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Was watching Fishing University this morning and caught Tuf-Line's free spool offer. Just pay $4.99 shipping. No experience with Tuf-Line in any form so I decided to give it a try. Turns out your choice is either 12# (6# mono equivalent) or 20# (10# mono equivalent). Just so happens I had planned on trying some 20# on my PE Line Special. Line isn't as small a diameter as other super lines. In fact from what the Tuf-Line representative said about the line, it isn't a braid at all. Offer is here: http://www.tuf-line.com/free-line.php Curious as to what those of you who have used the line think about it? Was it worth the $4.99 investment? Thanks.

We would like to thank everyone that helped out with donations for the Special Olympics and the overwhelmingly positive response we got on the forums. Today the weather in Harrisburg at the time of the plunge was approximately 30 degrees with 20mph winds. PERFECT! There were 5 waves of people that did the plunge, this is the video for Lauren's (my wife's) wave. You'll notice her in the middle of the frame, blue shirt jumping up and down attempting to stay warm. Note the CAST for Kids T-shirt, another favorite. More than $117k was raised for Special Olympics. Because of everyone's help, we were able to raise $500 toward that amount. There were some athletes there from Special Olympics and they really seemed to be enjoying the cold weather as much as everyone else. Enjoy and thanks again!

Well now how about.... It's a Beautiful Day, Jethro Tull and The Who in that order...all this was back in the day.....Then there was Led Zeppelin with about 75-100 in attendance, hell you could walk over to the bar get a drink and then go stand under Robert Plant while he performed with the rest of the band......

Never thought a little lake, more like a pond would hold a big bass! I was casting a white swim jig, I made a cast, lure hits the water and less than a couple seconds I thought I snagged a stump. Felt movement on the line and set the hook...it felt heavy. After a few seconds of fighting this bass it jumps out of the water....didn't know there were people behind me seeing it all go down. I was astonished when I landed this bass, I'm guessing 5-6 lbs. Wow, that was a few seconds of too much fun! I think what happened is the swim jig landed on top of the bass, I must have thumped the bass on the head and ticked him off to bite...well that's the fishing story I'm sticking with! I should add, personal best in So Calif

wow you need to send Shane J a pm and ask him to take you out! nothing will help you develop faster than being on the water with a knowledgeable person that can also EXPLAIN what he's doing. bribe, case of beer, hot dinner, gas money...do what it takes to get out with him! you'll probably learn more being out with him 2 outings than a season fishing by youself

I pitch with every rod I own...........it's just a type of cast. But to get specific, if I am pitching, say jigs or t-rigged plastics to visable targets or weed pockets I most often use a 7' MH/F casting rod.

Cool vid. I am still diggin that little boat.

Sweet dude!! Thanks for sharing. Is a camera mount coming soon?

Very nice fish. Had she spawned yet? Chris

I'd love to take kids bass fishing. But it's hard to choose whom to take from the local playground.

My dad used to play Billy Bobs, (which for those of you who dont know is the worlds largest Honky Tonk), every Friday and Saturday night for a good 8 months. His band opened for the main stage of the night. I have seen just about every band/artist in the country music business. We would sit on the back of the front stage and watch the concerts for free. My favorite though would have to be the George strait/ Blake shelton Concert and Cowboys stadium a few years ago. First event there after it opened. Blake Shelton was awesome. I actually love rock/ metal more than country. I have just never been a concert type of guy though. Only reason I have seen so many is because they were free and I was there. If I could go back in time though I would go see Pantera and Metallica. I would still love to see Staind, Disturbed, Godsmack and so many others. I probably never will spend the money on a ticket though when I could spend it at TW.

Here's more info: http://www.bassresource.com/beginner/Carolina_Texas_Rig.html http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/carolina-texas-rig.html http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/carolina_rig.html http://www.bassresource.com/hank-parker-fishing/carolina-rig.html http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/Texas_Carolina_bass_fishing.html That should keep you busy for awhile.

Top water is my favorite, the Rage Tail shad is my bait of choice for top water fishing. Nothing better than watching a big fish slam that bait.

i use 50 lb braid tied to a swivel with 10 lb flouro. 1/2 to 3/4 lead sinker with bead. 2/0 ewg gammy hook. I drag my creature bait and pause at the end of my drag. on hook set i always set by reeling down and hooking to the side. i dont miss or lose alot of fish this way.

If you had been using a st croix rod with a diawa reel you would have landed that beast. Time for an equipment change.

