SoFlaBassAddict

Finally saw the first floater in my lake. Was a decent size Bluegill. Other than that I've seen none. I've seen a few peacocks roaming around the lake, but nowhere near the numbers I used to. That could mean they're still hiding way down deep with the new cold fronts that rolled in. I'm on a deep lake, so who knows. I did finally see a largemouth sitting on a bed in my lake, so I guess the spawn may be coming around soon, or I just had a plain dumb fish. Heres to hoping for warmer, more fishable weather...

When it comes to saltwater fishing, it's a family thing. My great, great grandfather used to fish redfish down here. It's gone through my fathers side down to my daughters now. I learned everything I know about fishing from my mother, father, and uncles. Slowly passing that on to my kids. Freshwater is another story. I'm the only one that is truly crazy about catching largemouths and peacocks. My kids love it more and more each trip now. They're finally learning how to fish a soft plastic. My dad understands what to do if I relate it to a saltwater technique that he's done. He's not excessively enthusiastic about it, but he's starting to come around.

I've been looking at picking up one of those. Doesn't seem like a bad little tool for 150 bucks. Certainly would make life easier.

I wouldn't necessarily say it improves. But it doesn't hurt them either. I'm assuming you're talking about toads like the Gambler Cane Toad, or the Yum Toad. They've just got a different action than something like a Zoom Horny Toad. The paddles kick up a little bit more water and make a little more noise. Sometimes this is good, sometimes not. The Rage line of topwaters (Shad/Toad) kick up a bunch of water and noise. This isn't always a good thing, sometimes you need something thats a little quieter. It's all dependent on the conditions of the water, fish, weather. All that being said, I throw Rage Shads and toads probably 50% of the time. A Zoom Horny toad 40% of the time, then the paddletails the last 10%.

I think what it is, is that Kurita used 25lb line. IGFA only has line class records for largemouth up to 20 lb, thus he was disqualified from a line class record but not an all tackle record.

I would certainly hope the battery is in the boat, unless you've got a really long extension cord 31" bottom won't be all that stable, especially if you plan on standing in it. If you've got the cash, get the 36". The extra weight is negligible with two people. It's only an extra 20 pounds a person. Unless you're really out of shape, or just plain old you guys should be able to manage moving a 130 pound boat out of the back of a van or off the roof of a car. All that being said, I would still be cautious standing in a 36" wide jon. Make sure your partner knows when you plan on shifting the weight around so he/she can balance it out.

I'm really curious how I'm wrong. You're telling me that people everywhere, college educated or not aren't struggled in the current job market? Like I said, I hope you do well. I don't know you or wish any ill will on you. I'm just being realistic. Once you graduate, you're joining a long list of people looking for work. It may take you a long time to find a job in the field you specialize in. It may not. I realize you're going to be in a job market that has a shortage of people in it. But you've got to remember, that you aren't the only person trying to get an aerospace degree.

Thats about as good as an answer gets. I've used their wide gaps once. I never will again. The straight shank worm hooks I don't mind, they're a little larger gauge wire. But I'd much rather pay the extra couple of bucks for a quality hook like Owner or Gamakatsu. You never know when you're going to lay into a great fish. You'll be screaming at yourself when you break a hook.

Hopefully it does. I wish you well. But don't get your hopes up into the clouds. The real world, in today's economy, blows. There are thousands upon thousands of people out there that have graduated from very good schools that can't find work. There are thousands of people out there that have the same degree that you hope to get that are struggling to find work. Companies don't hire people based on a piece of paper anymore. Experience and references are a huge factor in the workplace right now. I personally wouldn't hire some kid fresh out of school with no experience in a specific job field. I'd rather have somebody that has at least a little experience.

I've got a good friend that recently graduated from VT. His degree is worth about as much as the paper it's printed on right now. He's working at a subway right now making five dollar foot longs. I recently got my Masters degree finished up from Miami. I work in a totally unrelated field. It's so far away from the area my degree is in, it's not even funny. Shows you how much a "known" or "major" schools degree is worth right now.

BTW Frogg Toggs are awesome. Fairly cheap, and they keep you dry. I realize theres a lot of bad reviews on them, but I've never had an issue with mine.

Oh I understand that. I don't get out all that often. I fish daily, but generally thats only for an hour or two. I usually get in one to three really good trips in a month. I just can't see myself using THAT much dye. But hey, if I start loading up on fish with it, then I'll be kicking myself in the butt for not having more of it.

Yeah I saw that. I probably should have just ordered the 4 pack. But I didn't really "need" to get another two bottles in colors I didn't see myself using. I almost regret not getting them now though.

So my first order of JJ's Magic came in today. I could smell the stuff before I even opened up the package. Good lord. Got a bottle of Chart and clear. I didn't see a need for blue and methyalate, although I may add those soon. Ordered it on Wednesday, and it got here today. Naturally the wind started blowing like 30, hopefully that'll die down as the sun starts to go down so I can actually try this stuff out tonight. The only problem is that I'm trying to think of how I can prank the guys in my shop with this smelly junk....

Wish my Wally World here stocked Rage Tail stuff. Nice collection of stuff you got there on sale. I may have to run by mine to see what all they have on sale now. I know they had Senko's for like a buck and a half cheaper than BPS.

That is the first thing I thought when I read that. I was sitting here going I don't understand...have I been missing something?

rain gear

Got my order as well. Like airborne_angler said, ziploc bags for all of them. Got a nice little rigging poster and all kinds of other material in the box. 4 70 packs of the Hoggs. 2 50 packs of lizards. I wasn't overly impressed with how the hogg worked in the water, a brush hog has WAY more action. Mind you that may have been because I was using a 4/0 hook in it (didn't want to re-tie), and I dipped it in a little spike-it which may have reacted a bit with the plastic (JJ's should be here tomorrow). That being said, I did land a few fish on it in the half an hour or so that I used it. They are made from a nice soft plastic, cast well. Time will tell on them. At least they were cheap.

My box is supposed to get delivered sometime today. I'm just sitting here impatiently waiting....

I picked up one of those Daiwa rods a few weeks ago. Had a broken tip sitting on the rack. I spent eight bucks for the rod. Three bucks for a fuji guide at BPS and called it a day. Not a bad rod either. I use it for frogging and whatnot.

Welcome!

I'd love to break my PB. I think sticking something like a 13 lb LMB would do nicely. I'd also love to get into a 6 or 7 pound Peacock.

Those Kut tails in those sizes really do look nice. I've gotta try out that spoon jig head one of these days.

For the application in this thread, weightless texas rig.

While I've never really had a bass that has haunted me, I'll never forget the biggest fish I've ever seen before. My father and I were trolling several years ago off the drop off of the reefline outside of Miami. Fresh ballyhoo on skirts looking for dolphin and sailfish. We had already released several small sails earlier in the day and had a few dolphin in the box. We reset the lines after landing a smaller fish and started working a weedline. Next thing we know we can hear the drag ripping out of one of the Internationals on one of the outriggers. My dad grabs the rod and gets drug across the deck and darn near over the transom. He gets set and starts fighting the fish and we see a HUGE Marlin start greyhounding across the back of the boat. He hammers down on the drag after it keeps ripping line out. More line goes out, reel is smoking we have no idea what to do. Finally it spools us and is gone. I'll never forget how ticked off the eyes on that fish were. They were the size of dinner plates. Estimated the fish at 1100 pounds. Obviously thats off, but we did the best we could going off of similar sized fish. We still talk about it to this day. I still to this day can't believe how that fish tore through that reel.