kickerfish1

I have 2 rooms in the basement where I keep everything. The boat is loaded with a "season working selection" when needed as needed but then gets emptied out after each use. I couldn't even begin to count what I have and don't have. I have sold some and donated some of it locally to college bass clubs, friends, and others locally that I felt could use a few things. It is sad in way just how much "fishing stuff" I have and still typically add more annually. If there is one thing I tend to hoard it is this.

I have really enjoyed readying books by Dr. Don Colbert. They are all uplifting books with reel life examples and medical research to help improve the quality of your life. To be honest I just can't ready any fictional books as I just tend to lose interest too quickly.

The bulk of what I use year round consists of jigs, jerkbaits, weightless and unweighted texas rigged plastics, and drop shots. Of these baits jigs still account for the most use and the biggest fish. At times I will literally rig 8-10 rods with jigs. Some are duplicates to account for snags or bite offs and others are different colors, weights, and trailer options to see what the fish are keying in on. 15 boxes organized by head design and color. Usually trimmed down to 8 for the boat ride. Within each style listed I may have 1-3 boxes with different colors. Big fan of bluegill, green pumpkin blue variations, black and blue, green pumpkin black flake, and some browns. -bigger hair jigs and hippy jigs -finesse hair jigs -northern style bullet swim jigs -flip and swim style swim jigs -football jigs -alien or brush jigs -living rubber/silicone combo jigs -grass jigs

15 of the 3700 series boxes.

Reputable place no doubt. Order away!

The hydra and fat ika are good alternatives to other traditional weightless plastics. They cast as far or further and excel at fishing rocks, brush, docks or other vertical structure. Not my favorite for weeds as they tend to collect more junk than say a fluke.

I would suggest manually closing the bail by hand and not over filling the spool in addition to what you tried. Since doing these things I have had zero issues over the years.

I have the Shakeyhead spinning rod as well. The rod was a new addition spring of this year. Have you fished yours yet? I am on the fence about mine as it fishes lighter in power than I thought it would. Seems great for under 5/16 oz but feels pushed as it gets closer to 3/8. The series as a whole is outstanding minus the full retail price, higher amount of cork filler, and somewhat limited warranty coverage. Sounds like you should be set with a handful of these rods depending upon what you wanted to accomplish with them...

From the Orochi XX line of rods? If yes, I have had that vary rod for 2 years and love it. It is the only rod I would ever purchase a second of. Best multi purpose rod I have used and the sensitivity of the blank is great when combined with Tatsu.

Merry Christmas Mike and thanks for being a great sponsor and contributor on here!

Merry Christmas Mike and thanks for the great products and expanded product offerings!

Not a problem. Could possibly snag yourself a few more wants and needs (maybe something on sale from the 25 days of savings for Christmas) and get the order up to $50 to get free shipping. The Tackle Trap also sells the product as well.

TW has it under the categories: Accessories and then Rod Care Maintenance for $4.99

4-6 lb line.

I fish a 7'2 ML Cumara spinning rod and 6'9 ML elite tech spinning rod. No light or ultralight rods make it with me currently for bass fishing.

The difference in price isn't worth it. Stick with the 2500 CI4+. Unless you feel the need for it I just don't feel that the Shimano reels above the Stradics are worth the difference unless you personally feel like you want them, need, them, or think they would pair better visually with the rod you put them on.

Well you can drop shot with a 10 inch worm or lizard but they are from being ideal when finesse and smaller profile and action baits are needed. Anything plastic can be fished on a drop shot given the wide range of hook sizes available. I just didnt see much in the way of tackle and baits on RW's list that indicated he fished this way.

I take it you dont drop shot? That would be my first addition.

Buy a TW or similar reel cover for it. Leave it in the reel cover when you arent fishing it. This what I do with all my nice reels.

I know you have sent him reels before so I would direct and email or message to Ebassfisher over there and ask him. He has probably done these exact upgrades and chances are good he has done them multiple times. He has modded and specifically altered many reels to fit various parts especially high end and JDM reels. If there is a performance advantage on the finesse side of it or long distance casting of normal to heavier baits he could probably give you some input on that as well. I absolutely love my TDZ 100M but have zero experience with R+ spool.

This. I have used anything from 6# to 12# depending on the weight of the jerkbait and what other factors I may take into consideration.

Megabass X-pod by far

I am sort of drop shot junkie so I will try them on the rod as well just to see how like it. My main concern would be hook up ratio while using a drop shot rig. The action, taper, and tip are far from what I would prefer. I do like the rod though I havent fished it yet to due to the lack of open water here. The rod seems to have a very nice and responsive blank and solid components. At $180ish shipped it appears to be a good buy. Drug a few jigs on the carpet with the rod and it seems to be good for what I intend to use it for. Once the spring rolls around I will put some time on the water with it using multiple techniques to see where its limitations may lie. At that point I will try to post a more in depth review. Thanks for the well wishes Tom! Cant wait to give the rod a shot...

Funny you should mention the ALX Maestro rod Tom. It is the first ALX rod I have purchased and just received the rod earlier this week taking advantage of their sale. I just cant see this as a drop shot rod at all unless you are talking magnum weights and possibly some sort of cover to contend with. The rod will be my go to tube, shakeyhead, and hair jig rod. It is quite powerful and will be a good rod to set hooks through plastic. Have you fished a drop shot on this rod? Personally I would go down at least a half or a power down in the ALX spinning rod series.

Better yet for every "single" instance where a medical issue arrises there is a pill you can take that should "cure" the ailments. Worst part is that in fixing one issue, you could potentially become exposed to many other new issues in the form of negative side effects associated with the pill(s) you took.