Simp

Those are two very nice fish! Tell him we all said congrats.

Skipping senkos and other light baits.

Well I posted on here about my 21 Gold Carrot stix issue with the guide. It's a shame because I love the feel of the Carrots but the guides are just horrible IMHO. I'd simply just pay to have new guides put on but what if the rod breaks and I need a warranty repair? I'm probably done with carrots unless they come out with some new ones that have some quality guides.

Love the smallies man! I've yet to land one and it's killing me. On our roadtrip to Pickwick I'm going to target nothing but smallies!!

Beautiful pics! I just love our area this time of year. The leaves change and fall and the deer come out. I just wish I wasn't so sick. It's been great fishing weather this week and I've been battling some nasty bug. I'm glad somebody was able to get out and enjoy it!

Are you kidding me I can't help but LOL about it. I'm not kidding every single thing is true. It just seemed to keep adding up and adding up. I guess what I really was "Mad" about was the outboard motor. I pre fished like four days that week in some heavy winds at times to break the fish down. I finally found a area I thought I could pull out some big fish at. With the motor out we just couldn't get down lake to that area.

So I'm watching a little UFL on HDNET in between the UFC fights on spike and it's pretty good. The quality of play is very high and entertaining. I guess I'm surprised I like it so much.

Don't sign up as a boater if your like this guys. Ok so I almost didn't post this horrible experience because I've complained before about a funny situation where I was a non boater before. I decided to post it as a example of why you shouldn't sign up as a boater unless you are prepared. The story starts in October when for our last club tournament I signed up as a non boater. There are several reasons why I did this. Being my first year with the club I've enjoyed spending some time with some of the long time members by being a non boater. You can learn allot from these guys and I've developed some friendships that I hope will last a lifetime. One of those guys that I'd become friends with simply from the meetings and the week long club trip to KY lake we had this year was drawn as my partner. He's a good ol boy truck driver nice as could be and we got along well. At the meeting he informed me he'd be working allot but he'd try to go fish the lake at least once before the tourney. I told him that was fine and that I'd go pre fish it hard and I did. I informed him what I'd found a couple days before the tourney so we could be on the say page. One of the big bass bights I'd found was at a certain spot with a deep diving crankbaits. He informed he didn't have very many because he doesn't throw cranks much. I told him I had plenty for the both of us and was glad he informed me so I could be prepared. He tells me nothing indicting it might be a good idea to take my boat. Then the morning of the tournament comes. It's cold and dark and he's late. I finally spot him and he's working on his out board in the dark. He told me he was installing a new ball because the other wasn't holding pressure. So I figure ok he seems to have it under control. So I load up all my gear into the back section. He finished installing the ball and starts loading his gear. I didn't realize being dark and all he hadn't already done this. Then he informs he doesn't like running the trolling motor and I'd be doing it. I thought to myself well that's nice but now I had to move all my gear and we were running low on time. I give him 20$ and informed him this was for his gas expenses for the day. I also reminded him he needed to pay his portion of the entry fee before it was to late. His fee was only 25$ so that 20$ about paid for it all. So I back us down and park his truck. I run down the ramp and jump in the boat because all the other boats are lined up for the start. I shove off and he tries to start the motor. Well they launch with out us and he starts fidling with the outboard. He pulls the cover off and starts fiddling with it. So while he was fidling I threw out a senko at the boat ramp from the front seat. It's basicaly a 12-14ft crappie boat with two large seats. It's about this time I realize why he doesn't like working the trolling motor. His front lowed deck was very small and the front seat was very close to the front then it had another small risen section that would have been a decent platform to stand on. The problem was his Trolling motor cord was VERY long and VERY stiff and wouldn't allow me to stand up there and work the trolling motor. The only option was basically to keep it half underneath the seat. So while I'm trying to figure all this out I drop the trolling motor because were starting to drift shallow close to some rocks all while he's working on the outboard. I go to try and move us with the TR motor and I hear WAA WAA WAA WAA WAA. Apparently some mud dobers had gotten into it but that it should smooth out as the day goes on he tells me. So right about when I'm about to commit hara kiri because of all this I get a tap and set the hook. So I got our first under keeper on a senko that sat there 5 mins. The rules for this lake is you can have one fish over 18 inches and 5 under 14inches per boater. We do a split weight in so we can weigh in a total of 6 fish for the day and four of them being over 18inches. Two per weigh in to get to four or you simply weigh in small fish if that's all you have. It's a weird system but it makes for some big fish in this lake. Anyways back to this long @%$ story. So he stops fiddling long enough to start filling up the live well. In our case a cooler and a bucket to fill it up. It sounds funny but most 9.9 boat set ups are like this. I do the very same thing but we use a long hose with the aerator to pump the water in. So he dumps several buckets in and it isn't near as high as it should be and I'm wonder what's