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Pitch-skipping. I can do it sidearm with a baitcaster but often seem to 'dig it in' when trying to skip while pitching.

Smoking deals is right! They're really nice rods, even for the retail price. I got a 701 to use as a crappie, bluegill, and light walleye rod. I have numerous 2-power Dobyns so I don't think I'll ever even try it for bass.

I haven't handled a 700 Dobyns, but I did play around with a 701. I can imagine the 700 would basically be a crappie rod. The 701 was barely a "bass rod". In my opinion, each step up the line is worth the money. You get what you pay for. The extra $40 or so extra that a Sierra cost is well worth it over he Fury. It is much more crisp.

Same story. Rewired with solid 10-gauge wire and it never happened again. Using solid wire makes rewiring a boat much easier because it's nearly as stiff as a coat hanger. You can just aim it and start pushing. It'll get there. Use heavy-duty inline fuses, of course.

I was a smallmouth river rat for years as a kid, wading around the shallow islands of the Mississippi. I exclusively used 15lb braid on a 7' 6" ML/F spinning setup and tossed small spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, lipless cranks, tube jigs, flukes, and darterheads. It was some of the best fishing I've ever had. I doubt it mattered that I thought a "leader" was made of steel and used for northern pike. That said, the water had a little color to it. This year, my three biggest largemouth came while pitching with straight 50lb braid. The lakes I fish are very weedy. It's unlikely that fish are seeing the line in heavy weeds. If using light line around light cover, I'll use braid with a long fluorocarbon leader on spinning tackle. It handles the best on a spinning reel, and I do believe bass can be spooked by braid in open water, especially when it starts getting worn out and lighter in color.

Bass Patrol Deflection Jigs from TW. 2-pack for $4. It has a recessed line-tie, and it's a good value. VMC hooks. I tend to leave quite a few of these in the Mississippi River rocks, so I appreciate the price. Biffle Hardheads are a good choice if you're not digging them into sharp rocks. It doesn't have a recessed line-tie. 2-pack for $5. They have Owner hooks and chip-resistant paint, not that the paint matters much.

Best therapy around

You and me both

I'm hoping they still continue use to make the Pitboss in the Havoc lineup. I much prefer the heavier, more durable plastic for my flipping baits. I like that I can get more than a single fish from a bait. Powerbait plastics are so much softer than Havoc.

Breath-steam and an undershirt. My 10-year-old Costas still look great and have all of their mirrored coating. Every so often I clean them with Dawn degreaser dish soap, lukewarm water, and a soft cloth. That's how I clean my prescription glasses too. There isn't a better or cheaper way.

It might be useful when slime covers the rocks and sand.

Looking for some clarification, will the Pitboss still be made in the $3/pack Havoc form after it's added to the Powerbait line-up? Or will it be exclusively $4-5/pack Powerbait and eliminated from the Havoc line-up? If it's the latter, I may have to stock up. I'll take a $3 Havoc with JJ's Magic over any Powerbait product.

Senko knock-offs like the 5" Yum Dinger. I save the GYCB Senkos for fishing weightless.

I'm pretty certain I saw evidence of this prior to the 2016 and, less so, the 2017 AOY Championships on Mille Lacs. The Elites had never been to the lake or northern MN. There were high-end, well-equipped bass boats from all sorts of southern states out there scouting. For hours, they'd motor back and forth in a grid over the rock reefs using their side imaging to mark boulder piles and other abnormalities. Some never even appeared to fish. In one case, a boat with Alabama tags spent at least 6 hours scouting the gigantic Browns Point flat, my favorite area of the lake. I spent the whole day there myself. When I was getting close to packing up, he came close enough that I could see there were no rods on the deck after being out there for at least 6 hours. This was going on all summer, including just weeks prior to the tourneys when the lakes were off-limits to the pros. I'm not sure of the exact rules, but it was the consensus among some of the locals that they were scouts for the Elites.

Anyone looking for a terrific medium-to-deep graphite cranking rod may want to take w look at this Dobyns Champion XP 805 CB RM. I just got one, and I'm very impressed. It can handle a 20-foot diver as well as a 8-foot diver. It's also a solid lipless crankbait rod that'll launch them literally 80 yards. If you're interested in cutting Amazon out of the equation, just give the retailer, American Legacy, a call and order over the phone. By the way, it's a non-HP pictured but all they sell are HP. $215 free shipping. $260 retail. https://www.amazon.com/Dobyns-Rods-805CB-RM-Crankbait/dp/B00ADT4SLK

Good share! I got the Deep Diver and the Red Eye Shad bundle. The Rage Craw bundle was sold out unfortunately. After tax, shipping, and the non-member 10% fee, it came out to $2.60 a bait.

