Functional

Since you are from NY/NJ youll understand but I used to work for a utility company up there and heard stories of the divers who worked on the cooling pipes at Indian Point that fed into/out of the Hudson. Couldnt pay me enough...

well at least I know this is common haha! Thank you for the cooking tips, between the cats and the black crappie I end up catching I'll be eating well. Guarantee if I targeted those species I'd never hook one though! Thats a nice looking cat Woody!

I'm beginning to think I'm fishing the wrong areas. Offshore or against shore it seems like I'm pulling in a 8+ lb cat once a month now in my attempt to get bass. Always on a offshore dropoff or a small 3-5' deep flat against shore before a drop off and always on a spinner or paddle tail fluke. This fella weighed 10lbs and put up one hell of a fight. No lie it was a good 10 minutes to get her in, texted my wife right before I put this cast out and when I sent her the pic it was 15 minutes since. Not that I'm really complaining but am I in the wrong areas or is this typical and no one posts about it? I'm going to have to learn how to cook a cat soon if this keeps up.

my brother in law was forced to go to baitcasters because he kept breaking spinning reels from his hard hooksets. He learned it from his father who set the hook so hard one time he fell back and tripped over the row boat seat and ended up looking under the seat with his feet wiggling in the air. ....he did land the fish though.

western and norther NY my best luck has come from a weightless white paddle tail fished like a jerk bait, chug bug popper with white belly walked. Once spawn was done dark colored ribbon tails pegged texas rig and tan lizards carolina rigged.

Again not really hidden since it says right on the rod "spinnerbait" but Dobyns Sierra Micro 703c. Bought it as my first "nice" baitcaster rod hoping itd be sensitive and was let down BUT it worked incredible as a spinnerbait rod. It's now dedicated to spinnerbait use since I use them 50%+ of the time. Sensitive and stiff enough to feel the blades with mono but supple enough to load deep into the blank to keep it pinned very well. Also 100% agree on the ARK tharp series. I havent found something as good until I got a Expride (which is much better).

Nothing, just a lot of grass carp. You go into any shallow area and there are some nice sized carp everywhere. Would be fun to try either lol. Reports I've read say they are sterile grass carp but with the quantity I've seen i find it hard to believe. Just hoping they dont decimate the grass beds.

every time i go to this lake it rekindles my urge to try bow fishing or going out with an ultra light for grass carp. Its incredible the quantity they stuffed into that lake.

Sensitivity: Shimano Expride 7'2MH General: ARK Tharp Hammer Spinner: Sierra micro 7H

last time I was able to get about 4 weeks ago. Had a few hours and a lot on my mind, unhook all the straps to the boat and backed her in. I usually stop when the rear side bunks just go under but decided to float it and make it easier to get off the trailer. Well when I hit the brake the boat kept going...bow strap will surely stop it...and it kept going. Typically the wind blows into the dock but this day it was away and she just kept drifting off. Drift was slow enough I stripped down to my boxers to go in and just got to my waist when my nether region reminded me the water was 40 degrees and there are smarter ways to get the boat (oddly not a sole on the water when you need them). Ran back home (my neighborhood has a dock on this lake so it was a 2 minute drive) threw a kayak in the truck and went back down and towed her in with the kayak. Went back home and changed and went back out to get my first skunk day in many months. For some reason I unhooked the bow strap this time (never do) and will never make that mistake again. Called it quits after 4 hours and took a hot shower and went to trim my beard, dropped the electric trimmer and proceeded to make a pass without checking and shaved my beard off. Me and Lagavulin had a nice night after that.

Was wondering if anyone follows supercross throughout the year and if so was there any interest getting a RM Fantasy BR team together? Depending on interest I may combine this with a Snipers Hide group so its not just 3 people in a group. Im not sure if this would be against forum rules but we could put a little money into. 3rd 10%, 2nd gets 30% 1st's gets 50% and 10% to a the forums or a charity of Glen's choosing? Nothing crazy, maybe a $10 or $20 buy in? Let me know your thoughts, season starts very soon! EDITED: changed the placing and payment scale to work better.

I'll pay attention when I see they are on a body of water and water conditions similar to what I fish. Even then I'll really only pay attention to the technique, profile and color/shade of the bait they are catching them on. From there I usually come here and search for a better scoop on the setups.

