TubeDude I love the part:
“I have never been a big fan of trolling…“washing lures”. Sometimes that is the only way you can find widely dispersed fish…and fish that are active. But on other days all you get is a long boat ride and more of an inferiority complex…especially when you see other guys filleting limits back at the fish cleaning station”
Couldn’t agree more!
Old Coot liked the Breakoffs document except for
“Always replace your leader and re-tie all of your knots before each fishing trip. Don’t depend on last week’s stressed knots and nicked line for the present fishing trip.”
BUT I do see your point. Plus it’ll give me the practice to get good at the knots.
Fresh knots and sharp hooks.
I’m fully guilty of re-using the rigs from the last trip. I need to learn to spend the time before a trip and prep my rods BEFORE I go. Seem to spend an awful lot of precious time on the water - rigging, rerigging, tying, untangling… ugh.
If you run your fingers down the tip of your line (mono esp) you can feel the abrasions. Also just the stress on a knot where the filament meets the metal.
Ask yourself - is that $5 lure worth a fresh tie?
Another frustration is how quick a swivel snap can deteriorate. I’m also overdue to respool some lines. Curt had a good chuckle at the birdsnest I ended up with on my catfish pole with the heavy mono. To every thing turn turn turn. There is a reason I need to use more swivels!
*Old Coot, I liked the Breakoffs document except for “Always replace your leader and re-tie all of your knots before each fishing trip. Don’t depend on last week’s stressed knots and nicked line for the present fishing trip.”
BUT I do see your point. Plus it’ll give me the practice to get good at the knots.
*
Jiggy, I can certainly understand that you might not agree. In fact, most anglers I talk with do NOT agree with my concept of re-tying new leaders on every pole before every fishing trip either. And some even think it is (or I am) just plain stupid for doing it.
But I happened to be watching some video on the Bass Pro circuit one day and one of the competitors had a breakoff on a monster tournament winning bass. He threw down his rod and cursed, “I knew I should have re-tied after that last catch!” That really made an impression on me. Now, I don’t re-tie after every catch but I do, re-tie new leader on every pole I take with every new fishing trip the night before. And, get a load of this … even if I didn’t even use a newly tied pole last trip but plan to tomorrow, it gets a new leader with new knots just like the other poles. I do that because I am never quite sure if I used that particular pole last time or not. And yes, it really does keep me in good practice of tying the uni-knot and the double-uni-knot.