Darren.

Suffice it to say there are a LOT of opinions on the matter. And there are some good scientific papers on the topic as well. You can Google it and find some good stuff out there. In fact, just yesterday Big Indiana Bass posted another of his looks at fluorocarbon from a scientific perspective. Worth a read, as well as his previous posts on the matter. But braid and FC are two different animals, obviously. Braid is limp, FC is not. Braid is "fabric/fiber" wound, FC is "not". Braid is solid color, FC is not. Etc... Braid is excellent for mainline using a leader of whatever for various fishing purposes. This is my approach, and I have found it works best for me on my spinning gear (and I have it on my BC gear as well). This way, should you opt for it, you can buy a spool of expensive FC and it will last a long time since you'll only be tying on leaders, not spooling your entire reel with the stuff. The braid mainline will last and last and last... As for sensitivity, there's debate all over the board here, and it's mostly around personal experience for those of us who get foggy-eyed when the science equations start dropping over refraction indexes and such. For me, I do think FC is probably the most responsive for slack line as skeletor said; however, I've had no problems with my braid+leader for this. Here's a key here, if water conditions are right (light winds, low waves, calm) the braid reveals the slightest twitches telling me something's hitting my line. I'm using 10lb Power Pro, too, so it really moves/jerks if my terminal end is getting sniffed by a fish. In rough conditions, FC is probably better than braid+leader. But again, that's debatable. If money is an issue, don't break the bank on FC thinking it will make you the best fisherman out there. Much of that depends on you, your style, etc. Heck, there are people who have used mono their entire fishing lives and out caught all of us combined. Would they have done better with FC? Ha, therein lies the question, eh? So just my .02. I've got spools of FC that sit around because I'm simply not using them. I didn't find them more advantageous over my P-Line Floroclear, Yo-Zuri Hybrid lines enough to switch out.

Pop some popcorn, pour a nice drink, sit back and enjoy the fireworks!

Greetings!

Welcome!

Gary Yamamoto has some great info out on the web if you Google it, as to what colors he primarily fishes. That said, Watermelon Gold Flake is one of those. BPS carries it. Others that I've found good success: Watermelon Magic, Greenpumpkin Magic, and I'd love to try some of his GP with chartreuse tip. But recently I've been experimenting with Bass Pro Stick-O worms and having great success with Pepper Frog/Hot Orange in 4 1/4" and 5 3/8". I've been slaying bass rigging these wacky, Texas, and split shotting them.

Short strikes can be yellow perch, sunfish, bass, etc. I've watched decent sized bass short strike, though not the norm as they tend to inhale and take it with those big mouths. If using a circle hook, you'll want to wait a little longer and let the bass take the bait, then reel down and easily sweep your rod, don't do a hard hook set or the circle hook won't set. Circle hooks were designed for saltwater (required in many places now) so as to make the fish hook itself in the corner of the mouth. Better for C&R survival, less gut hooking, etc. There are a lot of wacky-specific hooks out there. I actually use non-weedless most of the time. Favorites are the Gamakatsu Wide-Gap Finesse in 4, 2, and 1 sizes. I caught my PB on a size 1. I'm not a believer in using big hooks for wacky. That's just me. Anyhow, Gamakatsu and Owner are my favs, with Gammies used majority of time. As for making your worms last longer, a very short piece of heat shrink tubing (as Chris said) is better than an O ring (IMHO) if I use anything at all. I always hook my wacky worms perpendicular thru the worm, never parallel, though some do that and have success. I am not one of those people.

Great stuff! Enjoy these times with your Dad, and pass them on!

Welcome, Dan. You'll find a TON of knowledge from the vast experience at this site. Enjoy discovery.

Down here Ice is in the freezer, not on the water. Well mostly. I just never could do ice fishing when I lived in the Rochester, NY area. More of a warm weather guy. Good luck, though!

I regret that there are no smallies down in my neck of the woods. Have to go north to the Richmond area. Loved catching them when visiting PA. Anyhow, welcome to BR!

Welcome aboard, Ryan!

Beautiful spot, would love to fish it.

