SoFlaBassAddict

If you fish soft plastic craws on a t-rig, this will help. Soft Plastic Craw Fishing That has got to be one of the best reads on the forums. You can apply a lot of that to any standard Texas rig. Catt basically gave you a step by step starting point. My advice, don't overthink the bait. Toss it out there, let it hit the bottom and start your retrieve. You'll catch fish....if they're there. Catching bass is easy; finding them and what they want to eat is the hard part.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with cork that looks like it gets used regularly. I really need to clean mine up somehow. Some of the fillers have come out.

The 7'6" that I have is incredibly light. I'll probably buy another one or two from the lineup when they come out.

That looks very similar to the lake I'm on. Lots of very sharp drops. You've got lots of options there. You can run a c-rig up and down some of the drops. Do the same with a t-rig or a jig. Put the boat shallow and cast deep. Gently work it back to you so you don't get hung on some of the outcroppings. Try to key in on the irregularities on the shoreline. Most of the time, the contour under the water will follow the shoreline. A lot will also depend on the weather that day. If you've got some wind, fish the windblown side of the lake. Bait will usually congregate in the windy areas. Plankton gets blown up, little fish eat the plankton, etc etc. I'd toss a spinnerbait or a swim jig in that situation. That could also be a productive lake for a drop shot or a split shot rig. Make sure you've got a decent understanding of your electronics to pinpoint bass holding structure in the deeper areas. If some of those spots are covered in milfoil, look for those spots that have milfoil and another type of grass mixed in with it. Bass will key in on different bottom types and intersections. Usually if you've got two different types of grass, the bottom underneath is may have a subtle difference.

Half of it is the gear you're using. The other half is building up the proper muscles and stamina to do it easily.

Wow, I'm honored. Much obliged my good man. Anytime you find yourself down here in my area I'll put you on some fish that rarely see hooks.

I can honestly say that I'm jealous. Hope they work out good for you. God I would I could convince myself to drop that kind of money for a rod or two.

You can rig any of those up on a standard EWG. I like using a 4/0-5/0 Superline EWG when I'm rigging weightless. Otherwise a good quality swimbait type hook will work just fine. It all depends on what you want to do with it. Remember, there are no set rules on how to fish a lure.

Ultra vibes and Ol Monsters are some of the best worms Zoom makes. You'll like them. The Silver Minnow is a classic design. It still produces just as much today as it did in years past.

Darn right I do. I use mine literally every single day and couldn't be happier. I'll be buying that heavy action one that Tarheelz mentioned before too long. If you want to go another route, supposedly the W&M Skeet flippin rod is fantastic....if you can get beyond that yellow color.

Those two round reels are very.....colorful....

You my friend, are a very wise man.

x2

Major Chain: Papa Johns Otherwise, Big Cheese down here. Or Casola's Pizza on 17th in Miami. That place is ridiculously good.

Publix Chicken Tender Sub. Mmmmmmm. Nom nom nom!!!

Honestly, you need to look at what kind of rod you use the most. You fish down here in my area, so let me offer you this. But a rod you can dedicate to worming. Plastic worms are ALWAYS a solid producer down here. The catch 22 is this: you don't really want to throw cranks on a worming rod. They're a stiffer rod, which means that you'll more often than not, rip the treble hooks away from a fish without hooking him. Crank rods are a lot softer and slower. If I were just starting out, looking for a new rod for our area, I'd get something that would work for plastics. For the area down here, you really need a MH rod. You can slide by with a M, but you'll probably regret it in the long run. As far as rods go, buy the best you can afford. If it's 100 bucks, there are several choices in that lineup. If you can spend more, than do it. Once you step up over the 100 dollar mark, your choices in quality rods really will expand. Shimano Crucials, St. Croix Avids, Falcon Cara, etc etc. All of them are solid rods. You need to get out somewhere and handle them though. Stick a reel on it and find something that is comfortable to YOU. You can have a 700 dollar rod, but if it isn't comfortable, you won't enjoy using it. If you want my personal choice, click here. For reels, somebody already mentioned them, the BPS PQ. Get it in a 6.4:1 ratio for plastics. Thats a general all around gear ratio. You can do just about anything with it. The reels are 100 bucks. They're frequently on sale though for 80. You can get better reels, but not for the price.

The barbs were never there to hold on a fish. They were put on hooks to hold on bait. I crush most of mine and rarely loose a fish to a hook slipping out. If you give them slack line for some silly reason, say goodbye.

I saw that episode of Man vs. Fish. Pretty cool stuff. Would love to try to catch some of those big Dogtooth Tuna one day. As far as that Spirit of Pilar website goes, cool stuff. Big Marlin on light tackle is awesome. Takes one hell of a captain, crew, and angler to land one. Gotta love the picture of them backing the boat down so hard on the fish that the deck is getting swamped. I've got no respect for him killing those billfish and bringing them back to the scales though. Supposedly over the last 15 years, 90% of the worlds Billfish have been killed. It's a crying shame whenever one gets brought in to be weighed. I've caught a bunch of Billfish in my life, and I can definitely say that there are far, far less of them now than only a few years ago.

VT comes down here this year. Screw playing in that rainy freezing cold stuff up there in Blacksburg like last year. They were pretty beat up going into that game. Should have still done better.

http://www.***.com/Shimano_Cumara_Reaction_Casting_Rods/descpage-SCMRC.html BASSclary hit it on the head.

Little further east of that, but in the relative area.

You must have missed the memo, the Golden Boy Tebow is gone. Back to obscurity with the Gators.

The Cumara Reaction series start at 200 bucks. Thats not what he's really looking for from what I understand. The regular Cumaras are 219+. If you shop around, I'm sure you can find them at better prices though. The same holds true for anything mentioned in this thread.

The Cumaras are really nice rods, top quality components. Honestly though, besides the aesthetic looks of the rod, the increase in sensitivity over the Crucials isn't all that much. It's noticeable, but I don't know if I can justify another seventy to a hundred bucks on a rod. Having the completely exposed blank reel seat is quite nice though. If you've got the cash though, they're great rods. For under 300 bucks total (add applicable taxes): Shimano Crucial 6'10" MH Xfast ($149.99) BPS Pro Qualifier ($99.99) 30-40lb Power Pro Braid ($12.49) 10-14lb XPS Fluoro for leaders ($16.99) You can probably throw all of the lures you listed on that rod and be fine. I'm not really sure if I'd want to throw a frog in really heavy stuff on that, but in sparser cover you'd have little to no problems. If you want a bigger stick that will still work for most stuff the Crucial 7'6" MH Flippin Stick will do everything you need as well. Those are $179.99 new. If you've got the coin to handle buying a better reel, look at a Curado. For most situations something in a 6.X:1 or 7.X:1 gear ratio will work. I've got four Crucials now and will be adding a fifth before too much longer. Couldn't be happier with those rods. I think I have 5 Pro Qualifiers. Fantastic reels, especially at the price. You can get better reels, but I've been extremely satisfied with them. Make sure you check out the Flea Market here. You can usually find some really good deals on quality equipment.

As far as I know it's true. She's trying to sell it for like 60k. Or she's gone. I believe in a few months is when she was talking about leaving. You can't blame her though. That shop is in a horrible location, right down the street from BPS, and has no advertising. You'd never know that it was there unless you were specifically looking for it. Theres times I drive past it and still don't even remember it's there. I love going to that shop, really stinks that they're closing.