Hooligan

In all reality, yes, the Avid AVS68MXF is a better choice for weightless plastics and the like. It's a pleasant rod to fish, by all accounts. My singular complaint with my Avid is that with my bear-paw hands, I sit on the threads of the uplock at a goofy angle that sometimes bothers me. Like I said, it's my singular complaint.

Will it fish weightless plastics? Yes. Is it perfect? Not really. But it'll fish a shakey better than anything you've ever had your mitts on.

I don't disagree. The Clarus, though, in a Medium is a little underwhelming, thus my first response. It's quite flexible to the butt of the rod, it's not very fast at all.

Kent and Raul are spot on. My Calais100 is my favorite reel, overall. I use it for light jigs and plastics, as well as jerkbaits in the spring. The 200DC is a superb reel for all moving baits, it mightn't be the quietest of reels, but it's far and away the smoothest I've ever fished, including my Conquests. The Core is a superb reel in its own rite, both the 50 and 100 sizes are my all around reels.

Start with the basics, wooly buggers, hares ear, small streamers. Learn all you can in terms of thread and material control before you jump full in. A few simple patterns can teach you everything in terms of technique, on which you can build endlessly. Get bucktail and materials to tie Clouser Minnows, wooly buggers, leeches, some sort of surface poppers, the materials for the STP frog are pretty easy, too. There are a ton of flies that work well, but start with the basics.

Houdini Carolina Rig and weightless tied.

It's a good rod for shallow and medium cranks, it's not a deep crank rod at all, it doesn't have anything close to enough power in the butt to fish big, deep cranks. A good "all around rod" is a 7' MH Fast, plastics, jigs, blades, even squarebills if you're hard pressed, can be fished on it. I personally don't have any 5:1 reels on crank rods, the lowest I have is 6.4:1. Some people really like them, but I'd rather have the 6.4 personally.

Big tubes are great. Rage Hawg is very good as is Lobster. I punch the Rodent a lot, too.

That's the Clarus Crankbait. It wouldn't be my first choice for plastics of any sort, let alone weightless worms and flukes.

Yeah, I'm well familiar with the RPS. The pad isn't that far forward, most boats are like that anymore, it's rare that they sit all the way back at the transom. I'm pretty sure spec is something like 4.25" below pad with the 150.

Timber Doodle. Deadly as a ripping spoon, great over the tops of grass and mats, too.

BP is below pad. The reference points are pad on the hull of the boat, with the second point being the actual shaft of the propeller.

The Tempest, across the board, is a prop that runs well with a higher outboard height. The first thing you should try is to set the jackplate at 3" to 3.5" BP and run it. You should see improvement from that alone. If you're still seeing low #s, I'd pull two plugs and run it. I know the Z7 with the 150 is somewhat goofy in terms of finding the balance, but from many, many accounts you're already running the right prop to see those numbers. I've seen a Z7 with a 150 do the 5750 and 70.4 mph on GPS. It might take you a little tinkering but you should see it. In terms of the plate, I ran a manual on the first two that I had, only on the last did I change out to hyd. It isn't too big a deal to make the changes, really. Edit: I'll add that if, in your runs, you start to feel it walking, back down your jackplate in 1/4" increments.

Plenty of guys fly fish, and tie. You're extremely limited in your hook selection, that's the biggest drawback. There's not enough there, really, to tie on. In tying, the hook is everything. You could probably tie some bucktail/streamers on the aberbdeen, but they're not good for much else. The Kahle's are worthless when it comes to tying, patterns just don't ride right.

I fished it briefly, so briefly that I'll refrain from a decisive answer; however, it fished decent the time I had it. I felt that, even in such a short time, I'd like it versus 832.

There ya go, man. You're set to roll.

$100 says your jack plate was set too high. That would cause the 295 to walk like Nancy Sinatra.

I'm not entirely sure who, I'll have to find out.

It is 100% the companies responsibility to provide a product that will stand up to any environment it faces, particularly in fishing. If they're using too soft a plastic and it deforms in from storage in the boat or in an area that isn't climate controlled... there's an issue that needs to be corrected.

In all likelihood, the PT175 is going to be the most bang for your buck. That's a pretty good price, and not a bad ride at all for what you're after. It will lend itself well to all of the IA lakes well, including the MS river. You may want to upgrade the trolling motor over time, but not initially, you'll be fine for the time being. The Lund isn't worth the hassle, if you've got to do that much work to it and it is still that price, it's not a real good buy IMO. The Crestliner isn't a bad boat, but they just don't make very good bass boat, really. They're a great multi-species boat and adequate on bigger water, but it wouldn't be my first choice for IA fishing. The Tracker is going to have the least draft, and the most fishable layout for what you're likely to see. The advantage, too, is that at 10° deadrise, it will s till handle moderately rough water that you're going to hit on lakes in the area. Go to a deep V and you lose a lot of the fish-ability that you otherwise gain in a bass-style boat. Don't get me wrong, I'm not insinuating that you can't bass fish in a deep V, but it isn't as conducive on most of the IA lakes, particularly because so many are no wake. It's do-able in a V, but there's no real reason to go that route, you don't gain anything useful for IA lakes, and you're hindered in draft, and technique in many situations. It's easier to fish cranks, for instance, out of a raised deck with lower gunwales. Any technique that you're pointing down at the water is usually easier out of a bass-style boat. There are exceptions, mind you, but not always. Lastly, have the motors checked out by a mech, if at all possible, before the deal is inked. If yuo're buying from a dealer, you have more recourse. Make certain the electronics work, and are sufficient for your needs. If not, drag the price down. If there's any reason at all to hesitate, listen to your gut, there's always another boat out there to look at. Check the transom and hull for any signs of damage or repair, look over them with a fine toothed comb. Good luck, hopefully it pans out for you.

For the most part, the color bleeds and the green fades. It isn't super fast, but it does fade quickly. In terms of braid, I'd sincerely recommend you look at Seaguar Kanzen. I'm fishing it currently and have had fewer issues with it than any other braid; for that matter everything I've fished to this point pales in comparison.

Uhh, yeah, yeah it can, and will. It's just that it doesn't create the same backlash issues as it would on a casting reel. When it digs down on a spinning reel, comes out with no problems. Casting reels, generally, it leads to a massive backlash when it digs and releases mid-cast.

They're supposed to be available now. I know a couple of guys that have ordered them from various stores. Haven't fished them yet, but look forward to it.

In short: worth EVERY penny.

Enertia, Laser II, Fury. If you fish rough water the High Five is a stellar prop; you're going to lose speed but it will never lose bite. There's another from Michigan Match that's a great prop on some boats called the Ballistic; which is a killer prop on the 150 Merc. THe Turning Point is supposed to be a great prop, too, but I've no experience with it.