In my own defense from Robs statement about me not doing everything he thinks is right... Haahaahaahaa, juss playin brudda ;-) :+

I have lost a total of 4 hooked fish with Rob in the last 6 tournaments we've competed in.
Two due to line failer. One jumped in a bush when I was using 8lb line, another when my 25lb broke for no apparent reason, it was fresh line, tied the night before. Another because of poor hook location in the side of an 8-9lb fish with too stiff a rod, heavy line with zero drag and the boat drifting the wrong way. The first one I lost was totally my fault. I hooked a huge fish on the Heartland rod and didn't reset the hook more than once after she bit, she jumped and tossed my bait. Lets not forget the 12.49 and 10.4 I caught that day on the Heartland with no problems and I think it was a good thing I had that rod on for the 10.4 because I barely had her by the stinger in the side of the mouth and that little bit of give that rod allows may be the reason we got to see that fish at all..

I switched to a much stiffer rod per his request after that day and obviously it helps when controlling well hooked fish and getting a better hook up but the downside to stiffer rods and swimbaits is when fish are not hooked well, which is common. Stiffer rods do not allow a lot of give that is needed when playing poorly hooked fish. It can go both ways...cv