ww2farmer

I have this rod, for what you say you want to do, it is the wrong rod. You would be better off with the AVC70HF. More power, handles 3/4 oz and up baits much better, and weight is a non issue. JMHO

Mike, I have the 7'6" MH Mod. fast Legend Tournament, it's a good rod, and is my "finesse" flipping stick, but IMHO it's not powerfull enough for really heavy cover flipping. Yeah the 8' length of the Leg. Tourny. flipping stick bothers me,as well as the split grip, so it looks like I will be going with the Avid. I dunno about that Zillion, I just am such a St Croix guy now I don't want to switch, cause if I liked it I would have to get all the Zillion rods.............I am just like that lol.

This winter I am going to upgrade my non-St Croix rods to all St Croix's. Avid's and Legend Tournaments to be exact. The one rod I am undecided on is my flipping stick. Currently I flip with a 7'6" XH Fenwick HMX flipping stick, St Croix does not offer a 7'6" flipping rod. I have the 7'6" Legend Tournament MH/MF "pitching" rod, but IMHO is a little under powered for heavy flipping. I would like to stay with a telescoping rod as the rod locker in my boat only holds 7' rods, so the 7'11" LT "Big Gulp" is out. That narrows my choices to the 7'11" telescoping H/MF Avid or the 8' H/MF LT. I can not really get comfortable with the thought of an 8' rod, for those that have this rod is the length an issue?? Seems to me an 8' rod with the split grip/no fore grip would be very tip heavy and a big reel and/or balance kit would be in order, adding unnessecary weight to the rod, and somedays I flip all day so weight is an issue. I really don't care for the split grip either, so the Avid looks like the choice more and more. I have never held/felt either rod (Avid or LT) so will be buying blind. Price is not an issue and would rather have the LT blank.....oh the decisions lol.

I have been using Trilene 100% Flourocarbon all season and have yet to break it. Try using the Trilene Knot, and REALLY REALLY wet it when you pull it tight. Also play with your drag a little bit, don't have it locked down tight, unless your using braid that is a sure fire way to break line on hook sets. I find it hard to beleive that you have gotten severl bad batches of line from different mfgs. that all break in the same way. Some times people hate to admit it (including me) but I suspect you are doing something wrong to have the line break so often. BTW check your rod guides, I had an guide top tip guide on a St Croix rod some got chipped one trip out, and was breaking my line on every hook set, I too cursed the line, till I looked at the guide, replaced the guide, problem solved.

Kinda like all most all of the wins the Pats had in 2001,2003,2004. 2007 was the only year they really dominated. The Bills won thats what counts, and once they stopped getting in there own way in the 4th qtr. actually handled the Raiders pretty good. Here are your top AFC teams: Buffalo 3-0 Denver 3-0 Tennesee 3-0 Who would have thought? Denver can score at will (can't stop any one, but can light it up), Tennesee plays great defense, can run the ball, and is well coached, QB is there biggest problem. Buffalo plays sound on both sides of the ball, has the best special teams in the NFL, is the least penilized team, and has a good young QB who makes few mistakes, and is learning how to win close games. New England, Indy, and San Deigo may very well be the 2nd or 3rd best teams in there own divisons this year, let alone the AFC.

My first flurocarbon expeirance was with Vanish a few years ago, I did not like it, unmanagable and poor knot strength. This year I returned to flurcarbon with the Trilene 100%, love it. Now for the weird part, I wanted to put fluro on another rod I had one day last spring, my supply of Trilene 100% was all on reels. Went to the store where I bought my line and they were out of 8lb, so I went with Vanish. I honestly like/love it this time around and I can not............repeat can NOT tell the difference between the 2 lines at all.

They are one of my favorite flipping baits, also you can use them as a jig trailer, there bulk really beefs up the profile of the jig and slows the fall, works excellant at times.

I like the Bill Lewis Rat-L-Traps as well, in fact for years it was all I used. This past spring I used the Strike King Red Eye shad and was very very pleased with it. It is now moved up in the rotation as the starter. Never cared mush for the Rapala's, but the new one Rapala has comming out look very very good and will get a try.

Same here.

