Avalonjohn44

I would need three, one for me, and two to carry all my gear.

Stanley Ribbit Double Take Hooks. Better than any other frog hook out there. Screw locks, weighted or weightless, and they use Gamakatsu hooks. Hookup ratio is great, and the hooks last forever.

I have Costas and Oakleys (prefer the Oakleys overall). I won't go back to any cheapies unless I go broke... Most of the $30 and lower glasses I've tried fit poorly, break/scratch easily and often end up giving me a headache (which i'm prone to have).

I use CLR on any lure I find that plain old toothbrush and dish soap can't cut thru. Works very well.

As to your other questions... There are no free watercraft at Disney, and you're not allowed to fish from the rentals. You can buy a bass excursion on a Nitro Boat or a Pontoon, it's pretty expensive, but fun. Around $250 for 3 hours. As for what works, I always do good with topwater frogs/rats, senkos, magnum trick worms and roboworms on a drop shot. Somebody else mentioned other places to fish, there is Turkey Lake right up Rt 4 (Bill Fredrick Park), with a park that rents boats, but you need to get there early because they only have a few. There are any number of small ponds along the the road I've seen people fishing at. Make sure you have a license because cops are everywhere. There are also a ton of guides that will pick you up at your hotel too depending on what you want to spend. They seem to have pretty much the same prices within fifty bucks. I never used a guide down there, time being a factor with kids and the parks, so can't recommend a good one...

Since an alligator killed a kid this past summer, Disney has tightened down on bank fishing. In late Sept 16, I fished a couple of times late (after midnight) and nobody bothered me at Caribbean Beach resort. There are a lot of signs up saying no fishing at several resorts, there were none at my resort but there may be some now. It sucks, because nothing closed out a Disney day like a few casts and a late dip in the pool. Now the pools are closed after 10 or 11 and the lakes are being shut down for fishing...

Cheaper than coffee and the necessary accessories, better for your teeth: https://www.amazon.com/No-Doz-Strength-Acting-Alertness-Caplets/dp/B000NVNLTS

Man, I would roll that over my foot, over my wife's foot, over my kids' feet... I don't think that thing would work for most bass fishermen, but man if I had a marina or a bait shop on the water, I'd buy a few and rent them out all year long.

Sounds like you had a blast. Is the place you went to Bill Fredrick Park on Turkey Lake? I think the local BPS supplies a few trackers to fish from. Sounds like fun, we go to Orlando a lot and I have wanted to try that out.

Looks good, I gotta free up that Saturday. The exhibitor list looks pretty strong, better than the Eastern Outdoor/Great American show in Harrisburg... Except for these guys: BATH FITTER LEAF FILTER NORTH

I'm glad I read this before spending the gas and ticket money. I haven't gone in about 8 years, and this kind of stuff was the reason I threw in the towel. The Fishing section had turned into mostly outfitters, and they threw a bunch of other junk in fishing section like home gutter systems, bathtub fitters and booths selling salsa or jerky. There were maybe 5 booths selling tackle/lures. In the 90s there would be dozens of lure dealers and tackle shops from all over, so many that I couldn't be sure we hit every booth... There were even a few girls wearing bikinis and holding signs advertising for some vendors... Those were the days.

That's good to know. I wonder why they just didn't use the stump symbol or, as I've seen on different areas of that map, just the words 'stump field'.

Directly cross the lake from Anna Point Marina... After re-reading your post, I went thru a few of the line and double clicked on several different areas along the line. On most portions of the +++ areas double clicking only lists the county, state and depth. On a few of the individual plus symbols it does say underwater obstruction, snag/stump (Stump field?). Even on the deeper ones. I am now guessing the shallow ones like my first screen grab are for careful navigation, the super deep ones at 35+ feet are for being careful during anchoring...

Yes, this is the first thing I tried, but it does not give any entry for these symbols...

That makes sense, but there are many other instances of the same +++++ lines in 35 to 50 feet of water,with no shallows nearby where the navigation wouldn't be at all hazardous. The instance I happened to clip was in shallow water, but they are all over the place which was why I was thinking it indicated gravel beds rather than danger line. Here is another example in deep water:

I've been looking around at the Navionics site planning out my next few trips and cannot identify a common feature that I keep running across all over the lake (Lake Anna in VA). All over the lake there are dotted lines of plus symbols: ++++++. I downloaded the US Chart Symbols and Terms guide and I can't match the symbols up. The closest I can guess is gravel beds, but I'm far from certain. Below is a screen shot of what is puzzling me. Sorry if this is a completely obvious question. I'm a total noob on the Navionics so far...

Maybe you're right, but even so, I'll choose to remain optimistic until there is a definitive reason not to be. I don't believe this is going to change a great deal, BPS's main competition will shift a bit from Cabela's to the rest of the crowded field like TW, Gander Mt, Academy, DSG and even Amazon and Walmart, so I think their prices will remain somewhat competitive. The situation could even open up opportunities (especially if some duplicate stores are closed) for some local shops to step it up.

I'm sorry to hear this. My experience has been the almost totally the opposite, everyone I've been to, from Atlantic City down to Ft Lauderdale I've received nothing but good to great customer service except once, in Arundel Mills, but that was on Black Friday and the store was jam packed full of fools like me. I am hopeful for the merger and think it will be a good thing overall for the consumer... I do worry about store closures and local jobs where a BPS and Cabelas are close together though.

I have a lot of Bagleys mostly from the 80s and 90s, and I love them. I've broken a ton of my old ones and they are in sad shape but still work. I have not yet tried any of the new Bagleys, but from these reviews, gotta give them a shot now! Time to put those Christmas Gander MT gift cards to work.

Gee, no jamming screwdrivers through the boards either then? What about a sledgehammer, drill or blowtorch?

Moral of the story. Bring a chainsaw if you're checking out a used boat.

...Cyber Monday gift from my wife, parents, inlaws and kids... Now to figure out how to install and use this thing... I have a little warranty work coming up on my boat. Does anyone think it would be a good idea to have BPS install this at the same time, or is it easy enough for a bonehead like me to do?

My Gander Mt used to have some great stuff in their BB, but lately nothing but stray hooks and Matzuo cr@p.

Lose some weight. Fewer broken seats and you'll live (and therefore fish) longer. I say this as a fellow big guy needing to lose weight. In the same boat, figuratively.

Another vote for the Bandit 200, can't beat the price, and they produce.