gulfcaptain

As per fishguy613 asked, what line and rod. Fish a frog you need to use braid. Size is up to you, most prefer 50/65lb, I choose 30lb. But braid is important. Now here's the hard part. When you see the bite, wait, wait for the feel of the fish. When that bass blows up on a bait you must wait till you feel the pressure and weight before swinging. You must wait for that fish to get his mouth closed. He just came up through the weeds to eat his possible meal. So there isn't a magic number to count to, you are gonna have to get the feel of it. As for your rod, MH/H rods are good choices, taper/action is up to you and a personal preference, fishguy613 likes an XF, I prefer a Mod/fast action. But the main thing is to wait till you feel the fish and make sure you have braid fishing frogs so you can get the proper hook set you need.

That pretty much sums it up. Face it women collect shoes, we collect fishing equipment. And how many do I have, well I need to buy another rod rack from BPS, of course I'm gonna have to buy a few more rods once I do so it's full too.

Then there's that awkward moment when you ask "so do you wanna hit up the food court or should I get your number and call you later?"

As a frequent flyer, I have to say every airport is a bit different. Some are very nice...Houston Hobby. Others are just irritated you are there having to make them work...LAX. With that said, I have seen them tell me my TSA issued TWIC card wasn't valid since they had never seen one(but issued by them), had them tell me I must check my 8" crimping tool but it was okay to go on board with 30ft of sevenstrand wire. I could probably do more damage with the wire then the crimping tool, just saying. I did find a nice TSA agent in New Orleans doing baggage check that did laugh when she asked what was in my rod tube. I simply stated "its a missle" to which she replied with a smile "no it's not". So like all government jobs, there are some that truly are there to be of assistance and helpful while others are just miserable and unhappy that they have to show up for work to get paid.

Does almost smashing 2 guys in a 30ft center console in Grand Isle LA count when they decided to try and shoot the gap between the dock and the 170ft crewboat I run? Think they figured they weren't gonna make t when my stern was already touching the dock and the gap they were sitting in was closing fast since it was a tad windy....only blowing about 35kts. And yes, when they did come down the other side after rapidly backing down there were a few words expressed by myself.

bigbitebaits.com they sell bulk packs of 100 baits or so I believe. Def cheaper then buying 10 at a time.

yes, they do take patience to fish with. And I did read a post where someone asked if there was some club once you catch a fish on a large swimbait. No club, just the patience to stick with it. You should pick it up again, tie on a 8" hudd, and go fishing, leave everything else at home and make yourself fish it. Once you get the first fish on it you will then continue to "trust" and have faith in the bait. The smaller swimbaits everyone else is talking about work great. Yes, they catch fish, I started out with the 3 1/2" Zman Swimmers, great little swimbait. Caught lots of fish. But the main topic in this post was if anyone was throwing the bigger weedless hudds, rats, and bull shads. Tartan, if you have the setup, get and fish a ratbait, or one of the wake jr's at night.

If you do fish the weedless 8" hudd, make sure you add some superglue around the nose/hook eye. I have 2 of them, used one around some grass and just the pulling of the grass caused it to rip at the mouth. So you might wanna add some mend-it to your shopping cart as well. Other then that they look great in the water. I'm sure all of the above would def increase your odds of catching a bigger bass. But with that said, you have to "fish" them. This means not throw it for 30min and change your mind. It means throw it all day, even if you're not getting the hook ups. Big swimbaits will also let you see fish that you didn't know were there as they reveal themselves following and looking at your offerings. If you like the look of the hudds, check out the top hook savage gear thru-line top hook floating 8" baits.

If I was to "raise a record", I wouldn't tell anyone, move to Texas, find a nice piece of land that could hold hold large pond and do it S. Cal style. Stock trout in the winter, tilapia in the summer, get a good stock of FI as well as pure strains and let nature take it's course as well as selective culling and a healthy bluegill population which my son would be more then happy to fish for everyday......just saying, if you can grow teen fish in a 1acre public park pond, I'm sure you could get bigger in a larger private pond

Right on, did you throw the 6" or the 8"?

