Tokyo Tony

I know it wasn't your question, but just another suggestion if you're targeting trout, and I've praised this bait for trout in many other threads, but give the 3" Berkley Powerminnow a shot on a 1/8 oz jighead. You can really work it effectively at any depth, and I've been slammin' them lately on that bait. For spinners my fav's are Blue Fox, silver or gold with white bucktail and a dash of red.

Well seatrout will hit anything at all that moves, and I don't see why a gunfish wouldn't work as well as a Sammy or a Spook for reds. Let us know how it goes when you get a chance to try them out

I don't have this setup (yet), but... Loomis GLX PR844C Daiwa Steez 12lb Yo-Zuri Ultrasoft clear If it has to be one I have, then... Daiwa Capricorn St. Croix Premier PC70MF 12lb Yo-Zuri Ultrasoft clear or 50lb PowerPro w/ 4' 15lb random flouro leader 1. 3/8 oz Black/blue/purple Stanley Flateye Jig and black w/ red flake Zoom superchunk 2. 5" Watermelon Senko 3. LC Pointer 100 Ghost minnow 4. 3/8 oz white/silver Chatterbait 5. LC Sammy 100 Aurora black

I'm convinced that scents make a difference in that the fish hold on to scented plastics longer, which means more room for error on the fisherman's part. I never throw plastics without MegaStrike. As for salt-impregnated plastics, the saltiness doesn't wash off after a couple casts. Next time you're out (in clean water), make a few casts with a Yamamoto Senko, then taste the bait. Still salty and delicious . I think this makes a difference to the bass. I'm not sure whether or not softness makes a difference besides the fact that softer baits generally have livelier action. But I don't think softness makes the fish hold on longer.

I want to gain a lot of confidence with Rattletraps. I know they're producers, but I haven't really used them a lot so I just need to nab a few fatties.

Booyah makes bucktail spinnerbaits and jigs. I'm not a big fan of their bucktail spinnerbaits, but they do make them as small as 1/8 oz. http://www.lurenet.com/productdetail.aspx?id=bywbt18617 I too like using mini spinnerbaits for smallies, and my favorite is 1/8 oz Strike King white with single small Colorado blade, quick retrieve either bulging it or maybe 6" under the surface in shallow water. They bust it!

I sold my soul for a hundred bucks :-/ Seriously though, I can't think of something I REALLY regretted selling, but my grandmother owned an awesome house right on the water in the Florida Keys, and she sold it about 6 years ago. I mean, this house was amazing, and so close to such awesome fishing that it still hurts a lot to this day when I think of it. I know for a fact that she really regrets selling it too. Man, what a mistake. You could take a ten minute boat ride to an awesome breakfast joint then go bonefishing, and when you got tired of that you could go catch tarpon or snook or redfish or any number of awesome fish. Then when you were done with that you could go swimming in the canal and spearfish for snapper or catch Jacks and sometimes tarpon on topwaters in the canals. Going to bed at night on the screened-in porch you could hear the tarpon rolling in the canal. :'( *Edit* Also, it was an hour boatride from Flamingo (awesome Everglades fishing) and an hour and a half boatride from Miami.

You can thank the leftists for that. Years ago, "Merry Christmas" was standard. Now when someone says it to me, even though I love that people still say it to strangers, it strikes me as a risky thing to say, and I hate that.

Merry Christmas Glenn and Mods! You guys do an amazing job and this site is unbelievably top-notch

No I meant #20 or #30 flourocarbon - but you answered my question anyway How about #130 braid? ;D

I also use Google maps more just because it's a lot faster than Google Earth. I've found some really solid ponds I never would have known existed, and also even found some underwater rocky humps and rocky points I didn't know were there in some of the bigger lakes. What a great program

This is a really good line, but it has noticeably more stretch than Ultrasoft, is not quite as abrasion resistant, and not as strong for the diameter. It is definitely more manageable and a little less visible than Ultrasoft, however. So given that, whatever you think is more important, go with that.

Recently I've been doing a bunch of trout fishing and experimenting with different pound tests and colors (green vs. clear) with Yo-Zuri Ultrasoft. The trout stream has crystal clear water and I've been using little 3" Berkley Powerminnows (awesome awesome baits for trout in case you didn't know). I've found that the trout are sensitive to line color, that I get significantly more bites with clear line, and more bites the lower I go in pound test (makes sense right?). I've tried #6 green and clear #4 clear and #2 clear, getting more bites as you go down the list I just mentioned. Went out yesterday and got more bites with the #2 clear - and it's a blast catching them on such light line too Just looking at the line below the water you can see the green a lot more easily than you can see the clear, so I'd say if you're fishing clear water, stick with clear line.

Good to know, thanks for the info When I do get over to Erie I'll definitely keep that in mind. What pound test would you say would be good for resisting the cutting? Start at #15 or #20?

