Hooligan

Thanks for the replies, just some general things I'd been wondering, and figured a lot of the responses would be pretty close to what they are. In direct response to Lund- I break even at the very least, typically I'll make a pretty reasonable profit; enough that I have to declare it as income on taxes and can then utilize it as tax write offs. I like Mr. Hooligan, but take exception to his remark "I guess, it makes me wonder why people would go about it half way. In some ways it falls to the mentality of "If you're going to do it, do it right. If you're not going to do it right, don't do it at all."" If I'm going to do a job, then I do the very best I can. Fishing isn't a JOB to me. I fish to relax and enjoy myself. I love catching fish, but If I spend all day on the water without a single bite, I can honestly say I still enjoyed myself. Just not as much as when I catch a lot. I didn't actually get what I'd intended to across here. It pertains more to tournament angling than anything else, really. Not necessarily just fishing to fish. In some cases it may apply to fun fishing, but it's in pretty specific circumstances. I could honestly see where one might take offense to that statement, I worded it poorly and I apologize for doing so. Lastly, don't get me wrong, I'm not thrashing anyone or anyone's level of where they are in terms of spending or enjoyment. It's just curious to me that there's such a double standard for spending on one hobby versus another, and how arbitrary those reasons can be. While I'm not really surprised at the responses, I did want to throw it out there, however poorly worded, to see if my thoughts did mesh with what might be said. There's a few things that did throw me for a loop, but then, I guess you'd expect that with a bunch of bass fisherman, wouldn't you?

I have zero issue spending the money asked for on the highest price rods, be they custom, production, or otherwise. The same goes for reels. Why? In general they're lighter, more sensitive, and allow me to better fish a particular technique. Part of that is the confidence in my gear, and the ability to tune into it, part of it is that the fatigue of fishing at the end of 14 hours isn't the same as if I were fishing a 10 ounce reel and a 9 ounce rod. One wouldn't think it makes any difference, but it does. There will be those that argue an Ugly Stick is completely sufficient for all techniques in bass fishing, and that may be, but it is not as sensitive as graphite rods, it's simply not. I don't want to get into the science of it, but glass is simply not as sensitive as graphite, plain and simple. You cannot tell the difference in bottom content on low end rods, you can't tell the difference on many things, a leaf, a twig, a fish lightly mouthing a jig. When I fish for fun, I want to maximize my learning on the water, the higher end rods allow that; before the advent of side imaging and down imaging, how did we figure out what was down there? That's right, a 2D sonar, a big jig, and a sensitive rod. When I fish for fun, I'm usually fishing a future tournament lake or fishing a technique that I enjoy and want to get the most out of. When I am fishing tournaments, I'm willing to put it all on the line and that's all there is to it. I want the best of the best to put every tool o the highest caliber to work for me. I guess that's the way I look at it, they're tools. I don't buy cheap tools. They break, and often don't do the job as well their slightly more expensive more well built counterparts. That comes true in fishing too, and not just rods and reels, but line and tackle as well. I guess, it makes me wonder why people would go about it half way. In some ways it falls to the mentality of "If you're going to do it, do it right. If you're not going to do it right, don't do it at all." Its not simply about having the best just to have it, but to maximize my enjoyment and experience on the water. In the end, it's about catching fish, and if I have the gear that allows me to catch one more fish than the other guy, well, then it's worth all the money I could possibly pay. I can't, for half a second, believe I'm alone on this.

Look very much like Black Chin Shiners. The color pattern, tail fork, and location would point to that.

The interpretation I was given from a DNR officer is that Dummies, or Blanks, are allowed. Just as they're allowed when trolling for salmon on the Great Lakes, the blanks do not count as lures, they're considered the same as attractors.

No, it won't effect the action of your lures, it will effect how efficiently you can cast them, though. It depends on the rod, too. Sometimes the rod ratings are pretty arbitrary. As a point of reference the Cumara 7-11 MHXFast is rated at 1.5 ounce lures, yet will throw a 6" HUdd ROF5 with no issue at all. That bait is rated at 2 ounces. The G Loomis SWBR956 is rated at a 3-8 ounce lure, however it excels on lures in the 6-8 ounce range. In no cases, though, are you going to be in a situation that it's going to dramatically effect your lure action, the only time it might is if you're ripping baits.

Total bummer, he was one of the greatest of greats. I had the pleasure of fishing with him a number of times, I'll cherish those even more now.

You crack me up, man.

Pit Boss is probably turning into my #1 Pitch bait. It's just right in terms of action and profile.

