Jrob78

Buying lures is part of the enjoyment of fishing for me. I use a lot of Megabass, Lucky Craft, Ima, Jackall etc and balsa crankbaits but always have a lure retriever handy. Swimbaits are what get really expensive though. Easy come, easy go....but I do my best not to lose them.

The backlash itself doesn't destroy fluoro, kinks in the line do though. You just have to be careful when picking them out, don't start yanking on it. I also try to feed the line out in the water while drifting so that I don't have a pile of line that gets tangled up when you go to reel it back in.

I would bump your numbers up by $50, -$150, $150-$300, $300+ but otherwise I agree. The majority of my gear is in that mid range, $150-$300 and I think above that you reach a point of diminishing returns in a lot of cases. There is also a lot of quality gear in the budget range below $150. Get in where you fit in.

I picked up a couple of Seeker glass blanks, they aren't the same but really nice in their own right.

Those are awesome blanks, I have a custom on the 7'6" model, wish I would have gotten one of the 7's while they still sold them. Nice work!

Patrick Walters Matt Arey Keith Combs Jeff Gustafson Jake Whitaker

Lucky Craft RC 1.5 and 2.5 Zoom WEC E1, Wobbler, Hickey XCalibur XCS 100 and 200 Lucky Craft Fat BDS 1 and 2 Spro Rk Crawler 55 Megabass SM X Spriggan

I'll 2nd the Seeker SBS706

I can't agree with this more. I have 2 H3's and a couple of customs on NFC blanks, excellent rods. Also American made if that's important to you.

I would have liked to see them complete the initial elimination rounds, (first 4 days) on the same lake, then the Saturday round on a different lake and then the final round on a different lake. At least that would have been a whole new competition for each round and would have stopped guys from conserving fish and "practicing" during the event. I realize having 3 or 4 new lakes might not always be an option at every stop but it would have kept things fresh. This is the first year and it is incredibly fun to watch and follow, I'm sure they will tweak things as they go.

Megabass makes great baits but if I could only fish one hard bait brand for the rest of my life it would be Lucky Craft.

Lucky Craft Pointer 78 and 100 Lucky Craft Slender Pointer 97 and 112 Lucky Craft Flash Minnow 85 and 110 Megabass Vision 110 and 110 Jr Megabass X80 Trick Darter Spro McStick 95, 110 and 115 XCalibur XT3 and EE Shad

If you're going to fish bigger baits a lot, you should get a more appropriate rod. If you're just wanting to fish this one lure some, the rod you have will be fine. Just don't try to muscle it when you cast, use a more gentle lob cast. Also, big baits and braid, especially lighter braid, don't mix well. Don't be surprised if you make a cast and see you lure snap off and fly away.

Everything

Congratulations to Jacob Powroznik! That was a nail biter! Congratulations to Edwin Evers too, a 2nd, a 1st and a 4th in the first 3 events, pretty solid.

The top 4 guys are still within range but Wheeler is going to have to hit a lull. This could get interesting....or Wheeler could just run away with it. ? Also, it would be crazy to know the amount of weight that's been caught on Jack Hammers during the first 3 BPT events.

Mike L is right, this is where KVD L&L is worth every penny. It really helps cut down that memory. I spray the spool really well the night before a trip.

The longer rod is a flipping rod and the other is probably a mag bass, they are rated differently.

It's rated up to 1 1/4 oz so you can definitely go heavier than 3/8. I don't know how heavy you normally pitch but I would imagine you would be fine up to 3/4 oz weight or so, maybe more. You will just have to try it out to find the upper limit of the rod. When the rod starts flexing a lot just to move the weight, you've gone too heavy.

The first one is a pitching/flipping rod but can also be used for c-rig, t-rigs, big spinnerbaits, big bladed jigs, 5"-6" paddle tail swimbaits and probably many other things. The second rod is a multi purpose rod that can be used for t-rigs, lighter jigs, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, bladed jigs, etc... How does one buy 2 rods and not know what to do with them? I never understand these questions. Tie some baits on and see what works.

If you're in New England I imagine the water is still really cold. It's tough this time of year up north. Practice with your baitcaster, fish slow baits and be patient. Also, don't get too hung up on using a baitcaster, obviously learn to master it but if you feel like it's frustrating you, use what you're comfortable with until you get more practice in. In other words, don't let it ruin your day, you'll get the hang of it.

I mostly fish Daiwa reels, all with a decent amount of side to side play. I always keep spool tension pretty loose with all reels and rely on braking and thumb to control the spool.

Nobody needs expensive rods. Amateurs are way more hung up on expensive gear than pros who do it for a living. A good portion of the top level pros use mid level gear. That said, I like nice gear as much as anyone, nothing wrong with that but it doesn't make you a better fisherman.

Ned rig, Whopper Plopper, Spybait, Neko rig, Tokyo rig, Float and Fly...I'm sure there are more.

It looks like the handle on a lot of the Zebco spincast reels can be switched to either side, like spinning reels. You might be able to figure out a way to attach some kind of larger knobs to the existing knobs and make it functional. As far as making a whole new handle, you would probably have to get a reel and see and how the handle attaches and go from there. Good luck!