SirSnookalot

Mayans have been hot, had 3 yesterday and 2 today, pretty good size on this one. They fought great, just not quite as good as the 2 10ish pound jacks I had this morning..........hehe Little lunch and I'm off to try some peacocks,

Interesting, a couple of butterfly style jigs with assist hooks. Very hot lure for deep water jigging.

It happens, just have to marry yourself to the fact. A couple of tips that do help, don't cast too hard especially with lighter baits. Like a golf swing casting is hitting the sweet spot, let the rod load and don't force it, you might be surprised how far an easy cast can travel. Many windknots happen with that hard snap cast when the line hits the first guide. Before you start your retrieve lift your rod to about 45 degrees and make sure the line is straight (slight tug as mentioned) without a loop. Closing the bail by hand I find to be smoother operation, but has nothing to do with a windknot, the knot is primarily caused by the cast. Even braid twists, enough line twist can cause windknots too, a power or ball bearing swivel may help some.

First question is bank or boat, from a boat you pull fish out of cover and from bank you pull them thru the cover to land them. From a boat 10 or 15# is fine, bank 20# may be a better choice, nothing over rides the knot(s) in importance . It's one's own preference to use backing or go straight braid, either way is ok. If this is your first time using braid I would not get overly confused with brands, any of the popular ones will suffice.

This can be approached from a few directions, just about any smaller spinning reel can be used. Just because there is more drag on a 40 reel, you're setting it to to the line, drag becomes moot, not talking performance. Larger reels have more line capacity, backing can always be used. The important factor IMO comes to how a reel feels on a rod, that 40 reel may feel good on some rods like a 7'6 but probably not on a rod 6'6 or so, as does the power of the rod too. There is no formula, it's all up to what you like and feel comfortable with. The rod plays more of a significant role than the reel, for less than $100 you can buy a very good performing rod.

Nice looking fish Lou.

I really love golf more than fishing, started playing at a very young age. As much as I fish now that's how much golf I used to play. I gave it up about 8 years ago, one big reason was lack of etiquette. Sure there were jerks and slow play back in Michigan but nothing like I experienced here in Florida. Golf like fishing can be very expensive or reasonably priced, it's up to you. 100k boat or bank fish, public course or country club. Expensive lures and $40+ dozen golf balls, as with any thing there are alternatives, same goes for rods and reels and golf clubs, golfers are always buying the latest technology just like fishermen. I've got 4 set of clubs in my garage now, god knows how many drivers and woods, should I say fairway metals. I bought my timeshare in Cabo not for the fishing but for golf, I did a lot fishing too.

Was barracuda fishing with my friend Jay yesterday, tossed my tube close to a crab pot buoy. I turn to Jay and say this tube is going to be a goner, a few seconds later I hooked the buoy line. I decide to pull the pot in to shore, get within about 20' and my line breaks, hit some coral. Now I'm gonna wade out, within a few feet the water was chest level, I go back on shore. Jay says throw your grapling hook so I do, hooked on to the rope but the pot won't budge any further, I had to cut the line. So I lose both a tube and a gaff, should have waited for low tide. I stop by a canal on the way home to do some bass fishing, fishing was good. I feel a bite on my foot, yep red ants. The joke is really on me as it's the same ant hill I stepped on last week and got bit about 8 times. Am I an idiot or what?

Know what ya mean I had 69 Mach 1 428, paid $3144 out the door. I always get a kick on how sharp I was or should I say inexperienced. Made the deal at a much higher price, unknown to me my dad goes into the dealership and re-negotiates it down. Those were the days when we ordered a car that might take 6 weeks to get delivered. Options meant our choice to order what we wanted, not the "packages" they have today.

Was getting ready to drive up to Juno or Hobe Sound, checked the weather and decided against. South east wind usually means heavy seaweed coming in, and that was the case.

Decent bass on a roostertail this morning.

He sure was great. For a moment at #8 it looked liked Rose could have cut the lead to 2 I think, but as he said he lost his momentum. Spieth was solid, came back strong when ever he had a weak shot. He flat out won the Masters.

It is a good list and I'm sure many people will appreciate it. Every benefit listed can be done with spinning gear, as far as I'm concerned the rod and reel is only a means to deliver the lure to a target. With spinning Accuracy.......................I can cast to a pin point. Flipping.........................As Glenn posted a video, I did that when I wore knickers. Distance........................Not a problem if needed. Lure weight...................Rods made to a wide range of lures, with desired actions. Covering water.............Many spinning reels have more IPT. Drag.............................Don't see much difference there. Pulling fish from cover..The rod does the work. Backlash or digging......Not with spinning, windknots yes but easy casting reduces it. Line twist......................Yes with spinning & mono, trolling out remedies that. Power vs finesse..........Who made that nonsense up, the rod is the key not the reel. Fish size.......................Big fish are caught on both spinning and B/C. If one prefers a B/C, be my guest I'll stick with spinning.

Anything but pink rod.

Never hurts to use backing, especially a reel with ore than ample capacity.

Harder to explain it that do it.

Never even thought about it, if my lure is going too far I grab the line. It's just a reflex action.

Casting a 100 yards is child's play, surf rod and a thin profile lure like a diamond jig, crippled herring or a kastmaster, but we don't cast that far unless there are fish out there. I don't use a surf rod and my distance is no where near 100 yards, most of our fish are caught within 15 yards of shore. Freshwater bass fishing is different, the hooksets are not as solid and many fish are lost due to bringing them in from a long distance. I don't even try and cast far maybe on average 40 feet or so, just like the surf I'm angling my lure back to the shoreline. Only when I see fish out a ways do I put the pedal to the floor, that's when I get the wind knots too.

Great outing, Sebastion is a premier fishery, my area is pretty dead now. Snook are my main target fish, I have noticed over the last 10 years certain nuances. They are nocturnal feeders, best time for me is about 30 minutes before and 15 minutes after sunrise on the outgoing tide, that's when I'm fishing the inlet or ICW. In the warmer months with bait present I can catch just as easy on the incoming tide. The surf has it's own set of rules, 80 degree water and up brings them in, some being caught now the water is about 75. The rougher the water the better, flat water isn't ideal. I can catch snook on the beach in the daytime, not near as nocturnal there. Jacks have been happening for the last 6 weeks, they were schooling (jacks school by size), now it's just a single fish. Sizes have been running from about 7# to 12# or so. I always check out the surf report before heading to the beach. http://www.surf-forecast.com/

We found out something we never knew before. My wife won a orchid, very popular in our community is tying them to palm trees (we have done that several times), their roots will adhere to the bark. My wife wants to leave this plant in it's container and hang it, to our surprise we discovered a nail or screw put into a palm will kill it. Several garden and nurseries confirmed this. My solution, a scrap block of wood tied to the palm with a hook screwed into the wood, hung it from that.

I don't believe on TV anymore, Mark Sosin is as good as it gets for me.

Looking forward to the final round today, should be exciting. Spieth has been rock solid showing no signs of the pressure. If Rose and Mickelson get off to fast starts this could be a real dog fight coming down the stretch. Tiger Woods too far back to make a run has played beautifully, despite the lack of competitive golf.

I had a bang up December and January with inline spinners, not so much now, catching really nice sized bass. Riding high in the water column I had no major problems with vegetation or snags even along the shoreline. For peacock bass a roostertail is a deadly weapon.

Inline spinners tend to cause more line twist

I like to think I catch bigger fish with a spinnerbait but not near as many as I do with an in line spinner. Not carrying a tackle bag while bank fishing I'll hang my spinnerbait off a belt loop, may times I forget it's there, lol.