Darren.

Then by all means keep it simple for him.

First, welcome aboard! As far as your son, that spinning setup would be fine to get him going. I've got 4 boys from 12-19 and they all do better with spinning gear, though the three youngest have both. They're all into casting because it is "cool". They practice in the back yard all the time. Only thing I might consider is getting him a ML power as Croix rods are a tad stiffer than their rating. I have a Legend Tournament 6'3" MLXF that I use for soft plastics (Wacky, etc.) and it is plenty strong. As well, I suggest using the 10# PP for spinning mainline. Much easier to manage, and then tie on a leader.

Welcome aboard, Mikey!

Welcome aboard! I fish from a kayak and I look for things like downed trees, stump fields, bushes in the water, grassy areas and so on. Look for points on the land as they'll continue from dry land into water. Bass often congregate on points. What kind of things are you fishing? Hard lures? Soft plastics?

Excellent, A-Jay. Great stuff.

Welcome aboard!

I've had it in both elbows, a couple years back. Couldn't lift my coffee mug without my arm shaking like a leaf. If you do a search, there are a few threads on the topic, with a lot of advice. For me, I took 1 Ibuprofen and 1 Aleve to help with the pain. But what actually worked for me was doing pushups - not full, but with my knees on the ground and then doing 10-20. I could feel the warmth of the blood rush to my arms and it actually helped heal the issue. If it is too severe they can actually take your blood, do stuff to it, and then inject it into the sore areas to bring fast healing. A bass pro had that done. Don't have the links as I Googled it years ago.

Welcome aboard, Josh!

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard!

Wow, opinions are like...you know what. Everyone has one That said, I use Palomar, Clinch, Uni for securing hooks to line. What is *best* is subjective at best.

"Best" is relative. Weightless TX, weightless wacky, or weighted of either works great. Water clarity? Maybe, maybe not. Tonight I caught bass on a weightless, wacky junebug "senko" and on drop shot, a green pumpkin/watemelon shad- shaped worm. Water varied depending on location from green/clear to green/cloudy. For Wacky, simply bend your worm in half, and place your hook in the bend, perpendicularly. What ever you do, start fishing slowly. Let the worm fall, give it a three twitch up, then let it fall, and work it back to you. Vary from very very slow to a little faster.

Reminds me of when the Lindner's left Shimano for Quantum (again). For several seasons, Shimano made the greatest reels and rods ever. Suddenly, they didn't, but Quantum did. Money talks. KVD scores big with Quantum, probably stick with what pays the bills

For spinning, I like to use 6.x:1 ratio. It's just what I'm used to. I like the speedier retrieve for soft plastics, and I've even fished a lot of lures on them. Just have to reel slower for some things. But when I need the bait in fast, a fast retrieve does the trick. Same for me with casting reels. I use 7.x:1. Shimano quality will be in their spinning side as well. For $120 you should be able to find a Saros, or maybe even a Stradic FJ or FK on eBay. Maybe. Hard to go wrong there.

Spinning reels under $120 are numerous. Look at brands like Shimano, Diawa, Pflueger, and others. Your best bet is to take the rod in to a local store and try on different reels to get a feel for the balance and *feel* in your hands that only your hands can tell. You may hate what I recommend (if you buy it), so I'd rather push you to try reliable and highly rated brands by folks on this forum as mentioned above. Good luck. As far as line, my personal experience has led me to braid for mainline and then I tie on a leader of varying pound test. Management is virtually painless with braid as opposed to fluoro and so on.

I do left for spinning, right for casting. @trick worms is right, try 'em out in-store and see which is more comfortable to you.

I agree the Ned Rig is "IT" this year, so far, and probably everywhere. Personally, my "IT" lure is the same every year. The Senko

Congrats. Or you could name him Pond, or Creek, no, maybe Crick... How about Quarry? or Stream, hey, what about Brook! Or maybe "Blue" You'll have to have two more after him to join the 4-Boys club.

Not sure you'll find as small a reel as the 50e for $120. I have the Chronarch 50e and it is quite awesome.

Welcome aboard! Good suggestions above. Years ago I switched all my reels to braid plus a leader. Braid is, in my experience, so much better for line management. It doesn't jump off the spool like mono... You can go straight braid if you do not want to use a leader. Heaviest braid I use is 15# test.

How's that for the finals. I go to the toilet and the Warriors lose. Dadgummit. Congrats to Lebron and Kyrie. They won it for the Cavs.

Excellent catch!

Wow. That's pretty stiff, but then, I left the world of spooling mono/copoly/fluoro straight on my spinning reels in favor of braid and a leader. I'd drop to 6 or 8, but if you must go 10, use some KVD Line & Lure conditioner to help relieve the springy behavior.

Intense.