On Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:35:04 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:36:30 -0800, Oren wrote:

On Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:48:23 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

This year I picked up a cheap Shakespeare spinning rod for 15 bucks at
a Walmart in Punta Gorda. About the third cast with a 3 ounce bottom
rig it snapped about 6 inches from the tip.
It wasn't a smooth cast, but the rod was defective.
Never saw anything like that

chuckle What were you planning to do with a 3 ounce weight, knock
the fish in the head and then net 'em when they came to the surface?

How deep and what were you fishing for?

Wasn't very deep, but the tide was running pretty strong.
Fishing for anything that likes shrimp, but I caught a tarpon there
once. But not on shrimp. Hoping for grouper or nice snapper.
Wasn't using shrimp on that line though. Frozen cigar minnow.
So whatever liked dead cigar minnow.
And that was nothing at all.
But the main reason I had the 3 on there was to toss it far out.
You know, it's always better to fish where you can't get to.
Especially when they aren't biting where you are.
Same as "Man, I wish I could get over to that shore under those
overhanging branches. Bet that's where they are."
BTW, saying it wasn't a smooth cast might be too kind.
Had something behind me and I jerked the hell out of it.
Still shouldn't have snapped the rod.
I've jerked many much harder and never had them snap.

--Vic

I've fished along the gulf coast much of my life. For snapper I would
use a slip sinker around the mangrove tree roots using shrimp. Over
the flats you can free-spool just a shrimp and hook in the grass for
speckled trout. Lures work very well (red / white mirror lures) The
groupers hug the rocks along deep channels when the tides are moving
fast in and out. Then heavy weights get caught in the rocks and can
break off.

A few times I fished with an acquaintance along the Gulf Stream in Ft.
Lauderdale for Tile Fish... He built a reel from a bicycle frame,
used stainless steel wire WITH the old cast iron window weights.
Usually two weights ( 20 lbs total? ) in deep water. Drifting with the
current. Tile fish are usually caught in 50-200 meters of water. You
can catch as many as you have hooks (six hooks is good).

Reeling in to go home one day, a Marlin grabbed the line and jumped
from the water. We lost him, because he was swinging 20 lbs of weight
around and yanked the hook out (sigh) What a sight it was.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilefish
....
50 meters = 164.041995 feet
200 meters = 656.167979 feet

Good Luck next time :-\