webertime

Big Beautiful Lake Champlain... https://www.google.com/amp/s/relay.nationalgeographic.com/proxy/distribution/public/amp/2016/02/160203-feminized-fish-endocrine-disruption-hormones-wildlife-refuges The short is, hormones injected into cows and then pooped out is washed into Lake Champlain and is creating intersex Bass. Definitely makes you wonder about our food...

So it's a "Doyowa".

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Daiwa_CA_80_Casting_Reel/descpage-CA8.html That's a new one...

Zoom ultravibe Speedcraw.

On Big water/wind lakes I often see dead batteries. As long as it's reasonable in cost it would be just as welcome on a boat as say a Hydrowave or 4th graph. Also, hasn't this been in testing for a few years?

Any Dobyns 705cb you can get for the $$$. Colt is sweet and a refurb Fury would be too.

That's at a minimum 2k too high

A constant reminder of how boring VT in the Winter is for a bass fisherman...

Bass Mafia don't warp. Gamakatsu are nice so far. The more expensive Planos as mentioned are good to.

Prespawn (like within a couple days of it starting) roaming smallies. Use clear floats and a 3-4" senko on a long cast.

Feed bag is on during that time. Bring clothing for literally any weather though. They'll mostly be between dirt and 20ft. North end of the lake will be most consistent as far as Smallies. Mid lake might have giants but are harder to find. South end smallies must have taken a wrong turn. Chatterbaits, traps, 4.8 keitech, zoom speedcraws Carolina rigged, jigs, bone super spooks, spinnerbaits and a drops shot... ie everything we throw anyway lol.

Meant 844, sorry

Dragging on rocks. Fluorocarbon, 16-20lb. Then go with a lighter mono leader and make it long for finicky fish.

Falcon Lizard Dragger models Dobyns 735 models Loomis 894 893 874 873 models Custom build on an NFC 807 Lamiglas 735 models Pick the rod in you budget. I run the 807 and it's awesome.

Phenix makes 7ft-ish ML and M powered rods that are definitely lighter powered than they are labeled.

Any bait dragged on the bottom gets an offset. The way a smallmouth will sometimes try and headbutt something against the bottom causes ewg hooks to turn on its side (think of a sailboat balancing on its keel, the keel being the ewg) any downward force and it'll tip over.

OG Zillion with 100m spool and bearings in all the good places. It's the Toyota Hilux of reels.

I'd go Fuego, no chance the leader knot would hang up, which can happen on T-wing reels. Your braid to leader idea is good. Buy 2 Fuegos so you don't need to swap... even if you don't like, you can recoup nearly all the $$$.

A 1 EWG works. Do that when carolina rigging them. That bait is awesome on a jighead & dropshot too.

Carolina Rig and Drop Shot if they are relating to bottom. Suspended I'd go spybait or big spook.

You sure about the size of the pond? That's like 425 sq ft. I know that's possible to support one. My brother had a tiny pond with a 6 in it that he used to feed, but that fish was put in there and was a pet. A naturally produced 6lber in that space would be at the extreme end of "it's possible."

Shallow: LC Flash Minnows Med: LC Pointer 100 SP Deep: LC Staysee

Ploppers and Carolina Rigs should be added to the list of applications.

Regular Daiwa is a Fast Dobyns Fast Daiwa is a Fast St Croix

I've used a Carolina Rig as a co in the last 2 Costas in Champlain. Both during the spawn. Finished 12 and 16th respectively. You can use that rig to fish any way you want. Bed Fish, deep drag, weed lines with a swimbait, shallow clear water, hard bottom soft bottom doesn't make a difference. Figure out what set up works best for your situation.