SirSnookalot

Professional sports is, always was and always will be a business. Businesses push the envelop, not uncommon to go over that edge. Hardly a day goes by that something isn't in the news raising eyebrows, court dockets are full of cases. Pats spying on teams, heck industrial espionage is as old as the hills, lol. We tend to look at our home teams as "our team", scrutinized by both media and fans on just about every move they make, we like to be involved. I'm sure many of us own Samsung, Apple, Microsoft, H/P products to name a few, do we scrutinize their business practices and classify them as " our companies", I think not.

The current in my inlet is normally about 8+ knots, that's moving along pretty good. Flukes or jerk shads on 1/4 oz jig head is a popular set up. Even using something heavier like 1 oz bucktail, the lure is still mostly on top of the water given the current speed. The fish aren't shy, they want it they come get it. If you want the lure to go deeper fish it against the current, watch out for snags.

I've been checking out a few spinning reels, not making recommendations. Every time I put hand on Lews spinning reel, I haven't cared for any of them. President is very impressive, the price even makes it more attractive. The Mitchells are as smooth or smoother than anything I see, never fishing with a newer model I can't comment on the performance or durability.

It's hard to convince a bass fisherman that anything tops a good bass. Down here in South Florida many don't even understand why someone would even want to fish for bass. My friends say to me "going panfishing, bring em along for bait", lol. I fish both fresh and salt, more emphasis on the salt. What's more fun, that's up to the individual. I'm quite familiar with many of the salt species, I can tell you first hand it isn't like what you see on TV or read on the net. You read about the successes, not the failures that happen more often. Not near as many tarpon are landed as one may think, losing them on the first few jumps is totally commonplace. I don't fish for big ones anymore, I like catching them up to 50#, easy...........think again, tarpon are nothing short of awesome. Cuda are really one of the most interesting fish, 1 species I do a lot of specific targeting. Getting cut off is not out of the ordinary, one of the few fish I would recommend using wire, although I don't when using traditional lures. I do make my cuda tubes with wire, far and away the most productive lures for them. It's the ones you don't see that strike, generally the followers just veer off. I've had dolphin on the line that have taken a good 10-15 minutes to land, I use a heavy inshore 25# class rod and 6000 reel for them, I don't take anything lighter when I'm headed offshore, inshore is different. A 10# bonita on light line and light gear, I'd bet on the fish every time. In the long run I'm going to bank, as I say we read about successes and not failures.

I agree. In the early 70's I sat next to Reggie Jackson @ Tiger stadium, he was with Oakland and they were coming in for a series the next day. Reggie walked around the section with a wad of money in his hand making bets. Things like what kind of pitch will be thrown, if the batter gets a hit and what kind or even striking out, as well as fielding plays. If anyone ever had doubt whether baseball is a game of thought and strategy, Reggie proved to me it is. Everybody in the stands loved him, I have never seen a super star of his stature that was so outgoing with the public. Reggie, pretty cool dude.

I appreciate all the kind prayers. Rachel's mother (Gilda) is my first cousin, the family had a double whammy as Gilda's MIL passed away about 2 weeks ago, @92 a nice long life. I had also read the train was traveling twice the speed it should have, yes it could have been worse.

My cousin Rachel Jacobs was one of the 8

I have tried them in salt, they work but wouldn't be my choice of spoons. For a single hook spoon Clarks are pretty good, I use Kastmasters. Krocs and a Redfish key spoon by Wahoo is a super nice spoon.

Brady will be back at the helm whether the Pats win or lose. I'm not so sure Brady will win on appeal, I wouldn't rule out being modified to suspended with pay but probably not. The suspension has as much to do with the failure to cooperate as the actual act. "But not only does Brady have to fight off the notion that he was generally aware of what probably happened, he also has to prove that he didn’t impede the investigation. NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent said in a letter to Brady that “refusing to produce any relevant electronic evidence” and “providing testimony that … was not plausible and contradicted by other evidence” played a role in the penalty." Brady's suspension is not only personal but it's penalty against the team. It's difficult to believe staff members not in the hierachy are solely responsible. An appeal In court all witnesses would be under oath, that could be dangerous. It's a civil matter where it's the preponderance of evidence, things do not have to be totally proved. What does it cost Brady or the Pats to go to court, his legal team isn't cheap, dollars and cents he may not be much ahead by winning, although he would clear his name. I don't think he will win, accept the penalty and move on.

Not a wise move, whether a boat is in a legal or illegal water you are still responsible for damage or injury. I hope no thinks if a lure gets snagged on a line or boat, that the boater is going to give that lure back when it was thrown at him on purpose.

Being naive doesn't enter into it, it's track record. Don't believe I have ever bought a lure that didn't catch fish, even ones I make myself. Fish have been caught using a white rag and hook, at times the flash of a bare gold hook will catch fish during a feeding frenzy. Fish are caught with lures that don't resemble native forage or native baitfish. True about the fishing industry that most lures will be marketed. The companies do know that just about any lure will catch fish, the buying public will always look for that new magic lure. The intent of any company is to make money, hooking fishermen with the new products is the way it's done. What's naive is believing the "new and improved" model is magic. For pure catching a plastic worm in freshwater or a spoon in saltwater are pretty tough to beat.