That is exactly where my BPS money goes. Probably more than I even make. I am retired, and that was the very reason I wanted to work at BPS, to feed my fishing addiction. It works out real well for me. Hootie

I use braid for everything, and tie fluorocarbon leaders on as needed.

So I went out fishing yesterday afternoon to a new spot near my house I found using Google maps... and I think I may have found my first Honey Hole :-) I was there for an hour and a half, I hooked 6 fish (lost 4) where one must have been a monster; my poor 6'6" Light rod nearly bent in half!!! The fish was fighting HARD, and when I finally lost it, the bottom of my hook was curved about 1/8 of an inch sideways!!! What a thrill that was!!! In the time I was there, I must have had around 10 to 12 bites. Again, I hooked 6 fish but lost most due to me sucking and them jumping out of the water and spitting the darn hook out! Anyways, I'm heading back there tomorrow afternoon around 4pm and will spend 2-3 hours, see what I'll catch this time :-D The great thing about this spot is that it's in a small park that's mostly empty, had good canal access (including a huge pipe that's partly above water, so I can stand on it and really cast along the bank), total of 4 or 5 nice spots along 50 yards of access, and it's at a junction of two canals. I was throwing senkos at the intersection of two canals directly underneath a large palm tree (Areca palm I think?) that was on the corner, and every few casts my line would just GO! First cast of the day, senko lands and 2 seconds later I see my line lifting from water and loosing slack. I'm thinking to my self: d**n wind! Then it hits me "There's no wind!!!" Real in the slack and bam! Fish on! Fish on! OMG I'm pumped! Can't wait to go there tomorrow! On the other hand I fished along the lake at the southern part of Tradewinds Park off of Sample Road and got totally skunked! Though I did see right in front of me a small bass come into the shallows and chase fry! It was awesome! There were tiny ponds caved into the side of the lake and the bass swam into one and was spinning in circles catching the fry trapped in the little hole! Anyways, wish me luck tomorrow! I'll be using senko and green fluke to spice things up :-)

The PQ's are awesome reels. I picked up 5 before Christmas. They had them for 80. I have heard they have had them on sale as low as 60-70 before. I believe the way these reels perform, that they are a steal at 80.

i started out power fishing b/c its so heavily advertised on tv, youtube etc. plus chuck'n'reel'n is fun. but it really shines in spring and fall. you get skunked alot in summer and winter. there are exceptions but generally the heat of august isn't a good time to burn a double bladed spinnerbait in a small pond w/ little oxygen. i started looking for better techniques. i can't tell you how many times i walked up to guys on the water and they pulled out their cell phone to show me monster fish. i asked the same question everytime: what did ya get'm on? the 2 most common answers= 2 great techniques: senkos and jigs. most guys told the same story. just cast it out and let it sit. KISS keep it simple stupid. i started catching much bigger and better fish year round. and also came to the realization that big fish are big/fat b/c they don't like to chase down fast moving lures. i now love bottom contract lures. move to smaller plastics and lighter weighs if the bite is tuff or if ur in small ponds. start with dead sticking and very slow dragging, always keeping bottom contact, moving 8-12" at a time. adding long pauses in between drags drives them crazy. sometimes you'll get snagged on a rock and have to pop it free. that will trigger a bite. take note b/c then you know they want a short/violent burst after the pause. dead sticking a drop shot (3" grub) usually gets you bites in any fisher, year round. let the current do the work. you can speed up retrieves from spring thru fall. i'd recommend experimenting with power techniques in spring and fall...and keep bottom contact techniques as a foundation year round. fill out ur profile so people know what region you live and you'll get more replies. and read this: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/13845-guaranteed-to-catch-bass/

Do you have a Walmart locally? Take a look at the Lighting Shock rod from Berkley. Made for super lines, split grip, decent reel seat, and 40 dollars to boot. Also the Shimano Sellus is a good 50 dollar rod. I may end up getting the top water rod next week with a PQ too.

Okay so I had a shimano crucial spinning rod that was broken for a while and I took it back today..they replaced it with a new one and I now I have a new rod with tags and all..but I mostly use baitcasters today..trying to figure out what route to go in getting a baitcaster in place of it..a friend of mine uses spinning rods alot and he has a quantum code and rod he's trying to push on me for it ? Anyone use them much? I know there not that expensive but I thought about trading with him just because he wants it so bad..opinions?

