Jrob78

Yeah definitely a bobcat and a pretty big one. Like I mentioned, I see them every now and then here but this one was darker than normal and very vivid. Probably the most beautiful wild cat I've ever seen. We do have Ocelot in TX but only down south close to the border, as far as I know. Not related to this but I saw that a Jaguar was spotted in Arizona on some game cameras earlier this year. I think it was the first one seen in the states since the early 1900's, which I thought was awesome. Hopefully he stays hidden and doesn't get shot or hit by a car.

My bottom wisdom teeth came in in my late 20's but fortunately I had room so they are still there. No sign of the top 2 yet, hopefully it stays that way.

I've been lucky enough to see them occasionally, the crazy thing is I live in the Dallas suburbs, not exactly rural. They are one of my favorite animals too so I love seeing them.

Walked up on this guy at a little pond yesterday. Watched him for about 15 minutes before he disappeared into a small patch of woods.

Great choice!

I'm a big fan of glass for crankbaits. I don't think braid is a good choice though, I use copoly a lot and sometimes fluorocarbon. 12 lb P line CX is my go to.

I actually got a Brailist yesterday. I haven't fished it yet but it feels like it will be a nice t-rig/finesse jig rod. The balance point with a Zillion is an inch in front of the locking nut, not too bad for a 7'5" rod. The craftsmanship is flawless which is on par for all the Megabass rods I've ever handled. It's definitely not as light as the P5's but I got it on sale for $244 so it was a no brainer.

I've considered their rods a few times but honestly their website sucks and it's hard to know what is what. Their length and power numbers seem weird so I just decided to pass on them. I have some of their blanks and they seem great but it took 3 months for delivery after I ordered them. I do want to try one of their higher end rods, I guess that is the Black Widow line, which uses the HM blanks? Which line uses the X-Ray blank, the Epitone? I can't find those on the website, but I guess they aren't out yet. I'm assuming the BWC MBR 735 would be their highest end 7'3" texas rig rod available right now?

I try to keep $60-$100 cash on me at all times but I have gotten somewhat lax about it over the last year or so.

Whether or not to use braid is mostly personal preference. I only use braid for frogging, punching and i'm experimenting with it on some topwater baits but I'm not sold on that. I would never use it for moving baits or bottom contact baits but again that's personal preference. A leader with braid and chatterbaits seems pretty unnecessary to me though.

Seems unnecessary to me and an extra knot that can fail.

What is the point of the fluoro leader on a moving bait in vegetation? Why wouldn't you just go straight braid if that's what you want to do?

I use 15 lb copoly. I am a big fan of fluorocarbon but I never felt the benefits were worth the cost for spinnerbaits or chatterbaits and I would never consider braid for those techniques.

Hopefully @Hogs4Dayz isn't still waiting for responses 7 years later. ?

I have some custom rods with burl cork and it holds up great, it's just heavier than regular cork. I mainly used it on rods to achieve a little better balance, but I think it looks good too.

I've actually had good luck on the double fluke rig and caught doubles on it once. I haven't fished it in a few years though and never think about it. I need to tie one on and give it a go again.

I understand what you're trying to say but I don't agree with the rod action part of it. If it does make a difference it's so minute that it wouldn't be perceivable by us. 2 graphite rods by the same maker, 1 XF and 1 MF with everything else being equal shouldn't have any perceivable difference in sensitivity. If you're talking about slack line sensitivity the rod isn't bent or under load so the action has no bearing on anything. If you're talking about, let's say, dragging a jig, the line is tight and as we've agreed on, a rod under load with tight line will transmit vibration better. If you're fishing a properly weighted bait to the rod, there won't be much bend at all while fishing a bottom contact bait anyway. The action is only going to change where the rod is bent, not how much it bends, as that is power. As for line, in my opinion, 2 things make fluoro more sensitive than mono, the density and hardness of the line and the fact that fluoro sinks. (Or is that 3 things?) The sinking line gets you closer to your bait with less bow in the line so that you're closer to a tight line even when it's slack. I'm not even sure if that makes sense, it's been a long day. lol

Yeah I'm not sure about that. Bite detection relies on the line transmitting vibrations to the rod and then up the rod to your hand. The rod isn't generally bent while any of this is happening. Although I'm not even sure if the rod were bent while the bite was happening it would change the vibrations moving through the blank. It would probably make the bite more easily felt because the line would be tight and there would be more line contact with the guides. If anything line plays a much more important role in bite detection and is why fluoro transmits bites so much better than braid on a slack line.

Yes it does, as good as the SV is I like the HD even better. Amazing reel.

I was just looking at the Lew's rods on TW and thinking that the Laser SG1 is actually a decent looking rod, aesthetically speaking. I can't really say the same for most of the rest of their rod line up. The Winn grips and use of skeleton seats would keep me from ever buying one of their higher end rods.

That is correct

I like 7'-7'4" rods for most general fishing duties. For me that's a good length to get good distance while maintaining accuracy and also getting good hooksets on long casts. I go shorter for topwater and jerkbait fishing, 6'6"-6'10". I like longer rods for techniques where long casts are critical, like deep cranks and c-rigs and also for pitching and punching, I will go 7'6"-8' for those rods. I don't factor length in at all when considering sensitivity or action as I don't think it matters.

I don't notice higher ratio reels causing any issue while fighting fish either but it definitely makes a difference when fishing baits with a lot of drag. I definitely prefer 6 and lower ratios for fishing big spinnerbaits, deep cranks, etc, partially because of the winding power, for lack of a better word.

Mojo bass rods have thick black/purple paint or stain or whatever over the blank. My guess is that is just peeling off. It probably hasn't actually damaged the blank and is just cosmetic.

Is the blank itself splintering or is that a layer of paint/finish that is coming off? Hard to tell from the pic but that blank looks to have a layer of something over it. If it isn't actual graphite coming apart it might be ok. If it is graphite then it's probably done for, like everyone else has said.