tyrius.

As a rule of thumb I (personally) try and use the lightest weight possible for the size of lure I'm fishing. I haven't noticed a size difference (minus the head size) between most 1/4 through 1/2 oz jigs. So, if I can use a 1/4 oz I will. If I'm fishing worms (senkos) fairly shallow I like to throw them weightless. In determining the weight, the first thing I look at is what am I fishing. Submerged cover that is deep will use a larger weight than vegetation that is shallow. If the fish are holding to cover on the bottom then I will use a heavier weight. Next I look at wind. I need to be able to "stay in contact" with the lure (whether it's a worm or a jig). When fishing worms and such in shallow water I like to fish them weightless. On a windy day, this is too big of a headache to deal with. Now all that can be negated by the fish's mood on the given day. Do they want a faster fall or a slower fall? That can be changed by trailer/skirt size or by going up or down on weight size. Just my unprofessional opinion.

I grew up fishing spinning tackle so I'm still kind of partial to it, especially for smaller baits like the small jointed minnows, etc. Anyone make a decent rod for this applications? I'm not looking to break the bank on this so somewhere in the $100 range or lower would be great! Thanks so much.

The advantage of a database would be in allowing one to create reports and/or access data in a much easier manner. Handwritten journals and spreadsheets work, but finding and linking datapoints is much more time intesive and difficult. Building queries in a database would allow one to search their entire fishing history in minutes and not have to open and search 30 spreadsheets or read through 30 journals. A database does not have to have every possible variable, just hit the high points and add a free text field for other notes.

I just started really fishing a jig this year and I don't really want to talk about all the times that I set the hook on nothing. However, as you get the hang of it (by setting the hook any time it feels different) you actually start to learn what is a fish and what is a rock/twig/grass/etc. I still try and catch my fair share of rocks though. They're difficult though!

I think Bobby attached the wrong picture. The picture in the first post looks just like the evo2 jig head which is designed for a skirted jig. The Shak E2 is a shaky head jig and they don't have the fiber/flouro weedguard. Here's the pic http://lineart.redshad.com/ShakE2/

I think that there is a difference between hyper and active. Vizslas, like Weims (we have one), are high energy and require adequate excercise. However, they don't act like a hyper freak like a Jack Russell Terrier. A coworker has 2 vizslas and they keep each other occupied.

Sorry, but if they were obviously intoxicated then it is most certainly NOT a "kids will be kids" type of thing. These kids behind the wheel of a large vehicle pose a great danger to anyone else on the road. The authorities should be contacted immediately when this behavior is witnessed. I grew up in a small town with this same attitude and 1 person from my class (82 kids) killed himself and his friend in a drunken motorcycle wreck. Someone in my sister's class fell asleep at the wheel while drunk and killed himself and another person who was simply driving to work. Drunk/high driving is something that this country has a major problem with and that problem is being WAY to lenient.

When I say DOE I mean this site. http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pnp_top.asp We hit 4.15!! Holy H's that is high!!!

We've got a bit of disconnect in our numbers here. You're referencing gallons and my links were referencing barrells. To put it in perspective per the DOE we import roughly 1 million barrels of gasoline per day. If just the first two of my references come online in 2008 that will provide over 500,000 barrells of production a day and roughly 45-50% of that will turn into gas. As I said earlier, my references were by no means all inclusive. If refining capacity was the principle problem then the price of gas would be rising faster than the price of oil. Instead oil prices have roughly doubled while retail gas prices are up about 57%. Your point is just one of the reasons for stock buybacks. Other reasons are that the company feels that their shares are undervalued, that they can't effectively utilize all of the cash that they are producing, among others. There's no emotion. There's only emotion if I get kissed when I'm screwed.

Well, now that I think about that one again I am wrong. I don't know what I was thinking earlier. Stock repurchases hit just cash and equity and no expenses. Wow, that was a bad mistake. :-[

Their net income for the quarter was 10.8 billion. So $8 billion is quite a bit. If they didn't buy back their stock they would've reported 80% MORE income. But in relation to their total tax bill for the quarter of about $30 billion dollars, $8 billion isn't all that much.

Hmm, I'm thinking that you don't understand how share buybacks help the share holders of a company. Exxon can not force a shareholder to sell their shares to Exxon as part of a share buy back program. Exxon will typically go into the open market and make an offer to purchase a large block of shares. If current shareholders find that offer attractive they sell. If they don't find the offer attractive then they retain their shares and end up getting a greater earnings per share because there is less shares outstanding. Exxon couldn't EVER afford to buy back all of their shares. At the end of Q1 2008 there were 5,284,000,000 shares outstanding. At the end of Q4 2007 there were 5,382,000,000. To get to that reduction Exxon had to spend $8 BILLION.