Looks like a farm pond. Does this one have a dam? Does it have a wash that runs into it? Or was it just a hole they dug out and filled up?

yes, lots of city park lakes to fish. Just have to look around, some are free and some you have to pay to park. Quite a few have double digit fish in them as well. They just get lots of pressure but they can be good at times. And if you want to drive about 70mi, you have Diamond Valley, Skinner, and Paris to the East, and north of LA and the valley you has Castaic and Pyramid.

I believe it's the 2011 model. I'm thinking I may have listed the rating wrong too. Sorry happens when you buy lots of rods, but I do fish it often as now it's my dedicated A-Rig/Small swimbait rod (throw the 6" and 68 huddleston's on it) It may be a 7'6"mh tele. But with that said, it still handles the 6" hudds, the 6" bbz's 7" AC minnow, and my 6"rago jrs as well as the a-rig.

I use the albright knot on my micro guides. Got to cut the mono as short as possible, so I put a drop of superglue just to make sure it's locked. The heaviest I've got on my set ups are 30lb braid with 17lb flouro topshot. Anything heavier, I go to standard or minima guides.

As WRM stated SoCal is very pressured. If weekends are the only time, you may try fishing at night and would follow Tom's advice.

I just learned to use my thumb. Seems to work most of the time, and when it malfunctions.....well then I'll look to swapping it out too....

Wow, you remind me of the character off Big Bang Theory.........the one and only Dr. Sheldon Cooper. j/k Honestly I did learn a lot as you have a great deal more technical info and knowledge.

Sounds like you answered your own question.

You never know, what you have may work where you're going. But looks like you have a good excuse to get that new rod you have been wanting. And while you're purchasing that rod you can then justify all the new flipping a punching tackle you need........Dreaded Bait Monkey strikes again.

Good point, as the handle was never the reason of the posting. But I can only think of how hard it would be to try and turn a 9:1 reel with a really small handle. But as stated the best part we can all discuss and make our own choices and have our own opinions, learn new things from one another, and respectfully have a few discussions, disagreements, and share the same points of view. And when all is said and done, purchase whatever products WE individually like and want.

Guess I should ask it in a different way, what is the taper of your current punch rod? I agree with doyle, it's kinda a personal preference. I like a fast taper for some situations but then also have a moderate fast for others. It's just how you prefer your rod to flex. Extra fast shuts off quicker and sometimes a softer tip, fast shuts off about 1/3 down the blank, and a moderate fast a bit farther. I don't use the extra fast rods anymore as I have broke two of them in the exact same spot, about 18" from the tip. Prefer the rod to have a bit more flex to distribute the load.

What is your punch set up right now?

Yes we have all admitted we have a problem, not enough cash to buy eveything we want. And if anyone says they have all the fishing equipment they need.....they are in DENIAL. Only hope you have is to give all of your stuff to all of us and quit fishing to break that monkey.

working on a sportboat in S. Cal for 10yrs as a deckhand, I spent many a day on the fillet board cutting fish on the way in. We used a medium/fine 2 sided stone and just water. Once you sharpen it, don't change your pattern of how you run it across the stone. Sharpening a 10" fillet knife, we sharpened from the handle up to the tip both directions, and never went the other way.(point down to handle) If someone else used our knife we new because it would take off the edge we used as their stroke might have not been the same angle or direction of ours. Quality blades will hold an edge better then cheaper ones will as well.Once you get it sharp, you can always use a sharpening steel to touch it up.

I use 15, 20, and 30 on all mine. Never had an issue, but like stated above by a few, all have mono backing as I have about 130yrds of braid on each even with the backing just so I can keep the spool full without using all 300yrds. If you're worried, find a spare reel, spool it up with the braid you have, put on some mono backing, and re-fill. Also, KVD line conditioner helps break in the braid a bit easier depending on the brand purchased.