Senko lover

The Berkley lighting rod is said to be an excellent rod for the price. Pretty sure you can get an UL version. You may also want to check out Lews' Laser Lite combo and their Wally Marshal rods.

Strike King has you covered for any technique or bait, which is a pretty impressive accomplishment. They get my vote.

NC, SC, and MN. Maybe a couple more, but I think that's it.

What is pork?? jk

Eagle Claw and Gamu

lol You guys must have an entire dresser devoted to TW shirts, hoodies, and caps.

I personally like Yum, but I have very little brand loyalty, just pick up stuff on sale. If I did just choose one company, it would be Berkley simply because they have great, tournament proven baits that run under 4 bucks. Who needs Yamamato when you can get baits designed by Mike Iaconelli for 2.99?

Craws are something I want to use more this next year. I see/watch people using them the most in summer, for flipping, pitching, punching, and generally working cover.

I don't have a ton of hooks, just some 3/0 strait shanks, 2/0 EWGs, and some baitholder hooks I use for wacky rigging.

teeth...... Just kidding, I use a small pair of scissors. I never can seem to find my knife when I need it, so I carry scissors in my backpack.

Here's what I've learned the hard way from getting a baitcaster over the holidays. Heavier baits are better to learn on. I can now cast finesse jigs and smaller baits no prob, but I'd recommend (like the other guys on here) starting with 1/2 or heavier. That peels line off the spool better. Keep your brakes reasonably high. Until you master "thumbing" the spool, keep your braking system at about halfway and your spool tension to the point where once you hit the button your bait can drop to the ground without a backlash. Focus on smooth casts & accuracy, not distance. Don't try to zing your baits 30 yards, just focus on a smooth cast. If you're having trouble with side arm, try overhead, just be careful to release at the right time so that your bait doesn't slam the ground in front of you. It's all in the wrist, not the arm. Don't make a muscle every time you cast, just flick your wrist. Casting two-handed will help, I find it much easier to cast two-handed than one-handed. Once you've learned how to make a smooth cast and thumb the spool, ease back on your brakes and you'll be able to cast much farther. Hope that helps! Baitcasters are great tools . Kyle

Totally agree. I fish soft plastics with split shot all the time. Pretty much for two reasons: I used to do a lot of nightcrawler fishing, and I used split shot all the time, so when I switched to soft plastics, I just continued using them. In the pond I fish the most, the bottom is covered in logs/sticks. I get hung up a lot less when I use a split shot 6-8 inches above the hook than with a weight right by the hook. Plus, I think it upsets the fish to have this small silver weight banging into the log, then they snarf the plastic when it passes by. Try it, it's a lot of fun. Use spinning tackle and a small EWG hook. I haven't had a lot of luck using it like a Carolina rig, but that might just be me. It's a very productive technique fished like a t-rig.

Fish, get skunked. fish again, get skunked again, and finally realize, okay, they're not biting. So I go fish again just in case I was wrong. Then, once I'm tired of not catching much at all, I aquire and organize tackle On the side, ya'll know that guy I told you about who gave me those three boxes of finesse worms and started me off on fishing? Well, he used to fish FLW as a co-angler, and he has a garage full, and I mean full, of baits. If he were to take one single soft plastic bait out of it's bag, but it on a hook, cast it once, and put another on, he couldn't get through his soft plastics in the rest of his lifetime. Anyway, he called me and told me that if I ever want to try out a bait (this year I want to focus on craws, lizards, frogs, flukes, and jigs), tell him at church on Sunday, and he'll grab some of his soft plastics or make me some jigs, and give me the box the next sunday. As a way to help me out, he'll only charge me about 1/3 of what it would be worth used. So I definitely have a source for tackle for the spring!

I love husky-type dogs. Closest thing you can get to a pet wolf .

Try to gain more confidence in jigs. Catch a fish on a fluke, lizard, tube, and chatterbait.

Quite a few options: Abu Garcia Vendetta and Veritas Duckett Ghost Shimano Clarus Bass Pro Extreme and Carbonlite *** *** Black St. Croix Mojo Bass Berkley E-Motion Carrot Stix Wild Orange Falcon Bucoo Diawa X and Lexa Fenwick HMX Kistler Pro Series Lews Laser SL Speed Sticks Quantum Team KVD/ PT Tour Tactical Wright & McGill Skeet Reese Signature Series Rods Okuma EVX-A Powell Diesel Have fun deciding!

Swimbaiting is an extremely popular (albeit expensive) way of pursuing bigger bass. I'd suggest bigger worms and lizards or deep diving crankbaits as well.

I'd give it 5 1/2 or 6. Nice fish!

I'm not a caffeine junky or anything, but yeah, I love coffee. And no, I'm in NC.

I was going to do a post on this, but I decided to write an article instead: http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/why-we-fish.html. Here's to a great year, guys!

I'd go with the Flicker Shad then.

I like Spiderwire, but I don't have a ton of brand experience line-wise.

My personal opinion is that Lews makes awesome stuff if you (like me) are on a budget and want to stay under 150. Over that, I'd go with Shimano.

My solution is to just get a backpack with a couple/three plano boxes, and about 10 bags of soft plastics. Put a little bit of everything in there, don't carry a million colors, and you'll be surprised at the amount you can fit in it.

You didn't mention it but the original shad Rap from Rapala is also a good cold-water choice, I hear.