Marty

Whether it's a Loomis or not, there's always the possibility that it's a good value. A lot would depend on the place, how well you know and trust it and what the manager tells you about the rod and to what degree he'd stand behind it if problems develop. I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole if you don't know and trust this business.

No details as of now. She collapsed and died. As far as I know, there will be an autopsy Friday.

You obviously don't fish pike and pickerel waters!!

That'd work. But if you hooked a big fish that took line past the tape, it's gone. If there was a knot you'd have a chance. I have a couple of the original Zebco Cardinal reels with the rear drag. They came with a gizmo called an arbor. It was a circular piece of plastic that wasn't connected and was flexible. You could open it up and put it around the spool. Its only purpose was to reduce the spool capacity.

I use cheap mono as backing regardless of what line I'm fishing with. I use enough backing so there's room for 50-60 yards of the fishing line, which is sufficient for bass fishing. I don't think it matters how the backing is attached to the spool, since if you hook something big that actually spools you, that connection is going to break, period.

Palomar works for me.

We get billed quarterly and read our own meters here. Maybe you should inquire if your company offers that option for meter reads.

From a business standpoint, not fishing. The BPS catalog has "Renosky Chatterbaits", but I don't see anything on either the Renosky or Rad Lures sites. http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=78378&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults

I find that difficult to believe. Have you spent a lot of time fishing topwaters under low-light conditions and not gotten bit when you had proof that there were bass in the area? I've never fished in your part of the world, but I think a bass is a bass and will strike a topwater when it's hungry/aggressive/angry/curious/territorial/etc.

The problem is that the ice-cold water is not in the veins, but under the ice on the ponds and lakes. But then, you are probably not familiar with that natural phenomenon. :

Fused and braided are different, but the two taken together constitute the superline category and they share characteristics of limpness and lack of stretch, as well as great strength for their diameter. Sorry I can't offer more details about the process.

I've heard for years that the Jitterbug is an excellent night lure, but I don't fish at night. It is an outstanding lure in the evening, or during the day under overcast conditions, and it also catches fish in sunshine, but I suspect these comments can apply just as well to other topwaters. I use black only. I know other colors can work very well, but I don't feel I'm catching fewer fish using black only, and with one color I don't have to make decisions about which color to use. Almost all of the time I use a steady, medium-speed retrieve. The Jitterbug has been my #1 confidence topwater for 10+ years.

The report to be issued Friday will allegedly say that it is "very likely" that the warming is caused by human activity. I'm no scientist, so who am I to argue with this group? But it seems intuitively correct that pouring countless millions of tons of crap into the atmosphere can have its negative effects. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16922234/

Surprise, I'm not Raul. If you want to unscrew the hanger because it's easier to put the split ring on that way, then you can put a drop of super glue in the hole before driving the screw back in and that will hold fine. I have always used split rings. I'm not saying my way is better, it's just my personal preference, but I throw the hangers away and install screw eyes to which the split rings get attached.

While you're doing your adjusting, remove each screw that holds the lip to the body and put a drop or two of super glue in each hole. This will prevent the lip from loosening after a couple of decent fish. Raul, I've always thought the Jitterbug is a great lure with the lip as is. Do you have evidence that bending it produces more strikes?

I'm not sure exactly what broke, but in the past I've done repairs and/or lengthened the strap with large split rings, like 2" diameter, and these gizmos, both widely available in hardware stores.

Take a look at the FAQs here, maybe there's some information that will help. http://www.bassresource.com/fish/faq.html

I hardly tell anyone about the ponds that I fish from shore, except my two trusted fishing partners. I'm much more willing to talk about the bigger waters that we fish from boats.

I'll try just part of that question. "Superline" covers both braided and fused lines. These lines are extremely strong for their diameter, have little-to-no memory and little-to-no stretch. Braided lines are, to the best of my knowledge, multiple fibers that are, well, braided together, and fused lines are fused, that's all I know about the process. Fireline is the best-known fused line, of which I am aware of very few, while there seem to be many more braids out there.

Just getting technical here, but Fireline is a fused, not braided, line.

Those line ratings on reels are usually based on spool capacity. The slightly smaller diameter shouldn't affect the performance of your reel. Besides, different lines may have different diameters for the same pound test and you don't know what actual diameter the reel recommendations are, and you presumably don't know what the braid maker uses as 8# diameter. Make sure the line doesn't slip into the space at the ends of the spool.

I don't have what you're looking for, but this is not a "one size fits all" situation. There are many different styles of worms, and combine that with different weights and the placement of those weights, and you can get dozens and dozens of different actions.

I've seen numerous references to the Yo-Zuri's breaking strength, but it doesn't mean much to me in the abstract. Does anyone know the breaking strength of other lines of the same nominal pound test?

I think you're asking the wrong question. If you're not sure of what your lure inventory ought to be, then ask or read up or otherwise decide what you need to own. Then you buy at Cabela's or elsewhere that which you can't find at your usual places.

This isn't one of the worst, but I think one of the funniest and/or strangest. Years ago there was a lure called the Nipigon River Cockatush. I'm not sure, it might have been a spinner. I have a copy of my first-ever tackle order, which was with Cabela's in 1969, and that was one of the items I ordered. It was $0.59.