gulfcaptain

Wow, can't believe someone actually produced those for sale.....but that is funny.

Sounds like you're fine to give it a go.

To each their own. If you can afford it buy it. I have upgraded a lot of my gear in the last year from what I had reel wise with quite a few rods thrown in. I can say having improved my gear has made fishing more enjoyable which lends to catching more fish since it's more comfortable to fish over longer periods of time. If it makes you happy with what you have aquired then don't let others judge what you fish with. Enjoy what you worked hard to aquire and let the haters hate. Just smile and walk away.

If it is an SCI instead of SC1 then it is possibly an S-glass rod. Look at your guides, are they stainless looking? As long as they aren't plastic you should be fine. Odds are you will be fishing lighter braid in the 10-15lb size with light topshots of FC in 6-8lb which you aren't going to have a lot of drag on your guides. Just make sure they aren't plastic. Other then that I'd say you're probably safe to use braid.

X2

Sounds like your right on the money with a realistic guess. Once again nice fish. Congrats.

Yep it is expensive. But now they offer scholarships for fishing teams at certain schools. You fish for your school as a team, do the right things to get some local businesses to help with expenses by sponoring and donating to the team then makes it a bit more manageable. Sorry correction, freshwater biology. But say if you wanted to work for any of the state fisheries that have saltwater fishing as well then it wouldn't hurt to have some marine biology background as well. Gotta think back up plan incase the Pro Angler pipe dream didn't pan out.

Well the fish in my Avatar was right around 8lbs, and guessing you're approx 180-200lbs, fish held out to look bigger, I'm gonna guess between 5.5-6.5lbs. Then again she might be bigger if you're like 6'6 and like 240lbs which then an 8lb fish would look really small with you holding it up. Sounds like you need to start carrying a scale now.

Academy has the H20 line. Rods run about $60 and you can get one of the reels on the cheap end for about $50. I still use all 3 of my H20 rods as they are a great buy for the price.

I'm kinda like A-Jay, if I guess a weight for your fish it may take away from your joy if you don't like my answer. I will say congrats on your new PB, if you want to figure it out and get a guess on how long she was and look up what she should weigh then go for it. But I'll let you solve that mystery without my help. Glad to see you're now posting about catching a fish this weekend instead of well lets just say being frustrated by everyone elses reports. Nice fish.

Agree with Tom, moss is a mess. Doesn't matter what you drag it will catch. If I have to deal with really mossy conditons I fish a punch jig......weedless rigged creature and can pop most of the moss free most of the time.

only times I won't fish a dropshot is if it's too grassy or heavy shallow cover. Fishes better on soft bottom then a t-rig at times, you can rig your worm wacky if you want as well, vertical fishing it excels over a t-rig. I normally fish a drophot casted out an slowly drag and shake it as I bring it back in. Can use it as a seach bait if needed. Fished it in Louisiana behind a friends house who told me there were a few bass in there.....well there were more then a few to be caught on a dropshot as opposed to a t-rig which he was fishing and not catching. It works, look at A Martens success....he hates fishing dropshot, but he does it because it works really good.

There is a time for all of them so learning to do it only increases the number of fish you can catch. To me dropshot fishing is easier then fishing a t-rig worm as it also keeps the bait above the bottom and in the strike zone. I would take the time to learn it and fish it. You might be suprise yourself on how many fish you haven't been catching. Also should learn to fish a shakey head as well.

Preventive maintenance is always cheaper the reactive maintenance. That saying " if it ain't broke don't fix it".....well it will that will leave you broke financially when it does in more costly repairs.

I went to Kaenon 6 years ago and haven't owned anything but those. But like stated above to each their own. No matter what glasses we choose, we are all choosing to protect the only 2 eyes we have. I am thankful I was shown how much better polarized glasses were when I was 19. 20+ years on the water I'm sure my vision would be shot had I not protected my eyes. Wear what you like or what works best for you.

Coast Guard, Customs, DFG, local law enforcement.....they all have a job to do and most do it very professionally. Last time I was checked by DFG I was with my son and a friend on his boat out in the harbor fishing, he hit us with the lights, we stopped. All he wanted was to make sure my son who was 8 at the time was wearing his pfd as required by law. Checked my friends fishing license and asked if he needed to see mine.....said "nope, we saw what we needed to see, enjoy your day on the water and be safe". I have respect for all of them and the job they do. Yes it's their job, but it's still nice to say thank you when you see them just as I do when I see any of our service members in the airports when traveling.

Live Impacts dropshotted work great. Swing Impacts in 3-4" on the A-rig or dropshot, and limited success with the shinners. Also tried the Fat Impacts, but they didn't produce as well as the Swing for me. Also like their tungsten ball jigheads as well as their casting jigs and small football jig. And sorry no pics.

My advice was for the OP who wants to pursue a career in fishing. Sorry if I was 19 I would go to a college I could afford #1 without going into debt and yes get on a fishing team (yep I'd look into this if I wanted to become a professional bass angler) and work my a$$ off though school to cover what my fishing scholarship couldn't cover. If I'm going to market myself I think having a marketing background would be useful but so would Marine Biology honestly. My goal wouldn't be to work a 9-5 job hoping I make 6 figures....it would be to make 6 figures fishing professionally working my a$$ off for my sponsors marketing their products or doing whatever is asked of me while doing what I worked so hard to achieve. Would it be a pipe dream? Probably, but if someone who is 19 has the drive and motivation to acomplish such a dream, I say go for it. But yes, I would have a back up plan incase my pipe dream didn't work out. But I would never shoot my childrens dreams down and never tell them they gratuated with a worthless degree. If they have a worthless degree then I as a Father failed them by not instiling the common sense needed to be productive in the real world.

Good point....lol

Have been using Keitech's now for a few years. I fish the swing impacts the most in the 3-4" size but also have the easy shiners. As for durability, it costs a bit more then regular jigheads, but the Kietech tungsten jigheads do a great job holding the baits on and don't seem to tear the body of the bait apart like some regular jigheads.

Spinning set up. BPS Extreme @ $32.50 on Ebay paired with a Quantum Tour Tactical 6'10" rod also from Ebay @ $59.99.

I'm having Captain Crunch Berries. But Frosted Flakes are good too.

Didn't know farther up the Sabine the tides shifted that much since along the coast it may only be a couple feet at the most. I know some of the places the have us running out of if it dropped 4' I don't think I'd be able to leave.

No problem, years working in a fish store, I have lots of useful useless information.....lol. Your little buddy would probably love krill as well or live crayfish, but it already sounds like it gets a pretty good variety of foods.

I'm going with water temp as well. Tell you a lot right there. But there are times when you will have all three stages on the same body of water.