Wife got me a Expride and some of my favorite Lagavulin whisky plus a bottle I've been trying to get for a year now. Collected some bps/cabelas cards for $75 to figure out what to buy. Id be happy with just the whisky but it was a good year for sure.

There are some pretty nice lakes to the east of Charlotte and there is Norman north of Charlotte but from everything I see and hear it gets absolutely crazy busy during the summer. I think lake James has striper as well as musky or Northern pike. Opportunities for smallies out that way too. Lake tillery is just east of Charlotte and the state record of 15lbs and some odd Oz came from there. My family lives in the Monroe area so I've fished some there. You'll be fine either way lol.

I was in dutchess County. Never did much saltwater fishing and the part of the Hudson River I did striper fishing was the freshwater part above the Newburg/beacon bridge. I think it was around april they chased the shad going up the rivers to spawn. The roanoak River NE of Raleigh is where they run in NC and you can get them in lake gaston right in the same area. If you wanted a healthy dose of fresh and salt, living between raleigh and the ocean with a bias towards the type you like most wouldn't be a bad idea. Where I live I can be at any of the major lakes around Raleigh in 1.5 hours or less and to the ocean/tributaries in 3. The "famous" lakes in SC are also close enough to enjoy a weekend trip no problem.

Weightless or near weightless paddletail or fluke and fish it like a quick jerkbait skimming the tops of the grass if you wanted to try something non punching.

I use size medium gloves and pending the glove type might even be on the smaller end of medium. The Lews LFS fits my hand like a glove but the MB and KVD reels leave a bit to be desired in brake tuning and light baits (anything 3/8oz up is great). That said I still love the reel for anything bigger than a 5/16oz jig. I recently bought a Shimano SLX MGL70 and while it might be a bit bigger its very comfortable and I quickly bought a second. The brakes tune in better for my style and for a test I've thrown 1/10oz ned rig with TRD without issue. The Diawa Fuego CT is bigger in my hand to both of them and is not all that comfortable to completely palm and get a finger under the line like the LFS and MGL70. Stock spool will throw similar weights as the LFS but the brake system works much better in my opinion. Abu Garcia Revo Rocket is very low profile and more oblong than the LFS and is not comfortable to palm. I've had both the MGL70 and LFS reels on my St Croix victory and both feel very comfortable. If you want to try Shimano and think your glove size is in my neighborhood I think youll enjoy it.

I've always gone with the rule "least mobility gets the priority". Far easier for me to use the TM or big engine to cover a little further down or new area than a bank fisherman or canoe/kayak than for you to walk. Even if I'm there first sometimes I'll see someone pop out of the woods and not know I was there, I'll pack up and be on my way. Kayaker working a shoreline I wont even go a few hundred feet by like I would a boat, I'll just try a new area. Far harder for a kayak or canoe to paddle around me far enough to not cut me off than just avoiding it. I've found some new hot spots this way too, when my normal areas are taken up by others. Not always a bad thing. If I'm up a long narrow channel sometimes its unavoidable passing bank fisherman but I'll always go as far over as I can and throttle down so I dont ruin the spot for them. What drives me up a wall is if I'm working a spot, not moving and the paddleboarders or kayakers coming between me and the shore i'm fishing...or boats/jetskis driving by close enough to throw my shoe at when spot locked in open water. Zero need for either, only time I want someone that close is if my boat is on fire or they are delivering pizza and beer.

Go 17lb floro unless you do mostly 1/4 and 5/16 jigs then I'd say 15. 17 should be easier to manage being a larger diameter and give you some meat to wear through before a retire. InvizX and red label will handle better but abrazeX and sunline assassin should be better with abrasion. My money would go red label or invizx though unless chunk Rock was the bulk of your area. If you didn't have rock I'd say go braid but rock has always broke me off easy.

