Arv

Thanks! I'll have to check these out.

Great write up Tom! Lots of good information. Do ya'll have a preference between ribbon tails, straigh tail or any other kind of worm? I only have one bag of 10'' Berkley Power Worms but it sounds like something I should try fishing more often.

I really dont think you can go wrong with any that you picked. A lot of what you're going to hear is mostly going to be personal preference, which can definitely be helpful. I have experience with Lews and Shimano reels and really like both. I would lean towards the Chronarch just because of Shimano's rep for lasting a long time.

Ah, my mistake. Didnt see the laser in the name. J Francho is right though. If its like the other Lews reels it will be a bar that goes across the gap for the spool, so the actual screw will be on the side with your handles and what not. It took me a minute to figure it out on my first Tournament as well.

Yup, should just be that dial on the side plate. Higher number = stronger/more brakes.

If you catch crawdads in a river or a lake you'll actually find a good deal that have one or even no claws. I'm assuming its from predators or fighting with other crawdads. I like catching the ones with no claws because they can't pinch me. My guess is bass probably think the same thing. Keep fishing it with one arm unless you stop getting bit.

I'll jump on the Veritas recommendation. A MH is going to be a lot more like a H with the Abu rods. I like the Mojo too but if I was to pick between the two for what you're asking I would go with the Veritas.

I've put up to four 3600's in my bag + 10-15 soft plastic bags (just what they come in from the store). Its much more comfortable with 3 boxes, but I usually wind up putting it down, fishing a stretch out and back, pick it up and move on down the line. Its not anything specific for fishing either, just a camo field and stream bag from dick's.

I use a backpack.

As far as the silver dots go, to me, that's splitting hairs. I barely notice them. But to each their own. When I'm fishing I'm watching my line and the water, not so much my rod . I don't put a lot of stock into the way something looks as long as it performs, and the rod has performed up to my standards so far. If you really don't like the dots, I'm sure you could take a black sharpie to them .

I definitely know what you're talking about. That was probably biggest difference I noticed between the two fishing them side by side for the first time (forgot to mention that in my initial post, my b ).

If you're willing to go up to $200 get the Chronarch. I have 2 Citcas and 1 Curado which I like very much. I can only imagine what the Chronarch is like. Plus Shimano has a rep for making long lasting reels. Not sure if the new Lews reels will be the most durable, but I think they would definitely be worth a look too.

I had to stop watching. Felt the bait monkey climbing up my back to whisper "buy these," into my ear.

The reel see/handle is definitely better in my opinion. The trigger on the Veritas is a little uncomfortable on my hands after a while, not the case with the Villain.

I have one 7'1 MH/F and I like it. I do have to agree with 21farms, they are blinged out with the holograms and whatnot, but its not something you pick up on unless you actually look at the rod up close. Subtle bling if you will. I also think the handles are skinny but I actually like that about the rod. I feel like it gives me better control. Its sensitive and has a nice tip on it and handles a lot of lures I use very well in my opinion. Now, is it worth the 80 dollars more than the Veritas, I don't think so. The only reason I got mine is because it was already on sale and I got another discount on top of that which brought it down to around 110. I don't have many high end rods, most around the 100 dollar range. The only other rod that would be considered high end in my arsenal would be my Powell Endurance, and that's a cranking rod so I don't really feel like I can compare the two. Are there better rods in that $180 price range, probably. But I don't think you would want to throw it in the trash after fishing it either.

I think it depends on the fish, so I let them dictate what I throw. For my muddy water ponds that I fish I catch most of my worm fish on a watermelon/black fleck senko. But there's been other days they go for red shad, white, etc. In general, for me, if I am fishing muddy waters I tend to throw darker color baits. A rule I started going by (not sure where I heard it first) is: A - first and foremost, if you're not getting bit, change baits. And B - if you're getting attention from the fish but no solid bites, change color till you find one that does get solid bites. This is all under the assumption that you're fishing somewhere there are fish. As far as smell/attractant, I can't say. That's one thing I haven't started to dabble in yet so someone else might be able to give you an answer on that.

x4 haha

x2

brown, green or black

Thanks Tom. The majority of the jigs I fish on my main lake are black/blue and occasionally a watermelon/orange-red since it is muddy like you described. I've caught some nice'ns around a drain at the end of the lake where it seems the muddiest. I'm assuming it creates somewhat of a current and pulls a lot of the floating particles towards itself. It also seems to make a nice refuge for baitfish since there's a grated metal covering on each side.

While it seems rather obvious this definitely makes the most sense. I've never really payed attention to this detail for whatever reason, but looking back, whenever I've had better days, I've usually had a rattle. Not that I haven't caught some decent fish w/o a rattle. I think there is a deal of merit to what Bluebasser said about stained/muddy water, since the majority of my fishing is in fairly muddy water. My guess is the noise makes the jig more of a noticeable target in low visibility conditions. Thanks again for everyone's feedback!

Thanks for the feedback yall

This would also be my guess. I would pull your line out a ways and check for any nicks at all. If you find one, cut your line there. Its not the same situation, but every time I have to break off my line on a snag I check a much larger segment of the line for any kind of deformations, and have I suprisingly some before.

Isn't that annoying! I think they do that on purpose to tease us

What knot(s) are you tying? Some knots (ie. Palomar knot) wind up cinching down on the line and leave nicks, compromising the strength. There are some ways you can modify the Palomar knot that I've seen but don't know off the top of my head, so I just tie a San Diego Jam.