I wish it was, Ebay was one of first checks. The discontinued rod was different, longer butt and max lure weight of 2oz, the newer version is 1.5 oz. Appreciate your effort.

No difference than freshwater, it's personal choice. My favorite is flounder, but not the warm water variety. I prefer cold water flounder and of the flatfishes it's dover sole for me. I also really like cod. As far as Florida fish goes, grouper, dolphin, barracuda are pretty good, all are fairly mild. Snapper has a a bit more of a robust flavor, yellow tail gets my nod. If you catch snook take the skin off.

I'm not much of a bait fisherman, I'm probably not much help in that area. Just because you didn't catch anything doesn't mean you did any thing wrong or use the wrong lures. If there is 1 common ground between bass fishing and inshore fishing, it's finding the fish. This is the difference, inshore species roam around much more following bait. That said you might be doing every thing right but at the wrong time. One just has to acquire the knowledge of tides and how it affects different species. For example I prefer the outgoing for snook and the incoming for barracuda. I don't believe there is such a thing as using the wrong lure, I catch fish on all kinds of lures.

Absolutely ! Tide too, and with the change relative to sunrise and sunset. Each day the tide here is about 45 minutes later, progressively there is less bait and less game fish. My favorite scenario is new moon, outgoing tide with the tide change about 30 minutes after sunrise.

Happens here in Florida too, but the boaters don't always have the right of way, but they think they do. It's unlawful to fish or catch bait inside the inlet, although it happens everyday. A boat must be 500' (I think) from a pier and inlet, however there is no required distance from a jettie, they legally can be right next to the jettie. We used to have a pretty strong sheriff's patrol boats, but not as much these days. Even when some of the boaters are legally correct they show little common courtesy. Many times I have seen them purposely cut off lines as they are leaving the inlet.

None of my rods are what I would classify as "beefy", I use the smaller size for bass. Don't know how acquired a small sized Storm wild eyed mackerel, I caught bass using them as well. Some of the rods I use for snook and tarpon don't handle much more than 1 oz, the Storm wild eyed about 1/2 oz is my choice for those species. I have done well with similar baits from other companies too, I'm not so sure the brand makes much difference. I personally don't care to use a large or heavy lure for any kind of species.

It isn't the money, I'd pay twice the price to duplicate exactly what I had, happened to be a fairly inexpensive combo too. The performance was stellar, a quantum blue runner rod that cost me about $60 that had incredible backbone with excellent casting distance. The reel was a Pflueger arbor 50, this reel was sensational, liked it better than reels 3 times the price. This was a dedicated outfit, used only for barracuda casting my home made tubes, it had a wonderful track record. I have an 8' Okuma inshore coastal saddled up with a spheros 40 as my back up, never liked it and I used it again yesterday to confirm my feelings. More costly for both rod and reel, not even close as far as performance. I did buy a Star which I'll use today, enjoy my other Star rods I'm hopeful I'll like this one, it's a little cheaper model. I have an old Quantum boca 30 that I"ll use until I make a choice on a new reel. Cuda fishing we move the lures pretty fast so IPT gets attention. A friend of mine dumped his kayak and lost some gear a couple of weeks ago. As things would have it a few days ago I gave him a great rod with a Pflueger medalist reel, lol. Nice stuff but I wasn't using it.

Fishing off a sea wall this morning my rod slipped out of my hand into the water, I wasn't even casting. onnce hit the water the current just pushed it along, probably half way to the Bahamas by now. The only upsetting thing is replacing the rod, it's a discontinued model and I loved it. Calling the manufacturer, it's doubtful but worth the try.

As far as I'm concerned when company like Storm markets a lure, it's been tested beforehand. If it doesn't catch fish it won't be marketed, if their research staff is successful so will I. I've caught my share of bass on a wild eyed shad, but I really like them for snook and tarpon.

It doesn't make a difference how the bail is closed. I do think it's easier done manually, I do it both ways. Whether I crank or flip the bail by hand I hold the rod at about a 45 degree angle before reeling, that straightens the line and reduces the chance of loops.

^This would be my opinion ^ Having caught many salt strippers the average is less than 10#, not much different than my average snook. Bigger ones can be handled with m -mh rod and 3-4000 reel in open water. It is all about drag and skill, I saw Bill Dance catch a 100#+ tarpon with bass gear. But that's Bill Dance, at his age and experience he knows what he is doing. Would the average fisherman be able to do that, probably not. The first thing with a larger fish is instant panic and fear, then the drag gets tighten too much. When getting into 20# plus fish, especially ones that are more formidable, you must trust your proper drag setting, stay calm and in the moment, if not the fish will win.

That would depend on the job title. I have no problem in hiring a person with tattoos, however in a position of contact with the hierarchy of bigger companies, I'd prefer a "conservative" image representing my company.

This and the past history of the Patriots had more to do with the degree of the penalty, more than the actual deflating of the balls. Not really much different thah the "break in", compared to the "cover up". I doubt that not earning $2 mil is going to affect Brady's life much, I'm sure he has a few bucks put away. Kraft is worth in the area of 1.5 billion, a million isn't going to have any significant impact. It's the loss of the draft choices that is most severe. Media types plugged in pretty well with the NFL don't know if the penalty will stand, modified or over turned on appeal.

I don't care for freshwater rods unless they have a foregrip. I use inshore rods for my freshwater fishing.