Glaucus

The main setup I've been fishing this season is a 7' MH/F with a 6.4:1 reel spooled with 30lb Power Pro to a 15lb Big Game leader. Absolutely no problems.

I'm naturally right handed and I fish what is technically considered left handed according to the industry. It makes no sense to me. My dominant hand works the baits and handles the fish and my weak hand reels. That sounds right handed to me, but whatever lol.

NDYakAngler uses Quantum Smoke reels and I've never seen him have a problem or complain. He uses Legend Tournament rods, too, so he's not using mediocre equipment.

H/F casting MH/F casting MH/MF casting M/MF casting M/F spinning ML/F spinning You will do well with essentially everything you encounter with these rods.

5 month update. I'm completely healthy and doing well. May it be God's will that I stay that way with COVID-19 creating havoc here at home and around the world. Sad news. My wife left me for someone who I used to claim as a friend exactly 8 days after I posted this. He took the opportunity to slither in like a snake and I guess everything else was too much for her to handle so she made her choice too. Needless to say the plans to move to Tennessee as a family are not going to happen. I have since moved out of Illinois and into Indiana (as of March). I've begun to see a woman who enjoys fishing as much as I do. I'm hoping to get back to the little ones back across the border here soon as things (perhaps foolishly) begin to open back up. Caught a couple jig fish the other day. Life is good, truthfully.

KVD 1.5 in Chartreuse/Black and Sexy Shad. Give me a rock or sand bottom and *I won't use anything else* from May to September. April and October are wildcards; depending on the year and how spring and fall play out, they could be included. Only rock and sand bottoms, though. Mostly in rivers. *Exaggeration, but they're that good.

It doesn't need to be broken in. Even KVD LL will do little for braid. It's limp by nature.

I was finally able to really get out and fish with COVID-19 and the weather creating problems. Only caught 2, but it was nice. Both on a 5/16oz Dirty Jigs Finesse Jig with a Baby Rage Craw trailer. The better fish is pictured.

I wouldn't even worry about replacing parts on an inexpensive reel honestly. Just get a new one because other things are bound to go wrong once one thing does.

You're using too light of line for a baitcaster, especially with it being just your second one.

I have a love/hate relationship with spinnerbaits. 90% of the time they are hot garbage, but 10% of the time they're the only lure I want, so I'm essentially forced to keep some around.

What I'm about to say, I say with God as my witness. It is the most astonishing thing I've ever seen and proves that fish are far more intelligent than we believe. You can train and condition them. There is a pond I used to like to fish, but it was TOUGH. As I'm fishing it one of the locals, whom I actually count as a friend, came to the park with his child. He asked if I wanted to see something cool. Well of course I do! He breaks out the package of hotdogs, slaps the surface of the water and wiggles it around, and a bass CAME UP AND LIGHTLY TOOK THE WHOLE THING FROM HIM AND SWAM OFF! He said they do it all the time. No wonder it was barely fishable. I've never gone back. It's a waste of time. Those fish don't care about lures. They take hotdogs from people like they're dogs.

In my opinion you can tell when you get an older President vs a newer President. The newer ones are flimsy with horrible line lay. The older ones are stout tanks with no problems at all. That's what I assume it is anyways, older vs newer. No other explanation for why I've gotten some that are built well and some that are more plastic-y and cheap.

I put the line through the guide of my reel, tape it down, turn the handle, remove the tape, and then simply do a couple of overhand knots in the center of the spool. I've never had an issue. You should never get that far down into the spool on a cast. I know some guys claim they can spool a full reel, but no comment.

I love to hate spinnerbaits. They don't work 90% of the time but that other 10% of the time it's the only lure I want.

Yeah I really like the rivers in late winter and early spring over anything else. The SMB are much more active when it's colder than the LMB are. But LMB in rivers behave differently than lake and pond LMB too. Traditionally they have always been way ahead of their lake and pond siblings. The last week of March some 10 years ago or so produced my best river day ever and it was all LMB here in IL. I stopped counting after 40 something. 3/16oz spinnerbait.

2-3 years ago I was fishing a lipless in some high winds. The winds took my cast into the cattails. I yanked and yanked and it finally came flying back at my face. Smacked me right below my eye. How it didn't hook me is a miracle. I'll never not wear glasses while fishing again.

Like so many people his behavior is determined by the circumstances he finds himself in. It takes great discipline to always be the same person.

I'm at 95% and ready to rock. Hoping for the best season yet.

I just do an uni. You'll never reach the backing and if you do something is wrong. Same as how I just do a couple overhand "knots" to tie it to the spool.

Was the Iaconelli book typed in all caps?

Same. There is a sweet spot where you can catch bigger fish while also catching a lot of fish, and that's where I like to be. I'm in this for fun, and catching is fun. I don't want to grind it out with big baits in the hopes that I can entice one big one to bite, and I don't want half my bites to be panfish.

Salt has destroyed many of my hooks. Z-Man hard baits/jigs are especially heinous, and not just with Elaztech.

I was reintroduced to a problem tonight after I got back from fishing that I've been trying to solve for awhile. Perfectly good trailers on jigs, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, etc. You put a trailer on something, don't get bit, it's still in perfectly good condition, and now you have a choice: keep it on and chance rusting your hook or take it off and the keeper shreds the plastic and ruins it. Zero fish, lost money. Is there a solution I'm missing?