bilgerat

....'cause starting tomorrow night, another 12" - 18" - 24" (depends who you listen to) is on it's way. This winter is one for the books, at least here in the Mid Atlantic. My kids are loving it though.... 8-)

May be over lubed from the factory. All reel makers guilty of it. Have a thorough cleaning/lube done and see how it goes from there.

The NBA was rigged (the crooked referee scandal) so in my mind, ANY sport is suspect. It is what it is, just enjoy the game for what it is. Betting is for suckers anyhow. Once money is involved, anything goes.

This is the same generation that, as Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Brownies, etc. camped out in front of supermarkets begging you to buy cookies and popcorn. Mom and dad made sure they never wanted for anything. Their sense of entitlement astounds me. Here's an idea. Grab your $50 spinning combo and go fishing. A lot. Stay out for hours on end regardless of the weather. Learn it from the inside out. Border on obsession. A good fisherman will spank the competition regardless of what he fishes with. Fishing with limited resources makes you improvise and think on the fly. You can't buy that kind of experience. If you think for a minute free gear will make you better, you've lost already. Pack it up. I know in this day and age of instant celebrities, marketing, agents, getting paid, etc. this sounds like crazy talk but no one is giving you zip unless you produce. Big time. BTW, this is not meant to be a blanket statement about 'today's generation' by a raving old man. I'm positive there are some hungry young anglers out there who have what it takes. Making yourself look good next to someone with his hand out makes it that much easier for you in the long run.

One of my favorite bands, but what ever happened to going out on top, quitting while you're ahead, keeping your dignity, not making an *** of yourself.......

By all means do it. I own a boat but still wade at times. Some advice: - Be mindful of where you are walking. Pay attention to the bottom. You don't want to sink in muck, scary stuff. - Carry a few choice baits in a small Plano type box. Don't bring everything, pack smart. Don't forget pliers. Drill a hole in one of the plier handles and make a lanyard to tie off to your wader suspenders. No lost pliers. - You WILL dunk your reel whether you mean to or not. Better learn some basic reel cleaning and lubrication. - You will scare fish initially, you can't avoid it. Try to get yourself into the water way before the spot you want to fish. Walk as softly as possible and keep the noise to a minimum. Have fun with it.

Last year the state opened for fishing a previously private sand wash. I had made a post about it and had said matter of factly "My next PB will come from this water" Anyhow, this place is deep, especially by Jersey standards. Up to 50' in some spots. It's late August and the sun is going down. I'm throwing an *** 4" *** rigged on a 1/8 oz exposed hook tube jig from deep water up onto a sandbar and slowly back to me, going deeper. All of the sudden the bait stops. No thump or tap. I never felt a thing. I set the hook and it's on. There's two guys wading the sandbar and another boat about 20 yards away, plus my buddy in the front of the boat. Everyone knew it was big by the way my rod was bent but we had not seen it yet. Then the thing launches out of the water about 15' from the boat and shakes my tube. It was a pig and I would conservatively put it at 8 -9 lbs easily. Everyone around saw it and could not believe it. I was stunned, then I just laughed. What else could I do ? Come on Spring.......

Strike King Bitsy Bugs and Bitsy Flips in 1/8 oz and 3/16 oz. Add a Paca Chunk and you are good to go. I fished these on a MF spinning rig last season and did very well. I used Sufix 20 lb braid with a mono leader.

A friend of mine did the landlord thing and hated every minute of it. In a lot of states, tenants have the upper hand legally in tenant/landlord disputes. Like Robert said, some of them can turn your life upside down. His stories were eye openers. Days spent in court trying to recover $$$. Renters moving out in the middle of the night. Renters trashing the place out of spite before they left in the middle of the night..... Of course it's not like this all of the time, but everything has a risk factor to consider.

I have plastics from the 80's that are like new in texture and smell. Experiment with mixing a few. You will come up with swirl patterns that no one else will have. Don't sweat it if they don't look like anything that swims in the water, does anything in our tackle boxes look like anything in the water ?

Last season was my 'learn jigs' season. This year it's cranks. I also got a couple packs of Evolution jigs to try a little shakey head action. Got some Venom 4" ringworms that look real nice on them there jigs.....

Same here. My mother worked for State Farm for a long time. The key to insurance is, regardless of the company you choose, is to GO THROUGH A LOCAL AGENT. It may be a few dollars more, but a good agent will go to bat for you in the event you need to use them. Cheap insurance is no bargain at all in the long run, as evidenced by the misfortunes of several of our members. Navigating through a messy claim is no place for an amateur, nor a Progressive rep located two thousand miles away.

FWIW, the XPS oval split rings aren't that good. The metal isn't that elastic and will not return to it's original shape after installation. http://www.***.com/descpageHDTTLUCKY-LCRING.html Yep. I've got a bag of them I won't use because of that.

Sorcerer. From 1977 starring Roy Scheider. It was directed by William Friedken, who did the Excorcist. This is the grandaddy of action films. It was overshadowed by the release of Star Wars and never got much theater time. The bridge scene will blow your mind.

Of course we buy up all of the toilet paper. It comes in handy after gorging ourselves on French Toast all weekend. All of the good leaves are under the snow..... 8-)

As long as they put some useless bling on it to make it look like some JDM rod it will sell. Apparently some people are attracted to bright shiny things.... :-X

Welcome. My shop is at the intersection of Fire and Doughty Road in Egg Harbor. Where ya fish at ?

cHek mI adINg. im a prOdukt ov THe Nu JerSeE puBlk EdUkasHUn sIStim

1582 + 34 = 1616

Well, 45 may not make me an old timer in some people's eyes....I bait fished for carp and catfish as a kid. I got away from fishing in my teens and didn't pick it up again until my twenties. That's when I started using lures. 7" purple worms, Rapalas and 3" rubber shad bodies on 1/8 oz ball jigs were my mainstay for years. I caught a ton of fish on them. Life was simpler then.

It's similar to catching polar bears. You cut a large hole in the ice and place frozen peas around the hole. When the bear comes by to take a pea, you kick him in the icehole......

What they said. My 30 size is plenty of reel.

Every spring for years I've seen the same group of old timers at Newton Lake after iceout. They throw tiny 1" tubes and bugs under pencil floats on Ugly Sticks and old Mitchell and Shakespere reels. They absolutely crush them. It's a blast to watch them pull in fish after fish. I couldn't even imagine saying to them "Hey, you know they have a rod made just for that now !?" They'd wet their pants from laughing........

Can't claim a ten pounder yet but got a 7 on a black jitterbug last June.

Yeah. Nothing like taking a form of fishing that an 8 year old can do and making it quantum physics Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to go buy some $500.00 Float-n-Fly sunglasses to see my $15.00 float........