Darren.

Nice spot to fish, nice bass!

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard, Cyril!

Thank you, but rest assured, there was a LOT of tying and retying and cutting and retying to get the right knot size I was after.

Welcome aboard! Nice beast, and yeah, I'd probably go in after what I think would be my next PB....

Quite a bit, actually. I started with 50# Ande mono leader and felt it was too stiff so I bought some in 40#. I think I could even drop to 30#, but I keep forgetting to pick up a roll when I stop at BPS. I've tried it with 20# wire and it works great, as well.

Welcome aboard, Stevan! Sounds like a nice ride. Good luck with it!

Gratzie, señore.

Welcome aboard, Davor!

I do both with Senkos, but mostly wacky. I also make my own weedless hooks, but @RoLo, I'm using mono leader! Cheaper, heh.

Welcome aboard! Lots of info on this topic in the forums, but I'll say that I like 20lb braid for mainline on my Chronarch 50e. I throw a lot of finesse/light line stuff on it when pairing it with a ML rod. With lighter braid you just have to be aware of potential dig ins after a snag, pulling hard, or fighting a big fish. A few pulls of the line off the reel after such an event will often get the dig ins out and prep you for next cast.

Very interesting read!

Another beauty!

This is the critical part of your post (IMO). I had the opposite experience and "connected" better with Shimano. We're all different, and it's all good!! I'd go with a 20 for a 5' UL rod. On Shimano I'd pick a 500. Like @mllrtm79, I'm a 1000 size guy. Not sure if Lew's is the same as Shimano, but I've got 5 Stradic 1000s and use them for bass fishing... Got 1 500 Sahara and it's been used for bass, too, capable of brining in a good one if you happen to score one during UL fishing. The 20 will be fine, too.

Welcome aboard!

The past 3 or 4 days have been break out days down here in VA, too! For the trees, that is. Pollen is breaking out in waves. Wind driven pollen is a sight to behold. Yellow caked cars are a pain to clean. Sigh...it is tough to be south of the Mason Dixon line....

Awesome! Bet she loved it! You sure look proud!

Welcome aboard, Jared! Lots of Tennessee folks here on the forums!

Welcome back!!

Yup, this or cut up a pool noodle and DIY it.

Well, yeah, bugs can be a thing. Tornadoes, hurricanes? Yeah. But you can fish all year long!! I lived in the Rochester, NY area for a good part of my life. Done with snow, done with ice, done with 9 months of winter. Different strokes for different folks, eh?

@ww2farmer uses Dingers and loves them. I've got a new color (to me) that I'm trying out this year. The thing for me is that Dingers aren't as heavy (not as much salt) as Stik-O's, but if you fish them on a wacky jig they behave just fine Weightless not so much.

Yes, 4 1/4" and they work great. Time to use some of those BPS cards! Watermelon Magic has always been a stay for me, as well as Hot Frog Pepper (or some variant of those words). Edit: I do love me some watermelon red flake, just so you know. Haven't had as much success with Senko style as I have with other soft plastic baits.

FWIW, I have the LT Walleye 6'3" MLXF (same as bass, just different lengths) and it IS all they say... sensitive and all that...

May I humbly suggest sending Mother Nature the...uh, the "finger" and move down south to say, Virginia, NC, SC, GA, FL, LA, TX, and so forth... ?