Gradyh

You have to make absolutely sure the tag end of the braid enters the loop on the same side as the first time the braid when through the flouro loop. Hope that makes sense.

Walleye are "KNOWN" to feed on bass and crappie? Do you have any research to prove that. Many lakes above the Mason/Dixson line seem to support good populations of bass/walleye or bass walleye/walleye/crappie. Of all the "tournament" lakes in southern Mo. north Arkansas to 2 with the consistently smallest weights are Norfork and Beaver. What do they have common besides being at the lower end of the spectrum for numbers and quality? Stripers. They is all the research at this point to tell me the Rock and Bull Shoals don't need stripers.

I would like to see a show of hands of those who would not like to catch fish for a living assuming you had the ability and financial means to hit the circuit. Would it get to be a "job" after a while? Maybe so, but I promise you it would be better than the current 7am-7pm job I have right now.

99.95% percent of the time when you say I don't mean any disrespect, you are getting ready to disrespect.

In the words of Rodney King...."Can't we all just get along?" Seriously, every group has a few Aholes, bank fisherman, snaggers, tournamant guys and perch jerkers. We all for most part share a love of figuring out a bite and catching fish. We all need ban together to keep Aholes, lead bans, and oter stupid laws from affecting our sport.

WOW! I am little surprised at the shot tournaments and particularly tournament fisherman are taking on this post. Realizing I am probably going to get blasted as a board rookie for questioning one the elder statesmen here it goes- “The one that got away” or the “Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda” are two of the pillars of fishing. It is what keeps us coming back for the next day, the next tournament, or the next fishing vacation. Imagine what would happen if you went out had the perfect plan and executed it flawlessly. Sure it would be fun for that to happen a few times, but wouldn’t things get boring after a few trips? The stories would sure be less than exciting. I went to the lake, stream, pond caught a bunch of big ones and came home. Tournament fishermen are just like every other group fisherman or outdoorsmen. The vast, vast, vast majority are good ol’ guys and gals who care greatly about the resources that allow all of us to enjoy the great outdoors. Every group has a few Aholes. I have met pretentious fly fisherman, duck hunters, deer hunters, pheasant hunter, walleye fisherman, musky fisherman…..you get the point, but does not make everyone of their peers a jerk for enjoying the same activity they do. Competition is what drives many people. If that is not what floats your boat, that is fine. Fishing at is core is competition, you against the fish. Tournaments are simply of a measure of how each angler’s competition went. I may be way off base here, but I have to think almost everyone us that visits this board would prefer to catch fish to pay the bills rather than doing whatever we are doing today. I know if competitions against the fish fell my way more often I would love to give it a shot. I would call it a battle of wits with the fish, but that make me fell DUM. Tournament fishing has turned into big business and generates large amounts of revenue for tournament organizers, hosting communities, sponsors, outdoor retailers, equipment manufactures and last but not fisherman who win these derbies. Tournament fishing, not just bass, has also bought to market many new products that make fishing better, faster, stronger and safer for all of us. It called capitalism and like or not it is here to stay. At the end of the day I bet the benefits of these larger events visiting the Rock far outweigh the costs. This event alone brought a minimum for 350 people to town to spend, spend, spend in the middle of March. The broadcast of the show is going to put the beauty and attractions of the areas on display as well as the quality of the fishery. This in turn will bring more spenders to the area booking resorts and hiring guides.

Of the those 2 rods I think you would be happier with the 7' medium fast. The 6'9" is an excellent rod for drop shotting with an open hook, throwing small twitch baits and small cranks like a #5 Shad Rap. It just does not have much power when it comes to setting the hook with texas rigs or heavier wire hooks. Just to confuse matters, I would suggest looking at the Legend Tournament 6'8" medium extra fast. It has a slightly more powerful tip than the 6'9", but it is still light enough to pick up on light drop shot bites. The extra fast tip also allows you toss grubs and shakey heads a mile, but this rod has enough backbone to get a good hookset. St. Croix has a lifetime warranty as well on all rods above the Avid series. They also have a trade-in/up-grade program.

For throwing big cranks I have found nothing better than a 7'10" St. Croix Legend Tournament, this rod was specically designed for throwing DD22s. Teamed up with a 5.0 to 1 reel and you can pull these big cranks all day without getting beat down. The rod handles these large baits well also on the cast. It loads up perfectly and does not try to launch you out the boat behind the bait when it takes off.