Not from fishing but similar story. Was at a shooting range and was tuning my gun when there was a guy a few benches over who couldn't any consistent shots and couldn't adjust his scope enough to hit where he was aiming. He asked the ROs for help and they all messed with it and said his scope and rings and rifle were just junk and to get a while new setup. Seemed kind of down and defeated. After they left him I stepped over and asked if he minded if I took a look. (Little background I was doing serious long range competitive shooting and built competition rifles in the side. Lathe, chambering, fitting barrels, bedding, all of it) He said sure why not, started to tear his gun down and just put it all back together. When I got back to mounting the rings I realized one cross bolt was rotated 90 degrees and causing his scope to not sit true or have a great grip. Showed him and explained everything I was doing, boresighted it and his first shot was 3-6" from his aiming point. Made an adjustment and he was dead center and shooting nice groups. He was so appreciative, asked for my number and name to shoot with again. Well fast forward 5 days and the ups guy shows up with a brand new rifle case, shooting mat and range bag. No idea why until he calls me and asks if it showed up today. He researched me and had it all sent as a thank you, mind you he did not buy low end stuff. All total was at least a few hundred bucks. We talked and decided to go take a long range class together and been friends for over 10 years now. Did some research on him after that phone call and turns out he is a really big time lawyer in NYC, and I mean big. Never would have known it by looking at him or talking to him. Great guy.

I fish from a boat/kayak but as far as shallow spots they seem to be around the edges of any remaining weeds, rip rap and on main lake points that go from 3-5' water to "deep" quickly. The ones around me can all be reached from a guy fishing from the shore. Water temps in my area are 47-49 and size tends to be on the smaller side since it went below 52. The shad are all suspended over deep water now consistently and the fish are laying on the bottom below at the deeper points (my lake max is 20' and they seem to be in the 15-18' range now). I'd focus on those 3 spots above if I was on shore and see what happens...Ned Rig has been king lately in those shallow locations.

-If i even think about maybe having to retie, I should retie -learned to move on to a new technique or area quicker instead of trying to force a bite -got really good at the bow technique to un-snag myself -leave everything behind if I want to learn a new technique simple things but I feel I've been progressing quicker with these few things.

I used this knot for a bit and had a rash of breaks with floro and mono. Switched over to the san diego jam knot and no issues. Changed up wrap count and everything but never worked for me. I liked how easy it was to tie but wasnt meant to be. Floro/Mono/Copoly: San Diego Jam Knot Braid: Palomar Leader: FG

When I ordered my expride the discount didn't show in the cart but the discount was applied during the actual charge. To see the discount BEFORE paying just click "pay with paypal" and in the pop up it will tell you the total before you submit payment. MAP pricing is the reason they have to go back door with a lot of this stuff...

Comparing the 3 most recently mentioned I have a Dobyns sierra micro 7' heavy, ARK Tharp Hammer and St Croix Victory Marshal. The Dobyns while a nice rod is not as sensitive as the Victory or Tharp. Has a slower tip and I've put it as a dedicated spinner bait rod and it performs excellently at it. The Victory and Tharp are both paired with a SLX MGL 70 and both feel good in the hand palming it. The Victory offers a little more room for bigger hands but the Tharp's trigger pushes your hand forward a bit more if like me you palm and put a finger on your line. (For reference I typically am in size medium gloves). They are both very sensitive and I have no problem knowing what I'm dragging a jig/trig/shaky head over. Heres the weird parts...I feel i get better bottom feedback from the Tharp overall but I get more pronounced strikes transmitted through the victory. The Tharp you can certainly tell you got a hit but its more of a thud rather than the sharp Tic of the Victory. My feeling is that if the Victory had the blank exposed on the underside of the reel seat (it has covering it) I'd get more pronounced bottom contact feel than I do with the Tharp. The Tharp has a good portion of blank exposed to contact with your hand and I feel that helps get a bit more feedback. Overall I believe the Victory has the better blank, but total execution puts them about even. The Tharp also has a mildly slower tip than the Victory, but ST Croix is known for very fast tips so it makes sense. With the black friday discounts the Victory is at the upper end of your price point and the Tharp will run you about $95 with TW 10% and then BF 20% stacked. While I love my Victory I'd pick up another Tharp before a Victory simply because I dont believe the $80 or so price gap is worth feeling a "tic" over a "thud", I still know I got bit. Had I not picked up a Expride for BF to see what the hype is about I would have gotten a Tharp B-hitty and Money Maker if that says anything. Disclaimer: I have not fished anything above the Victory to say how these stack up agains Exprides and MB rods.