UncleJohn

Any big gators or mostly cocktails ??

Buy a box of cheap fabric bandages. the fabric in addition to the pad give good protection to your casting finger without sacrificing a good feel for casting.

I planted bamboo in my yard once ..... Don't know what kind it was but it took over the yard. I was a runner and even ran underneath a concrete sidewalk to the other side of the yard.

That is exactly what I was hoping to hear ... Thanks Dan

It depends ... On my light tackle setup I will usually use a loop knot at the end to attach my teaser. Although when I am using my heavier setup for Stripers, I usually tie a snap at the end to attach my teaser. I feel that the 50# leader would affect the action of my teaser too much so I use a snap. I don't feel like that is an issue with the lighter setup although sometimes I use a small snap here for ease of changing the teaser

I have been using the second approach for a few years and have never had a problem. sometimes it tangles, but not any more than tying a second Palomar knot to the swivel for the Teaser Dan, I was wondering what were the results of your strength test

MoCo Out Back Last night 6:30 PM to 11:00 PM I walked out onto the beach to very nice conditions. Light SW wind, clean water and some evidence of bunker in the area. I walked past a person that had a keeper Striper on the beach, so that was encouraging. I was told that there was a nice bite of big 10# blues 2 hours before. It was very crowded for a weeknight, but I was still able to wade in and practice social distancing. That is until the person next to me hooked up, he lost the fish but more people started coming out. He lost the fish, but he told me that it looked like a bluefish. I started out with a 7 inch white Hydro Minnow, but was not having any luck. There was a slow pick of fish, mostly taylor blues and one or 2 small schoolie stripers. I started to notice that that my waders had a slow leak right in the crotch area. After a while I switched to a sinking SS Little Neck Popper with an eel skin. That eel skin had really nice action but wasn't getting any love from the fish. Right around sunset you could see a large school of bunker just beyond reach being driven towards the beach. I could see the bunker jumping out of the water. They pushed in to the edge of reach and people started hooking up. It turned out to be a steady pick of small taylor blues for about half hour and then one guy hooked up with a nice keeper Striper that appeared to be slightly over 30 inches.. By that time my pants were soaked and I was really cold but I snapped on a 3 Oz Danny Metal Lip for a chance for a nice Striper. After about 20 minutes I was getting shivers and I had to leave. After I walked back to the car I figured that I could try another spot where I don't have to wade in. It was only 2 hours into the outgoing and I warmed up on the walk. Got to the second spot and I noticed that there were bunker occasionally breaking the surface and tail slapping. I snapped on my 6 in Black Back Silver Hydro minnow and cast out ... nothing .. Seemed like a lot of happy bunker.. After about an hour I switched back to my SS little neck eel skin .... Ten minutes later my eel skin was crushed right at the surface about 30 feet in front of me. The fish didn't get traction and frothed up the surface into a mass of white water. 3 seconds later ... the hook pulled out ... Well I wasn't cold anymore ... I continued casting hoping for another shot and about 5 minutes later got another crushing hit. This time the line zipped out of my drag on a quick but powerful run. 2 more powerful runs and I started getting the edge... 5 minutes later I got my first keeper for the spring... 36 inches .. I ended up staying for another hour or so but that was all she wrote....

The solubility of oxygen, or its ability to dissolve in water, decreases as the water's temperature and salinity increase. the fresh water from the rains can hold more oxygen that the salty water. Heavy rains probably increase the oxygen level in the water

Have you seen any blues around yet ?

I bought the book below many years ago. I highly recommend it as it gives very detailed information all aspects for Rod Building. It even shows you how to make custom Diamond Wraps.

Last time I was driving up the Parkway the big electronic sign said something like All Speeding Violations, Court Appearance Required

congratulations on both fronts... You are indeed blessed ..... Maybe someday ...

Were you hooked into a big cow when it happened ?

I have had that happen to me before and the only issue that you will have if you continue to fish it like that is that the guides will start to rust. typically when a new guide is wrapped on a rod, the guide foot is filed down to make it easier for the thread to wrap over the guide foot. When the guide wraps are coated with epoxy, that solves the rust problem. As others have said above, A few coats of nail polish will solve the problem.