Fin S

Does Tackle Warehouse have a Spring sale? If so, when is it usually?

I used to, but my stomach doesn't tolerate fried food very well these days. I may try it broiled at some point.

I'm braid to leader on everything but my crankbait rod.

I don't understand the question.

I'm probably just getting a twist in it somewhere. I'll be more careful and see how it goes. Thanks for the help, guys.

You can fish in February in Tennessee (I certainly do), but I don't typically have a lot of success. Weather-wise, it's cold but not particularly rainy, and it would be a rare occurrence for lakes to be frozen.

I typically use a clinch knot for tying mono to lures, but I've started using a palomar sometimes. The last two trips, when using a palomar knot, got breaks at the knot multiple times on each trip. When I retie with a clinch knot everything is fine. The palomar seems like about the simplest knot to tie. Could I be doing something wrong, or is it just dumb luck?

I've stayed home and regretted not going fishing many times, but I've never gone fishing and wished I had stayed home.

I don't know how it is these days, but I had a few college buddies in the 1980s that worked part-time for a transport company. They used to joke about the things that got damaged when they were transferring them in/out of trucks. Sometimes they're in a hurry, sometimes they're just not paying attention, and sometimes it's third shift and they're goofing off with little/no supervision. I got the impression there was little accountability as long as the overall damage tally was in an acceptable range. However, these days they probably know who handles each package.

Fall fishing transition is, almost by definition, like trying to hit a moving target. There's just a lot of trial and error.

I was taught as a kid to never use my rod to break the line or get a lure loose when it was good and hung (Dad wasn't keen on buying new rods for me and my brother every few weeks). You can also just wrap your line around a closed pocket knife.

Weightless senko works great on a m/f or m/mf spinning rod. That's a good setup for tubes as well.

Other than sensitivity, how do you think those two rods compare?

Half the people out there don't know how to operate a boat properly, let alone maintain one.

In a week or two you should have a nice callous there...

Yup. After lunch, it's all about trying to put something in the boat.

It's going to vary by person, of course. For me, the sweet spot is around $1,000-$1,400. That usually gets you a 9" or 10" screen and side view. I have two Garmin EchoMap 93sv units that I'm pretty happy with. More money will get you a bigger screen and higher resolution graphics, but I prefer to put that extra money in rods/reels.

Daiwa Regal.

A 3.8" keitech on a weedless underspin is my bread and butter setup. I use both the Owner Flashy Swimmer and the Trokkar version. I get better hookup with the Trokkar but the underspin tangles around hook sometimes. The 3/0 hook in either fits a 3.8" paddletail perfectly. You can throw it around all kinds of cover without hanging up. With the underspin you can expect occasional short strikes since the underspin hangs back behind the hook. Also, even though it's weedless, if you're slow-rolling on a chunk rock bottom (gravel is no problem), that willow blade can get wedged in the rock. To get it loose, sometimes you have to get the rod tip all the way down to the lure to back it out.

Sometimes knowing who NOT to take your boat to is just as valuable as knowing who you can trust.

I fish alone quite a bit. So, when I launch, I attach a long rope from the bow to the trailer, let the boat float off the trailer, and then pull it back to the ramp. One morning I go to clip the carabiner to my bow and hear a "click" so I thought it was on good. However, when I put the boat in the water and started forward to pull it to the ramp, I hear a louder "click" and the carabiner came off and my boat continued to float away. A stiff wind blew the boat back to the ramp, but not before I had to go ask the next guy in line if he would mind getting my boat for me.

Trust me. I don't see as well as I used to, so I can get a double uni (or any knot) out of wack sometimes.

I'm always trying to learn something new and apply it, and I'm very patient (maybe to a fault). The other thing is I'm fairly content just to be fishing, whether the fish or biting or not, and attitude is a big part of having a good day fishing.

I'm usually just going to grind it out. I always assume the fish are somewhere I'm not or biting something I'm not throwing. When the bite is off, I'm trying new locations and new baits. That way, even if I'm not catching fish, I'm learning something.