going on. Then I notice the dang plug is not in and water is everywhere. I quickly point out the problem and he's freaking out and says to me "I was wondering why I was getting so cold". ;D Well time passes and he isn't able to get the motor going. He informs me NOW he's had trouble with it all summer! > I calmed myself and told him we'd survive and just fish this cove the launch ramps in. I was aware there had been another club event the day before so there should be some fish in the area. Plus I had just caught one so it wasn't all bad. So I troll us to a decent deep bank with laydowns and pop out my flipping stick. He pulls out a 6'6 meduim action 2 piece rod with a 1/2 oz jig on it!!! > He makes one cast and it was like Rossie O'Donnell had just performed a cannon ball KABOOOOM. I;m not kidding I saw deer look up and run deeper into the forest. ;D It was at this point I realized I better thoroughly work each part of cover before he gets to it. The morning goes on and I catch another under and loose a slot fish. Well his worked finally payed off and the motor started up and would run for a while if you kept it on idle speed. So we crawled to another close by area I wanted to try some crankbaits on. We get there after being made fun of by a couple club members for going so slow. I start making casts and I notice a problem. He doesn't get up off the seat for anything. His casts are all toward the front of the boat. We eventually crossed our lines and as I finish my reel in it brings his fluke and line in. I bring up the lures and right in front of him and CLEARLY and LOUDLY say "Look what I got here" in a friendly jokingly way. I start untangling the lures and then HE SETS THE MOTHER ******* HOOK!!!! It totally gave me a heart attack but luck was on my side and I didn't loose a finger or a eye. He could tell I was upset and apologized like crazy telling me he wasn't paying attention and what not. I quickly let it got and told him it was alright no harm no foul stuff happens. I got in a better mood again when I was able to pull another fish with a jig off a lay down. We headed back for the 1st weigh in after I caught that fish. Only two teams weighed in a 18 incher so I felt a little better. Plus when I heard from my pops they hadn't had a bight yet I knew everybody was having a tough time and at least I was catching fish even if they were small. The hours went by and I couldn't land any big fish but I did get us a limit of unders. We went to load up and I bring the truck down. He isn't able to get the outboard running again so I'm pulling all 300+ pounds of him in the boat up on the trailer. I can't get him up so I have to back down further. So I walk back down on the tailer and the rope he had thrown was now tangled everywhere on the trailer. I somehow untangle it and haul him up enough with out falling in the water to now use the winch. I walk down some and clip it on. I go to start winching and the things rusted shut! I put some muscle into and I'm finally able to get it to turn. After about two cranks his 20 year old crank rope snaps and it sounded like a gun had went off. So I have to take the rope used to haul him up and tie it around the winch arm to secure the boat. I was finally able to haul the boat up and a hoard of cheers let out from the 7 or so boats waiting on us. ;D The six little ones didn't set the world on fire but it was better then most. I don't even know who won the tournament. I was so exhausted after it all I was just proud I was able to catch us a limit. He told me he couldn't understand why he didn't catch any fish and I caught so many. He said he was using the same color pattern as my jig. I explained I had downsized because the bight had been tough by trimming my skirt and using a 3/8 oz jig helped. I informed him I didn't say anything to him because we all throw what were confident in and I hoped he would catch a big one behind me with that bigger jig. At the end of the day I shook his had and thanked him for the ride. With that said part of me felt like he should have offered that 20$ back that I gave him for gas. He played it off to others as if he didn't know his motors were in that bad of shape but had confided in me he had known. It just upset me that he didn't say something before the tourney about possibly using my boat when he knew I had a perfectly good boat we could have used. Part of me doesn't want to ever sign up as a non boater again it was so bad. I was nice to him the entire time as best I could. I think the only time I was actually even close to not being polite was when the winch rope broke and when I about lost a eye on his hook set when our lines were crossed. So folks please learn from this guy and at least make your best effort to have your boat prepared. You can't be prepared for everything all the time, but if you at least make an effort any non boater will understand. Otherwise just do you club a favor and sign up as a non boater. Our problem is usually to many boaters often.

Paul truly is the Jedi Master Yoda. Not only is he a skilled Jedi angler he grows these young Padawans to enormous size. May the Fish be with you my friend.

I like it for the low memory, low stretch, small diameter and incredible strength to diameter ratio. Sensitive, as invisible as I need. Sinks faster than mono. Relatively speaking (compared to decent flouro) cheap. I've never used ultra soft. In fact I've only used 8lb, and just bought a 1/4lb spool of 6lb. The stuff is so strong 8lb is all I've needed on most applications I use. In fact I'm going to use their 8lb on my crankbait rods. See that's the problem IMHO it's high in stretch, has a ton of memory, and 10x worse then flurocarbon when cinching a knot. A Palomar knot seemed to improve that problem but I prefer the uni knot. I'd seriously love to be able to fish such a low cost line. The problem it isn't very low cast when you count all the lures I've lost with it. So I only use it as backing and as emergency line.

