Thornback

A friend and I put in on the Ocklawaha River yesterday morning and managed to boat three nice bass. Hooked into a ton of pickerel and mudfish. Here's my friend with the two largest bass . . . .

Because you posted and told the truth you are a winner. Keep it up.

You want tattoos, have at it. I appreciate people who exercise their freedoms. But right now tattoos are a fad/trend. Fads/trends come and go just like bell bottom trousers and flat top haircuts. When the tattoo fad/trend fades there's going to be a lot of people . . . well you know. Would you wear a pair of bell bottoms and sport a flat top today?

Let me fix that for you.

All my bait casters are spooled with PowerPro #40, moss green.

I do not like to trust a battery charger that does not have a meter. I want to see what's going on. My on-board charger has lights (idiot lights) so I use my other charger with a meter. Batteries can be run down but must soon be fully charged and it helps to carry a zero float for a half hour to top the charge off. A hydrometer will measure the specific gravity in each cell and you want a reading of 1270. Add water after the charge and not before. Once a battery is over 3 years old you might as well replace it. Sure some will give you 6 years and then one day die on you at the worst time. Why invite a problem?

I can tell you the rod and the lure have to work together. If the weight is good I can do beautiful long underarm cast with my bait caster and sometimes when I have a perfect match of rod to weight of lure I can take off both brakes and cast a mile, just letting my thumb feel the spool. But because I use a 7' MH rod if the weight gets too heavy the tip will snap on me and make a mess. The only way I can stop that is tighten down on the spool brake and thus I get short casts. And I have to do sidearm or overhead casts. But anytime you are using a bait caster you should never put muscle into a cast, do a smooth cast and let the lure do the work for you.

Probably everyone on the team shared some knowledge of the "cheat". It's what people do in most competitions -- but it's still un-sportsmanship and cannot be allowed. Rules are there for a reason. Once found out and properly inflated balls were used in the second half Brady had better stats than in the first half. So fine the team a hefty $$$ fine and move on.

I keep a Zebco 733 with #10 fluoro in my boat. Once in a while when the bass bite is slow I might want to throw a beetle spin. Although I love my bait casters I think a spin caster is a fine reel.

More pits = better grip. My rods, 7' MH, Berkley, cherry wood, cork handle, cost me $23 at Walmart. I have three. Biggest bass I have pulled in on my rod is 10.15. Can a $100 rod do better? Sometimes we tend to "overkill"

Years ago when new to bait casters I had a bass hit and I just used my thumb to flick up the bar so as to engage the gear. That won't work, you have to turn the handle. Anyway when I set the hook I heard the reel sing and I had the mother of all bird nests To the OP this sounds like what you got, pulling hard on the reel when the handle had not engaged the gear..

Always go for the better, more expensive, boat when you are looking at two. If you purchase the 170 I guarantee you in 6 months you will be wishing you had purchased the 175. Then you will not like your 170. I have had my 175 w 60 HP 4-stroke for ten years. I fish about twice a month. My boat or motor or trailer have never been back to the shop for any repairs. I do the oil and lube changes and about 3 years back I changed out the original water pump impeller myself. You can't go wrong with either boat, but now that you have a choice, you have to have the better of the two and deep inside you know it

What ever scale we use we need to calibrate them when we first buy them. If it's off more than one ounce take it back and buy a different brand. A #4 bag of sugar is a good test. I have a Rapala digital and a tiny Zebco mechanical and they both are right on the mark with a #4 bag of sugar. Go figure. But the Zebco is only calibrated in half pound marks. It's small and cheap.

"Repay you, I thought the money was a gift."

Overheard as two guys squared off to fight one another: "You might make a meal off my a** but I'll get a sandwich".

It took me a long time to master a bait caster. During the learning period I became an expert at picking out a backlash . Don't give up, make short cast, overhead, underhand, and side arm, useing different weights until you find a weight that seems better for you. Then change the brakes to different settings until you find a setting that seems to work for you. Keep practicing with short casts and over time you can reduce the weight and slack off the brakes which will award you the distance you want. It could take a year, but think of all the fun you will have for 12 months

I intend to live forever . . . or die trying.

I'll pay you back next week.

I'll send you my autograph

"This will only take a minute."

Meeting celebrities of any kind can be an experience. Off the subject of fishing I once introduced myself to "Big Daddy" Don Garlits when he was eating with his family. Yeah I was rude, but he stood, shook my hand and introduced his family to me. We had a great conversation on flathead V8's and hemi's. Later I asked him to pose with me for a photo and he obliged. A real gentleman. When I was in the 5th grade a high school senior by the name of Buddy McKay taught my class of boys how to play touch football. Buddy then selected me as quarterback and captain of the team. Buddy later became the Lieutenant Governor of Florida and when the governor died in office Buddy became our governor. I have since over the years run into Buddy at two restaurants and we had a great chat about those days. A fine man from a fine family. Where I was once working Claude Kirk, an ex-governor of Florida once walked through my department. I had the best conversation ever with him about politics of course. I have never met a tournament fishing pro but -- maybe some day. I did meet and chat with Glen Lau at a fishing seminar. That was a great experience.

"Let's drop the anchor here."

Different types of line, different pound strength, different knots. Go with what works for you. I like the Palomar on #40 braid and see no need for a double Palomar. How about a triple Palomar? How about a square knot on top of the improved clinch knot? How about a drop of Super Glue on your knot? We seem to go out of our way to over-do fishing techniques. I bet the bass are laughing at us.

I also use the Palomar with #40 braid and have never, repeat, never had a knot come untied. And never had a line break. I once hooked into a stump and bent a 5/0 hook pulling on the line

There is no perfect teacher and no perfect student. Do the best you can and adjust your instructions as you observe how the student is responding. I taught a bass fisherman how to fish with shiners as bait and he showed no initiative. That was discouraging. I taught another guy to bass fish for the first time and we used shiners. He wanted to do everything and it wasn't long before he was catching. That was rewarding.