I suppose when you are the best player to ever play a sport, you get to call the shots. Nothing wrong with MJ not wanting to play with someone he thought was a dirty player (which Isaiah was)

Try senkos or fat ikas to begin with. greenpumkin and watermelon colors

[quote name="ChunkNWind13" post="1233399" timestamp= Ive seen this a few times, especially with weightless flukes and things like that when we were retrieving at a faster pace. A smallie would come up and smack it but not eat it, we'd let it sit for a couple seconds, move it again, and theyd come back and drill it. Not a constant eating strategy, but I look for it when I am not hooking up on the initial bite.

Well, it sounds like you might need to reconsider the equipment you are using.

Line: Berkley Trilene Maxx.... Anyone who has used it knows why... x2. Only line I ever used that could cause a bird's nest on a spinning reel. Repeatedly.

I put on 15lb braid on mine and would add a leader with flouro or PLine if the situation required something more subtle.

St Croix LTB Big Cranker + Abu Garcia gen 3 winch

Transfers well, frays like h#ll

As Teal stated, better blanks and guides. With that said, I can tell you that I could fish just about any presentation with no problems using a Berkley Lightning Shock rod. I can say that because I have done it for a long time, I had to give them up due to the cork, it just gives me the heebies when I touch it now for some reason. I had no problem mounting a Curado or Chronarch on one and throwing jigs or any bottom contact bait. I could feel everything, but it wont slap you in the face the way a $200 rod will Im sure. I have found that I can feel everything just fine with a $100 Shimano Compre, and dont need to go any higher than that for a rod. My theory is that a reel is going to take a beating, and is going to be the machine behind job. If you want a good machine to perform flawless, your gonna need to spend some $. $150-200 is expected for a good reel. Now dont get me wrong, the PQ is a great reel for $90, but it aint no Revo S, Curado, or Chronarch. As for the rod, well lets just say you can slam it in a car door and its all over with, lol.

Your legally caught fish is entirely your business what to do with it, throw it back, eat it or mount it. For the ones that have an opposite view, let them do as they see fit. I c&r as I don't like the taste of bass, wouldn't eat anything out of these Florida freshwater canals and as mentioned above mercury content, especially for pregnant women, and it just isn't bass, some saltwater species too like swordfish. If I'm not going to keep them I certainly won't leave them on the bank, sure I'll toss one to a bird once in while, just for the sake of thinning them out. I don't want the flies, the buzzards or any other critter coming to feast on them, that may be health issue.

The sojourn blank for about $29 is pretty darn good, mine is a heavy 12/25 lb with a cabo 30 reel and 20# braid, bear in mind it's a freshwater rod and I've replaced a few guides due to corrosion a couple of times. This is one of my barracuda outfits, I do have another with 14# mono line, more line capacity reel but on a mh rod. Being in Florida I no longer fish for stripers, but have spent much time in N.J and on Long Island catching them, so I'm familiar. On a 4000 sized reel I'd pick braid 95% of the time, the exception is when I'm using lures that rotate a lot a put quite a bit of line twist on, closing the bail by hand will not prevent twist, only loops caused by your line not being taut on the first crank. I'd probably use 20# braid, should have no problem with your average striper which may be 10-15#, when you hook that 50 pounder it's time to see what you are made of.........lol. The key is to get past that first run, then ya got them licked.

Has it ever occurred to the idiots of your state legislature that they have no definition of what a "rubber" bait is? In addition, do they have a definition of what a "plastic" bait is? Since 99.9% of all lures these days are manufactured from either a pliable or ridged "plastic," it would appear to me that the only recourse for your idiot legislators is to ban everything but live bait.

I think it depends on what technique you are doing. A great rod will change your fishing forever!

Right now every time I cast it,it bounces on the ice. I'll let you know when we get some soft water up here.Swimming it in the bathtub doesn't do it justice.

I know many times when someone outfishes me it is because they are a better fisherman.

My neighbor came over yesterday to drop off a thank you gift for helping them during the hurricane. Somehow we got to talking about fishing and she told me her father was a more than avid fisherman. I told her I fish local tourneys & showed her my collection of lures, rods, & reels. When she saw how obsessed I am she revealed a little secret. She said she has tons of tackle that her father left to her, but she refuses to sell it because she believes that it deserves to go to a good home where it will be appreciated & used. She then invited me over to the house & handed me a canvas shopping bag & said take what you like =) I ended up with some real gems. I got a handful of handmade spinnerbaits with triple crescent shaped hammered blades. Some cedar wood rapala, bagley, & handmade crankbaits & jerkbaits. Some jitterbugs that make the ones on the shelves in stores now look like garbage, and possibly my favorite out of all the hard baits was the Zara Spook made from balsa wood, with a glittered texture on the sides that looks like a baitfish losing scales. All of this on top of a ton of custom jigs, both rubber & hair, roostertails, and a lure called a frontrunner that I had never seen before. Add to this bags full of spoons for saltwater and salmon fishing, and hundreds of soft plastics, I could'nt take the smile off of my face as I thanked them again and again! Cant wait for tournament season to roll around again!!!

