Jolly Green

OK, with two FG knot users in the room, I have my own specific question. Once you've got your knot tied and cinched as tightly as possible (but not super-glued), grab your leader and pull so it's just taut, barely bending the rod tip. With your other hand, pinch your thumb and forefinger on the leader just below the knot and start pushing against the braid wraps (toward the rod tip) while pulling your leader the other way. Did your knot stay tied? Or did the leader slip out without a whole lot of effort? If it stayed tied, I'd truly like to know the trick to it, because I've been fooling with this knot for weeks and I haven't been able to overcome this issue. I'm using 20# PP to 17# fluoro and it just ain't workin' for me.

... and I want to say I read in a similar thread some while ago that back in the day, the idea was to make your cast with your right hand and then rotate the rod so that the reel was under it for the retrieve, putting the handle on the left side. I'm a righty and use right-cranking reels because no matter which side the handle is on, I still have to at least adjust my grip from a casting position to a palming position, so switching hands is no big deal and I don't even think about it anymore. Also, I've had issues with lateral epicondilitis ("tennis elbow") in both elbows and cranking with my right half the time keeps me from aggravating that condition.

I like it, nice job Glenn and team. Will there be a grammar filter or is that still just Long Mike?

Alberto knot for me. I tried the FG knot and was initially impressed but what I found is that once it's all tied -- a very slim and compact knot it must be said -- I've found that with the line under tension you can push the coils of braid in the direction of the rod and pull the leader right out. I tried all kinds of ways to pack that knot tight before hitching it off and after hitching it off and always with the same results. I can always make it let go.

I use up braid up to 20# and whatever fits the bill for a leader, mono or fluoro from 8# to 17#.

My homemade lure-gitter mostly collects spinnerbaits out of the local trees, along with recovering my own stuff. 90% of the time, it works every time! This was my bait-eating tree catch of the season though, a Bucher Top Raider that somebody hung about 30' up. A 3/4" oz weight and a big treble on a scrap few dozen yards of 100 lb. braid made a nice, castable grappling hook.

The Avid X line are all split grips; the regular Avid line is full cork. I think it's worth stepping up, and if you can wait a few weeks for holiday sales so much the better. Gander Mountain has had a good deal on St. Croix's the past two years.

Looks awesome, but sadly the only boats in which I would consider fishing shark are owned by the U.S. Navy and I think the high angle from the deck of an aircraft carrier would kill the action.

Eel will fight you all the way down to finely minced.

Camping with the family this week landed me next to a 10 acre pond stocked with panfish, trout, and largemouth; so after setting the kids up on a pier with some light poles and Crappie Nibbles I took a couple rods and very modest expectations to chase bass. The weather was cool so the swimming area of the pond had been undisturbed all day, and I had seen bass moving in and out from under all the floating slides, trampolines, and other play platforms in about 6' of water. I won't detail everything I threw at those fish that they completely ignored, but it was most everything I had in the bag. After an hour I was working my way through different plastics (again, having already struck out with Senkos, flukes, tubes, etc.) and I finally decided to open the bag of Havoc Pit Bosses I had bought and never tried, and rigged one weightless on a 4/0 hook. It was like a doggone dinner bell when it hit the water; I pulled in three fish that watched it pretty warily for a second before absolutely slugging it but then they were fighting over it, and many fish later I finally landed the hawg of the bunch, a whopping 3 lbs. lol. So thanks, Pit Boss, for saving my camp fishing bacon. I know that most any bait can have its time to shine, but from now on I'll be keeping a few bags in with the other essentials.

7' MH/F rated to 3/4 oz. for me, as everywhere I fish spinnerbaits I like to cover a lot of water full of cover. Good reach with around a 1/2 oz. bait and I can get it up quick when ticking rocks, etc. Also plenty of muscle for fishing in mild river current.

I would have just packed up and moved, since that's what I would have had to do anyway had I attempted that. Well done, dude.

Nope, they're a regular in the rotation and too versatile to ignore. If nothing else, spinnerbaits are a great way to weed out the pike before I toss something they could steal.

Sam Adams was great in the 90's, it just isn't the same beer anymore. Or I suppose my taste buds are just 20 years closer to useless, that could be it, lol. Never had a Bell's I didn't like; Dogfish Head makes some outstanding (and sometimes plain outlandish) beer; closer to home the Capitol Brewery, New Glarus Brewery, and Central Waters Brewing Co. all make a plethora of good brews that are worth checking out if you're in the area.

Wear a cup and get video. Actually, skip the cup. Thanks.

A carefully cut and applied piece of electrical tape helps.

I pulled a 12" crappie out of the river a couple of days ago, above average size for the area. I turned to my wife and said, "I'm still the only one interested in eating these, right?" She replied that she was not going to eat that fish; that it was a "townie fish" lol. She then informed me that if I catch her a fish out of some pristine gin-clear Canadian (why Canadian? I dunno...) waters that she would gladly eat it. So you all are my witnesses; my wife just told me to take a fly-in pike trip for the good of the dinner table.

Flourcarbon.

I like Pop R's but I don't like their hooks. Xcalibur Zell Pops work pretty well. Good "bloop" seems to matter more than color.

I use a swivel with 18" - 24'' of fluoro leader tied direct to my flukes. If I'm using a snap, it's a Duo-Lock snap at the end of a wire leader with a BB swivel, nice for combing a lipless crank or inline spinner through pike-infested waters.

Having to re-tighten the handle after a long cast to stop abnormal clicking is just that reel's way of saying "Exchange me."

Terminator or Booyah. Or yeah, just buy the gold blades of your choice and swap 'em out.

Gander has them with a $20 rebate at the moment.

Ha, I say that quite a bit, that and godblessit and mother fudge cake. Even when the kids aren't around...

Whoa, hey who left what gate open!?