ClackerBuzz

why do i feel like the sky is falling and they will muck it up

no wife, no kids, no drinking habit...go for it

I'd head into ur local stores. do you have a cabela's, BPS, dick's? being able to hold the rod in ur hands is priceless. even with low end combo's, one will shine. i bought a decent reel and line at a fly shop and picked up a $25 rod at Wally world. the rod was like a broom stick but it didn't know any better and learned how to cast it. i was blown away when i started casting rods that were even remotely better. ended up getting a orvis clearwater on sale and it's heaven. i was in walmart the other day looking for a crappie rod. i picked up a shakespear micro series 7' 4wt fly rod. no joke it feels as nice as my orvis. only it was $15! i bought it and am going to mount a reel Tennessee handle style, add a few spinning guides and use it as a crappie rod. do you have a local fly shop? it's nice to hold a high end rod in ur hands so you have something to compare too. and they might have winter/last year close out sales.

I had both. the tip on the H loads a lot w/ 8" Hudds and potential backlashes get scary and/or expensive. that being said the H is much better for 2 oz lures...and you'll likely be casting them a whole lot more than 4 oz 8". Casting a 4 oz Hudd gets tiring and discouraging fast. you'll get more bites on 6" baits. and even those bites can come far and few in between. the Okuma is a really big rod for small to medium swimbaits. I'd much rather recommend the 795 Dobyns. it's hands down one of my favorite rods. you'd have to be careful with 8" Hudds but it casts 68 specials like a dream. along with MS Slammers, Hardgills etc.

I like glass better b/c they deflect cranks off the bottom more softly so they seem to stall more during a pause. i tend to crank too fast as is so the glass fits my personality. on the other side composite is far more sensitive so you can feel every bump on the bottom. some guys prefer this. as mentioned glass keeps bass pegged so that's a bonus if you like to put too much pressure on them. i wouldn't hesitate to recommend glass. i just sold my dobyns 805 cbrm b/c i like the glass so much better

Choporoz, ur idea is exactly what I do. why are you fighting it

hard to beat 16 VMC drop shot hooks for $2.99. they are sticky sharp

searching for a BPS catalog!? it took me almost a year and a half and 6 nasty emails to finally get them to stop sending me catalogs (to BOTH my shipping and billing addresses). they finally stopped only after they upped the ante with a blitz of fly fishing and saltwater catalogs

this^^^ if you have good pix and it's not selling you could be over pricing it and might want to lower ur expectations

they sure do thrive in it. i have a pond that get's choked out with milfoil and there are some monster bass in there..along with pickerel, huge crappie, bluegills, catfish and carp. i have a different out look on the milfoil. it is considered an invasive species by many but why poison our waters with chemicals and spend millions of dollars over the course of 20 yr to try and prevent the inevitable. environments change and often we do more harm trying to prevent it. requiring boat quarantine is as far as i'd go to prevent it from spreading. no sense in poisoning the waters we swim in and drink from to stop an unstoppable/harmless weed. plus a natural solution will come farther down the road so patience is a virtue. one of my mt lakes is treated with chemicals every season. there are tons of boaters/children etc that play in the water all season. i voiced my opinion to a resident who proceeded to tell me that the chemicals were perfectly safe and the children were in no harm. i asked the woman if she's like me to add the same ratio of chemicals to her swimming pool and water softener. she frowned in disgust and walked away. i guess that was a 'no'

that rod is an absolute noodle. some call that a true ultralight but it's a bit too floppy for my taste. head to walmart and check out the shakespeare micro series. nice little rods. the light or ultralight will fit ur taste. honestly you can improve ur 5' casting distance if you have the right set up. whats ur rig? if you have 8-10lb mono on it you'll do yourself a huge service just by upgrading ur line to braid, fluro or even 6lb copoly like yo zuri. a 1000-2500 reel casts farther b/c the line comes off the spool w/ little resistance. pair that with 5-10lb braid...and or 4-6lb test and you should be whipping a 1/8oz mepps spinner at least 60+ft. i never measured but i'm sure i can hit 50ft with a 6'9" light fenwick, 1000 reel, 4lb fluoro, 5lb braid backing and a 1/16oz crappie jig. an all metal mepps would hit 70ft

I learned quick the corporate world wasn't for me. if i'm going to work hard i like to have purpose behind it..and enjoy it. i always felt like i worked 1/2 of the time and played politics the other 1/2. when I finally left it behind l took a page from a woman i admired in upper management. she was butting heads with another guy and flat out said "I'll tell you to right your face, I don't play chess. I play poker. And you don't know what's in my hand". It was awesome. She must have had a killer hand. Take Glenn's advice and document everything to build a good hand in case you ever need it. you never know when you'll need to throw it down. i especially liked that woman's style b/c i don't like chess either. it's too slow and drawn out and actually stresses me out. too many small moves w/ constant thinking. I'm a poker man and like to build a hand and drop the bomb. realizing that helped me fit my personality into the business world and ignore all the chatter while i build a hand

ouch. you'll only make that mistake once. if it makes you feel better i'm no stranger to the taste of my own foot. if it hits the fan feel free to use my favorite line: "Pssh please I've been fired from much better jobs than this one".

