Now I MIGHT be starting an argument here...

"you really can hurt a fish by playing with it too long" This! It bugs the crap out of me when anglers (mostly flyboys) who say they use 7X leader and in the same sentence claim they care about fish health. whatever floats your boat I guess.

While I agree that the fight on an ultra light rod is a lot of fun, I do question why one would use such light test line just for the thrill of knowing it may break. I think you still accomplish a similar thrill when using 6-8lb line with less chance of sending a fish swimming away with hardware stuck in its face, dragging a few feet of your extra light line. But... to each their own.

Yeah that ^

Aw, you’ve got me Ajas5240. Like any good fisherman I have been known to exaggerate by a pound or two here and there. 4 pound Line is really a more reasonable bottom range. My intent really isn’t to argue over line weights so much as the pleasure of matching the size of the gear to the fight in the fish. Just like human Boxers, we kind of need to compete in weight classes.

I really like using 6# test for everything,even in brush laden water,it casts great ,as long as you don't use heavy lures,it goes great distance. However, you must know the limits of your rod and reel, and know how to set the drag. Smaller test line lets you feel the lightest bites if you have a quality rod, I really found out the difference a few years back when I spent the money on a quality rod and really baby the thing.

As cisum says, the sensitivity and payoff with light line is hard to overstate. I’ve convinced myself that I get twice as many bites as I used too as a naive 60 year old. Truth is, I was getting a lot of bites back then that I just never felt. I don’t think you need to clean out your kids’ inheritance on gear, but they can surely do without an occasional dessert one of these days if you feel the need to invest right now in a good braid. Here’s a tip:I’ve learned to look for sales whenever Linda is at a quilting store.

Fishing is something different to everyone. Some people just want to catch a fish. Some people want to catch a lot of fish. Some people want to catch big fish, and some people want to catch fish the way they want to catch them. Analyzing others and comparing what they are doing and questioning it is a way to learn indeed, but it can be hugely distracting. Also, a lot of the Winching of big bass out of water and in the boat is not so much done in effort to "harvest" as those anglers are some of the most competitive anglers out there. Competition is more sport than harvest.

I really like masteroftheloch's comment "some people want to catch fish the way they want to catch them." Yeah, that's it. And I know that winching big bass out is really necessary in places with a lot of heavy cover. Our bass fishing around here really is a subset of what most people encounter. A lot of what you see on fishing programs is unique to the South. That's why Chad LaChance and Terry Wickstram's programs are so helpful.

Bills blog Hello Bill, I take umbrage to your comment “ …. There is a fatal flaw or two behind an angler's determination to measure (or worse, to eat) whatever they catch….”: the key word is EAT ! I no longer hunt Deer or Elk or Duck, Geese, Turkey, Quail or Pheasants, but when I did it was for both the sport of the hunt as well the meats. Fishing has the luxury of Catch & Release with a 95% recovery rate of the pray, hunting not so. Knowing the major focus of our fisheries in Colorado is the preservation of the species, believe fishing for the sport has its merits, but also believe a Smoked Trout or Catfish is a fair better reword for the effort.