Now I haven't used the extra soft version, but I hate the regular version. I don't understand why you guys like it. The only thing I can think of is the soft version is a thousand times better or something, because the regular is the worst line I've ever used.

Wow that blows my mind you use a round reel. I let my big rod do most the heavy lifting on the fish and prefer a high gear ratio to pick up slack fast. Right now I use a Citica and a Curado and find the 6.3 citica is almost to slow for me. The high gear ratio really helps when you have some wind and your being blown towards your target. I also like it because when you first shock that fish with a hook set with a fast reel you can really get that fish moving your way and out of cover.

Ya but she was a 10 and the Curado is a 10! ;D

YES!! The new Curado's are as hot as Heidi Klum was back in the day!

Thanks for the info Reel Mechanic.

Well that's just tough to answer. Many swear the visibility of braid matters others don't. Personally I flip and pitch with 15-20lb fluro all the time. I've only lost fish a few times due to line failure. I also have a 7ft MH frog rod that I use braid on 100% of the time. I think the line can cause fish to sometimes shy away and I know they can often see it in clear clear water. With that said in stained water or with heavy cover I think it matters little to none. I finally found a knot I trust to use for a leader and now often use it on my clear lakes. So next year I'm considering spooling up braid on my flipping set as well and just use leaders when need be. So really I think the best advice is to spool up some braid and see what the fish tell you. The worst case scenario is you feel like you getting less bites and you use a fluro leader to solve the problem. BTW the no strech of braid will greatly increase sensitivity and hook sets.

Yep this thing has only had Fluro on it the entire time I've had it. It's very clear it's from the line and not from mis use. I've always loved the rod except for the guides. I fish a crap ton and this rod is in my hands most of the time. The weight and sensitivity has IMHO been fantastic. So if I can safely replace the guide that's the path I'd like to take.

Ok so I have a gold model carrot stick and the top line guide I noticed today has several bad groves. They look like they could easily cause serious line issues. I've read about the issue a few times now from others. Called Tackle Wharehouse and they said they would warranty it for me but honestly I don't want to have the same issue. I've thought about replaceing the line guide with a quality Fuji guide. Does anybody have any info on how to replace them yourself and what not. BTW here is a pick of my rod guide.

God I love this video. I think this hit would have sent Kurt Warner into retirement. BTW Turn up the volume for full effect.

I don't think this breaks the rules. He's not promoting his website or anything. People have posted links to sales all the time.

There is no doubt the Curado is the better real. The Citica and Curado are siblings and built off the same frame. What the Curado offfers is a smother retrieve and better casting of light weight lures. I own both and love both but from now on I'm going to try and save up more and only buy Curado's.

it is called fiction, it is not really real man ;D ;D Sure but they insulted the audiences intelligence over and over again. We can get in the mood to make that leap that ""This isn't real, duh!", but don't for instance have somebody wearing one colored shirt and one minute later in the plot line have him wearing a different colored shirt on. You have to have the show flow into why he has a different colored shirt on. I don't expect Shakespeare out of summer blockbusters but this was insane. I think my 10 year old nephew wrote this thing.

I lost all repect for you after that statement. I mean at our school we beat up the kids who watched the Power Rangers. ;D ;D

Ok so I enjoyed the first one and was a fan of the cartoon back in the day. I didn't get the chance to see it this summer because all my time was taken up by fishing . So it came out the other day on Blu Ray and DVD. My sister rented the DVD and said it lived up to her expectations and she loved it. So I went ahead and bought it on Blu Ray yesterday. Tonight we had a viewing party on the 50inch plasma with the surround sound booming and it still suc***! The last scene was killing me. It was so pathetic how they had the lamest reasons for them not to get in the car and ride to Optimus but rather they had to run to him. I mean seriously are you telling me we launched fighter planes from a air craft carrier and they got there faster then they could from a couple miles away on foot. Let alone get in the car that could easily hold four people. How about earlier in the film where one second there in the city and the next there running threw a mountainous country side in the blink of a quick montage lol. I could go on and one but I've wasted enought time already on this

Bobby is a great sponsor and has been very generous. I got a couple from him in the free tackly bag from the roadtrip and used them for a few trips. I got some good fish and even made a post on here about them. Well after a entire bass season of throwing jigs 80% of the time I have to say I just won't buy any of them for one reason. They hang up WAY TO EASY. I haven't tried out Gman jigs yet but right now the full skirted jig I mainly use is Revenge flipping jig. They are well made don't hange up very often and well I just plain like the features they offer. The price point for them is pretty fair not to high and not to low. Personally though I throw a short skirt finesse jig 80% of the time and my choice for that is the War Eagle Heavy Finesse jig. Pair it up with a rage craw or Flappin Hawg and you got a killer bait.