There's so, so, so much information out there on jigs. What you can do with them remains nearly endless. My largest piece of advice is get a quality jig. I'm a Northstar guy, the quality, colors, skirts, and hooks stand out amongst most of the others out there. You need to consider fall rate as a primary aspect, head style as a primary aspect, and skirt material as a primary aspect. Fall rate on jigs can be the trigger, or it can be about how fast you need that jig to get down in 35 feet of water. Heads are usually relatively specific to the structure and cover you're fishing. The following is very general as a guide, but it's a start+ Football- chunk rock and rock, Arky- General use in most cover/structure, Grass- Swim jig and grass; the line tie position allows the jig to come straight through material. My personal favorite is the Alien head from Northstar because of the recessed, protected line tie. It's much hard to hang because of how little leverage there is against the hook eye, it is relatively well protected and much harder to hang. I fish it in wood, rock, flip and pitch it around wood cover and heavy mats; the only thing it doesn't really excel at is in heavy, heavy grass or as a swim jig. There's a lot more that can be said, fr sure.

Sort of my point. We're all looking for different things in a line. I always find it interesting that people gravitate towards one or the other, particularly in PLine products.

The knot I tie with fluorocarbon is the Pitzen. It's easy to tie, doesn't slip, and I have never, repeat never, had an issue with it on fluorocarbon.

They're pretty much the same in terms of casting distance. Primary difference lies in line handling, for me. The 51 handles light line a little better. The 50+51 are smoother, as well, because of the inclusion of bearings in the handles. Though, on the 100 and 101 you can add bearings to the handle and they smoothe out just the same. In real world terms, no difference between them.

And yet, I fish 6lb CXX on a dock rod, as well as on a dropshot or two, as well as 8lb on another weightless rod. You couldn't pay me to fish CX because of the terrible abrasion resistance and wet knot strength.

Tough to say, I hate fishing topwater, probably my least desirable way to fish. If I must, I'll be throwing a Rage Toad, Shad, or a Gunts Frog.

I see no major structural differences, I see no anatomical differences. I see color phase and lateral line shift. There's a very simple answer, one which can be summed up in a single word- Genetics.

I've had none of the issues you describe and have fished it around a lot of rock. I've fished it on Zebra Mussel lakes, too, and have had fewer break offs than with mono. It's my primary jerkbait and topwater line this year. I've had great luck with it thus far.

Power Pole is the way to go in nearly any situation. They're much more durable, have MUCH better hold and penetration than the Talon. I see guys getting blown around all the time with two talons down. The PP also has greater depth 10ft versus 8-4. There are a few other reasons that I'd go against the Talon- reliability, research, anchor weight, penetration, durability, materials, and construction. The Power Pole is just better. In terms of one or two: One will hold you as a shallow anchor, but will not position lock you. You'll still be forced to correct with the trolling motor. Two will lock you down, in all but the highest of winds, and keep you facing the same spot. Edit: Fixed while lucid. Sorry Chaps.

Start by doing a reset all parameters. It will only change any custom user-defined settings. Second would be to check for an update. Third would be to go into the sub-menus and change the settings for sensitivity. Also, fwiw you really should run with arches, rather than fish ID. You'll get a MUCH better feel for the fish, the sensitivity and where things are in terms of water column. It's much easier to decipher that information than it is with Fish ID on.

You'll love it, no doubt. Get it tweaked to your liking with menus, color, graph, and the like and you'll be in 7th. I don't know what I'd do without mine now.

A little update on this. I've been fishing two of them as testers for about a month and a half, give or take. I've gone through two of the 7.1:1 reels, both had major malfunctions that caused the reel to be wholly inoperable. From what I could find in the process of tear down and postmortem the pinion gear wasn't meshing properly, and was basically stripped. BOTH reels suffered the same fate. The 6.4 reel has been no issue whatsoever, but I've not fished it nearly the amount as the 7.1.

That's awesome, Snook. That's one helluva recovery. I don't have anything, really, on those lines. Post surgery in the late nineties, I got to liking the pills. I had several surgeries successively and was on a pretty heavy dose of pain meds for about 18 months. After that, it was tough coming off them. I don't like taking them now for that very reason.

6-3 jerk bait rod. It doubles as topwater, grubs, and a handful of other things for fishing in tight quarters.

Unless you're trout fishing, skip the leader altogether and do this: two feet of 12-15lb mono, two feet of 8-10, and 18" to two feet of 8lb if you used 10 for the middle, or six if you used 8 for the middle. With bass and panfish, there's no reason to worry about presentation and turnover. It might not turn large flies well, but it's considerably less expensive and it works just fine for 99.9% of warmwater situations.

Loomis and Shimano tied for me. St Croix and Dobyns are a very close second. The vast majority of my rods are from those four manufacturers, and there's a reason for that.

Bottom frog is an old Renosky before they changed to the front legs and rattle eyes. That might be one of the very earliest.