Marty

We have a law here. New York's Move Over Law Has Changed Effective January 1, 2012Protects law enforcement officers, emergency workers, tow and service vehicle operators and other maintenance workers stopped along roadways while performing their duties. Drivers must use due care when approaching an emergency vehicle that displays red and/or white emergency lighting:On all roads and highways, drivers must reduce speed; On Parkways and other controlled access highways with multiple lanes, when approaching an emergency vehicle that displays red and/or white emergency lighting or a hazard vehicle displaying flashing amber lighting, drivers must move from the lane immediately adjacent to the emergency or hazard vehicle, unless traffic or other hazards exist to prevent doing so safely.

Depending on how you broke it, you may want to contact the manufacturer and see if they'll help you in any way.

1) I use enough backing such that there's room for 50-60 yards of braid 2) I never use a leader for anything 3) There is no evidence that I can see of extra wear on my rods and reels and I use relatively inexpensive gear 4) It lasts a long time, but I can't quantify that 5) Braid is amazingly abrasion resistant to wood and vegetation 6) It can be a total pain in the neck because it can find its way anywhere, such as split rings, line ties, around hooks, behind reels, etc., especially when doing a hookset and just hauling water. But the pluses outweigh the minuses for me

Yes, I do. I use 6'6" rods with M or MH power and fast action and use these rigs, for cranking, soft plastics, topwater including frogs and whatever else I do. I use 15# braid which I think has a much higher breaking strength than the rating. I'm not trying to tell anyone to avoid baitcasters, just that I feel comfortable using spinning gear. I have successfully horsed in large bass (large by New York standards) that were buried in heavy, dense algae mats without problems.

Like others have said, they'll readily take anything. I might give a very slight edge to spinnerbaits, but like I said, it's slight. I've always thought that equivalent-size pickerel fight better than largemouth.

I started out with the actual Chatterbait shortly after they were introduced and not long after that I tried a Booyah because it had better components and features than the Chatterbait in my opinion. One weekend the shore fishing at a nearby pond was as fast as I'd ever seen it. Unfortunately, I lost about 10 bass on the Booyah that weekend, but landed almost everything I hooked on other lures. Rightly or wrongly, I blamed the flexible hook and have never cast a Booyah again since that weekend six years ago. My gut feeling is that their claim is right about it being harder to throw. But--and I am no scientist--my gut also tells me that on a hookset, some of the energy generated goes to flex that hook rather than 100% of the energy going to directly drive that hook home.

If you decide to go with spinning, a 6'6" or 7' rod with medium power and fast action can serve as an excellent all-around combo that you can use with a large variety of techniques and species of fish.. A 15# braid would be a good line with this combo. One problem is you said you like fishing for bluegills as well as the bass, carp and cats. Two problems come to mind: 1) The lightweight lures used for panfish will be harder to cast 2) Fighting the fish won't be nearly as much fun as with an ultralight It's tough to find a combo for both gamefish and panfish that does well with both.

You have to do what feels right to you. This is my 7th year of canoe fishing. I take all my lures because I have fewer than many guys and one bag with five 3600 boxes holds it all. Three rod-reel combos is what I take. It's a wide, relatively flat-bottomed canoe that's very stable and I don't worry about ending up in the drink, but I do wear my PFD. It's a tandem canoe, but I'm always solo. I always bring my camera (not waterproof) and keep it in a non-waterproof plastic box which protects it from casual water from stuff like switching the paddle from one side to the other.

You can't predict what will happen, so keep an open mind. I--and I'm sure most other anglers--have done well when we shouldn't and lousy when we should've done well. The bass don't read the same books.

I think the answer would be "yes" if you believe you need to be imitating baitfish. However, not everyone believes that and some very knowledgeable people dispute it. I'm with A-jay; try various things until and if you find something that works. I used to spend a lot of time fishing crankbaits in the extremely murky waters of the Erie Canal and all colors works, including colors that conventional wisdom says shouldn't work in that clarity.

They've got obsolete hook hangers, just like my beloved Jitterbugs. It's mind-boggling that they go so many years without updating their product, but it costs money and we fishermen are too accepting and don't put enough pressure on the manufacturers.

In general, I like to start out with a faster-moving horizontal lure trying to locate them and catch more of them if they're active. Those lures can be topwaters, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, etc., according to conditions and personal preferences. If those don't produce then you can switch to slower-moving stuff like jigs and soft plastics.

Interesting. If you hover over the image you get a bigger picture on the right and some of the hooks look like they bend outward and others look inward. http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=440897

My preference is not to select lures based on water size. I've fished waters from 6 acres to 40,000+ and use the same variety of lures everywhere, based on weather, cover, structure, etc. For example, I view a lily pad bed in a small lake the same as a large one. Is my approach right? I don't know, but it's what my gut tells me and I feel comfortable with it.

Pike and pickerel do indeed love spinnerbaits and it's common for them to do a job on them. My philosophy is to accept the loss of the baits or use cheaper spinners when in pike waters.

According to the New York length-weight charts, an average 37" pike would weigh 10-6.

I always use trailer hooks on both buzzbaits and spinnerbaits. But I don't use grubs or other plastic trailers. Some anglers don't use trailer hooks and do use plastic trailers while still others use neither. Like so many other aspects of fishing, there's no right or wrong; it's a matter of personal preference and which method gives you the most confidence.

I used to use them but haven't in years. But I viewed it as a buzzbait and fished it in locations and at times when I'd use a buzzbait.

I don't think that would be limited to a Trap and similar lipless crankbaits, but other crankbaits as well. Just about all of us hate to injure fish, but just by the act of fishing we're willing to accept that every so often even though we try to minimize it. As was previously mentioned, crimping down the barbs will reduce the risk.

You said northeastern. I don't know that park, but I'm aware of Cayuga Lake State Park in the northwestern area and that's my reference point here. I can't help a whole lot but can provide some very general information. I've probably fished there fewer than 20 times and haven't been there in years. From the north end and going south to the park and beyond for a distance unknown to me is a giant weed flat where bass and some toothy critters could be encountered almost anywhere. Supposedly toward the eastern shore is a north-south shipping channel that used to be spoken favorably of. I only was up there once, but there are supposedly a number of good spots north of the railroad bridge in the weedy areas and even further north in the canals area. Good luck.

I don't use a lot of white outside of spinnerbaits and Chatterbaits, but I do have a couple of white crankbaits which seem to do just as well as other colors.

Black has always been one of my standard colors for plastics, including worms and Senko-style baits. I've used other colors but most of the time I carry just black and pumpkinseed. I don't fish at night so obviously black works in the daytime.

Don't ever use a leader. I'm also a shallow water angler and seldom fish deep water.

Nice_Bass, that was a good post. I just read the article and it seemed over the top, written by someone who doesn't seem to have things in perspective. Fighting ideas with a 12-gauge isn't the best way to settle differences. A real tough guy. There's an implication that PETA has more power than it actually does. I believe their efforts to restrict fishing have -0- chance of succeeding. He writes: "PETA's goal is to impose their will..." The fact of the matter is that's what all advocacy groups are trying to do, including those that the author supports and including those that are benign in the eyes of most people.

For what it's worth, I use 15# braid, without leader, for everything. I can't provide an actual number, but I'm pretty sure that my Power Pro has breaking strength considerably higher than the stated 15#.