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Are you considering spinning reels vs. spincasting reels, like a Zebco? Or is it spinning vs. baitcasting?

"3/16oz-3/4oz range. Mainly shallow to medium cranks, traps, rip/jerkbaits, and the occasional Jackall Giron." That's a pretty wide range of weights for a cranking stick. A MH power would suit your needs as an all-purpose cranking stick much better than a M power. You might be surprised how light some of the baits are that can be tossed with ease with a MH cranking stick if you loosen up your reel. The two rods I mentioned earlier feel much lighter than what you would expect from a "medium-heavy" rod. Just retrieving a 3/4 rattlebait, 5/8 oz shallow crankbait, or Jackal Giron will overpower and put a major bend in a medium power cranking stick. The baits and weights you listed sound just like what I would list, and a medium power just didn't work for me as all-purpose rod, and I went thru a few.

Xcalibur XRK-50 Lucky Craft D-7 Cotton Cordell Super Spot with upgraded hooks.

Ceramic bearings are pretty noisy and annoying. They are most useful in reels used for pitching or short roll casts, IMO. Other than the noise, it's not easy to notice any difference between the ceramic and SS ABEC 7 on long casts. It's more obvious when it comes to pitching. The line comes off much easier, so pitches tend to be longer and stay closer to the water.

I'd recommend a MH/Mod fast cranking stick, too. I've owned numerous medium power cranking sticks that I was unhappy with since I mainly throw cranks in the 1/2 oz+ range. A cranking stick that is too soft is useless for throwing crankbaits around weeds, which is the predominant cover around here, because it doesn't have enough backbone to rip the hooks free when it hangs on weeds. I currently don't have a medium power cranking stick and there are times that I would like one for throwing light poppers and balsa crankbaits, but my MH/MF graphite cranking stick is much more versatile and will handle a wide variety of baits well. I use it for lipless cranks, topwater walkers, large poppers, jerkbaits, squarebills, and diving cranks. I currently have an 1/8 oz buzzbait tied on because the crankbait bite hasn't been good, and it will cast that little buzzer a mile. The two I've owned that I would recommend are the Loomis 845 that I shouldn't have sold, and the Dobyns 705 graphite that I use now and and really like. These can be picked up used for about $140-150 used.

I think a lot of people get stuck in a routine where they just hop a T-rig back to them, lift/drop/pause, lift/drop/pause, lift/drop/pause. Sometimes swimming a T-rig like it were a jig and grub or a bullhead hugging the bottom, or dragging it slow and steady like a football jig or a crawfish looking for a rock to burrow underneath, or using a drag/shake routine like a shakyhead worm is what works best that day. Figuring this out helped me catch some nice fish and get over the hump as a T-rig angler, because I wasn't a big fan of them when I first started fishing them.

I run unshielded HP ceramic hybrid and stainless ABEC 7 bearings in my Shimano reels. I don't think there is enough of a difference in quality to justify the price difference($15 vs. 30). The SS ones are almost as good, IMO. I have never tried running them dry. Now I'm curious if there would be any difference.

The Dobyns 766 is a "broomstick" in my opinion, but I would never want a rod that heavy for casting soft plastics. I've tried it, it doesn't work well. You want a little softer tip for casting plastics. Look into the Dobyns Champion 735 for mainly casting soft plastics. It makes an excellent pitching stick, works great for casting soft plastics and jigs, and is an OK flipping stick, just as long as you're not fishing deep in the heaviest cover in the lake, like punching weed mats. If you're willing to wait a little, Bass Tackle Depot and Tackle Warehouse will be having Black Friday sales that will bring the price of this rod down to $200 shipped. A new 735 for $200 is pretty hard to beat.

Mine would be a white 1/8 oz Strike King buzzbait with a sharpened hook. It's a great river/stream smallmouth lure, but it tends to catch dink largemouths. It will always catch something though.

Phillies over Rays in 6. That's my World Series pick. I would prefer to see Brewers over Tigers, but I don't think the Tigers will advance.

