gulfcaptain

It's kind of like mono and braid, everyone has their opinon and their favorites. I stick with SeaGuar and Berkley Brands depending on my needs.

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/plant-identification/ that should cover about all you're wanting to know.

You know how many swimbaits I can buy if I get a $300 combo instead of a $500 with that $200 savings......well 2, but that's a different topic.....lol

It's only going to kill you if you happen to be one of the test patients. Hopefully the patients expire after spring so at least you can get some fishing in before then.

Great minds think alike

Have both micro's and regular rods. The only downfall of micros is if you are wanting to use topshot's of mono or FC with braid. Have to make sure the splice is small and tight or it catches. As far as distance and accuracy, I can honestly throw a frog farther on a micro rod then regular guided rod due to less line slap. I have used/use both for pitching and didn't see a big difference in pitching baits. My accuracy is good with both so I can't really say if it is or isn't on that.

Weeds you want them to tick the tops not dive down into them.....this way when you make contact with the top and feel it touching the tips you can "rip" it free. Squarebills work best when they bounce off structure/cover and normally get hit after refecting off of it. Deep cranks, you want to fish cranks that will hit the bottom in the depth of water you're fishing. So say your fishing in 8-10ft of water, you are wanting a crank that will dive to 10ft. Depending on your line size the bait will hit bottom and dig a bit, but not hang up. The bigger lips help keep it from hanging up and if it does feel hung, stopping it will cause the bait to float and back out. I've had best success cranking when you can drive the bait and cause it to be bounced off the bottom (fishing points and drop offs) where fish are schooled up. The bites normally came after driving the bait and feeling bottom then as it worked off the point and ledge to deeper water it was inhaled. But if you tried to throw it out deeper the fish wouldn't react. The contact with the bottom seemed to cause them to react as well as giving me a feel of where my bait was in relationship to the point and ledge. Biggest factor is choosing the right bait for the depth of the water you're wanting to fish as well as retrieve and having confidence in the bait you're using.

Reels, I think anything in the $100-180 range is going to preform as well as the higher dollar stuff....may weight a little more. It's a tool. Being I fish braid on everything, I feel the need for a $300 rod for sensitivity is not required. Can find a lot of rods in the same price point between $80-150 that will fit the bill. I can't see spending $900 on one set up for bass fishing. The few guys I know around here that consistantly catch fish don't fish $900 set ups, they simply know how to catch fish with the midrange equipment most fish. Now the ones that do have the high dollar Steez, core's ext.....you wouldn't believe the days they tell you about with all the 5+ lb fish they caught.....unfortunately some of those days they forgot to notice a few of us were there too and those 5+lb fish were all of 10-14inches. Reels and rods are a tool to be used. I can buy all the Snap On tools I want, but it's not going to make me a better mechanic if I have no idea how to work on an engine, where the guy that's been doing it for 20+ years with his midrange tools he's had for years has no problem fixing anything he works on. $$$$ doesn't = success. Experience and knowledge do though.

5 1/2lb on the bronzeye shad in "bad shad".

Every reel I own now has braid and I either fish a FC topshot or Mono depending on what I'm doing and using. As far as loosing more fish on braid.....that would be due to "user error". If you don't have the stretch in braid, you have to back off your drag and look into fishing slightly softer rods as so the hooks don't pull. Have to have a bit of "shock absorbsion" between you and the fish. If it isn't the stretch of mono, then you must reduce the drag as well as possibly using a softer rod. Great thing about baitcasters, increasing the drag is as simple as some thumb pressure on the spool. The softer drag wil help eliminate pulling fish off the hook if it's set right.

So who's up to buying a new deep cycle battery and leaving it on the concrete during the winter and see if it's good next spring? Then we can get to this mystery and see if it's true.

I like the layout of the 175txw and option but considering I would want to fish in saltwater to this isn't an option for me as I have two younger boys to look out for too. But looks solid. Can also look on Craigs List, may find some used boats for half of what you're wanting to spend and get more boat as well.

