Turkey sandwich

Thanks to growing up in wrestling country and having to make weight for grappling tournaments and stay in wrestling shape up until getting hurts a few years ago, Coppenhagen snuff has probably kept me from killing people. That said, I've cut back a lot and would rather have a semi-regular cigar habit.

It's like asking "what's the best plastic worm?". There are a ton of really good ones - it's just a matter of knowing when to use them. I probably have two dozen different craw imitations from Bitsy Craws to Rage Lobsters. I break them into a few different groups based on bulk and action like a lot of you guys, but I also modify a lot of crayfish baits. Beaver style baits, I might trim off appendages to reduce action, but keep bulk. Similarly, I may cut a body in half to decrease bulk/increase rate of fall. Longer, narrow baits like Speed Craws, I might cut down substantially if I'm using it as a jig trailer. If I'm fishing it T-rigged or on a swinging football jig, I'm most likely only going to cut them to match the hatch. If I want big profile and lots of action but fast rate of fall, I may use a Rage chunk, or cut down a Rage lobster.

This. If you're seeing an aggressive response, and no pick up after letting the bait die, my first suggestion would be fishing for a reaction strike.

Exactly. The shock knives are pretty eye opening. A cheaper substitute for anyone reading this that wants to see just how effective a knife can be, put on some clothes you don't care about give a friend a marker, and see how many times they tag you before you can disarm them. With 14 years of experience watching, and teaching I can say confidently that there is no clean way to disarm them, and your shirt is going to be a mess. Also, it's very common for knife attack victims to have no idea they were stabbed until they begin to see blood - a knife can feel like a punch and sever nerves. In a knife fight, your fight isn't a fight against the knife, and it's not even a fight against your attacker - it's a fight to process the stress and survive.

I don't carry on the water typically, but this is an interesting sentiment. Knock on wood, I've never had either pulled on me, but a knife is much, much scarier in close quarters. Given 20 feet or so or time to draw, possibly a different story. I've done some tactical training for law enforcement, military, and contractors. There is no good way to deal with a knife.

I fish tubes typically on two different rods. 6'9 M Fast Rage Casting 7' M Fast Premier spinning I would replace the Premier with a similar Avid X for tubes, though, I do still really like it a lot for other things.

Still, even if you don't like fishing classic rigs like Carolina and Texas rigs, they're sprobably the first rigs you should learn. They teach you how to keep bottom contact, read the bottom and offer huge varieties of lures and presentations. I'm guilty of not fishing them as often as I used to, but if I were to fish a tournament on a reservoir, you'd bet I'd be throwing one or the other. If you can fish a T-rig well, you can fish jigs, drop shot, shaky head, and virtually anything else that keeps bottom contact competently.

I'll give that a look. Hoping to get started on tieing in February. See this being another hobby that ends up consuming way too much time.

I may or may not have found Fenwick Aetos 4wts on sale for about $100....

I have now seen three people post "banana." You know who you are. I will not go fishing with any of you.

I like tipping them with I her a grub or paddle tail swim bait, usually a Keitech Swing Impact Fat in 3.8" or 4.8" depending upon the season, conditions, baitfish present, etc.. As for technique, I fish it a lot like a swim jig. It can be effective straight retrieve, jigged through the middle or top of the water column, allowed to flutter into pockets of cover, etc.. It's definitely an effective cold water bait, but I also like it as a more finesse option somewhere between fishing a spinnerbait and swim jig.

Agree with above posts about keeping the lure on the bed and about paying attention to the fish's body language as best you can. Sometimes high lure visibility is also really helpful - hence colors like white, bubblegum, methiolate, etc being really popular because they make it so much easier to see your bait so you can keep it on the beds easier and watch how bass orient themselves regarding it. That said, I don't always switch to he Barbie colored Trick Worm, either. If I'm fishing very shallow and know exactly where the bass are, or if there is stain to the water, I tend to revert back to normal color selection. I never got got into lizard fishing, but I have done well with T-rigged worms and finesse jigs tipped with small craws (Bitsy jigs and craws are a good for this). I like the small craws because they A) represent a threat to the eggs, B ) can be drug, shook in place, or dead sticked really easily, C) seem like a small enough meal for the female to actually hang on to/feel less weight. In in place of the craw, I could imagine a sculpin, madtom, lizard/salamander, goby, or blue gill imitation probably also working pretty well depending on the lake/River.

So, not a whole lot to do with the original post, but that's a great tuna.

