michael1

I'd think that is just another object sitting there capable of collecting grass or weeds

When tying most any knot we are told to leave a little extra and not cut the tag end too close to the knot as pictured below. As I was tying a knot today I was wondering, have any of you had a situation where it "saved" you? I guess the only way you would know is if you always leave extra and after catching a fish you realized it was almost gone and the knot had moved or whatever.

When you say 9:00 are you saying on the same side as your reel handle or opposite?

Yes, but where on the spinning rod would you place it?

Again, for my situation we are talking about a spinning rod and the reel is set up for LH. By saying 3 o'clock you are saying the opposite direction as the reel handle in my situation, correct? My rod is a split grip, do you personally like above or below the reel?

I haven't used a spinning rod in years and broke down and bought a 7' M Expride. Only downside of this rod is the lack of a factory hook keeper. I am going to go with a Fuji hook keeper and really have no idea or experience with spinning rods to have a good idea where to "position" the hook keeper. If you have the rod in your hand do you normally put it at 12, 3, 6 or 9 o'clock? Something different? Above or below the reel? If it helps in your description I have my reel set up with left handed. Thanks in advance for the advice! Hoping to shorten any trial and error if possible. Those hook keepers are not the easiest to get on so I would like to put it on once and be done with it.

Something I am curious about. Let's say I but a 3/16 shakey head. Does that weight refer to the weight of "just" the head or the total weight of the whole thing including hook?

I bought a new Shimano Vanford and will be spooling it up for the first time. I will be putting a mono backing down and then finish it off with 15lb 832 braid. I can put it on easily enough but I have read some on here talking about after spooling the reel taking the spool off and letting it sit in warm water for a bit. Is this just an old wife's tale or does it really do some good? If so warm water and not hot? Let it sit in there about how long? Are there any parts or pieces of the spool that should not be exposed to sitting in water that long?

I have read this many times and still have no idea. I am in this situation myself and have no idea how to go about setting it up properly from the get go. I'd rather not have to catch 20 different fish and have to go through a bunch of trial and error if there is a simple way to do this.

I had always heard of the Bucca baby shad but had no idea there was a blue gill size. Is one size (the shad size or the bigger blue gill) more popular than the other? Any personal experience with either?

Interesting

Normally when I fish a wacky worm I put the hook EXACTLY in the middle of the worm, where if you were to pull the ends of the worm down together they would line up perfectly. More or less right at 50%. I have been watching some tips from the pros and have seen some of them rig it up with the hook put in at say 33% down from the head where the the other 66% of the worm is from the hook to the tail end of the worm. I know neither would be considered "right or wrong" but I am curious what most of you guys do?

When putting line on a spinning reel you want the line to come off the UNDER side of spool, correct?

I have owned bait casters and put line on them for years. The other day I finally broke down and bought a spinning reel. I'm getting ready to put line on and I realized I do not have a real idea of a stopping point. Is there sort of a rule of thumb when judging filling it up all the way but not over doing it?

I live in Missouri and Tuesday I am heading with a buddy to do some fishing in Kansas. How much is a KS license for a MO resident to buy? I assume I can just go to a Walmart in KS and get it?