.ghoti.

If you like your cornmeal mixed with pork and grease, then scrapple is something you may like. I don't. Instant anything is for people who don't know how to cook.

I have that rod and I would not use it to throw a bait like that.

Getting older beats the alternative, but it ain't for sissies.

Guess I'll buck the trend. I'm an old fart, and I don't care. Cork is good, Eva is good, carbon tube is good. They're all good if well done, and fit my hands. Split grip or full length are both ok with me. If the thing is comfortable in my hands, I'll use it. One of my all time favorite rods has no cork, no Eva, no carbon, no kind of grip at all. Just a fuji plate type reel seat wrapped directly to the blank. Smooth comfortable, hand filling, and very, very sensitive.

Dang, Lee, you're getting good at this.

The inherent lunacy of fishermen believing in a magic bait is what makes them get a ridiculous price. Nothing makes them worth it.

Why would you want red hooks? Red disappears under water, right?

Point taken. I don't have 50, but I have more than 10. So I'll just say congrats on the award, and the nice way you've displayed it, and then shut up about the reel. LOL Looking at your picture, I'm comfortable saying that I've been fishing longer than you've been alive, and I don't have one of those awards.

I like the epoxy blobs on your alps wrapper. Makes it look just like mine.

Luckycraftman?

I've read that if you can see lightning, it can reach you. Don't know if that is actually the case, but it's enough to run my old arse off the water.

Don't think I would have retired the reel, but, well done, sir.

Don't have one. Either an opinion, or a world record.

Not much love here for the c-rig or dropshot. I'd have to agree. If I'm using either of those, I've been having a bad day catching. But, I really despise trolling. If I had to troll to catch fish, I'd just a soon stay home. Fav would be plastics of any kind, as long as it's not a dropshot or c-rig.

Thanks Roger, you beat me to the punch, and saved me a bunch of typing. LOL I've heard and read many people say bass respond the pressure increase by moving deeper. If it were only the pressure delta which caused the move they would move shallower; by a few inches. There is some other factor at work, and, as Raul said, nobody knows. I do know, based on my experiences, that fishing deeper structure, using lighter line, lighter weights, and smaller, more realistic baits can sometimes be the ticket for post front conditions. Not always the case, but this approach works often enough to worth a shot. Why? I have no idea.

I answer this question every time I go out on my yak, because I take one casting rod and one spinning rod. The answer is different every time.

I use elastic thread. Cheap at Walmart, and good for any size guide or blank.

Dear Raider, There are five houses in a row in different colours. In each house lives a person with a different nationality. The five owners drink a different drink, smoke a different brand of cigar and keep a different pet, one of which is a fish. Hints: 1. The Brit lives in the red house. 2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets. 3. The Dane drinks tea. 4. The green house is on the left of the white house. 5. The green house owner drinks coffee. 6. The person who smokes Pall Malls keeps birds. 7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhills. 8. The man living in the house right in the center drinks milk. 9. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats. 10. The Norwegian lives in the first house. 11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the one who smokes Dunhills. 12. The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer. 13. The German smokes Princes. 14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house. 15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water. Who owns the fish?

I've built three spinning rods with Microwave guides, and can say they are the real thing. Have no experience with the casting version, so I can't comment on that setup.

You have really been bitten by the rod bug amigo. When do you find time to make a living? You are getting better by leaps and bounds.

You get more leverage the further in it is.

Get some single edge razor blades.

If the health of the fish mattered to those guys, you would not see any of them yanking the fish up out of the water and letting it drop into the boat. They care about putting the fish in the live well.

Hey, look who appeared out of nowhere; my old buddy Bill Dinky. LOL. How you doin Mike? Want to share a room again at Kentucky?

I use Batson Dream Reamers. Well worth the money if you're going to do this a lot. Not worth it for a one time task. For a one time thing get a piece of 5/8" dowel, chuck it in a drill and sand it down to to size you want. Use some wood workers glue and glue on some grit.. Might do what you need, on the cheap.