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So true. I burn 3/4oz spinners with rod-tip held high.

Back in the bag works best. Otherwise, they're salty as can be, and they'll rust hooks and hook-hangers.

Best flipping stick I've ever used is the Dobyns Champion Extreme 795. It has a pool-cue backbone, but the tip is flexible. Overall, the rod feels lighter than any flipping stick I've used. They can be found occasionally on flea markets.

Al and Jim Lindner and the InFisherman crew.

In the first Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year Championship a couple years ago, Ish Monroe caught and released a smallie during practice that many of the competitors felt would had toied or beat the record if he had submitted it. Ish tossed it back hoping that he may catch it a day or two later during the tournament. Later, Ish said he wasn't aware that it could be a record-caliber fish or he would have submitted it. https://www.bassmaster.com/blog/just-how-big-was-ish-s-smalliie

Costa Del Mar with Man 'O War frames and glass 580 green or silver mirror lenses. I own them both. Can't tell the difference between the two, but they're a little nicer than my dad's $260 pair of Maui Jims and head and shoulders better than anything in the $100 range that I've owned. They go for about $150 on eBay.

1/8 oz tube-jig with a 3.5" watermelon tube. Skip it under docks, hop it off the bottom, swim it around grass, drag it along gravel and rock. It can be a good representation of baitfish or crawfish depending on how it's retrieved.

I use the DX 742 for exactly the techniques you describe. It's perfect for tossing Neds, grubs, and tubes in the 1/20 - 3/16oz ranges. I most often have a 1/15oz Ned rig tied on. It'll bomb it out there a long ways, but still have enough backbone for a 6-lb smallie. I also use it as my primary light dropshot rod with 1/8-3/16 oz weights. If using 1/4-3/8oz, I'll use a 3-power. It's my understanding that the DX 702 is basically the same rod as the 742, minus 4" of backbone. The backbone is part of the reason I like the 742 so much. It's one of my favorites in the Dobyns line. The guys at Dobyns are probably still your best resource for asking questions about rod specifics and how one compares to another.

Tatsu is the best I've tried, but I use Invisix and Abrasx more often. I can respool 2 or 3 times with these lines for the cost of a single spool of Tatsu. I'd rather have fresh Invisx or Abrasx than some Tatsu that's been thrown for months.

Spinning: Shimano Stradic, especially the current FK model. Wow! Baitcasting: Citica and Curado with upgraded (and frequently cleaned and lightly oiled) spool bearings. These have never let me down. One of the main reasons I've remained loyal to Shimano reels is that I've gotten really comfortable breaking them down and deep-cleaning them. I used to have a mix of Shimano, Abu, and Daiwa. All nice reels.

In general, it's not a good idea to judge a fishing line (or any other product) based on one issue. A lot of things could have caused that breakage. Could have been a bad knot, nick in the line, tiny nick in rod guide, bad spool (it happens), abrasion from bass teeth or an underwater object, etc. Best to let a consistent pattern develop before making judgement. Trilene XL is one of the softest, least abrasion-resistant lines on the market, after all.

I have been using U40 of all my rods for both open water and icefishing for the last few years. Love the stuff. I'm a big fan of the feel of new cork, and U40 keeps it feeling than way for years. I'm curious if anyone ever cleans their cork and reapplies another coat of the U40 after a few years?

Welcome to the Fathead Club! It's hard finding glasses that fit. I wear prescriptions that are 59-19-150. For sunglasses, both my dad and I wear Costa 580s with Man O' War frames. They're a perfect fit for both of us. He wears a 7 5/8" hat and I wear a 7 3/4 - 8' hat. I bought them both over the last five years from that online auction site for about $150. You can count on authentic glasses from the big-time retailers. One of the best things about them is how they cup of head nicely and therefore don't need glasses lanyards.

The 702SF doesn't ahem the backbone to set hooks through plastic, as in a T-rig. It's better suited for open hooks: tubes, grubs, dropshot, etc. Go with the 703. I own the 704 Sierra. It would be a little stout for the lures you mentioned.

No pics. No regrets though. It was too windy and wavy. I would have been blown off the spot had I taken the foot off the trolling motor and lost boat control. Those fish are in such tight schools, when you catch one, you gotta get the lure back in the very same place ASAP.

I should have joined you on the river. I went back up to Mille Lacs today. Again, couldn't keep the d**n walleyes off. Caught only two bass in five hours, a 6.25 and 3.25 pound fish, both on 3/4oz football jigs fished agonizingly slow while trying to battle waves. The day before, I caught 14 largemouth bass on a frog on a different local lake, averaging 2.5 pounds, and didn't have to drive an hour and battle 3-foot rollers. Mille Lacs is a very frustrating lake, but where else am I going catch 6.25 pound smallies?

After an excellent May and June, I've really been struggling in July as the waters rapidly warm up. For example, in the last two weeks, one of my favorite small lakes went from 68-82 degrees and shut everything down. Even Mille Lacs is a tough bite now with all of the pressure it's getting. Rarely are people finding those roaming schools of bass, from what I'm hearing at the dock. Now it's just a fish here and a fish there, lucky if it's a fish an hour, with lots of walleyes hitting the bass lures like a nuisance fish.

Of those two, I'd pick the dropshot, but I'd much rather fish a Turd over either of them when the bite gets really tough.

The 744 balances perfectly, as do all of the Dobyns I've tried apart from maybe two that were a touch tip-heavy, the Champ 766C and Sienna 704sf, both very beefy rods.

I wonder if you'll have to oil this one every three trips to keep it quiet on the cast.

I use one for ice fishing. It's an excellent buy at $16. They're on par with the Sienna, which are $30 reels.

Apply the sunscreen using latex gloves

Biking two miles to the Mississippi River, chaining my bike to a tree, and wet-wading for smallmouth bass among a bunch of islands. It was great. Had the whole place to myself. I started in my early teens and did it almost every day.

I occasionally do it the way Francho described, but more and more, I'm seeing that 95% of the bites come on the initial fall. I think the explanation for this is when you lift-drop it all the way back to the boat, you don't have really have the benefit of the splash when it enters the water, which seems to attract fish. So to answer the question, the best way to fish it would be to cast it out, let it fall, reel it in, and repeat.

Another tip for stowing a dropshot while not in use is to attach a small crankbait clip to the eyelet of the sinker. When you're finished using the bait, open up the clip and attach it to the hook-keeper on the rod. This has been my routine this year and last, and I see no disadvantage to it. The sinker doesn't get lodged in the rocks any more than it would without the clip.