Darren.

Welcome aboard, Nick!

Welcome aboard, Kevin. 1) By taking hands off reel, you mean the handle, right? We've probably all lost a fish because of a lapse in reeling, the fish was coming toward us and we didn't reel fast enough. 2) I've always got my hand on the rod/reel when netting a fish. Spinning or casting. Obviously not the reel handle. 3) Not really sure it's a problem in need of a solution, at least none that I can think of.

Bingo! Neighbor has a lovely one in bloom across the street. I've got several dogwoods, they ain't bloomin' yet!

I would say I use 2 normally, 4 max....

Welcome aboard! Brands: Shimano, Daiwa, Pflueger. Those are who I'd recommend in the $75 and under range.

That'll do the trick, too. I personally prefer to hook thru the worm perpendicularly, but I get the allure of o-rings. I'd have to rig 2 to get the cross pattern for perpendicular rigging. Just too much work for me

Here's the deal, you can use a size #4 for wacky rigging if you want. It's small, but it'll hook a large bass just fine. I know because I've used them. I like the Wide Gap finesse in 2, 1, 1/0 and 2/0. I use them all. The thicker the worm, you may have issues getting the #4 to stick well given the thickness of the worm. People use 5/0 EWG for bass. That's fine, but it's way too big for me. I don't like the extra metal in those hooks. Bottom line is this. People catch huge fish on tiny hooks in fly fishing all the time...just be aware of how much plastic the hook has to penetrate to get a successful hook-set.

Welcome aboard!

Take yer pick between mono and fluoro...or try a hybrid like Yo-Zuri Hybrid! *kind of* best of both worlds....

Welcome aboard! Lots of Florida members here. Stay tuned, they'll show up soon

Welcome aboard!

I got my boys started around 3 or 4, I think. Floats (bobber) worms got results 98% of the time be it bluegill, perch, white bass, largies, catfish, crappie. That's a safe bet to start, IMHO.

Then if I were you, I'd take my CI4 in to a Bass Pro or Cabelas, etc., and put it on a few rods. See if some of the 7 footers and 7'6" ers balance tip light or not.

A hearty congrats!!

That's a pretty light reel for a rod that long. You might want to look at stuff like the Bass Pro Carbonlite, maybe the Abu series that are like the Carbonlites. My 6'6" CLs balance great with Stradic 1000 series, including the CI4+.... And what do you mean by balance? Tip light, tip heavy? I like tip light, but when my reel is on (no lure), I like the balance point just above the reel seat. I usually hold all my fingers above the reel seat, or have my pinky just below it.

Welcome aboard!

Funny, I have never had a bad spool, of about 7 I have laying around. Guess it had some bad batches for a lot of people, but mine were always solid. But I always has to make some extra wraps for leader material because it's so slick.

Congrats! That's a hefty little kitty

Welcome aboard, David!

I wouldn't either, to me the vid is a starting point for a DIY solution to the Vibe seat. There's also a simple raising of the seat via closed cell foam cutouts. I think the starting point in the video would be using heat, bends, in the PVC to create a molded solution. Or skip the heat and just build a wider platform, straps, etc., to raise the butt off the floor a tad. What's the width (interior seat floor area) of your yak? Was looking at Vibe site and noticed they have a seat that is a look-a-like of Native's First Class seat, the Vibe Hero seat. At the bottom of the page it says "goes well with" and the Vibe deluxe seat is there, making me think it might fit yours? https://vibekayaks.com/collections/parts/products/vibe-hero-seat

I'm a DIYer, big-time. Just a quick search I found this. Not specifically your Vibe, but interesting.

Welcome aboard! You want to search for Gary Senft. He's a bass pro out of Arizona and has some great fishing videos out there. Here's his YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBKh4oPQOWzv-dN8HWJA9pA

LOL. You don't wanna stir up this hornet's nest, do ya? I use a leader with yellow Power Pro 100% of the time. I've got green-tinted line including Yo-Zuri Hybrid, P-Line Floroclear, and clear YZ Hybrid and Gamma Edge fluoro. Braid is $$ so for me a leader saves me money by not having to cut in to the mainline to retie hooks often.

Good on ya, mate!