John B

One advantage of cheaper equipment is if you do a lot of bank fishing / wading, it seems (at least in my case) like I am always doing something stupid when walking that breaks a rod. You tend to cry a lot less when it is a broken $30 rod vs. a $150 rod.

Well, not exactly overboard, but.... On the way back from a camping trip a few years back, I set my main tackle box on top of the pop-up camper after we put it down for the return home. It was one of those big plastic boxes with 4 or 5 3700 size plastic bins as well as other holders, almost all of my lures, crankbaits, spinners, etc. You guessed it, pulled away from the campground, drove about 30-40 miles before terror gripped me...I forgot to take the box off the top of the pop-up. Not sure why I didn't see it in the mirrors, whatever the case, we drove back, retraced our drive, no box. Several hundred dollars of fishing lures gone forever. Some fisherman got lucky that day.

They are like gold for me in the rivers around here with smallmouths. I don't think it is the coffee scent as much as the salt content and the tail action, not sure the coffee scent does much but maybe mask the scent off of my hands. I fish them with a weighted tube / jig head in the tube, they have an action similar to a crawfish bouncing along the rocks.

Maybe an old Mitchell 300?

I have 3 homemade rod transporters/holders, all made out of 3" diameter PVC cut to various lengths for my poles only...Each 3" will comfortably hold 2 or 3 2-piece collapsed rods without reels on them. I suppose a 4" diameter would fit a rod and reel combo (or probably 2 combos if you put them end to end). 3" diameter PVC is a very tight squeeze for most rods with reels attached, but the 4" PVC starts to get a bit weighty for my taste. You can sometimes buy the pipe in different 'schedules' (thickness) so you can kind of try out wall thickness v. weight v. durability v. price. I think mine are schedule 80 or 60, very durable, I would have no problem with these getting banged around. Simply cut the PVC to length of the rods, glue PVC caps to one end, on the other end glue a threaded female-to-pipe adapter and then purchase a screw in cap, stuff an old dishtowel down into the bottom of the tube to protect the rod ends, and another dish towel for the opposite end, you are all set. All of this stuff is available at any Lowes's, Menards, etc. and i am sure if you are really baffled they can help you there finding the materials. Each will cost you less than $10 and be about as durable as anything you can buy in a store..

Depends to me on the lake or river, location in the country, and size of the body of water and what typically comes out of that water. A 4-5# bass around here is pretty good size, in Florida or Texas it is good size but nothing to crow about.

Lots of guys that i go fishing with seem to ask why I typically hook more fish than they do. I really think it boils down sometimes to line size. I almost always fish with 8# Trilene Extra Tough test...nothin fancy or big, just standard 8# mono. I too have never broken a line on a fish, only on a snagged lure under a rock in the river, and no matter what line you have that's gonna break if you yank hard enough. Even steelheading I use 12# line, and that is for fish in the 5-8# category typically in a crappy river environment.

We here in Indiana just generally fish and keep our mouths shut...some great bass fishing, both lakes and rivers in this state. Some great smallmouth rivers and lakes.

Ultralight spinning rod 4# Most other bass fishing that I do (all on spinning reels) 8#, lake and river, all cover and basically types of baits. For what its worth, even steelhead fishing I use 12# line, I can't imagine using a line much thicker than that for any type of fishing, but that is just me.

Rock bass. The St. Joe River around here is full of them, for their size they put up a good fight, and they almost never fail to bite, which is an advantage if you take kids fishing.