mnbassman23

This happens to me a lot as well and it comes down to slowing down. Good example of this was a day my soon to be Father-in-Law and I had out on the boat last spring. We were ripping it up on watermelon colored senkos. We had a 5lber spotted on the edge of a small rock pile and could not catch that fish. Threw the kitchen sink at her and nada. I finally retied my senko on, casted to the exact spot I knew were she was laying and set my rod down. Unzipped the pants and "unloaded" the tank. When I picked up my rod thats all i felt was weight. Next thing I know I have a 5lber in the boat.

You will be golden with a Palomar

Give them a call, they are great to talk with. During the new years sale it took 3.5 weeks for mine to be delivered. I called them (very politely) and asked when they thought my order would be shipped out and it turns out they were waiting on a shipment of Lews reels to come in before they sent it off to me. They guy was super friendly and I made sure to thank him for the great sale and all they hard work they put in during these sales times. My box even had a few upgrades in it when i opened it I did manage to resist buying any big purchase items this time around, but I did grab 70$ worth of tungsten weights, topwaters, line, and loaded up on the Flukes.

Sometimes when i'm in a pinch I've used my crankbait rod (7MHM) for 1/4-3/8oz spinnerbaits and swim jigs and never had any issues. As long as your not using a heavy wire hook that rod should work for these 2 lures. Maybe not ideal, but IMO it will work.

Most of my plastics consist of Havoc, Zoom, and Netbait.

I've caught many largies on pink flukes. Some really nice ones too. Pink is actually one of my favorite colors when tossin flukes

Exactly and what techniques do you enjoy doing? I'd put the money towards restocking the essentials. If you fish plastics a lot get weights, hooks and plastics.. If you crankbait fish a lot get cranks. If you Jig fish a lot stock up on jigs and trailers, etc etc.. Whatever you are low on make sure you restock those supplies. Line is also another good thing to have plenty of.

Top notch jigs for sure! I have a Salsa colored 3/8oz flip and swim that caught well over 200 fish last year and it still has all the skirting and paint on the head. I felt pretty lucky to not loose this jig to a toothy critter, but instead my buddy decided to "inherited" it. Gangley, those results must be "typical"? I like to rock the "New Gill" color and the results seem to be similar!

You're right it is suppose to be above the keeper. I'm pretty sure he has it above the keeper, it's kinda hard to see in the video though.

I usually have a rod with 16lb fluoro and another with 50lb braid.

I do own both and honestly it is a toss up in which one is more sensitive, they are both great! Like you said they both have lifetime warranties and each company is great to deal with in my experience. I choose the recon 715 for my jig/t-rig rod due to liking a bit slower action ( plenty of backbone though), but again that is personal preference. If you'd prefer a faster action pick up the Avid. Good luck man!

Like Teal said all of the options you've listed are great. It really comes down to personal preference. Do you have the opportunity to go and hold these rods in person and put a reel on them to see how they feel? If so I think that would be a good idea. For a rod I like the Avid and Recon 2. To me the Avid is more durable and time tested. The Avid has a faster tip which many people like for jig fishing. If you like a slightly slower tip than the Recon is a better choice out of the 2 i listed. Also do you have a preference between a full grip or split grip handle?

hands down a Jig. Preferably in a sunfish/bluegill pattern.

There are a lot of different ways to tie a snell knot. If you ask 5 different people you may get 5 different answers. If you google or youtube how to tie a snell knot you'll see what I mean, you can find many different ways to tie a snell. I found this one to be the easiest and it works so I stick with it.

This is the modified snell that I personally use.. Skip to 1:20 to by pass him pushing his products if you wish.

Same here, i've gotten several as well and never an issue.

If you are going to do more t-rigging and jig fishing i'd get the 6'9" fast action rod. If you do more crankbait fishing than get the 7' mf action.

Jerkbait-Jigs-Senko

As long as i'm fishing a plastic with a weight and on the bottom 75% of the time i'm using the snell knot with a straight shank hook. If i'm not in heavy cover, say i'm on a deep weed line fishing a worm, I will use a lighter wire straight shank hook. I still do use offset worm hooks from time to time on my non flipping baits, due to the fact that you won't go through as many baits in a day (straight shanks really eat up your baits in a hurry). If i'm out fishing for fun and really don't care if I miss a couple fish, or don't want to go through a ton of baits, I will use a offset worm hook. Not saying I don't ever miss fish with a straight shank, but for me it is considerably less. Come tournament day you can bet my plastics will be riding a straight shank hook with a snell knot. I started using the snell knot with copolymer line last year with good results as well. In my experience most times you will need to retie due to line nicks or fraying before having to worry about the knot slipping. Again, I also leave the tag end a little longer than normal when using a snell knot.

It is for sure the real deal. I have used a modified snell knot on my straight shank hooks the past 3-4 years and my hook up percentages have increased greatly. I'd say by 40-50%.. I will stick a fish 9 times out of 10 in the roof of the mouth using a modified snell (the other 10% i may get them in the corner or bottom jaw) . My point is I rarely miss or lose a fish anymore. I have yet to have the knot slip with braid and i'm only doing 3 or 4 twists down the top shank of the hook. I will fish the rig all day and sometimes a couple days and not retie if my line isn't fraying. Just make sure when you tie the knot and it's cinched down to pull AS HARD AS YOU CAN on the main line and the inside bend of the hook, in opposite directions. Leave a little extra tag end and you are set to go.

I use a small swivel as well when drop shotting, but never used one for shakeyheads. Like Teal said I think it would be very difficult when trying to make those precision casts, just like carolina rigging, but even worse since the rod is shorter with shakeyheads (at least for me). If you do try it report back and let us know what you think.

I use a Phenix Recon 796 and really like it

Great reel for the money. I have 2 of them that are Gen1 models and they are on their 7th year of abuse and still work great. I recently picked up a Gen3 model and from the little i've used it I have been very satisfied with it.

Thanks fellas! I shot him 10 minutes into legal shooting time, 200 yards away, and honestly had no idea he was that big. I about ticked myself when I walked up on him lol

I do the same, I read tons of reviews on whatever I am buying. Post questions in forums and see what people say. There are a lot of resources out there that will help you out much more than a pro's opinion. With that said I still like to see what pro's are using, how they present the lure, and what conditions they are using the lure in. If it catches my interest I begin to research more on the lure and from there decide if I want it or if I want something else similar to it.