Those anglers looking for Rockfish (Striped Bass) would do well to bring a supply of 3/4 oz. Rat-L-Traps in White/Red Head or Chrome/Black Back. And make sure you are using 20+# mono or braid. These fish are big and powerful. There are a number of Rockfish running around the Potomac River trailing 100+ yards of my line after spooling me. None recently, but when I was a young pup, I loved to fight 14-20# Baltimore Bluefish on 4-12# mono. Figured that if I could hook and land a 19-8# bluefish on 4# line and ultra-light, I could do the same with Rockfish. Found out quite quickly that that is not exactly true. Eventually got it through my thick head that you have to have 20+# line to tangle with these fish. NBHA Charlie

I got the bps stalker bag for christmas and can fit about 20 bags with room to spare and it can hold 5 370 or 8 360 size boxes. http://www.basspro.com/XPS-Stalker-Tackle-Bag-or-System/product/10221672/

No offense to anyone, but the pitchers and flippers pretty much struck out at the lake today in the FLW. The "sticks" that know the Lake topped out at about 12-14# and most less than 10#. It's litterly like the more you "know" the Lake the worse you are doing. Roland caught one for 1-1/2! Scott had like 9#.. tharpe like 10#. That all tells you something. Whatever anyone thinks is happening with the spawn I think is off. There may be anecdotal reports of beds etc but it hasn't happened yet in any large manner yet, unlike other years by this time of year. Maybe it could turn on with this new moon this weekend but I don't know. Winning bag total will be less than 90 and maybe less than 80 IMO. The Lake is confusing even the best

LOL, he was working at a car wash. I'd return the key, and look for a legit job.

I fish Pohick a lot. In August it will be full of grass. I normally like to fish early morning and late evening in August. I have a 14 ft Jon that I fish out of but many times prefer my kayak since I can access water that the bass boats can't. If you look at google maps of pohick there is a creek due west of the ramp and one north. Much of those creeks can only be fished from a canoe or kayak. I usually take 1 rod having a frog ( horny toad, scum frog, spro frog) and 1 with a trick worm or senko tied on. When the tide is up the fish have a lot of cover to hide in. As the tide falls the fish will move out of the lily pads and drop into the grass in the creek channels. If the last 2 hours of the falling tide occurs between 6:00-8:30 pm it can be fast and furious in those creeks. And there are a lot of snakeheads in those creeks. They like the topwater baits and it's a lot of fun when they hit. Another thing to consider is the rod and line you fish topwater baits (frogs) with. I use a 7'6" med-heavy bps bionic blade with a hi-speed reel spooled with 50lb braid and tie directly to the braid. The fish always try to bury in the grass and you need a stout rod to keep there heads up and ski them back to the boat.

About 95% of 50 lbs. of plastics I have in my boat.

PQ's all the way!

Easy.. 7'0 MH fast rod, 6.3:1 reel. That is your all purpose , fish anything set up.

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm452496640/nm0000136

Still easy to find, but I still get alot of production off of the ol' Jitterbug in black. Its a lure that has been lost in the shuffle for a long time with alot of the new topwater designs and with the impact that hollowbody frogs. I cant put my finger on it exactly, buy theres alot of times that the bronze eye or LiveTarget cant get it done, then ill put on the jitterbug (on my frog rod) and start getting vicious bites.

snag em with a big treble hook

Here's one for us ole timers..... Couple in their nineties are both having problems remembering things. During a checkup, the doctor tells them that they're physically okay, but they might want to start writing things down to help them remember… Later that night, while watching TV, the old man gets up from his chair. 'Want anything while I'm in the kitchen?' he asks. 'Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?' 'Sure..' 'Don't you think you should write it down so you can remember it?' she asks. 'No, I can remember it.' 'Well, I'd like some strawberries on top, too. Maybe you should write it down, so as not to forget it?' He says, 'I can remember that. You want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries.' 'I'd also like whipped cream. I'm certain you'll forget that, write it down?' she asks. Irritated, he says, 'I don't need to write it down, I can remember it! Ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream - I got it, for goodness sake!' Then he toddles into the kitchen. After about 20 minutes, The old man returns from the kitchen and hands his wife a plate of bacon and eggs.. She stares at the plate for a moment. 'Where's my toast ?'