.ghoti.

If disaster struck, and I had to start all over, I'd probably go with St Croix LTB rods. I have a few now, and they have a length, power and action for any and all bass fishing presentations. A year ago, I would have said Setyr rods. I have several of those. Very comparable to LTBs in feel, and a wide line-up of lengths, powers and actions. But they appear to be out of business. That's too bad. They made a nice rod.

I am sorry to hear that there's something going on in your life that will keep you away from the best place on the web. But, I'm betting that whatever it is, you can whup it's a$$. When you do, and have taken your victory lap, come back. Like the goofy guy says, " we'll keep the light on for ya".

I'll second flyfisher about sierra trading post. They have some great prices some times. If you see something you want, buy it when you see it. It won't last long, and may not ever show up again.

That's as good an explanation as any I've heard. MaybE the best. LOL

If the fish are on the spawning beds, leave them alone. And what's the deal about bananas? I've heard that from quite a few, and totally ignored it.

This is a big help.. I also put several desiccant packets in every box. And, never mix plastic baits with terminal tackle.

dude wipes may be pretty handy in the boat. i'll let you all know.

MY EDC for better than ten years was a Kershaw whirlwind. Basically the same as the blackout, without the black blade. I lost it. Replaced it with a CRKT Ripple. Not an assisted opening knife, but with the flipper and the ball bearing supported blade it opens one-handed as fast as the Kershaw assisted openers. Good steel, razor sharp, very light, good grip, Takes up very little pocket space, what else you want? Also have a Mcusta damascus folder. Too nice for everyday carry, and no pocket clip. It's my "dress" knife. My two neck knives are from Cold Steel. A Scottich Spike and Scimitar Spike. Don't get one of the new version with plastic handles. Do a search for the older models with cord wrapped handles. Much nicer. My two favorite in car backups are a SOG Forge and a Browning Arbitrator. Either will get your attention.

I bend out the hooks, just slightly, on all my frogs. It takes two pairs of pliers, one below the frog, and one just behind the barb. Try this and your hook-up ratio will go up. A lot.

I like panera too. Great bread and sammiches.

Jeff Beck. ANy questions?

Didn't know you had 1/8oz. I'll be getting some of those asap.

My last ditch rig. I toss a split-shot rig when nothing else is working, and I know the fish are shallow. Water Gremlin makes split shot that look like mini bullet weights. These are a lot better than round shot, most of the time. I'l try a small sttraight worm first, then a tube, then a fluke, then give up, and try some other rig. I seem to always use the smaller plastics with split shot, but there's no reason you couldn't try some larger offerings.

I have access to some machine toools(CNC machines). I can run a turn in manual mode. I'm going to give this a try. I know I can get some cork rings glued together, bore out the ID and turn down the OD. Getting the core split and then glued back together on the spool will be the main problem. I think I can do that as well. Do you think the cork arbor should have some kind of finish coat? Off the top of my head, I'd say it need waterproofing, at the least. What do you think?

A lot of folks up north use braid as a leader when fishing pike infested waters. I've never tried it, but enough people do it that there about has to be some merit to the idea. I think in your situartion, as an on the fly fix, you would be fine. It's actually a decent idea.

If lonng casts are important, as I suspect they may be in your situation, consider this. The outside diameter of the reel spool should be no more than twice the inside diameter of the first guide up from the reel. Not saying too large a spool won't work; it just won't cast as far.

I'm from Illinois, where we may as well not have a football team. When I opened this thread what I was thinking was UH-OH, Tommy's roux is about to burn.

You can count to 20 if you stand in the shower.

Since i first tried the Shake2 head, I've transitioned to fishing plastics mostly with jigheads of some sort. I use skirted jigs and t-rigs a lot less. Now have three 3600 boxes full of just jigheads. There are more Shake2 jigheads than any other, followed, in no particular order, by Fin-Tech Titleshots, Gammy Skipgaps, Bass Stalker, and Tru-Tungsten Iaconelli jigheads. Bought a whole bunch of the TT jigheads when they stopped production and TW clearanced them out. I started out this year by going through my boxes, seeing what was low stock, and ordering about three pounds of jigheads. I probably won't need to order too many next year. As long as Shake2 jigheads are in production, I'll be buying them. Megastrike too.

UH-OH does this mean I'm in some kinda hot water? LOL

I wear mine in the yak. I have a sit-on-top with a pretty thick cushion so my legs hang over the side, and da feet are in da water. The five-fingers are one pair of shoes I don't have to worry about slipping off my feet.

Forgot add; if I had to do it, I would take my 7' M-F LTB with JDM Zillion.

For stock reel, out of the box, US market? ZIllion.

A man on his first trip to New York stopped an older gentleman and asked' " can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall"? The old gent said " practice, man, practice". As RM suggested; a "balanced" combo is key.

Sometimes they just hit the blades. It is what it is. Had a trip to Trophy Country a few weeks ago, with Long Mike. I got quite a few fish on a SEIBERT OUTDOORS spinnerbait, and only about half had the hook in their mouth. I hooked one right between the eyes. The hook went in inside one eye, and came out inside the other eye. The hook did not touch either eye, it went right through the bone between the eyes. I have no idea how that fish hit the bait. Wish I had taken a picture.