I was fishing the canal regurlarly when most of the guys on this and the other sites were still bluegill fishing, guys like Mike P remember and a few others. It got to popular and I quit the rat scene. But then as now I never fish anything heavier than a 30 lb leader, now I use 50 braid and go no heavier. I used then a conventional and still do. This spinning thing with tree trunk rods and gorrila braid at 80 lbs plus and 80 pound leaders is not sport, it's just catching. Spinning is easy to master and helps the unmastered hand at night but real canal men use conventionals day and night. There is no equality between you and the fish, which should be a match of wit and wisdom, one on one not the one sided stand and deliver with no drag invloved or no chance that the fish might outsmart you. Get him over that piece of rope and she's done for no matter how big. The two biggest bass I ever landed weighed an even 45 lbs apiece in the canal. One on 16 lb test Ande Tournament green (which is what we all used ch#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g eels at the Mud Flats, 245 and 80) at the Mud Flats under a screaming new moon west tide and the other on a 3-1/2 oz Yellow Polaris (the original by Gibbs) on 30 big game on my ten foot conventional and a running east tide at 195.
I never did and still don't, when on occasion the urge hits me to jig there, use a jig heavier than 3-1/2 oz. I have caught many a 30 pounder on that rig and did many a dance along the rocks from pole to pole fighting bass and some bested me and sometimes I won but the thing is it was and still is carried on as fair fight. You want the best out of a running tide and a large bass than do it fairly and do it like it's supposed to be done with all the thrills, spills and drama and when you win you feel good that you were tough enough and smart enough to overcome the rockweed, kelp, lobstertraps, boulders and a 1000 other items that can snap you off in a second and when you loose tip your hat and say thanks and tell the fish to look out next time. We learned to run up the banks over the service road and up further still when hooked to a big fish to keep it off of the bottom.
There is none of that now, it's all one way.
If you want to stand in one place, chuck a 5oz jig with braid that is labeled as 80 and actually breaks at somewhere near 130-140lbs and know the outcome once hooked then do so but you might get the same thrill from freshwater tournament largemouth fishing where the fish is hooked and landed in less than ten seconds average but then again a lot of people think that is really fishing too.