This is an awesome schedule. Largies, smallies, and spots. Some of my favorite stops: Cal Delta and St. Lawrence. Some interesting new ones too for the Elites: Lanier, Hartwell, and the Columbia, if I'm not mistaken.

I have to admit, I'm super thrilled with the Curado K. These are the best Shimano bait casters I've used, even better than the Chronarch E-Series, which were great. You may have seen my posts in the Flea Market over the last couple months. I've sold about 8 reels recently and replaced them all with Curado K, plus added a few more to new combos. Even the workhorse E-Series Curados and Chronarchs got swapped. One of the plusses for the Curado K is that they come with excellent spool bearings. Now I have a bag full of unshielded ceramic bearings that I bought for $25-30 a pair. I feel the Curado K bearings are just as good. I've done side-to-side comparisons. I would recommend flushing them real good in lighter fluid or acetone and then re-oiling them lightly. Then they act like $30/pair aftermarket bearings. I've always felt the need to replace spool bearings, but not with these reels.

I’ll be heading up to Mille Lacs today. It’s the best place I know to spend thr Fourth and Labor Day. Most lakes will be a zoo, but they’re all spread out on the Pond. It’ll feel like a normal Saturday. I won’t have another angler within 3 blocks more than a few times today.

That's very true, on both parts. I can't wait to get up there tomorrow and Weds, 4th of July. It's a great fishery, it you really have to put the lure right on their nose. I used to run and gun with jerkbaits and 1 oz spinnerbaits. Now I soak dropshot and Ned's just to get bit. However, those bass where eating craws 5 years ago too, and they weren't all tore up. These were traditional scars from fishing: roof of the mouth, fresh broken jaws, healed broken mouths, etc. I didn't used to see that.

I'm not surprised Mille Lacs dropped from #1. The pressure from having all the hype and the two back-to-back AOY Champioships has made it an amazingly difficult fishery in just a couple years' time. Those big 10-15 year old bass got real smart, real fast. I was just out there Weds and half the fish I caught had scarred up mouths. I mean literally 50%. I've heard this Top 100 list called the "Lake Killer List". I don't doubt that anymore.

I ended up going with the Mustang HIT Inflatable PFD with Hydrostatic Inflator. It detects water pressure changes to trigger inflation, rather than use a dissolvable pill. I like to keep the jacket in the boat when no in use. People seemed to really approve of the collar, which was my number one beef with the Mustang MIT 100. https://www.hodgesmarine.com/Mustang-Hit-Inflatable-Automatic-Pfd-Gray-Blac-p/musmd3183-02-gr-bk.htm?gclid=CjwKCAjw06LZBRBNEiwA2vgMVbzXSI3doPBptxNLLES8pg2R01a41G2Z4C5WHrpGtqxkt0K1sZq3eRoC6xcQAvD_BwE&ppcstrkid=1565162769&click=19&ppcsclkid=y5FbTZvINyFp&ppcsu=xhg7f5djqeniramsegdoh

I think 30 might be more appropriate. Sufix seems underrated, as far as strength goes. Give the 30# a shot. All you need is 75 yards on top of some backing. That's the cost of a Subway $5 foot long and a bag of chips. Experimentation with tackle is the nature of fishing.

I'm looking for some insight on getting a new PFD. I currently own a like-new Mustang MIT 100 ($100) that I'm going to give to my dad for Father's Day. It rubs a bit on the back of my neck, and I'm not too fond of that. He always wears collared fishing shirts and he says it doesn't bother him at all. It's not bulky and it's not hot, so it's got that going for it. I wouldn't be too terrible opposed to getting another one for those reasons, plus the price, if it comes down to it. From what I'm seeing online, I'm considering the Onyx A-33 PFD In-Sight "Tournament" ($150) version worn on MLF. It looks comfortable. Also, the Oxyx A-24 In-Sight PFD ($120). Finally, the Mustang Elite 28K ($150).

Disregard please