fishballer06

Basically

Those of you suggesting putting a potential STATE RECORD largemouth in a 5 gallon bucket and keeping it alive for 30-40 minutes to get it weighed are out of your mind. The OP lives in New York. The New York state record Largemouth was 11.4 pounds and was 25.5" long. You're not going to fit a fish that big in a 5 gallon bucket. And as for saying Pennsylvania doesn't grow large bass either is the same story. The state record largemouth here in PA is 11.3 pounds. You might say it now that you would rather throw that fish back, but I have a feeling that if you caught an 11lb + bass in a northern state, you'd probably be taking it in to get certified at any cost. New York Records - http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/7935.html Pennsylvania Records - http://fishandboat.com/strecord.htm

I can imagine putting a 10.5 foot rod in a 17 foot boat would be a bit tricky.

Bearing retainer clips love to magically fly away on me...

Around here, the only rush of fishermen you see once spring rolls around are the local trout fishermen who go trout fishing for the first week of the season, and then they never go near the water again the rest of the year.

I can't recommend the Avid rods enough. Like you, I also like the Crucials though too.

I normally do the gill grab and lift. If it's easier, I'll do the belly lift as well.

I like the accidental breakage discount.

The Shimano Brenious is calling my name. I must resist the rare and elusive Japanese Bait Monkey...

As stated before, I would be skeptical as to many fish surviving that drastic of a draw down. I wouldn't be surprised if the F&BC didn't net the fish and transport them somewhere else for this draw down. I know they have done that in my area in the past. It looks like there is plenty of wooded area around the lake though. If I were you, I would walk around the woods and collect some various pieces of wood and drag them down to the lake to create your own wood piles. That way you have a new spot (or two) once the lake fills back up. I'll do this around here whenever the lakes ice over. I'll throw some brush into a pile on top the ice and once the ice melts, the woods sinks and creates a new piece of structure.

Do I need this? No. Will I buy this? Yes.

Another vote for Curado or Chronarch here.

1/16oz. jig with a fathead minnow. Love me some springtime crappie.

I bought a spool about 2 years ago. Put it on a reel and went down to the river. In about 15 casts I threw off 3 lures that sailed across the river and landed on the opposite bank. I walked around to the other side and gathered up all 3 baits and the line broke in the middle (not at the knot) on all 3 lures. I went home and put different line on that same rod/reel and didn't have a single problem. So the problem had to have been the line. I've used some other Stren lines in the past and never had good results either, so I shy away from Stren now.

Good luck with it. I've had more problems with Stren braid than anything else.

My biggest last season came on a Megabass Pop X. Literally the very first night of using it, and it was my first Megabass lure as well. Needless to say, I've since bought about 6 more Megabass lures.

I would give them a call. Their payment system (at least online) can be screwy. Here's what happened with me. Back in November 2014 I signed up and paid for a 5 year membership. It was a better deal over time and you got all the free baits. A week or so later, I got my membership card in the mail, saying that I was a member through September 2015. This was odd to me since I signed up for the 5 year plan, but I thought maybe they'd send an updated card with my free gift package. A few days after that, I got a one year membership gift package in the mail. With that package, I got another membership card saying I was a member through January 2015. I found this really odd that it said that, and that I didn't receive my 5 year gift package (keep in mind this was in November still). I waited about two weeks and received nothing, so I emailed them and asked where my 5 year gift package was. I also explained about the different membership cards and the varying dates. Whenever I got a reply back, the girl who responded didn't answer anything about my 5 year gift package, and she apologized for the error on the member card, and she said she would resend me out a membership card that said member through September 2015. Literally the next day, I received my 5 year membership package in the mail. With that 5 year package was another membership card that said member through January 2015 (this was in mid-December 2014 at this point). I was glad to finally get my 5 year package, but the membership card saying my membership expired in a few weeks really bothered me. A few days later, I received another membership card (must have been from the one that the email person said they were resending).Upon opening that, I look at it and it also said "member through January 2015". At this point I'm totally annoyed because I've now received one card that says "good through September 2015" and three cards saying "good through January 2015". This time I called and wanted to speak to a real person to find out what was going on. I fish in a BASS affiliated club, so I need to have an active membership to fish their events. The guy I spoke with asked me if I had checked my bank statement yet. I hadn't thought of checking that, and I told him that I hadn't checked it. So he pulled up my account. He explained to me that it looked like they tried to double charge me on a one year membership, and their system caught it and refunded me for one of the one year memberships. He then told me that my one year membership was currently active and that I was good for the year. He then told me I should just wait until the end of this current one year membership, and then when I renew next year, just do the 5 year membership then. He then also said he could switch me over to the 5 year membership over the phone right then, but I decided to just go through with my current one year membership. At this point, I'm annoyed because I didn't know what was going on, but I knew I had a one year membership, so it was whatever. I decided to look at my bank statement. Low and behold, I see the double one year membership charge on there from whenever I signed up. And then I saw where they refunded me, but it actually turns out that they refunded both the one year memberships that they charged me. So long story short, BassMaster never charged me a dime, I got a one year membership package and a five year membership package, I've now gotten 4 magazines so far and according to my account log-in on their website, I'm a member through September 2015.

Which grips is that Dwight? Is that the new Winn grips?

Most electronics these days receive a coating from the factory that makes them practically waterproof. You would be surprised what can be done these days with electronics.

At this price point, I wonder how it will compare to the Avid's?

Yup

If it's a tournament and you're paired with a random guy, stay on your back end. If he's your good buddy (or relative), fish where you'd like that is comfortable for both of you. I know whenever I fish with my father, we'll both be up on the front deck whenever its necessary. Or if we're vertical jigging and we both need to be on the back deck, we'll do so as well.

I went to the local grocery store earlier this week and bought a BPS gift card because I get free gas credits for gift cards. I figured I was going to spend money on this Spring Classic sale (likely a PQ and a few baits), I might as well get 10 cents off a gallon of gas doing it. I hopped on the BPS website this morning and it seems like the deals must be in store only. I'm pretty bummed out because now I'm sitting here with a gift card that only does me any good if I drive to the store. I live in the city of Pittsburgh and our closest BPS store is 3.5 hours away. 89 stores and nothing close to a major city like Pittsburgh. I just don't get that strategy.

My home state of Pennsylvania offers 1, 3, and 5 year licenses. I hate having to go buy my license every spring, so I buy the 3 year plan, which I believe is $64. Like others have stated, my home state dumps a majority of their money into trout. The kicker is they charge $5 for a trout stamp for every season too. I don't trout fish at all, but it sure would be nice to see more money spent on other species of fish. By the time I add on my West Virginia, New York, and Ontario licenses, those all come to about another $125 a year. So I guess I spend about $150 a year on licenses.