WIGuide

It doesn't happen a lot, but it does happen. I don't know that I've ever broke one on a fish, but I've had them break at other times.

The blank is the same, but the swap is supposed to help it feel lighter and more balanced in hand. I would be able to say for sure, since I was going to buy one this spring, but I ended up getting a steal on an LTB instead.

You should definitely be able to overcome those obstacles when fishing out of a boat. There's no lifting, no paddling, no issues with holding position, no issues with traveling greater distances. If that's what you're looking for I'd say it's a no brainer.

Congrats on the PB Smallie! A 20 incher would usually be mid to upper 4's. If it was really chunky maybe even 5. Did you snap any pics of the beast? Also, it's awesome what you're sharing with your son. I've had my dad as a tournament partner for the last few years. I grew up fishing with him and it's really cool having those type of memories with him. I'm sure your son feels the same way!

Luckily no major damage was done. Not sure what happened, but as others said it's possible it wasn't quite down on the ball. Also, if there was a bang and then it came off, it definitely sounds like something was binding up.

I did give it a good once over. Despite what a lot of people believe though, they really aren't that tricky. It's pretty easy to see if it's been taken care of or not. Any of the Rangers made after the early 90's (don't remember which year off hand) don't have any wood in them anymore so you don't have to worry about the transom rotting out, soft spots in the floor, or stringers rotting. Granted you still want to check things out, but before I had the boat in the picture I had a 1986 Ranger 320V. I had that for 4 or 5 years and it served me well. There were a few very minor issues that boat had such as the original carpet was getting to the point it needed to be re-done and an original aerator pump had to be replaced. When I got rid of it last year the boat was 28 years old and had zero major issues. If they're taken care of they'll last a VERY long time.

No doubt, those cheap ones are crap. You might as well just take your bait off and throw it in the lake because that's what's going to happen sooner or later. I hear ya, when it comes down to it there's no right or wrong way to do it, just what works for us and we have confidence in. There have been multiple threads here on people asking about snap swivels though and the general consensus seems that the majority of people come out talking like they're straight up Satan spawn. There's also a lot of people that chime in that they'll use a snap, and others who say they'll add a swivel, but it seems the majority even of those people speak of a snap swivel like it's the devil. I guess as fishermen we are just a quirky bunch haha

I have backing on all my reels. Never had a negative impact because of it.

Is this on a side mount control box? If so, is the kill switch a "U" shaped yoke that slides over the ignition switch that holds it pressed in almost like as if you were trying to choke it? I used to have one like that on a Johnson 88spl and other kill switches located on the control box might be the same. When you would choke mine, the kill switch would sometimes slowly work it's way off yet the motor would stay running. If you gave it a yank it'd kill it just like it was supposed to. I'm thinking it still works on a grounding circuit like you thought, but it depends on a spring to complete that circuit. When it's loaded and released quickly it briefly completes the circuit killing the motor, but in it's natural state it doesn't hold the connection. I'm not sure if that's how it works or not, but that's the best I could figure out after owning one for a while.

Am I missing something or is there not really a question here? It sounds like you already have what you want picked out...

The Mojo is built on the same blank as the Avid, but has slightly cheaper components and is made in Mexico. A split grip Avid is an Avid X

A lot of the answer depends on where "here" is. Where are you located, what type of body of water are you fishing.

