It’s not only the trash that irks me , it’s the damned fishing line. A lot of water I wish have ducks and geese . Fishing line and wild fowl are not a good mix ( ok maybe the geese I don’t care so much about but still a tangled bird is no fun to watch). Three weeks ago I am bank fishing on a river with soft muddy banks . Carefully following my bait down stream i trip over a snag what must be a 30 lb test line . I fall forward twisting a knee a bit and doing pretty close to a face plant in sticky oozy mud . I was able to pull that damned snag out with a stick and got the line and snag lure. Lazy. Really if you get snagged try to get back as much of the line as you can. What’s with the 30 lb mono. Fish here include small sunfilsh, stocked trout, and maybe a 1 lb largemouth. My wife almost laughed when i got home covered in mud

Ditto. Keep it light and spinning for small water . I use spinning for just about any lure smaller than 1/4 ounce. I also use spinning for saltwater surf casting and pier fishing . I will use spinning for spinners and some light top water when targeting bass . Crank baits , stick baits, Texas rigged creature and senkos etc gin on the bait casters with heavier lines . Kind of my rule of thumb but I break the rules except for the 1/4 oz rule.

I really don’t think one rod/reel works here. I don’t live in Florida so i have no experience, in the the northeast, ,y pier rod is a medium heavy, moderate action rod. My freshwater water rods are a variety of medium heavy fastand and ultralight medium fast . Surf rods Are even more variable, The point being , you are considering fishing two different environments. You will need two rods at least . Strike a chat with some people at a local tackle shop. The will have invaluable info.

Spinning rod? What sort of fish are you targeting.? Panfish (sunfish) require a light weight fast action 5,5 to 6 foot rod with perhaps a 2500 series spinning real with 6 lb mono. Keep it light an you will feel the bite. A small bobber ( like about 1/2 inch), a couple of split shots 10 inches below that, then 20 inches to a number 6 or 8 hook with a worm should get started. Use a Mustad or gamakatsu hooks which are circle hooks and the fish will hook themselves. Small fish just reel them in. The light tackle makes it more fun.

Probably why I C&R most of the time. I don’t have the crappie bluegill issue in the Northeast, at least with me, I will never catch enough for a meal. With trout, if I am fishing in a place where I allowed to keep, if I get one on the first cast, I consider that a first cast curse, I won’t get another. He goes back for another day,. I I catch one later, I will keep him on a stringer, switch to worms so I am pretty well assured to catch a second and my DW and I will enjoy a meal.

Fresh caught trout. Always an issue. In my favorite spots to fish, I can’t keep them (C&R only) . There are some places I can keep . Usually stockers about 10 to 12 inches. Creel limit is 2. I catch the first and keep it on a stringer, When I catch the second , I dispatch both with a sound whack to the head, throw them in the bucket, drive 4 miles home . I gut them and leave them whole until I decide on dinner, if the are small, I filet them and put them on the smoker , and then vacuum seal. Good for a few weeks, if they are larger, it’s dinner to night and I grill or pan fry them.

I can’t imagine fishing with anything other than a spinning reel when surf casting. A 14 foot rod that old has got to be heavy . I am sure I would be worn out in no time. Fishing on Cape Cod or Long Island sound 10 or 11 foot rod is usually all you need. Don’t know where you are so perhaps you need the the long rod.

I usually use dough or powerbait only for recently stocked hatchery fish. The dough and powerbait resemble hatchery fish food nuggets . And those recently stocked fish have never seen a minnow or bait fish so the might totally ignore the top water lure. After recent stockings I am pretty successful with powerbait but they are useless against wild or acclimated trout for example where as a spoon or small spinner can be effective . I tried once putting powerbait on a spoon. Totally screwed up the action . That being said I a have had some success with a small Berkeley gulp alive minnow on a single hook small in-line spinner .

Wading belt is a must . An yes you need to be able to were layers if lice i. The north or fish the ocean. I always carry a knife in case I need to cut the waders away in an emergency situation

I find a snap swivel works ok with a rooster tail or similar spinner. But I use barrel swivels with leader for my spoons so I tend to use the same for rooster tail. I use 2 feet of flouro or mono leader if I am using braid . If I us mono or flouro mainline I will use 18 inches of leader between the bait and the swivel

All depend on the fish, water temp, and air temp. Good luck getting a trout to bite when the water is 45, the air 40 before the sun gets high enough to warm things up a bit and create the hatch. As the weather warms you need to get up earlier before things get to warm . Striped bass (salt) are best caught after sun down on the rising tide. a high tide around 1:00 AM is best. However my aging self doesn’t agree so much with those hours anymore. Requires I rent a motel room to sleep afterword before coming home. Starts to make for an expensive trip . In the northeast in the spring warm water fish don’t really get active until the sun warms things up some.

Trespassing charges can be brought even in signs are not posted. Obviously signs make it clear but if you enter private property without permission you are trespassing

Assuming you have braid on the caster then yes always. You need a leader with braid. Unless you are fishing for something that needs a wire leader, use mono if you want your bait to float, otherwise flouro

The only native trout in the north east is Brook trout . Brown s trout were introduced from Europe . Walleye were stocked from fry form the Midwest. The only catfish here were brown bulls. The state stocks channel catfish . Our native Atlantic salmon is gone , and shad and alewife are in jeopardy. I won’t even go into the issues in the Saltwater Fishery the stocked fresh water fish are doing well and the Brown trout are an a good fight and if you keep pretty darn good dinner table fare.

It wasn’t the brown trout that did in the brook trout. It was the acid rain and mercury that blanketed the northeast from Midwest coal burning . They need pristine clear balanced ph water to survive. Ok we did our own part by cutting forest to close to the streams where they thrived . It all added up to a disaster for the wonderful brookie.

Fred might find some good salmon or trout Might be a little chilly for bass as the had some inches of snow this week. Salmon pita make better eating anyway. What ever you catch have some fun. Me, fishing the Farmington in Tarrifville. Current is a little today so it’s going to be tough