I have few problems with the Uni to Uni. Ultimately, I don't pay a lot of credence to which knot someone ties, but rather making sure it's tied well. Guys can post their preferences for at least half a dozen line to leader connection knots from the Uni to Uni, Alberto, blood knot, surgeons' knot, FG, Albright, nail knots, loop to loop connections, and a hole world of complicated ****. On spinning and casting gear, the Uni to Uni, Albright, blood knot, FG, and Albright all work great. What's more important is just learning to tie them well and replacing leaders before knot problems happen. I use the Uni to Uni on my spinning and casting gear because I can tie it pretty quickly on the water and replace my leaders generally before/after every trip the rod is being used. Even with microguides, i have very, very few leader to line problems.

Man cannot live on turkey sandwiches alone. During the summer when it's hot and I may be on the water for 12+ hours in 90 degree plus heat, the one thing I'm religious about is keeping at least two Gatorade sipper bottles full of ice/water. Having had sun poisoning, I DO NOT want to deal with it again.

I can't comment on steelhead. I can comment a bit on rainbows and browns. Trout do have teeth (hence Francho's comment). On smaller trout, especially, their mouths and jaws are more fragile than say, bass, walleye, crappie, etc.

Normally I'll have water, jerky, and Cliff bars with me. If it's cold, I may have a thermos with hot tea or coffee. I don't tend to Carry a whole lot of food unless I'm camping.

I can attest to Keitech Fat Impacts being very productive on the Susquehanna, especially for larger fish. This one measured 18.5 from last summer caught on a 4.8" Fat Impact fished on a keel weighted swimbait hook. I'd have to look, but I'm sure I have pictures of plenty others caught with the Keitech Fats either rigged on a keeper/swimbait hook, underpin, swim jig, or bladed jig trailer. If I didn't have so much success with craw and grub patterns, I'd probably also drag them on the bottom with a swinging football/rugby head, too. I keep meaning to try Swimsenkos as a substitute, but the Keitechs just don't give me reason to try anything else. If there's a baitfish bite, it's super versatile, and very difficult to beat.

Gotta agree. @smalljaw67 ties some great jigs and his videos are super easy to follow. I just got a tieing kit for Christmas that I'm yet to use, but I really look forward to tieing my own flies and jigs. Buying quality hair/feather patterns is a pain in the ass.

Those are all good options, and I'll definitely second the hair jig. Other baits that do well when the water is under 50 degrees - blade baits, and jigs tipped with milder actioned trailers like pork (if you can still find it). When end the water gets cold, fish will often be piled up (not an exaggeration) anywhere with protection from current and predators. Deep, slow pools, oxbows, and areas of slow or broken current above or below dams can all be good. The most important part of winter fishing, though, is to just use common sense and stay safe.

Yeah. This argument. The guy who wrote the book on this showed up here and the conversation got chippy. I like WRB and Catt, but this is one conversation where I've embraced agreeing to disagree and avoid the topic. Lol.

Length should be dictated by your heigh, how high your boat sits above the water, and your style of fishing jerkbaits. Most fish jerkbaits with a downward snap, so if you're 5'4 fishing on a kayak, the 6'8" rod isn't going to work as comfortably as it would if you're 6' and fishing on a bass boat. As for the rods - I have not fished any of the new Mojos, but I like SCIII blanks a lot and have nothing but good things to say about them. I have a 6'6 Med Fast Rage built on the SCIII blank and it's OK for jerkbaits (mostly just my style of fishing, some might really like it), but I've grown more fond of using it to fish finesse plastics. I own a 7'1 MH MF Aetos from last season. It's not the same weight, but... The grips and seat fish comfortably. The blank is definitely on the faster side of MF. I would argue it's equivalent to many company's fast action. If you prefer slowing the action, you can compensate for the stiffness with stretchier mono or FC line (I use braid main line). To to compare blanks, I feel like the Mod Fast Aetos is nearly as fast as the St. Croix Rage Fast. I do not know if the Rage and new Mojos use the same taper. In in either case, you're choosing between two good rods and you'll find a good use for either. I hope this helps some.

The SCIII blanks are just killer for that price point. I have several Rage and an Avid X and love them. Fast, reasonably light, and the blank just feels good. I strongly recommend an Avid or Avid X (different rods, guides and handle change the way they feel). For the $200 range, the Avid X is my favorite. I also have a Fenwick Aetos mod fast that's stiffer than most fast action rods I've fished. In a fast or X-fast action MH, I'd imagine it'd make a great C-Rig rod.

I've considered doing the same for a swimbait or flipping stick after handling a Legend Extreme Inshore a year or two ago. They can handle a wide variety of weight, they're made with enough backbone to pull snook from mangroves. @Delaware Valley Tackle - blank question - what's the difference between inshore or jigging blanks made to handle a wide range of weights from 1/2-3oz and similar weight and action bass blanks intended to handle no more than 1-1.5 oz at most?

I'm hoping you used protection. If not, 7-10 days of amoxicillin typically does the trick.