I was explaining to my wife last night that when you die you get reincarnated but you must come back as a different creature. She said she would like to come back as a cow. I said, "You're obviously not listening".

honestly you can cast light lures just as far with a 7' rod if you set it up right (light or ultra light). a 1000+ size reel w/ 5lb braid will cast a 1/16th jig just as far as ur 8 ft. I have a 6'6" Spinmatic from stream fishing back in the day and it's a noddle. i can't imagine what the 8ft is like. i know a lot of crappie guys love the 7' BnM Sam Heaton super sensitive. I had a 7' light action Shakespeare Micro in my hands at Wally world an it's a darn nice rod for $20. i almost picked it up for crappie but want to try Dicks and Cabelas first

personally I ask myself a question that trumps natural/man made/highland/low land etc: what's the mood of the fish on that body of water. i fish all kinds of water from heavily pressured public water to farm ponds. the mood of the fish changes per hour/day but what's more important is to identify the over all mood or 'personality' of ur fishery. it makes it so much easier to approach the water. my farm ponds=fish are very aggressive heavily pressured public water=fish are very skittish very stable low land reservoirs w/ little current=fish very skittish huge lakes or saltwater=fish bold/aggressive. i'll pack my rods according to the water but if i'm heading to new water I'll def be toying with 3 rigs to establish how aggressive or passive the fish are to lures. maybe it will help others. 1- 4lb line and 1/16oz crappie type lures on light action spinning rod 2- 10lb line for casting weightless soft plastics Medium spinning or casting rod 3- 65lb braid main line w/ 15lb leader to cast 3/8oz jigs on a MH casting rod I listed the line and lure size first b/c they are the most important concept. the rod is just the tool to deliver them. I'll get bit on one of these rods and I'll build from there. the crappie rod is a vacuum cleaner that will catch anything in the area. it will put you on baitfish and game fish quick. weightless soft plastics are a no brainer and can clean up weed beds. the jig rod is versatile and can get into nasty cover w/ or w/o a leader. if your having a hard time getting hit on a double bladed spinner bait but you are catching multiple species non stop on crappie jigs then i'd immediately start finesse fishing. but if you can't keep them off ur spinnerbait then why not give an A-rig a try. or if you see a 5" senko is spooking them you better go lighter. my combo's are relative to where i live. if i lived on lake erie or amistad i would up the lines to 8, 12 and 20lb and up the lures to 1/8, 1/2 and 3/4oz. the most important thing is to play with rate of fall (light lures to heavy) and size of line (4lb to 17lb). identify the personality of ur water and you're way ahead of the game

well you certainly did come to the right place if you'd like to hear about an amazing new beaver bait.

lotta youtube videos

75% of the things you read online and watch on youtube won't apply to your fishery. if you want to learn about bass, study baitfish (I think others put it "in order to learn about the owl you must study the mouse"). don't be afraid of 4lb line. set ur drag properly and let the rod/reel/line system do it's job. even if a bass goes into cover it's fairly easy to guide them out skip buying ur next 3 combos and/or tackle for ur next 4 techniques and buy a sonar unit. never fish blind again. don't get cold feet and get all cheap when buying a sonar unit. don't spend 75% of ur money on a down imaging unit for a microscope view of the bottom when you should ante up and spend the extra 25% for 180 degree panoramic view of the lake bottom for hundreds of feet each direction when getting skunked while learning how to structure fishing or if ur getting skunked in general: head for the weeds. that's how good weeds are

^probably has more to do with ur hooks not being sharp or ur hook set/rod. fly fishing/trout guys regularly land 10+lb trout on size 22 hooks. but they are razor sharp.

that looks fun but the guys in russian make my skin craw when they're hanging off the side of a building by their fingertips and no safety lines

Sam, I have never seen Denny talk finesse. Google/youtube yielded nada so i'm scratching my head. any links/suggestions?

i got it bookmarked for just such an occasion http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/142538-the-secret-to-not-losing-so-many-senkos-heres-the-solution/