You are actually incorrect. Domestic refineries ARE being expanded. Here's one "Marathon's estimated $3.2 billion Garyville, Louisiana, refinery expansion project will increase the crude oil refining capacity by 180,000 barrels per day. " http://www.marathon.com/News/Features/Spotlight_Series/Garyville_Refinery_Expansion/ Another "Motiva Enterprises LLC today will officially break ground for its recently announced 325,000 barrel-per-day (b/d) refinery expansion in Port Arthur, Texas. " http://www.motivaenterprises.com/home/Framework?siteId=motiva-en&FC2=/motiva-en/html/iwgen/motiva_media_center/press_releases/2007/zzz_lhn.html&FC3=/motiva-en/html/iwgen/motiva_media_center/press_releases/2007/par_groundbreaking_121007.html Another "BP is investing $3.8 billion to upgrade and modernize our Whiting Refinery in northwest Indiana, in order to refine more heavy crude oil from Canada and to increase motor fuels production by about 1.7 million gallons each day." http://whiting.bp.com/go/site/1550/ That's just a sampling of the expansion plans. I could find more, but I think my point has been made. Here's one that is being built in India to double the refining capacity of that company. http://www.reuters.com/article/tnBasicIndustries-SP/idUSBOM13421720071119 There are MANY more being expanded or built again, I could find more, but my point has been made. It isn't a strategic blunder to build refineries overseas. It makes sense to do so. It makes more sense to import the finished product (gasoline/diesel) than it does to import the crude and refine it here. As shown above this simple fact is incorrect. Oil production and proven resources is not keeping up with increasing world wide demand. Refining capacity is tight but it is not "seriously lacking". The remaining shareholders are enriched and the person who sold the stock got the price he/she wanted for it. Sounds like a good deal all around. Let's keep the emotional portion of this discussion out of it. It doesn't really add much to the discussion.

I'm with Pondhopper. I've got the DNR number programmed into my cell phone and if I see people not following the rules I will call the DNR. Personal confrontations can go WAY wrong so letting the proper authorities handle the situation seems to be the easiest thing to do.

Says who? Why should they build a new refinery when they can expand the current ones to meet demand? Why should they build a new refinery in the US when they can build one overseas more cheaply? Are the stockholders complaining? Aren't the corporations supposed to look out for the best interest of their share holders (owners)? Why do they have a duty to protect people who don't own their stock?

I'd lean more torwards the line being damaged by the bird's nest. Respool it and see if you still have issues.

Well now you can't say never anymore because my father in law and I have had some great luck with them in his neighborhood pond. Fish 'em slow on the bottom or quickly along weed edges or jig em up and down, it all works. Whenever I see good colors of these on sale I buy a few packs.

I'm thinking that you should do some experimentation with the line to see where the failures are occurring. You should tie the line to your scale and then to something else and pull until it breaks somewhere. Note the reading when it breaks and then note where it broke (knot or the line). Do this a couple of times to get an average. Then you can see if the line is breaking at the knot or if it is just breaking and you can see when the failure is occurring.

I'm going to question the knot anyways. When tightening the knot do you wet it? Since Yo Zuri is a copolymer isn't it more susceptible to being affected by friction when tightening?

It is NOT "all preference". There is a marked difference in performance even between an Ugly Stick and an Extreme. The purchaser simply has to make the decision as to whether or not that performance difference is worth the cost difference.

I just got back into fishing last year and had an Ugly Stick baitcasting rod and a spinning rod. Early in the year I replaced the baitcast Ugly Stick with a BPS Crankin Stick and even though the price isn't much different the rod is MUCH better than the Ugly Stick. When fishing crankbaits with the Crankin Stick I can feel the lure wobbling. If the lure picks up weeds I can tell because it doesn't feel the same. Fishing with my ugly stick rod I couldn't feel those subtle differences. This is a BIG difference in performance for little difference in price (you can find a crankin stick for $40 at BPS when they are on sale). When worm fishing I with the Ugly Sticks I find it much more difficule to get an effective hook set. The Ugly Stick is too "whippy" to stick the hook in all situations. Sure I caught tons of fish with the Ugly Stick, but I KNOW that I missed some fish that I would've caught had I been fishing a technique specific worm rod. Now I use a BPS extreme rod and the difference is incredible. First you can feel what the lure is doing, particularly jigs. With an Ugly Stick it's difficult to tell the difference between strikes and structure. With my Extreme I can tell the difference. Again, this is a BIG difference in performance for a relatively small increase in price (you can find the Extremes for $70 on sale at BPS). I still have my Ugly Stick spinning rod and that's the last rod that I touch because the feel is just not there. I'll only fish crankbaits smaller than 3/8 oz on it. Anyways, that just my experience in using the Ugly Stick and moving up to the next class of rods. That experience tells me that the small increase in cost is warranted. I've never fished anything in the gLoomis/Croix/etc class. My setups are now Extreme/Citica worm combo that I got for $160 before the $30 rebate. Crankin Stick/Citica crankbait combo that I got for $100 ($90 for the citica reel before the $30 rebate and $40 for the rod). Extreme/Symetre spinning worm combo that I got for $130 ($60 for the rod and $70 for the reel). And an Ugly Stick/Supreme spinning crankbait combo. I will be replacing the Ugly Stick with something else in the next month or two. The rest of my combos are adequate for my needs and were purchased to get the most performance for the least possible cost.

I like to make my own beer, particularly english styles like Porters, Brown Ales, etc. When buying beer I typically try new things every time I buy something, but I like Hacker Pschorr, Paulaner's weizens are good, Sam Adam's is typically good (some are AWFUL), etc, etc.

You know this type of girl from two posts from someone you don't even know? : : :

I use 3600 style boxes in the BPS Backpack. I also bought one of their soft plastic binders/folders/whatever their called. They are roughly the same size as the 3600 boxes so I have that and 3 or 4 boxes in the backpack. Seems to work well for me. I'm planning on buying another binder for kreature/fluke/etc plastics. Then I can just throw whatever I want into the backpack and off I go.

Many different options. Wacky rigging, weightless along the bottom, dead sticking, fishing it like a soft jerkbait, short hops along the bottom, flipping/pitching, etc, etc.