Jrob78

I bought an Evergreen Combat swimbait rod from The Hook Up Tackle and got a free $200 JDM box with the purchase. Some interesting stuff and some baits I will definitely try out.

Another option for a shallow spooled reel that should hold up to the abuse of pitching would be a Daiwa reel with a PE spool. The Silverwolf and Morethan PE come to mind, as well as the Alphas 800 (for a small profile normal capacity spool) and Alphas 800s (shallow spool) that @FishTank mentioned. I would not buy a BFS reel for heavy fishing. The thing that you will have to keep in mind though is many of these shallow spool reels won't hold much heavy line at all. So for pitching and skipping they will be fine but for any casting and you will be probably cast the line off, especially with heavier non braided lines. Many of them will take normal spools so you can always swap if need be.

KVD and Rick Clunn, I don't think anyone else is even close.

Looks like this will be his last season. https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/kevin-vandam-retirement.html

I find both of those lines in anything higher than 12lb to be pretty wiry with a lot of memory. They're both also really thick lines, way thicker than most other lines per lb test.

Nice, should be a great sq bill rod, I have the 7'2" M. I've built on some of the Delta blanks but not a Zentron. I assume hybrid means they are composite but I'm not 100% sure.

Karate

The St. Croix Legend Glass rods are really nice. Which one did you get?

It looks like it's all St. Croix rods and Lew's rods and reels with varying $$$ gift cards

I tie a Palomar, SDJ, Snell, Blood and Rapala knot for everything fishing related. The Palomar and SDJ account for 95% of it. I don't worry about knots and never really have. As someone else said, learn a few knots you can tie well and don't overthink it.

Everything If I had to throw a 4000 size spinning reel on a MH rod for spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, crankbaits, jigs, frogs, pitching, plastics, etc....I don't think I would keep fishing

I would get a Tatula SV or a Tatula 100, the 100 is a little cheaper but the SV should be a slightly better reel to learn on. The SV spools are pretty forgiving. You might be able to find one a little cheaper on a JDM site. One of the Curados, the 200 K or the 150 MGL would also make an excellent beginner reel. These are reels that you won't immediately want to upgrade when you get more experience and they will last a long time. They will also leave enough money in your budget for a decent rod. As for the rod, you need to determine how heavy the baits you plan to throw are and how thick the slop you intend to fish is. For pitching and flipping into cover I generally always use a longer H power rod.

That's exactly what I thought as I was reading that. .243 VMax defnitely wouldn't be my first choice for deer.

Casting for all jerkbaits

From the night Meshuggah played the Oscars

I’m blaming @WRB for this one. I’ve always wanted to try out Don Iovino’s plastics but just never did. Happy to get some before they’re gone.

I don't even know what qualifies as a 200 size baitcaster anymore, is it frame size? The 2 you listed, the Curado K 200 and Tatula 200 are completely different reels, at least as far as line capacity. The Tatula seems more of a big bait, inshore reel while the Curado is more of a normal bass reel. My favorite "normal" bass reels currently are the Zillion SV, Zillion HD, and Alphas SV. I don't know what size they are though. ?‍♂️

Most of my rods are capable of double duty but it's usually limited to baits of the same nature, spinnerbaits/chatterbaits, jigs/t-rigs, that sort of thing. The most versatile rod I use regularly is an original Tatula 7'2" MHRB. I primarily use it for spinnerbaits and chatterbaits but it works for t-rigs, light jigs, bigger crankbaits, swimjigs and topwater baits...just a good all-purpose rod.

Yeah it's definitely going to be a multi-use heavy rod for me. C-rigs and jigs are the first thing I thought of but I also like the idea of larger 5"-7" soft swimbaits on heavier weighted hooks and jigheads. I have the 7'3" HXF Helium 3 NFC blank version and it's been a great multipurpose heavy rod, I expect this one to be no different.

I got my Helium yesterday and it feels great. Nice and crisp, powerful but with a soft enough tip that it's not a broomstick. It's Kistler's normal bare bones build but the execution is excellent. I hoping to use it as a c-rig rod primarily but will experiment and maybe add some heavy jigs. Seems like a great buy at the current $247 price.

I hate wearing sunscreen so I go the full cover route if I'm going to be out very long. Pants, long sleeves, gloves, hat and face and neck covering. I feel like I stay cooler when the sun isn't directly hitting my skin, sunscreen or not. As to why someone would wear the face covering and nothing else, who knows.

The Air Stream is a great reel, I have one, but it holds a tiny amount of line. Definitely wouldn't work for the heavier line OP is using, which is going to be the problem with most bfs reels.

Those should both be good rods for that, especially the 742 but even the 743 isn’t overly stiff.

I definitely understand wanting a shorter handle for kayak fishing. My comment was just based on those rods not being swimbait specific rods, which they may or not be, and it may or not even matter, I’ve never handled them either.

Yeah I think that might be what’s causing you issues. I totally get wanting heavy line for fishing around hang ups and structure but it’s probably costing you casting distance. It also will be pretty limiting on most BFS spools as they generally don’t hold much line. A rod that might be a little stiff combined with heavy fluoro is probably the problem.