Tackleholic

We were off shore from Naples.

I love wakebaits; I have two very full boxes and use them a lot. My all time best producer is the Berkley Wake Bull, but wouldn't you know it is now discontinued; if not, I would add more to the five I still have.

I have never used underspins and I hope you will give me an education; I do have a sizeable assortment of them, unused. Lets say I'm in 40 feet of semi clear water, 55 degrees, no grass, tons of shad balls near the bottom. What is your retrieval method and choice of trailers?

Fishing for snapper and grouper off the Florida Gulf Coast. A Goliath Grouper was grabbing nearly everything we hooked and breaking our lines. The guide gave me a rod with straight 100# braid and we used a red snapper for bait; he snapped the line like a cobweb. For round 2, my partner and I each used rods with 100# braid, hooking another snapper through the lip and under the dorsal fin. The grouper snapped both lines, we couldn't turn him even with the guide engaging the motor to keep up.

I got off track; Trilene XT, Trilene XL, Big Game, and Maxima Ultragreen are all on my shelf.

I keep seeing people with broken rods and even more so I hear people talking about them. I've not broken any since pre-puberty, and that was from shutting a door on two of them; (my Dad was so happy about that). More recently a guide shut the rod locker on the tip of a new Loomis rod, but that's it. Your answers should make some entertaining reading.

6# Tatsu is a great performer, however, it is very limp and hard to see, making it difficult to tie knots with.

How did you do? I told myself there was very little I wanted or needed and would not yield to temptation. Six separate orders from four different sites, and I knew my self discipline had failed me again. Anyone else?

99% of the time I choose my Border Collie as the perfect partner.

My downside to the Megabass 110 is fear! When casting to the bank sometimes I will instinctively stop the lure short for fear of bouncing it off a rock, but I won't change brands. They are the best, and I "may" have nearly as many as A-Jay has.

I'm with A-Jay. I have other brands of Jerks but Megabass is all I buy anymore. Bass in the lake and Brown Trout in the River, Megabass outproduces the others.

My lake doesn't freeze, but I do. Pull my boat from the slip around New Years, have the motor serviced and the boat detailed; remove every last item of equipment and tackle, install any remaining Lowrance updates. Upon completion of these tasks I perform necessities on tackle, then begin loading the boat back up for return to the slip around March 1st. This winter, mostly due to my tackle addiction, I will be adding another 24'x8' section of vinyl slat wall in my man cave.

For you old guys who may remember Homer Circle : I remember him writing about how everyone leaves a different "acid" on their baits just from touching and handling them; the fish would prefer one over another.

Good combo on that Mini-max; I use it myself.

I remember when that river you fish was killed off by a hog farm; I used to live about 35 miles south of you and the Kishwaukee practically ran through my yard. I was told that sediment may never completely disappear.

Coyotes pass through my back acreage every night; so does an occasional bear, bobcat, and cougar. My Border Collie sleeps on my back patio most nights, and has her own doggy door into the house. She chases off and warns all critters to stay away. Whenever she comes running inside and stands by the door growling, I know she has decided something out there should not be confronted. Very smart dog. On the humorous side, last spring she discovered a concealed fawn and the doe chased her inside the house; before that she had never known a deer that wouldn't run from her.

Go fishing; it's supposed to be good for whatever ails you. Seriously, I wish you the best.

They do, but I'm totally catch and release.

Always an empty protein powder container in the boat. There are small containers made specifically for #1, both men and women. People who eat fish from the same body of water that is peed in by themselves and many others cause me to ponder.

When I had natural gas, the hole where the pipe entered the house had not been properly sealed and rusted through between the siding and the inner wall. A lot of the gas was escaping and reducing flow pressure inside the house.

Do you have natural gas or a propane tank? I've had both, and experienced similar problems.

5 SV TW 6 speeds, left hand retrieve.

I'm curious to know if anyone believes a fishing rod could attract a lightning strike.

Me too; no wife.

A-Jay, you have a definite knack for display.