Marty

This can be mind-boggling with all the stuff out there. But I would say your next additions should be some soft plastics and lipped crankbaits. Good luck.

I don't use leaders but I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but I have confidence fishing leaderless. I also use duolock snaps with a Palomar knot. Been doing that for 42 years, but, of course, not all those years with braid, which wasn't around in my earlier years.

I don't know what you mean when you say you don't want to spend a ton of money. You may want a hybrid type of bike, one that has straight handlebars like a mountain bike, but narrower tires more suitable for pavement. You may want to check sites of various manufacturers to see what's available. I have a Trek 7100, vintage 2004. You can check their site, plus Giant, Specialized, Cannondale and other manufacturers.

I use a uni knot to tie to the spool, but I sometimes wonder if it matters. If something takes out all your line it seems to me that the knot will break regardless of what it is. The conventional way to spool a spinning reel is to have the supply spool lying flat such that the line comes off counterclockwise. That's because the line goes onto the reel clockwise so the counterclockwise twist from the supply spool offsets the clockwise twist from the reel to make for twist-free line. In practice, that doesn't work fully because of the difference in diameter between the reel and supply spool. However, check the instructions for your reel. Some of the reels with an anti-twist line roller recommend that the supply spool be in an up-and-down position like baitcasting. My personal experience has been that even when the instructions say this, the conventional way also works. If someone tells you to lay the supply spool down with either the label facing up or down, ignore it. It's not reliable because of differing label-placement practices.

There are so many good brands of crankbaits it can be hard to choose. Sometimes you have be arbitrary and just pick some that run at the depths you want that are a reputable brand.

I'll echo the others; I don't change unless enough has been cut off to affect casting.

Hard to tell, but the hooks don't look that small to me relative to the size of the bait. I may be naive, but I'd like to think that the lure designer selected an appropriate hook size for this lure. Nevertheless, if the size bothers you, then upsize as long as the larger hooks don't affect action, get tangled, etc.

Like James, I use about 50 yards. However, I've been doing it long enough that I put on the backing first and know about how much room I need to leave on top.

Every time when I'm done with this forum I go to the bottom and click "Mark board as read." Today it didn't do the job and all the posts that were new still show as new.

I fish in the Rochester, NY area. Since you fish with white pearl, try a darker color. Pumpkins, watermelons, junebug, baby bass, shad, shiner and many other colors work very well. Bass don't see all the color subtleties that we do and if they did it may not make a difference anyways. If you have a light, medium and dark color, you'll have what you need as far as I'm concerned. It's much more important to locate the fish and make a good presentation.

You said it before I could.

I think you made yourself clear enough. However, I'd like to offer up an alternative. Use a candle for hands-free work. This works very well when you want to fuse two pieces of plastic together.

What about the rattles that are made for soft plastics? The rattle is inside an arrow-shaped piece of plastic which gets inserted into the soft plastics. Just enter rattles in the keyword box on a site such as Bass Pro. On the other hand, I may have misinterpreted your question.

I'd certainly try soft plastics, dropping them into holes and at the edges.

I'd gladly trade my house sparrows, pigeons and crows for an eagle.

I agree, confidence is a huge deal in this type of situation. As to the bass actually hitting it, there could probably be any number of reasons and one of those possibilities could be the changes you made, but we'll never know.

I've fished weightless Senko-type lures in the weeds a lot. It's with spinning gear and for the last 5 or 6 years years I've used 15# braid. Just caught a 2#er yesterday using that exact method.

If you're fishing the surface of thick weed mats, I don't think the lure is that critical because they can't see it, but they detect the movement. If you're using something other than a soft plastic, have another rod ready and rigged with a soft plastic. If a fish crashes through the mat and misses your lure, get that soft plastic into the newly created hole in the mat ASAP. This type of follow-up often gets picked up by the fish.

I own a canoe. It works for me, but personal preference is a large part of the equation as well. Although I've never been in a kayak, from what I can see, in a canoe you can have more equipment right in front of you for easy access. For what it's worth, my unscientific observations during my travels are that more folks fish from kayaks than canoes. Let's not paint with too broad a brush here. My canoe is wide and relatively flat-bottomed and there is very little of a stability issue. That doesn't mean that I am careless, but it would take something really dumb on my part for it to tip. I can fish standing up, but I rarely do because I don't want to take chances, but that's not something you can do in an unstable boat.

I'd opt for a longer rod for longer casts and more control when playing the fish. A 6' rod could be good for a little more accurate casting and easier casting when you're impeded by trees, etc.,but for general fishing the longer rod is my preference.

I use the Texas Tackle and they're very good on small and medium rings.

That's very interesting. When I type Swim'n Image into the search box it tells me I got -0- results. "Your search for "swimn image" found 0 items."

Here's my 2¢, which is what it's probably worth. I use spinning only, generally with 15# braid. Some years ago I used a baitcaster as well, but stopped because it didn't have the versatility that I wanted. For many, if not most, types of fishing there is overlap, i.e., the techniques can be used effectively with each, so personal preference is a factor. It is said that skipping lures is easier with spinning and casting accuracy might be better with baitcasting. One thing that probably most people agree on is that baitcasting is better for heavier lines. Not counting braid, many anglers don't use more than 10-12# line on spinning reels. Of course, there's a reason you're asking. Do you want to do things that you can't do with your spinning or are you asking because you know many many people use baitcasting and you're wondering if you should too?

The Swim'N Image has been my favorite shallow crankbaits for about 5 or 6 years now. As has been stated, it has a tight wobble and runs to 18" per the manufacturer's claim. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, it doesn't seem to have caught on with anglers because they're getting harder and harder to find. BPS used to carry them but don't anymore. You can see them and buy them from the manufacturer by going to lurenet.com, clicking on Heddon at the top and then scroll till you find them. That's a cranbait I wouldn't want to be without.

Canada's prices are indeed significantly lower. I used to buy from a place in Montreal for a few years, but stopped when my insurance situation changed. Just do some Googling and you should be able to find a number of places.