Double uni knot is good for that, also an Albright special. No leader you use will be more abrasion resistant than braid, IMO, unless it's very heavy line, but the visibility factor may be enough to warrant using a flouro leader.

Welcome to the forums ;D As for your question, it depends on what types of baits you'll be throwing and the cover you'll be fishing. It sounds like your setups are fine, but it really just comes down to whether or not you're able to cast your baits far and accurately. If not, you may want to downsize your equipment.

I LOVE my gripper/scale. This one's a bit more expensive than the one you're looking at, but IMO a very good investment. I've had mine over a year, and after a bunch of abuse, it's still good as new. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20166-cat90002&id=0036864018232a&navCount=2&podId=0036864&parentId=cat90002&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=XH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat90002&hasJS=true It has been invaluable to me not only for estimating fish weights, but mostly for dealing with crazy smallies with mouths full of Gammy trebles. Also great for getting pickerel/pike off the line without getting bitten or slimed. The 15lb version is the one I have, and if a CT bass maxes that baby out I'll post the article ;D

They go bust because they put it all on the line. But how much do you think these guys are up over their lives in poker? A crapload for sure... 'Gambling' implies an uncertain outcome. In the longrun, the outcome is not uncertain. In any given night, it is uncertain. So in any given night, it could be considered gambling, but not in the long run. And when a newbie dominates the table during a 2 or 3 hour session (which I see all the time), it's not because of skill. He gets good cards. But put him at the table for a month and he'll be worse than broke.

In any given night, yes, it could be considered gambling. But over the long run, whether that's a year or several years, if you make better decisions than your opponents, there is literally zero chance you can lose. I always play within my limits, never have more money on the table than I'm willing to lose. Ever. You're not playing against the house. I would never play a table game against the house. There is literally zero chance you can win in the long run. But poker is a game of skill, just like fishing. If you play Hold'em and are drawing to a flush on the flop (first three community cards), and you have better than the approximate 5 to 1 odds to call, and you call (or raise in some situations depending on the fold equity or possibility of a free card - also when you factor the possibility of someone drawing to a higher flush or a full house), that's a good move. If you have less than 5 to 1 odds and you call, you're not a good poker player and you will lose in the long run. Of course, you may get lucky and hit that flush, but the pot you win will not have been worth the risk. Poker is playing the odds, and when you play the odds correctly over the long run, you can't lose. Any given hand, and any given night, poker could be considered gambling. But it's not gambling in the sense that blackjack or craps is, just because in those games you're playing against the odds. When you play good poker, the odds are in your favor. Granted, it's very difficult to be a winning poker player. It's taken me years and dozens of books, and I do take slight offense to the idea that I'm gambling and don't realize it. I can win at the stakes I play, which are not that high 5/10 and 10/20 limit, but I'd never go way up in stakes (to 20/40 or 40/80) because I'll admit that I cannot yet win at those levels. Those players are better than I am, so that would be gambling. But the players at my stakes make more mistakes than I do, so I win.

Weekend, once or twice. During the week, I speed through the news and then settle in on BR, don't log off til I leave work. It's been pretty slow lately so I've had a good bit of time to browse/post.

I play a lot of internet poker and go to the Foxwood's poker room all the time (I live an hour from there). Poker is NOT gambling. You're not playing against the house, but against other players. In any given night the best player in the world can lose, but in the long run, there is literally ZERO possibility of losing if you're a better player than your opponents, that is to say, if you make better poker decisions than your opponents. It's a game of skill, and much like bass fishing, any given day or night you can lose or win, but over the long run the cream will rise to the top. Actually, it's exactly like bass fishing in that sense. Why are the same guys on the leaderboard week after week on the bass tours? It's the same reason that the same poker players keep ending up at the final tables of all of these big poker tourneys: they're more skilled than the other guys. Of course, nowadays, with poker tourneys, it's more of a crapshoot just because of the sheer number of players who enter, but even so, a lot of the same players keep ending up at final tables.

Have you compared this with PowerPro? I have only used PowerPro (well unless you count original Spiderwire and Raptor line back in the 90's), and am curious about other braids, but I'm perfectly satisfied with my current braid. Of course, if there are significant benefits to Sufix I'll try it out...

By the way, how awesome are those strikes he gets on that wakebait? I can't wait to try some wakebaits next year

I've heard you should use moderate action w/ trebles also, and the idea makes a lot of sense. However, I've never had any problems with fast action rods and crankbaits/jerkbaits. I think if you're gonna really give a huge hookset then moderate action is good. But if you just do a sweep set and fight the fish correctly (i.e. gently but firmly instead of ripping him into the boat), I think a fast action graphite rod works just as well if not better for treble hook lures. That's my opinion, and I know a lot of people here disagree with that.

Really? No distinguishable difference between the SX and the STX other than color and trim? Anyone else find the same thing between those two? In that case when I get mine I might as well get the SX for 50 bucks less, especially considering I'd prefer the black color to the silver...