scrutch

My how things change! It's a real bummer that ya cant make it Big O. Was hoping to get a little right seat time with ya. We promise to still have a blast though. I understand ya gotta work when there's work. We'll catch ya at Falcon next year! (AHEM, Glenn) Things have changed for me too... My buddy who has been quasi-committed for months just got SLAPPED by the IRS with a $64,000 bill. Needless to say, He's out. So right now its just Scorcher and me.Hopefully Simp can make it too.

now that you mention it, they do have a little family resemblence! Do you think they could be brothers?

I hated the wind much more before I got iPilot. I don't like the cold rain. I can fish in a summer rain all day, but a very cold rain in the spring or fall sends me home.

Naah, there's a double digit LMB in lake Guntersville that'll do that for ya!

Sounds like you're not giving it a good whip. Drop the rod tip, reel up the slack, and set the hook... harder. Reading you describe it, I'd say you're just giving it a slower, gradual pull as you feel the weight of the fish, then as soon as the fish opened his mouth, bye bye. You aren't gonna yank it out of its mouth, it's closed. It only comes open when it feels you tug. If the first thing it feels is a hard hookset, it doesn't have time to open up and expel the bait. It's caught.

Rapalas are fine, but the flukes and senkos can be a little tricky if rigged weightless. Just watch for line twist on any lure. If its getting worse, the lure is most likely the culprit. Then add a swivel.

If you are patient enough, watch the flea market on this site for deals. Most of my stuff was bought used, but in mint condition, for a fraction of the cost. You'll get much nicer stuff if you can be a little patient.

That's the stuff. Probably won't find it at wallyworld. I use it on my spinning gear. So far so good. It helps to watch what kind of lures you use on spinning gear. Weightless plastics and small inline spinners (mepps) are notorious for ADDING line twist. Be aware of it and add a swivel when needed. Get some KVD line and lure. It's worth it. It relaxes the line, helps quite a bit with line twist. Don't let it freeze though, or you'll need to get a new bottle.

Dobyn's DX 795 FLIP. Absolutely awesome rod. Über sensitive, perfect power, super light.

Ever been to Vegas? I just saw a 40 something year old man walking from a side street out to the strip wearing a full Elmo costume. He was carrying his head and looking like he was just headed to another day at work. Batman was another one. 35-45 yrs old, 5'6", beer belly. C'mon man! Really?

My wife hits like a girl. With a bat, it still hurts like hell.

As Wayne kinda eluded to earlier, pay attention to the size and color of the center of the arch (the air bladder) instead of the size of the arch. The bigger and redder the air bladder, the bigger the fish. Bigger arches do not necessarily mean bigger fish. I like to turn my switchfire to max mode, then turn the sensitivity down to get a good picture. This will show you all the fish and make it easier to look for bigger bladders.

Ya got me a little confused with this post. Do you like PP or Talon?

Before I upgraded to a bigger TM, I had a 12 volt system with two batts in parallel. It made a huge difference in my case going from one batt to two in parallel. W2S is right on with the answer on charging. Give em a good hot charge right after use.

I'm gonna check his truck for bags of quikcrete when I get there. Don't tell him!

A lot of your questions depend on whether there is current or not, and if it s sunny or not. Adding current and sun will usually concentrate the fish in the current breaks created by the pilings. If that current break crosses any shade...better. If there is structure in that shade...best. Usually current is the dominant feature in this scenario. It is hard to tell which is best without seeing the pilings. Many things change the game here. Water depth, rip rap, boat traffic, etc. The only time I graph an area like this is in deeper water. I never drive over it to graph it, I use side scan to look for laydowns or structure not visible above the surface. Most of the time I'll just start flipping it without looking for structure. In my area there aren't a lot of good fishable bridges so it doesn't take too much time to just canvass the area with a jig, crankbait, or spinnerbait. Always pull the lure with the current into the current breaks. The FLW tour event at Guntersville was won using the a-rig around the bridge pilings.

Spoken like a true ape! I'll bet you'd like to check her for ticks!

Usually as much time as they want to talk.

You mean you know where she is?!?! Wow guys Alpster saved the day! I think Ghoti just put in a request for you to join him fishing at Guntersville.....ALONE...just you and (John) Ghoti.

Yes I did. I just didn't expect that. It's pretty funny.

Well....allllriiighty thennn....!! Grundlelove. This plane is losing altitude fast!

Bad deal. Rip Jose. Praying for his family

For me it ain't fishing, it's LIVING. When I'm on the lake with my son, it doesn't matter to me if I'm holding an uglystik or an NRX, I'm still LIVING. For the record, I enjoy fishing with good equipment. Thank the good Lord I have been fortunate enough to be able to buy most anything I want. I CHOOSE to buy the cheapest rod that will do a great job. I have everything from a cheapo Shakespeare Axiom loaner on a Walmart special Abu Garcia Conolon rod to Chronarchs and Revos on Dobyn's rods (some bought new, most bought used). There is a huge difference between my low end stuff and my higher end stuff. I choose not to buy the NRX, Evergreen, Megabass, and Stellas only because I am comfortable with the price point I'm at. I would try some of that stuff if I could find it used at the prices that I'm used to paying for my other gear. I don't see the advantage of going up to the "enthusiast" level of gear. For me it isn't worth the money. It ain't how much you make, it's how much you KEEP.

Lol...didn't even know that existed!

My PBLM was about 7lbs using a Space Monkey Rage-rigged.