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Strike King Caffiene Shad on a 4/0 VMC EWG hook. The tail wiggles like a Senko when you let it fall. Drives the fish nuts.

Shimano and Dobyns. No need to look any further, as far as I’m concerned. St Croix and G. Loomis are no slouches either, but I sold all of mine to switch to Dobyns. I’m not going back.

Pretty awesome update, but I’m gonna stick with the standard reels and let others be the guinea pigs. I’ll probably wait until Gen 2 until I jump on board. Big fan of the K-series. I bought about 8 from American Legacy, plus a couple Stradics, including one that’s in the mail as we speak. There isn’t a better fishing reel retailer out there.

I always use a fluorocarbon leader with spinning gear and light line. On castin gear, sometimes I'll fish cranks and topwaters with a braid/leader combo. Otherwise, I just have braid on casting setups used for frogging and pitching, so no leader.

I've owned the M/F and MH/F Avid casting rods and sold them to switch to Dobyns. The 734 is what you're looking for. It's the most versatile Dobyns rod, along with the Champ Extreme 744. With 4th of July coming up, there should be some short 15% sales online.

That's one of the best aspects of the line. I've tried anywhere between 4 and 20. I wish they made 1-2# for ice fishing. 10 is my cranking line when I'm not using braid. 12 for spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. 15 for swimjigs and swimbaits.

I was finding spawning smallmouth and pre-spawn largemouth up near the beds a couple days before Memorial Day weekend. Then I worked 4 straight days over the holiday so I didn't fish. When I went out after, it was all over. I never saw any largemouth on the beds, but after Memorial Day, there were vacated beds everywhere. I think the largemouth spawn lasted about half a week over the blazing hot holiday weekend. The smallmouth spawn likely happened as planned on local lakes. For reference, a shallow local favorite lake iced out on May 1 and had 79 degree water on May 31.

Whopper Plopper 130 never gets a sniff.

I take it you've never tried it. Maybe you should before calling people out on an Internet forum. I'll go work on my fundamentals, coach.

Seibert's 1/8oz tungsten wacky jigs are a winner. Put an o-ring around a cheaper Senko-style lure and hook the jig through the o-ring. I reserve the Yamamoto Senkos for weightless, that's when they shine.

I'd say give it a shot. One idea would be to spend an extra $20-30 to upgrade the two spool bearings, and then learn on here how to take care of them. It'll increase casting distance and get your lures a little further from the bank.

Any reel that can get rained on can also get submerged in water for a short time without damage. Sand and grit is the problem, not water.

I've used 6# Sufix 832 on a couple rods for a season before, but I honestly didn't see much of a benefit over using 10# 832, which is my go-to line on spinning reels. The 6# is my go-to ice fishing line for walleyes now. On the flip side, the 6# had noticeably less abrasion resistance than the 10#, which is far more tough. I think the 10# ties better leader knots with flourocarbon lines. The 6# appeared to be so thin that it was cutting into the fluorocarbon on Double Uni knots. They were snapping awfully easy, and it was the fluoro side busting.

I really like Sufix 832. 10# for spinning. It's way tougher than expected. 30-40# for casting tackle. Old school Power Pro is a reliable choice if you can get past the roughness and noise. Daiwa Samurai is ultra-slick and fun to use, but it's a little lacking in abrasion resistance. Those are the three I'd recommend. I haven't tried any new ones in a few years.

Of those options, it's the best choice. Extra rod length is a huge plus with c-rigs. Something along the lines of a 7'3" to 7'6" MH pitching/flipping stick is ideal in my experience. I've never liked using 7-footers. I've caught plenty of fish using my frog rod, too.

That's a terrific reel. It'll match up with most bass rods. Pretty much anything but a 7' 6" MH. In that case, it'd feel a little small.

Some of the episodes where the struggle are my favorite. It adds to the reality of the show. Plus, it's fun to see what tricks they have up their sleeve when their first 5 techniques don't pay off. Love the show.

Posters who comment on things as if they were experts, but only have limited experience or second-hand knowledge. For example, shore anglers chiming in on a Humminbird vs Lowrance discussion.

Trying for too long of a distance will make it difficult to reduce splash, although I'm not so sure thats a bad thing, like others have said.

I personally don't feel the extra cost is worth the benefit for an amateur angler. The chemically sharpened VMC/Daiichi hooks on my Lucky Crafts do not hook bass significantly better than the stock hooks on my Strike Kings. Maybe a touch better, but thats about it. Try it on a couple crankbaits and report back on this thread what you think.

Nice. I'll add a couple of these to the next TW order.

I've never been checked for a license (or a livewell full of fish) in the ten years I've owned my boat. Only times I've ever been checked was once while icefishing and about five times while wade-fishing in the Mississippi River as a teenager. In the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Game Wardens are spread pretty thin. That's a lot of accesses to staff.

Those little hairline cracks don’t see to progress to anything worse. I’ve never broken a bill on them and I beat them into the rocks pretty hard. My only issue is the soft hooks. It kinda stinks to have to bend them back or replace them nearly every trip.

Once you start cranking with 10# Hybrid, it's hard to find an alternative.

That's not the right type of crankbait for baitcasting tackle. It's too light and it's wind-resistant with the big bill, that's why it casts poorly compared to the Super Fluke. The balsa Shad Rap and the balsa Rapala Floating Minnow are killer crankbaits, but I toss them on spinning tackle only. The Lucky Craft 1.5 is well suited to the baitcasting rig you listed.