least get my lure out of the boat before I birds nest...

It's not lack of familiarity that causes my birds nests. It's because I'm trying to cast backwards/off-hand/upside down/over my shoulder into a tiny spot the size of a quarter in between 14 trees, under a bush, in a culvert, next to a waterfall, with the sun in my face, in 40mph wind because: 1. I'm absolutely certain there is a fish there (no I'm not, I'm just guessing) and 2. No other idiot has been stupid enough to try to put a lure in there (except the 78 other guys that hung something up in there before I did) and 3. I want very desperately to get my casting skills into the upper echelons of the greatest casters ever, which requires me to practice stupid things with my lure. If you are one of the greatest casters ever then I applaud and worship you, but your assumption that most backlashes are caused by inexperience or lack of skill is incorrect IMHO. I would estimate that most of them are caused by people taking risks because...well, because we just aren't very bright I guess. Oh, and I never have to cut off Yo-Zuri Hybrid that costs almost nothing for 600 yards. It's my frog rod with 50lb Sufix 832 that costs my first born child for 150 yards.

Tough one!

YOU NO LONGER HAVE AN EXCUSE!!!! Here is my favorite PFD on cyber-sale. Buy it. Wear it. https://www.sportsmans.com/fishing-gear-supplies/life-jackets/onyx-automaticmanual-am-24-pfd-inflatable-life-jacket/p/p34007 Also two ridiculously discounted spinning reels: https://www.sportsmans.com/fishing-gear-supplies/fishing-reels/spinning-reels/abu-garcia-revo-winch-spinning-reel-size-30/p/1671005 https://www.sportsmans.com/fishing-gear-supplies/fishing-reels/spinning-reels/pflueger-patriarch-xt-spinning-reel-size-35/p/1448184

I was looking at the Eyecon for a Ned rod. Any idea what spinning reel they are putting on the Eyecon combo? The other spinning combo is a Revros but the Eyecon just says "5 ball bearing reel" and I can't ID it in the pic.

If you can find your line somewhere else, you aren't going to find better jigs and tungsten weights than here:

For slow techniques when I need to see the line moving I use Ghost (white) and neon yellow. Those are the colors that my old eyes see the best. For moving lures color doesn't matter.

I have some experience with this. If I could give you one piece of advice it would be to try as many firearms as possible, preferably under the guidance of a qualified instructor, and find a firearm that "fits" you. One that is a comfortable size and has a grip angle which fits your natural point of aim. You can ask others if they believe a specific firearm is quality or is reliable, but you can't ask someone else what gun is right for you unless that someone is a professional instructor who has watched you shoot those guns.

That is certainly good information and confirms a lot of what we, as fisherman, tend to believe (or want to believe). I'll keep the info in mind but I have absolutely no interest in Livescope. If that was the only way I was allowed to fish, I would quit fishing for good. But I'm glad that other people use it because it makes for fantastic intel on what we're trying to do.

I'm considering a KRDSPNSDP-610FT1 for a Ned/finesse rod, especially if they have a break on it for Black Friday. Anyone using this spinning rod? I'd love to hear your opinion. What I really want is a Duckett DFPS71M-S Gary Klein spinning rod. I'm afraid I'm being a cheap dumb@$$ again trying to save $80. Any opinions on either rod is appreciated. Edit: I should also say that I have a Fury 703 that I use for Ned rigs. I love the rod, but I prefer it with wacky rigs, weightless or very light T-rigs, etc. I just don't feel like it has the sensitivity I'm looking for. Perhaps I'm shooting myself in the foot by using 6lb mono instead of braid to mono or braid to fluro.

I had a similar experience on a small, electric-only lake near my home. Every guy that fishes there says "white spinnerbaits are the deal here!". I was on the lake this year in my boat and there were three other boats with four fisherman. ALL four fisherman were throwing white or white and chartruese spinners! Two guys in the same boat throwing the same thing! I couldn't believe it. I threw a blk/blue bladed jig and a gray/white lipless. In two hours I caught three bass and one of the other boats caught one bass. That was it. Once word of "the deal" gets around, it's ain't "the deal" anymore...

I have been a Master Firearms Instructor in both pistol and rifle for several decades. I am currently the full-time Rangemaster at one of the oldest police academies in the nation. I can tell you that this is a dream target for an instructor. Someone who has never fired a gun before that has the hand/eye coordination to do this on the first time out is someone who has no bad habits, no hang-ups, hasn't gotten a bunch of "wrong" instruction, and she is a total blank canvas with natural ability. Good for her! I hope she enjoys it and chooses to shoot more. Unfortunately our country has a lot of "experts" who do more harm than good when teaching firearm skills. I hope you can find her a good one, if she's interested, to really develop her natural talent. Well done!

I felt good for figuring this out on this particular occasion, but my mentality about the whole things is that this specific "thing" worked on this specific lake during this specific week. I don't feel like it goes any further than that. It may work again somewhere/sometime else but that's another "thing".

I'll have to remember to try that also. Thank you.

That is a hand-colored Rat-L-Trap. It was originally baby bass color and I threw it over and over on two different fishing trips in the past week and caught nothing but water. On those same trips my best producer was a Cotton Cordell lipless that was dark gray on top and white on bottom . I was curious if it was the different action (the Cordells run much "lighter" and higher in the water with a different rattle sound) or the color. I took the baby bass trap and colored the top half with a black magic marker. I caught 11 bass with it the same day. No mystery any more. It was the color. Before someone comes flying out of their trailer, I readily and wholeheartedly agree that this was in no way scientific or definitive and it could have been any one of many other things that caused this lure to suddenly work after I crayoned it. But I had a good time catching 11 bass. And I'll remember to try different colors if something isn't working.

I threw a lipless at a single, 2in steel pipe sticking out of 3ft of water. I caught a small, 2lb bass. I threw at the same pipe again and got nothing. Third cast was a 17in walleye. Fourth cast was a striper. At first I thought this was funny, unique, and entertaining. After further thought...I started to feel like it was creepy. Where they having a multi-species fish meeting? Where they talking about us? I'm a little concerned...