Are there any docks on the lake? I also fish natural lakes, some of which are very clear, and the bass always seem to gravitate to the remaining docks in the fall when the water gets into the upper 50s/low 60s. Once the weeds start dying back, docks are the preferred cover, IMO. Another trick is to follow the warm water. On sunny days in the fall, calm areas that are protected from the wind are usually one or two degrees warmer than the rest of the lake and are often the first places I try. There are times on lightly windy days when the windy shores are warmer, because of all the heated surface water has been gently pushed that way, but this is only when the wind is not so heavy that the waves stir the warm water into the lake. Find the warm water and you'll find some active fish in the shallows. Better yet, find docks in warm protected areas.

That is my order of preference, regardless of time of day. Black is my go-to color for topwater baits; frogs, toads, and buzzbaits especially. Not just for low light, but even in high sun and clear water.

Same as with hollow bodied frogs. Black, a natural green, and white, in that order.

Topwater plugs like spooks and poppers work really well on a cranking stick, IMO. I prefer a longer, heavier rod for buzzbaits that I would for topwater plugs, actually the same rod as I would use for spinnerbaits. Buzzbaits and spinnerbaits have more similar requirements than do buzzbaits and topwater plugs with treble hooks.

I found a good fit with 17# Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line for most of my pitching. I really like this line for general jig fishing, Texas rigging, and pitching. In heavy grass, I will use my frogging setup with 50-65# braid with no leader.

I always pay attention to anything sticking out of a fishes gullet. Sometimes, you get lucky and get some hints as to what color and type of forage the fish are feeding on. I see panfish tails all the tail in particular with largemouth, but smallies like to spit up crawfish pieces.

I have to admit, I start to get a little bored around the 110-120th trip of the summer. This happened last year when I basically had the boat out almost every day the entire summer. I've learned to pace myself a bit in the midsummer months so I'm still hungry come late fall. If I could fish 12 months a year on open water for a variety of species, it would be totally different, but the fishing season is only about 5-6 months long up here(Memorial Day Opener until Nov. 1 when the water is ice cold), and I'm not into ice fishing.

To me, it appears that using smaller diameter line creates a more effortless, natural looking, side-to-side sway. I use MH baitcasting tackle sometimes when I fish them over heavy weeds, and the action of the baits seems slightly deadened due to the larger diameter line, IMO.

I use the Curado and Revo STX exclusively at the moment, and this statement is so true. The STX are very easy to backlash until you get them dialed in. They work better on technique specific setups where there's not a whole lot of lure type and size variance.

That's not an accurate comparison. A white line is going to be less visible than the others when photographed against a white background. How often do fish see line against a white background? Put a green background on there and the braid will be almost invisible, while the Nanofil will stand out.

Spinning tackle and light line will provide the best action from a fluke. I use a 7' M/F spinning rod.

I use Mend-It on a lot of soft plastics to extend the life a little and get another fish or two out of a bait. Sometimes, I toss them in a bag and use them later as swim jig, spinnerbait, and chatterbait trailers. I realized recently that a torn up Berkley Havoc Grass Pig makes a dynamite chatterbait trailer.

The larger Xcalibur Zell Pop is the best I've tried so far.

I was expecting a better performance by Rampage. I've been a fan since the early PRIDE days. That was a very safe, very dominant fight by Jones, similar to a GSP title defense. Check it out. Very cool and down to Earth interview by Rampage: http://www.mmatko.com/rampage-jackson-post-fight-video-interview-after-jon-jones-ufc-135-bout/

Like BMG said, go to a retailer and find the best fit, and then go home and buy them off eBay from a reputable seller. You can get Costa 580s on there in the $150 range. I'm just finishing up my first season using them, and they have lived up to all the claims so far. I'm not experiencing the itchy, sore eyes after long days on the water like I did previously with my Native sunglasses. I use the Man 'O Wars with the side plate removed, and silver-mirrored 580 lenses.