Glaucus

You're using too light of line for a baitcaster, especially with it being just your second one.

I have a love/hate relationship with spinnerbaits. 90% of the time they are hot garbage, but 10% of the time they're the only lure I want, so I'm essentially forced to keep some around.

What I'm about to say, I say with God as my witness. It is the most astonishing thing I've ever seen and proves that fish are far more intelligent than we believe. You can train and condition them. There is a pond I used to like to fish, but it was TOUGH. As I'm fishing it one of the locals, whom I actually count as a friend, came to the park with his child. He asked if I wanted to see something cool. Well of course I do! He breaks out the package of hotdogs, slaps the surface of the water and wiggles it around, and a bass CAME UP AND LIGHTLY TOOK THE WHOLE THING FROM HIM AND SWAM OFF! He said they do it all the time. No wonder it was barely fishable. I've never gone back. It's a waste of time. Those fish don't care about lures. They take hotdogs from people like they're dogs.

In my opinion you can tell when you get an older President vs a newer President. The newer ones are flimsy with horrible line lay. The older ones are stout tanks with no problems at all. That's what I assume it is anyways, older vs newer. No other explanation for why I've gotten some that are built well and some that are more plastic-y and cheap.

I put the line through the guide of my reel, tape it down, turn the handle, remove the tape, and then simply do a couple of overhand knots in the center of the spool. I've never had an issue. You should never get that far down into the spool on a cast. I know some guys claim they can spool a full reel, but no comment.

I love to hate spinnerbaits. They don't work 90% of the time but that other 10% of the time it's the only lure I want.

Yeah I really like the rivers in late winter and early spring over anything else. The SMB are much more active when it's colder than the LMB are. But LMB in rivers behave differently than lake and pond LMB too. Traditionally they have always been way ahead of their lake and pond siblings. The last week of March some 10 years ago or so produced my best river day ever and it was all LMB here in IL. I stopped counting after 40 something. 3/16oz spinnerbait.

2-3 years ago I was fishing a lipless in some high winds. The winds took my cast into the cattails. I yanked and yanked and it finally came flying back at my face. Smacked me right below my eye. How it didn't hook me is a miracle. I'll never not wear glasses while fishing again.

Like so many people his behavior is determined by the circumstances he finds himself in. It takes great discipline to always be the same person.

I'm at 95% and ready to rock. Hoping for the best season yet.

I just do an uni. You'll never reach the backing and if you do something is wrong. Same as how I just do a couple overhand "knots" to tie it to the spool.

Was the Iaconelli book typed in all caps?

Same. There is a sweet spot where you can catch bigger fish while also catching a lot of fish, and that's where I like to be. I'm in this for fun, and catching is fun. I don't want to grind it out with big baits in the hopes that I can entice one big one to bite, and I don't want half my bites to be panfish.

Salt has destroyed many of my hooks. Z-Man hard baits/jigs are especially heinous, and not just with Elaztech.

I was reintroduced to a problem tonight after I got back from fishing that I've been trying to solve for awhile. Perfectly good trailers on jigs, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, etc. You put a trailer on something, don't get bit, it's still in perfectly good condition, and now you have a choice: keep it on and chance rusting your hook or take it off and the keeper shreds the plastic and ruins it. Zero fish, lost money. Is there a solution I'm missing?

I actually did that over the winter. I sold all but 6 of the setups I actually regularly use, and I'm making it a point to only buy tackle/lures I actually use a lot and have confidence in instead of buying a little of this and that and this thing I might try or might not. It got to be out of hand and didn't really make sense monetarily for me to have so much stuff as a yak/wade/bank angler. 2 spinning, 4 casting, one main backpack of tackle/lures to be restocked as needed...

My secondary hobby is 8 and 9 Ball pool. I'll never forget the time a guy came in to play with a Bud Light cue. KK reminds me of a Bud Light cue.

I lost my PB LMB and SMB on back to back casts last summer. Sickening. Trebles....

A thread dedicated to the times our partner has hooked us. ? My fishing partner and good friend and my son and I had our first outing of the season on a beautiful day in Illinois today. The only thing we caught was wind burn until my buddy caught me while I was picking out a backlash for my son. I felt a smack on my leg through my thin sweatpants followed by "oh ****!" I looked down and a KVD 2.5 was sticking to me. At that moment I do believe I excreted bodily fluids. Somehow, however, it didn't hook my flesh and skin. I looked at my son and shook my head and said, "see what happens when you don't thumb your spool?" It was good to knock the rust off. This was actually my first time out since I got sick about 8 months ago. ? *Actually I did fish once last year while sick.

I smoke 'em at the dam here on Black/Chart KVD 1.5s at night, but I also smoke 'em on them during the day...

I make it simple. I measure from the guide closest to the reel all the way to the tip and then I tie; that's my leader.

Great for DS and Ned Rigs, Wacky Rigs too depending on where.

4lb YZH (breaking strength of 7.5lbs)

Fenwick Eagle with a Pflueger President $120 total retail, but you can usually get the Presidents for less. If you want I have a Pflueger President combo that I got to keep in my car but I snapped the tip off of it and I don't have a use for the reel. I can send it to you for nothing if you want, then you can just worry about a rod. Maybe an HMG if they have an UL version idk.

I've never used it. I don't even know my own state's laws on the matter but I've been told it's banned in some states.