I usually go with either a 0 or 1

Is a heavy weight better to keep it on the bottom? It can be. For me I cast it most of the time, and I like to keep it in one spot and move the bait and not the weight. Some say that weight depends on water depth, but for me it depends more on wind. For an example, I fished a tournament one year that I had some smallies located on a hump. The wind was blowing 25-30 mph, not ideal conditions for a dropshot, but I stepped up to a 1/2oz weight despite only casting into 3 feet of water. Once the weight is on the bottom, the sink rate is only controlled by the weight of the hook and sink rate of the plastic. If you're hopping it, swimming it, or fishing it vertical the weight plays a more important roll as it controls how fast the bait descends. What's a good distance from the weight? Depends on where the fish are located, but I usually stick to around a foot. Can I fish ANY soft plastics or should I stick with worms? You can fish basically any plastic on it. I've had the most luck with 4" finesse worms, the dream shot, and the Strike King Baby Rodent What size hook is appropriate? Choose a hook that fits the bait you're using. I usually nose hook the baits I use so I use a 1/0 VMC Spinshot circle hook the majority of the time. Have you had better luck weedless rigging the hook or simply hooking it in the head? I usually hook the baits I use using a kind of modified nose hook technique. Instead of coming all the way through the bait like you would normally nose hooking, I stop halfway through the worm and bring the point out the front. I don't expose the point, I leave it just inside the worm. It keeps it more weedless/snagless, so I guess my answer to your question is both. Is there anything against rigging two hooks? If you can get it to work and it falls within state regulations, I don't see why it wouldn't! My best advice is just go play with it and tinker with it until you find something your confident in and works for you. You've got a great starting point from what people have already wrote in, but you can see there's a wide array of responses. Figure out which you like best and have a blast wackin'em!

Awesome fish Clay!!

Most combos I don't feel you get the quality as you will with buying them separately. However, BPS and Cabelas both set up combos with mixing name brand reels with their house brand rods and you can save some money that way. If you do that though you're limited to what reels the choose to do it with. Otherwise, as mentioned you could buy used and get more gear for your money. As far as new reels go a Pro Qualifier can be had for $100 and they're very highly reviewed and they often go on sale.

I've always been baffled as to why so many put their boats away so early. I know there's a lot of people up here who start winterizing things right after Labor Day weekend. There's still a ton of time to fish, not to mention fall is one of the best times to catch some of the biggest fish of the year. This year I've been lucky enough to do just that. Although our fall hasn't been really warm, it's been consistent. What's more, the night time temp hasn't been dropping out enough to cool the water significantly from week to week. The last two weekends the water temps have been hovering in the low 50's and has made for some good fishing. I haven't been doing tremendous numbers wise, but what I've given up in quantity, I've more than made up for in quality. Most fish have been falling for a crankbait, but a jerkbait and jig have also brought in some good fish. Here's the highlights of the last two weekends:

Nice write-up. It makes sense to fish them slow though since it's basically an oversize road runner. Their slogan has always been, "You can't fish them wrong as long as you fish them slow."

I buy baits I have confidence in on a yearly basis. I try to keep enough stocked that I don't run out, but I also branch out and try at least one new thing every year. Every technique that you can add that you can have confidence in is adding a tool to your tool box, so try to experiment a little bit. No need to cut the hooks off, they make great hangers haha. I've used mine as ornaments for the last 4 or 5 years now and they actually look really good on there.

You can get them straight from St. Croix's website for $89 and I believe they come with a rage hat and decal as well. To get to them, you click on shop on their home page (top right), then bargain room (again top right) and then finally on freshwater rods. They have the old Legend Elites, the old Mojo's and the discontinued Rage rods there.

That's awesome! Better watch it though, she's catching up with you!

Awesome scenery! So many times the experience is primary and the catch is an added bonus! Man how I miss leaves on the trees already... haha

I believe it broke because it says Minn Kota on it haha sorry I had to do it. I wonder if the screws that hold the head on maybe got slightly over tightened at the factory and started a small crack. Over time from the torque of steereing and the pounding they can take while running it slowly started to split but went unnoticed until failure? No idea if that's what happened, but it's a theory.

St. Croix's do run a little stiffer and might be closer to a M in some brands. You did have a medium power St. Croix to compare it to, so it will be a lighter power than that. It's been a while since I've had a hand on either of those rods, but by my best guess, it'll be close to in between say a ML and M in the carbonlite line.

I'm just assuming here, but I'd guess because it's a medium light power and he feels it wouldn't have the power to drive a hook home with the weedguard over it. If you fish them on a ML without a problem already, it wouldn't have any trouble, but I know a ML wouldn't be my first pick for that technique.