I do it all the time, and know many others that do too. It's pretty common to use a 3" senko wacky rigged on the drop shot here in the Finger Lakes area.

Megaforce=graphite frame Viento= Aluminum frame Graphite frame BC reels= garbage There is your price difference

For flipping 4" tubes into weeds, brush or other heavy cover I use a 7' or 7'6" H power rod. I also do a lot of tube dragging for SM as well, and use a 7' Med. power, fast action spinning rod.

I agree, I also like Quantum. If you want a less expensive reel, look for an Accurist II 500CX (or 501CX if you want LH) these orginal sold for around $75-$80 and are rock solid reels. Now that they are discontinued you can find them for as little as $50 at some places. Or go for the Accurist 500PT,originaly a $140 reel, now can be had for less than $90. I have 2 CX's and 2 PT's they are great reels, and IMHO the best LP reels under $100 as of now. I think Quantum made a big mistake replacing these reels. At least the CX, the new Catalyst in the PT line might be a step up from the Accurist PT, but the Code sure is not a step up from the CX.

I have only used "Reel Magic" and like it a lot, but everyone raves about the KVD stuff so I will get some after I am out of the other stuff.

I wouldn't be so understanding if they just stole the battery. Stealing is stealing, no matter what they take. IMHO only a low life steals, "need" or not, and only the lowest of the low take things that belong to kids.

I don't care what direction the wind blows or how hard it blows. If it's too bad I put the seat in the front pedastile, throw out the drift sock, cast out a tube or a c-rig, and keep on catching fish.

Well I guess since you guys have the bay there the LM thing is a better option than in Buffalo, we have the Niagra river, but it's not a great LM fishery, it can be good, but it's not my favorite place to fish. Yeah I have been out in 8 footers, not fun, but I would rather brave 8 footers and catch SM one after another than stay "safe" in the river and mess around with LM...............just me.

Strike King KVD spinnerbaits, and Premier Plus's. In no perticular order, Booyahs are a close second.

All my soft plastic hooks are Gamakatsu EWGs, I use the standard ones for GP use, the super lines for flipping with heavy braided line, and the skip gaps for dock skipping. This Is just my general size/bait preferance. 1/0 finnesse worms, weedless split and drop shot rigs 2/0 small Jr. super flukes 3" beavers, small craws 3/0 4" Senkos, Trick worms,Super Flukes, 6" lizards, 3.5" tubes 4/0 5' Senkos, 4" beavers and craws 7.5" worms, 4" tubes 5/0 6" senkos, 5" beavers, 10" worms, frogs, brush hogs

Maybe a little OT, but as some one who also fishes Lake Erie, out of Buffalo, so iit might be a bit differeant than where you guys are, but WHY would you even bother with catching LM in the first place?? :-? If your culling 5lb SM do you think you really needed to get a "quick" limit of LM? I know the weather can turn on a dime out there, has happened to me more than once, but I have never thought/wanted/or needed to bother getting a limit of small LM, they will NEVER do you any good (at least in Buffalo) when 20lb bags of SM are the rule.

They are the EXACT same baits as a GYCB Senko........right down to the GYB molded on the "egg sack".

IMHO both have there place. One place, as stated above, that tubes shine is in heavy weeds. There are not too many situations where a tube won't perform, in fact I have seen it where they would take a tube and only a tube over a jig, beaver, worm, or any other bait I could flip to them.........why?? I don't know, but thats why I always carry a good supply of tubes.

I use GYCB Senkos, and Yum Dingers. I have confidence in both. I like to use the Yum Dingers for dock skipping, they seem to stay on the hook better and are a little more durable. I like to wackey rig the GYCB Senkos, they have that end to end wiggle that I don't thing ANY knock off can copy when wackey rigged IMHO. For weightless T-rigs I use both, Yum dingers when fishing shallow, and senkos when in deeper water as they sink faster.

I plan on fishing at least 1 of the events in the Northern Division as a co-angler, my boat is too small for those big tournaments. I can't decide yet which one I would like to try to get into first.

Don't forget it's just fishing...........it should be fun. For some reason bass tournaments can bring out the worst in people.