Done...

x2 If you want to put fish in the boat, live bait always helps with the "smaller" species when the bass are more or less dormant. I had tons of success with Panfish Assassins + a 1/16oz jighead dipped in JJ's Magic when I used to fish the local docks during the winter. My boys caught plenty of crappie, yellow perch, not to mention a few nice pickerel on these. Ditto on Senko, or Zoom Finesse worms fished SLOWLY near structure. Fish slow. Yep.

1) You have options... If you want to pair the Saros with A $100 Compre, you'll have a great combo. The Compre has a lifetime over-the-counter warranty... I like the Compre with a extra fast tip, medium power. My Compres are both M-XF and used primarily for soft plastics. Pretty much do-it-all rods for me. You can go with a ML rod. Buddy of mine loves his Shimano paired with a St. Croix Premier and likes it better than his other paired with a Carbonlite rod. Says the Croix is a lot more sensitive. Got it at Dick's on clearance for well under $100... 2) 10lb braid will work just fine. PowerPro's is 2lb diameter equivalent and it's what I spool my Stradic 1000's with. I tie a leader on and the braid lasts a LONG time. 3) Personally, I think a MH is a bit stiff of a rod for a light reel like a 1000. But you can make it work if you want. Keep in mind that some rod manufacturers are conservative on their ratings. Case in point: St. Croix tends to be stiffer than their rating. You can search the forum on that and find plenty of reports. So a M Croix may tend toward MH... 4) Since I fish mainly soft plastics, I can't really answer that. I don't have a H setup for flipping/pitching, and I don't fish cranks much so don't have a softer action rod, etc. Well, I actually do have a H rod, was MH, broke tip, rod repairer said it was now more of a heavy rod. I use that for jigs and such.

Good gravy, that's a tall pup. George the Dane ruled for his season, now Zeus! Hail Zeus! Love dogs. My "dream dog" is an English Mastiff, but my wife says "no". Labradors and a mutt rule the roost instead. And they're awesome lads.

Thankfully, no. But when I read your title I was hoping for a monster fish spooling you, not a boat. Bummer, man.

Sorry, man. Such is life in the great northern states. Vacation awaits in the south, eh? Lakes open year around.... May your wait be short!

Excellent show.

This is one reel I've been anticipating for a while now. Eager to more details on usage.

Cool. Filed for future reference. Love Megastrike squeezed into a bag of worms...

Bingo. I read your question and thought you implied TWO reels for $150 and TWO rods for $150... If that's the case, I'm a Shimano guy and highly recommend the brand. Obviously there are plenty of Pflueger guys who love their reels, too. Will you be fresh-water only, or desire to do fresh and salt? I see you're a New Englander, so you've got both fresh and salt (presumably) near you. If so, Shimano or Daiwa. All Shimano reels are ready for both. As for rods, there are so many to choose from. I was gunning for a St. Croix Avid, but bought a Shimano Compre and love the rod(s) with lifetime over the counter warranty as opposed to sending in to St. Croix with shipping $ and all that. But St. Croix makes some incredible rods. Your $150 would barely land you an Avid, but could land you two Compre's, or a couple Veritas from Abu, etc.... And do you NEED to learn bait casting? No. Is it worth learning? Yeah, IMO. Doesn't mean you should go and dump a load of cash on a rig now. If spinning is your gig now, then rock n' roll with it. When you are ready to spend some cash on a quality baitcasting setup, then do so.

Fantastic! I probably need to try one of those Wallyworld spinnerbaits, too.

X2, and use a leader, then you'll have best of both worlds. Braid is FAR easier to manage on spinning gear.

I'll chime in with a different take, and not to diss St. Croix, because I'd own an Avid if I could. Before I'd look at a Mojo, I'd consider a Shimano Compre. And not just for the lifetime over-the-counter warranty. I've got the previous gen Compres and love them. I was amazed when I compared the Avid with the Compre at BPS up in Richmond. The price differential was big, and I've not been disappointed. However, if $160 were at my fingertips, I'd buy an Avid just to have one, but I love my Compre rods. And the new models are upgrades to IM9 over my model's IM8. And I do use my Compre's for "senko" fishing all the time. Just FWIW.