South FLA

I have 4 aquarium currently setup and was in the "fish" business as an operations manager for Dolphin International's Miami operations years ago. I've been away from the hobby for years, but now my son is showing interest and I have gone overboard 3x 55 gallons with 20 long I setup for him. My primary interest are S. American cichlids with my favorite being discus, I am getting into aquascaping, but realize I don't have the time to do it how I want to.

Big'one sign her up for Trophy Catch!

You better brush up on your definitions, but I am a Noles fan.

First Custom Buiild: G Loomis Slate Blank in Garnet and Gold with Fuji hardware, still love it! Which Rainshadow blanks did you order? RX Series? (Immortal?)

As far as low profile bass reels many companies outsource the manufacturing of their reels to third party manufactures so its mostly a marketing game with many of the reels having interchangeable parts. With that said it doesn't make a reel better if its manufactured "in-house", a good design works regardless of who makes it. With that said I still favor Shimano and Daiwa offerings over most other reel manufactures, other than a few models Quantum and Abu Garcia offer. Click on the websites below and notice the similarities of X domestic market reels compared to the foreign manufactures. http://www.doyofishing.co.kr/main/index(BPS, and other manufactures use them for OEM offerings) http://www.banaxfishing.co.nz/banax_baitcasting_02.htm(Korean manufacturer, if I am not mistaken they build Fishing 13 reels) In the end its all a marketing game for the most part so its laughable when someone says that X reel is better than X brand reel when most likely the reels share the same platform just have different cosmetics. Also, what works for me may not be the best choice for others.

In my opinion he should have rode the season out to the end, I bet many of his recruits and team members are upset that he "abandoned the team. " However, he was one of the best to ever coach the game and I think if he would have gone to a larger more prominent program other than S.C. he could have had another Championship ring! His head to head against Nick Saban, is in his favor!

GO NOLES!

I would go Shimano Ci4

Eric, Gotta LOVE Florida fishing, if you notice most of the areas you are fishing are small waters! Very rarely does FWC electrofish small waters, they concentrate on larger well know bodies of water or managed areas. Like I tell everyone, I would rather fish small waters (urban ponds, golf course ponds, canals, etc) in Florida when targeting trophy bass. Also, being North of Okeechobee County helps, I believe S. Florida bass can't hold a candle to mid/Northern FL or even Southern GA, when it comes to trophy potential. Its going to break your heart when you see how much $$$$ you have left on the table so grab yourself a scale and make sure you take pictures for Florida's Trophy Catch program. You also have a chance of winning a nice Pheonix bass boat! Here is an article on the top image hosting sites to help you get started on posting pics larger pics: http://lifehacker.com/5808625/five-best-web-sites-for-image-hosting-and-photo-sharing/ I use Photobucket, an older photo hosting site, but have had good luck with it, although it dates me! Here is a pic of a recent submission I turned in to Trophy Catch program, and the bait monkey quickly used the money on a new trolling motor. lol! Keep the HAWG pics coming, welcome to the site and thanks for sharing!

Narrow body frog that has a flatter position on the water than other hollow bodied frogs, in my opinion it has a better hookup ratio when compared to most other frogs, once discountinue I was told that the original Japanese designer, Hideki Maeda, that worked for Reaction Innovations released it under the Teckel brand, as the Whacker frog. Here is the bladed version of the Whacker Frog/Swamp Donkey, called the Honker!

Nice, write up. I heard that the ALPS SS guides are a higher quality SS than Fuji brand and that SS guides can be bent back and forth without breaking more often than titanium guides, not sure if its true, but I may consider ALPS brand guides on my next saltwater rod build. So you never said what you did with those $400 plus jig rods...lol? Shoot me an Email! Like that real cork knobbed handle :-)

Once a hobby becomes a business, it usually ends up being WORK!

Tatula Type R in your favorite retreive. Daiwa really hit it out of the park with that reel! Shimano's are good, but bang for buck, castability, and retreive smoothness out the box the Daiwa Tatula HD or R is tough to beat! I own and use many of the Shimano's mentioned and still would pick the Type R for under $200, you can find deals as stated in the thread all the time! Only negative is that its a bit heavy.

Anything about 6lbs is good in my book, about 8lb and above is really nice and of course above 10 is excellent in extreme S. FLA, were aren't central FL by a long shot!

Kermit days are always best, congrats!

Savage Gear's new Shiner swimbait (Wow, hope bass like them as much as live shiners) Live Target's Hollow body Bluegill (Frog fisherman rejoice!) Megabass Grenade (Big Fish Bait, can't wait to try one in Glades canals) SHM Cranka crab new modular model for inshore saltwater, most realistic movement next to Savage's real shrimp option. Can't wait to try it on Permit and inshore species. Balsax fishing line, they have been around for years, but have a sample of their line I want to try, super thin super strong copoly line! Those were my favorite items after walking the floor for 3 days.