That water temp, I would probably pass on the lilies and look or deeper water and structure. You may find a fish in there if you have a few days in the 70's with lots of sun since the lilies will absorb some of the heat and the fish can pull up under them in the afternoon, but the bass are probably gonna be looking for the warmest water they can find and odds are its deeper then the lilies are growing.

Well I know if I store the batteries on the vessel I work on on the Aluminum deckplates they seem to loose their charge. Same go's for the concrete. If you store them on the concrete they seem to loose their charge and the cells go dead. Don't know why, been told by mechanic's that if you store them on concrete you will kill the battery. I have no reason to argue or ruin a perfectly good battery to find out if they were lying to me or not. Much easier to play it safe and stick a piece of plywood or some 2x4's under it.

#1 what was the water temp? #2 What was the water depth of the lily pads?

Keep them off concrete, store them on a board. The boat I work on we have to keep extra batteries for emergency reasons(bad to loose 24v offshore 100+miles ). Have them stored in a wooden create/pallet and put them on a trickle charge once a week for 2hrs. Keeps the extra battery charged and ready if needed. If you store them on the concrete without a piece of wood or the battery box, you may be buying a new battery next spring.

you are going to want atleast a 7'6" for sure. I use a BPS Crankin Stick MH for mine. It has a soft enough tip to keep the fish from pulling the hook but yet has enough backbone to turn bigger fish and make long enough casts. Have it matched with a carbonlite 5.4:1 reel since I like using the bladed rigs and makes fishing them easier with the lower gears when you throw them all day. When I decide to fish them and "hop" them off the bottom I go to an older 7'6" BPS Bionic Blade MH which lets me get hook sets on fish when they hit it on the drop. To be honest, it took me about 4mo of constant fishing to get a good idea of what I can do with them around where I live and what works and doesn't. It works better in some places then others.

Have to agree with the above post, you have to make sure you like the feel of the rod and balance. If you have the reel you're going to use, I would suggest taking that with you when you go rod shopping and put it on different rods to see how it's going to feel. Once you know what feels good to you then the rest is simple. That price range it's hard to go wrong. I'd stay between 7' and 7'3"MH fast action.

If you had caught it's cousin from Asia, the Golden Arowana, they are pretty pricey and highly valued in the far east culture and are considered to be good luck and bring prosperity.

First off, what size rig are you looking to throw? The smaller casting rigs (flash mob jr size 5 1/2" arms) or the larger full sized rigs? The smaller rigs I fish on a 7'6"MH crankbait rod and basiclly fish it like a large spinnerbait with a 5.4:1 reel and 30lb pp with 20lb mono topshot. 3-4" swing impacts on 1/8oz lead heads. If you're looking at the bigger rigs, I would suggest something that can handle up to 2oz with a moderate fast action and probably 40-50lb pp and 25lb mono topshot.

That is a silver arowana. Probably an aquarium pet released because it was getting too big. And they are topwater feeders and visual predators. Use their good eyesight to launch out of the water and eat insects and small animals that live in the branches above the water in the Amazon.....cool catch.

I got a whole bag of ones he cleaned off his bench that had flaws. His flawed jigs look better then some I've bought from BPS and Gander Moutain. I thought about triming some of the weed (brush) guard, but after reading this think I'm going to leave them as is.

That's not really a finesse jig. When I think finesse jig, I'm thinking smaller jig, hook size in the 2/0 range and 1/4 to 3/8oz. Small and compact. Guess to me it's more of a scaled down jig. What are you throwing the jigs on, FC, Mono, Braid? What pound test? I would probably fish the smaller jigs on 20-30lb braid staight, but if needed 15lb FC topshot. You could also go with one of the SK structure swing heads and rig a creature/craw behind it. Give you a weedless option as well as a bait you can drag and keep bottom contact with.

Do your deckwork construction first and secure it. Once you get all that done then you can do the protech matting and carpet.

Kietech makes some smaller jigs that you could throw into the thick stuff if it's a smaller jig you're looking for. Little more money since they are tungsten, but they are nice and might be what you're looking for.