Jolly Green

Would you elaborate on that? I find braid to be pretty great when it comes to casting.

I really like braid + leader most of the time, but I also like to fish small jerkbaits on 6 or 8 lb. mono with a ML rod because it's just plain fun. Caught my first and only smallie this year on that set-up, all of a pound, and it was way more of a kick than if I'd just been using my typical MH with 20 lb. braid.

Laying into the first nice fish of spring.

No, but I've tied squirrel tail onto the rear treble of a couple of Super Spots, so action-wise it's in the neighborhood. I don't think the fish felt one way or another about it, but there is definitely a "wrigglier" look to the action, and they do catch fish.

Take things apart slowly and carefully. Take pictures. Remove small, springy parts inside a bread bag or similar. Keep an eye on your diagram. Sometimes, a small, thin washer will stick to a larger piece and you won't know it's there unless you are checking what's in your hands against what's on the sheet. Later, you will suddenly have "extra" washers (if you didn't accidentally wash them down the drain) and no idea where they go. Sometimes things are reverse threaded. Clean, rinse, and dry well; and go easy on the grease, it doesn't take much. Semi-jack: I'm curious about the pitfalls of removing and reinstalling bearing shields. I've done this several times with no problems; what am I missing or potentially screwing up?

If you're fishing Husky Jerks you may find that a tiny bit of added leader weight is not a bad thing, as they tend to rise a bit, depending on water temp. With a wire leader they actually suspend (or sink very slowly.)

1/2 oz. Chrome + Whatever Rat-L-Traps are awesome for pike if the cover permits. Spinnerbaits would be my next choice.

Congratulations! Compliments to the photographer too; nice job photoshopping the rod out of your hand.

I usually start out fast, just blasting through rocky areas, bouncing off everything but keeping a brisk, steady retrieve. If that doesn't get bit, I repeat the process but when I thump into something I will pause, maybe give it a little shake as though it got its bell rung and is trying to clear its vision of stars. I always try to hit the water swimming, and twice in the past few weeks I had outings where they would smash it immediately after splashdown. I love my lipless cranks but it's been fun adding more squarebills to the mix this fall.

Almost every morning, as I live within fifteen minutes of a dozen good bank spots along the river that runs through our little town. Plus, with a nine county service territory, I always have a rod and tackle bag with me because there is literally water everywhere I go. Sometimes I even end up working in houses right on a lake with homeowners that simply insist that I spend lunch time out on their dock. Twist my arm...

That's pretty bad. There's a section of river I like to bank fish that is only accessible by a trail that passes by the low side of a dam, and the fishing spot there looks like a landfill most times. The best piles usually include the remains of a small campfire with half a charred carp sticking out of it. Never fails to amaze me how lazy people are, or maybe it's just immaturity. A lot of people who are old enough to know better still think being an adult means they don't have to do anything they don't feel like doing, and the novelty of not having a parent nagging them to pick up after themselves has never worn off. Thank you for your service.

They Live! Wowww... I had completely forgotten about that one. Right up there with Hell Comes to Frogtown as some of Rowdy Roddy Piper's finest work.

Many years ago my grandpa taught me to drop minnows into Lake Erie and pull out perch two at a time, and shortly thereafter to love a good fish fry. My dad taught me that bluegill aren't super picky: we once fished all weekend out of a large ziplock freezer bag full of cicadas that he had collected during a 17-year cicada summer in Cincinnati. I've only been chasing bass for three years, and everything I know about it I learned from this site, a couple of books, and time on the water. Got a ways to go...

Does that mean that you cut off the stock hook and have a treble hook attached to the eye with 65 lb. braid? If so, that could be a problem, and you might consider doing it over with wire. Oh, and don't forget to look at the camera and say, "This is the way you do it, doctor, IF you rig it MY way!"

This time of year... gimme a Gritty McDuff's Black Fly Stout.

I like it when they get all three points of the belly hook buried in the corner of the mouth plus at least two point in the gill cover. Oh yeah. That's just the best. They are a blast, though!

This is a trip, I pretty much missed out on fusion save for second-hand exposure via a Mahavishnu Orchestra addict I used to know. To the OP, you can explore a bit through Pandora (or similar), community and/or public radio stations will usually have several jazz programs during the week, and of course there's random YouTubing. But there's nothing like being there live watching a crafty improviser pulling new melodies out of thin air; find those small groups in small venues and soak it up. Here's a few tunes I've listened to lately: Miles Davis - "On Green Dolphin Street" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrVnm66joQk Ornette Coleman - "Intersong," from the sound track to Naked Lunch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEh-haqgd_k Charlie Hunter - "Mean Streak" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuvIw9j36BE

One hour split between two of my favorite bank spots, five bass between 1 and 3 pounds, two pike. The 3# bass felt like a new PB but turned out just to be foul-hooked, right in the snout. I informed him that that's what he gets for ramming his food first instead of just eating it. All on lipless cranks, including a couple of 1/2 oz. Voltage baits I had forgotten I picked up at Dick's for nothing. The stock hooks are extremely sharp garbage attached to the lure with further garbage, but with decent hooks and split rings these things are effective. Good day and thankful for it; I feel like last year at this time it was -40 degrees outside already.

Another vote for Bomber Square A, Foxy Momma, on a wire leader because easily half the fish it catches are pike.

On a recent trip to Harbor Freight I noticed that they carry a ridiculously complete inventory of tools like this, all kinds of lengths, angles, you-name-it; all of them in the neighborhood of $3 to $8. Heck, if anyone here enjoys sailing by the stars, you can even pick up a brass sextant for $20. Gotta love that place...

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=425375559230 D'oh! Lucky the other back door didn't close on him... would not have been as funny.

Well, it's definitely just an amateur's guess but I think braid is capable of that, particularly if the waters you fish are dirty enough that the line is bringing dirt/grit in with it to add to the abrasion factor. I'll defer to DVT or others more experienced in repair as to what you can do to fix it, but it may be that you don't need to fix it, just keep an eye on it. Hard to tell how deep that groove is from the picture. I'd probably leave it alone unless it seems to be worn down enough that it's almost worn through or is otherwise giving you trouble. You could probably get a replacement part from ereplacementparts.com or elsewhere, but the shipping may be more than the actual part. Maybe not worth it if it isn't actually broken.

If what I'm looking at is the groove in the lower section (where the worm gear goes through) then that makes no sense to me. Only two things I can think of: 1. You get a fair number of violent backlashes where your line gets caught and dragged down underneath the spool, rubbing and then sharply stopping against that part. 2. Not trying to be insulting, but the only other thing I can think of is that the reel is actually spooled upside down, that is, line feeding from the underside of the spool instead of the top, in which case you'd have to be reeling backwards too... that can't be, can it?