Come on SirSnookalot, one trip doesn't do the place justice, you and I both know that its called fishing and whether its Juno, Jupiter, Lake Worth or Palm Beach when the snook beach bite is on.... its on!

"See that's what I come down here for.." (Not Crappie) "Get him in the net..." As Mr. Crappie does his best to land a BIG fish and my favorite Hack Attack part was "That's what I come down here for, no stinking crappie man.." Cool dude!

No Dwight it was actually stolen by a very hungry bass that took it overboard, lost or slipping out of your hands is different. Go Cavs...... I mean Lebron!

I had iPhones since the 2nd generation and made the mistake of swithcing to Galaxy 5 for a bit, I customized the look to basically be an iPhone, but two of the apps I used frequiently for PDF signatures and one for spreadsheets were not supported by the Galaxy's software plaftform, also had tons of issues receiving text messages from iPhone users due to a known issue with Galaxy users trying to receive text messages from previous iPhone users (http://9to5mac.com/2014/05/16/apple-being-sued-over-imessage-bug-resulting-in-undelivered-text-messages-to-android-users/), I know it was Apple's fault , but I jumped ship once that happened since I was missing important text messages and went back to the iPhone 6. So if you are into highly customizable, powerful phone then get the Galaxy/Android platform, but if you want a simplisitic interface in a bit more stable platform in my experience then get an iPhone.

Own both type reels, I am not really brand loyal for reels, but have my favorites for applications and I'll just say that I have sold last generation Zillions, Scorpions, Anatares HGs, Smokes, etc. to get more Tatula Type Rs. Disclaimer: I have gigantic hands so palming 400 calcuttas isn't an issue, so as far as ergonomics I don't notice them, like some smaller handed guys may.

Get this and be done with it. http://www.dualpro.com/ I had one on my Ranger with a bad bank after 6 years, and they gave me credit for core and bought a refurbed one direct from factory with one year warranty and its still running strong. My recently sold Bullet came with a ProMariner, it was dead within a month, Pro Mariner replaced it and the new one died about 1 year later after giving it to my father-in-law. Brother-in-law has a Guest and so far so good.

Its a French website that offers flyfishing trips to Cuba.

Its French, lol!

A Ranger 20' Z Comanche running 75 MPH easily with room to spare is not doing it with a stock 225 Yamaha. More like low 70s with a tournament load with a new 250 VMAX 4-Stoke, possibly 75 solo with a mid to light load and cold day and with correct propellor. http://www.yamaha-motor.com/assets/products/otb/bulletins/bulletin_4stroke_hpv6_pro_rng-z20comanche-f225tlr.pdf http://www.yamaha-motor.com/assets/products/otb/bulletins/bulletin_4stroke_hpv6_vmax_sabccf.tmp.pdf Also, a Bass Cat Pantera pushing 90 MPH is also not even close to approachable with a stock 250. Its also important to note that the max HP rating for Pantera's is 200HP. However, the Pantera IIs are know for the speed for a 19' class boat with a 200 approaching mid 70s with light loads add weight and all bets are off, could still beat the Ranger with the bigger engine though. http://www.evinrude.com/Content/Pdf/neutral/performanceReports/PE488.pdf Now an 18' Xpress with a stock 150 is not approachable Hyperlift hull or not http://yamahaoutboards.com/sites/default/files/bulletins/bulletin_2stroke_vmaxhpdi_pro_xpr_h20ss_vz150tlr_2011-04-18_alm_2.pdf Trust me I know I looked at many boats and obsessed about speed for a bit a few years back and once you get past the speed bug you'll realize it ain't all that. 60-70 is plenty fast enough for a tournament boat in my opinion and the faster boats give up too many other comforts to merit the extra speed in my opinion. However, if you want to talk about fast bass boats take a look at these peformance numbers: http://yamahaoutboards.com/sites/default/files/bulletins/ALI_21XB_VF225LA_2015-01-28_BSS_0.pdf http://yamahaoutboards.com/sites/default/files/bulletins/bulletin_4stroke_vmax-sho_turbo_bul_20xrd_vf250la_2011-01-06_bss.pdf http://yamahaoutboards.com/sites/default/files/bulletins/bulletin_4stroke_hpv6_turbo_sa9e8a.tmp.pdf http://yamahaoutboards.com/sites/default/files/bulletins/bulletin_4stroke_vmax-sho_vmax-ventless_xpr_x21ts_vf250la_2011-03-10_alm_2.pdf http://yamahaoutboards.com/sites/default/files/bulletins/bulletin_4stroke_vmax-sho_vmax_bcb_pumaftd_vf250la_10-29-09_bss.pdf For those reading the thread look at the MPG for the Bullet compared to even lesser powered Aluminium hulled boats w/150s and you'll realize that its not all about the speed. It gets 5.73 MPG at 36.7 MPH, WOW!