SudburyBasser

I have a little spot where I go for pike when I want to do something different. Like others have said I've found that they will hit virtually everything. And regrettably yesterday morning one of those scoundrels ate through my line and stole a Rebel Pop-R that I was slaying them on. I hope he chokes to death on it.

If it is true I'm an outlier because I've never had a snap fail on me in over two decades of fishing and I haven't ever felt a lost fish was due to a snap. It's usually a mechanical failure (hook) or more commonly operator error (me).

I use snaps on virtually every class of lure so yes to the answer. I haven't noticed any difference and I still seem to catch them on crankbaits.

I wouldn't mind the public being barred from iCast if the media that was invited actually did their jobs and cover the event critically. Instead, we're going to be inundated with 1,000 videos on Youtube, a hundred web sites and WFN which will feature a guy telling us why his company's latest product is the best thing since sliced bread with bacon embedded in it. That's not reporting, that's providing free commercial time. Wait...why isn't there bread with bacon embedded in it?

Can't afford a boat at the moment -- well, because of a Jeep which requires some heavy repairs to the rear end and I'm trying to save for a house -- so I'm bank beating mostly these days. The only time I'm in a boat is when my brother-in-law goes out and that's only been once in the last month. God willing I'll have the money next year

We're pretty lucky in northern Ontario -- I think we have close to 10,000 lakes in the neck of the woods I live in. Not sure if you'd want to fish many of them but they're there. At any rate, favourite lake is about 1hr with no traffic, favourite river is about 30 minutes. I've driven up to 2 hours to go fishing and 6 hours via airplane. Okay, on that last one it was my sister's wedding in the Turks & Caicos but I also went for the bonefish

Up here in the Great White North I've been slamming pickerel the past few weeks -- including a three pounder yesterday -- on chartreuse or white spinnerbaits, either the larger double blade spinner or a small single spinner. I find Colorado blades to be the best though Indiana bladed spinners seem to work fine too.

I'm a little surprised to hear of people complaining about noise and rough retrieve on the Stradic CI4. I have a 2500 and it may be the best reel I've ever bought (please note that proviso) -- smooth and quiet.

I use an improved clinch knot and have never heard a braid knot slip -- regardless of manufacturer, line weight or whether I was tying direct to a lure or swivel. I have noticed in testing that I have seen some slippage in four or fewer turns around the standing line. Five or more and it's rock solid.

For bank fishing I use a small tackle bag made by Wake...room for 3 or 4 3700s and two side pouches. Forces me to narrow down what I carry to the essentials. A far cry from the BPS Extreme Pro Qualifier bag with seven 3701s I keep for the boat. Fly fishing is a dream...one vest with enough pouches to keep every darned thing you need and one small fly box.

I find WFN to be one of those great in theory, not so much in execution propositions. They repeat shows an awful lot during the week so you find yourself watching the same show several times in a week (well I did because a repeat fishing show is still better than what's on TV these days). What I wish WFN would do is augment their current line up with classic fishing shows. Would it really cost a lot to licence some viewings of old shows from the 1970s-90s? Heck, even create a block of Sunday afternoon oldies. It would at least break-up the schedule. That said, I'll take the existence of WFN over not having it.

Probably not the dumbest thing but it happened yesterday so it's fresh in my mind. Friday night I decide to go trout fishing early the next morning. As I'm getting my stuff together that night I decide to switch out reels on my rod to one I like more. Early Saturday morning I drive 45 minutes to a stream I am told there are trout. So I assemble my rod, tie on a lure and confidently cast out a lure into the stream. I reach down to begin reeling in the lure when my hand hits air. I look down and notice that I had forgotten to put the handle on the reel. So for the next hour I cast out and then furiously spin the reel to take in line. As you can imagine, nearly to impossible to do so in a smooth and consistent motion. End result. Caught nothing and battled the most aggressive mosquitoes I've seen in a while.

On my way back from the Rolling Stones concert in Toronto I stopped off at the Bass Pro just outside of the city and bought some of those scatter rap Rapalas -- some crankbaits, minnows and countdowns -- plus some plastics (Havoc Pit Bosses and some 4" Senkos), some flies and poppers in the fly shop...it was actually a surprisingly inexpensive day (well, relatively speaking).

I have nothing to add on top of what Fishes in Trees said. It's a good option. Congrats on the new Wrangler and get it dirty. God hates nothing more than Wrangler owners who drive showroom clean vehicles.

Great stuff guys. I'm going to be fishing as a co-angler on a tournament trail for the first time in my life starting in July and I was pretty nervous about what I should know and do. Some great tips and advice!

I found some of my grandfather's Rebel Worms from the late 1970s that look and feel like new. As others have said, properly stored they should be okay.

Nothing much: bought some trout flies, bag of 4" inch watermelon tubes, new hip waders

Got a shipment of flies in. The trout had better be scared. Very scared.

Another vote for the Boomerang tool. A little pricey but it cuts braid like nobody's business.

This is how government grows

Which is the functional equivalent of holding the fish away from your body. People need to chill...

Ha ha, fair enough. Chicago for me is a 13 hour drive away from the daily pressures of my life. Some real deep dish pizza, good local beers, a couple of museums and culminating in my Bears winning. But yes, let's have a bass season first before we get back to football, ha ha!

I honestly believe that most people aren't trying to make the fish look bigger, they're just unconsciously making the fish the primary focus of the picture. Take a look at pictures of people drinking. How many people hold their drink towards the camera when they know a picture is being taken. They trying to make their Coors look bigger? Perhaps I'm naive.

I tend to use Tupperware shoe box size boxes to store at home...I only carry about 20 bags of plastics when I'm out so they go in the side pocket of my tackle bag.

A couple of bags of Berkley Havocs and a new net for trout and bass. At least I got a free hat for my spending :-) And two tickets for the Giants-Bears game on October 10. Can't wait...