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People seem to be happy with the Dobyns Fury line-up. It's in the same price range as the Lew's. Between my dad and I, we have three Fury's, and we are super pleased. The 735 or 765 would be the most appropriate for you. Personally, I like a little longer rod.

I use the 4/0 version for 5" Senkos. It's the best hook on the market for Senkos and soft jerkbaits fished around light-to-moderate cover.

Dark and natural colors. Black, black/blue, green pumpkin, smoke, watermelon, cinnamon, etc.

How is this stuff still being sold?

Very breathable. That's one of the things that set it apart from my older Columbia rain jacket, which didn't breath at all and left my arms sticking to the inside of the jacket.

I've had good luck with cheap Chinese ice-fishing tungsten jigs and bass-fishing weights from eBay, for what it's worth. They're no different than the rebadged products costing 2-4x as much.

Columbia Men's Watertight II Front-Zip Hooded Rain Jacket. $40 at Amazon. I bought my dad one last season, and it was so much better than my 10-year-old Columbia rain jacket that I bought myself one too. I wear it even when it's not raining because it's terrific at blocking wind.

I wonder. I have a 7' 9" Dobyns Champion Extreme flipping stick that is in no way tip-heavy. Granted, the rods listed are all a foot or more longer. I'd really like to fish with one, especially the cranking stick.

I wish I could get my baits to look like that, but unfortunately, I lose most of my crankbaits to northern pike before they can get more than a few scratches in them.

I wonder how they balance out with a standard-sized reel.

I found a GLX rod floating in a local lake about 8 years ago. No reel. It was covered in slime and had clearly been in the water for a long time. I cleaned it up and tried fishing with it. I snapped like a twig after a few casts. Clearly, the blank was severe damaged from the water as I could bust it up in my hands easily. I used the warranty and got a brand new one. It's not a very useful rod, 6' M/F spinning, but I still use it occasionally for jerkbaits. I'd like to sell it, but nobody has wanted it. Moral of the story, it may be damaged, but hopefully you can exchange it if it snaps.

Throw down on the rod, for sure. A $200 rod with a $100 reel is way more useful and pleasurable to fish with than a $200 reel on a $100 rod. It's also worth mentioning that you can make a world of difference in the quality of a lesser-priced reel by just keeping it clean and properly lubricated, and by replacing the spool bearings with some $20-25 upgrades. There's not much you can do to improve a rod's quality.

It's not premium fluorocarbon by any means, but it's cheap and presents a good value for the money, hence the positive reviews. It can also be softened up a bit with KVD Line and Lure. It's a very poor choice for spinning reels, but it's decent on baitcasters. I have been using the #15 on my deep T-rig/football jig setup and plan to try the #20 on my flipping stick this season. My argument for using it is that I can respool twice as often as I would be able to with nicer lines like Abrasx or Invisx. If I had money to burn, I'd buy nothing but Tatsu because that line makes these others look like junk.

I see it's already been mentioned, but give these a shot: the Owner Shakey Ultrahead. They're my favorites, followed by the Picasso tungsten heads, MegaStrike, and the good 'ol Spot Remover.

Shimano Sahara FE are going for $50 at BPS right now. They're nice reels.

Rate of fall is huge, as Catt mentioned. Heavier baits allow for better control in the wind. That's a big determinant for me when deciding on lure weights.

My goal is to not have lateral epicondylitis (tennis/angler's elbow) in my right elbow by the end of the season. I got it real bad last year. Hurt for months.

The wire the connects the tail segments badly throws the lure off balance. When it suspends, it hangs vertically with the nose of the bait pointing towards the water's surface. I bought quite a few from Cabela's when they were blowing them out for $5. They're terrible jerkbaits, but if worked as a crankbait with only short pauses, they're decent.

If you're unsure which hooks to buy, try them both and decide for yourself. Worst case scenario, you're out $4. JimF has the idea.

3-4" swimbaits on 1/16oz ballhead jigs. The best lure I've found in 40-some-degree water.

I'm a little surprised. The Walmart fishing sections in Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Lakes, which has a $3-4 billion dollar per year value to the economy (Google it for a citation) are absolutely worthless. Nothing of significance is ever on sale, most of the tackle is low-end, and very little aisle space is devoted to fishing. For reference, the fishing aisle at my local Super Walmart is about the size of the aisle devoted to Rubbermaid storage containers, about 20' long.

Guests who are very, very drunk.

Dobyns Fury 703sf and a Shimano Sahara FE 2500 will run you about $170 right now. It'll be a great set-up for someone get to back into fishing.

Ned Rig or a soft jerkbait.

Crawfish and Snicker's-bar-sized yellow perch are the staple of a Minnesota bass' diet.