Ozark_Basser

You could chop off the butt with a miter saw and glue on a new butt cap. Take a 6'10 rod with a 10" handle, which is very common, and chop 4" off the butt. Now you have a 6'6" rod with a 6" handle. You didn't specify the length you wanted so that's just an example. The action and power will not be affected at all by chopping off the butt section as long as the reel seat stays in the same place. I would recommend Mud hole's decorative aluminum butt caps. They look good and probably have a color to match your blank. If not, just choose black. http://www.mudhole.com/Rod-Building/Decorative-Butt-Caps/Rubber-Butt-Cap-with-Designer-Aluminum-Trim I wrap the metal insert with tape until it fits snug inside the blank, then just epoxy it in there.

Spro bronzeye Teckle USA Whacker

Next frog I'm going to try out is the IMA dabeat. Looks promising. It's also pretty small, 1/4 oz.

It should slide down easy I would think. I had a 1/4" EVA butt grip that slid down to a butt measuring over a 1/2" fairly easily.

Smallie creeks up north aren't the same as smallies creeks down here. They've got it made for smallies, but we have it better for largemouth in lakes etc. Congrats on the fish. I've yet to break the 18" mark this summer yet. Only went once though. Caught a few at 17" though. One was actually pretty fat.

Just upload it to photobucket then copy and paste the img URL to your post.

All of the above suggestions are good. Remember that rod geek's carbon 4 is the same as St croix's sciv but cheaper. Also you get to choose from multiple colors.

An xheavy in most brands would be fine. Just find one rated up to 2 oz.

Yup

I also like how the gen 3 palms. I also found the smoothness to be about the same for both generations of the stx.

How does it compare to other offerings in the same price range? Like the Chronarch ci4 or revo premiere? Convince me to buy it.

Haven't got to fish it yet. First impression was that it seemed heavier than your average seat. I like the dual locking nut, and the fact that it is pretty sweet looking.

I like a 7-8 foot heavy power rod for jigs. 7 foot from the bank or around cover. 8 foot for deep water jigging.

Sorry for the lack of picture quality. My digital camera will not work. Keeps saying lens error. Either way, here is my build on the 7'2" MF Rainshadow Eternity2. Everything is Batson except for the guides which are Fuji. It is spiral wrapped, and after some static testing, I only had to use seven guides plus the tip. It balances at the line guide with the fuego on it, so it feels very good in hand. Feels more like a MH than a M also. Can't wait to fish it.

Anybody ever tested the ROF of a jig? I know there are tons of factors like jig weight, thickness of skirt, trailer type/weight, etc. I Just wanted to know if anyone has tried it. What weight and trailer?

Just seen them on there and wanted a comparison. Will definitely shop around for the best price when I decide to buy something.

Which one would you get? They are both about the same price on fleabay.

Well, I didn't see that. I usually just glance at the top five on the bassmaster homepage. I guess that finish on Kentucky Lake really moved him up the standings. I figured he was somewhere in the middle.

Lol. It's fishing. He is 47 years old. Old in fishing is more like 60 I would think.

I understand your situation. The slack line sensitivity is the only reason I use straight fluoro in deep water for bottom baits. Shallow water gets braid with a leader. Until they make a braid that sinks as fast as fluoro, I'll always use straight fluoro for deep water.

Is he losing his edge? This is doubtful. He still tears it up in MLF where no one gets to prepare for tournaments. This leads me to believe that he doesn't have the time to prepare for elite series events like a lot of other anglers. You know that since he is KVD he is doing more promotional events, seminars, etc. than anyone else. Is he being overloaded to the point where it's effecting his performance? This may be true. I have read that Kevin is obsessive about studying up on past tournaments, future lakes, videos of old tournaments, etc. Was this one of the main factors that contributed to his edge as an elite angler? He doesn't seem as confident on the water as he did in the past.

Pelagic means roaming or open water. Shad are pelagic fish. If there is a lot of cover in the lake, I'd just look for the thickest cover possible during the day and pitch/cast a jig and work it real slow. Where you live is probably past the post spawn by now and fish are moving into their summer patterns. If you time the post spawn right you could tear them up in those pads with a frog. It's probably been beaten to death though by now. Maybe grasslines or pad field edges next to deeper water would work.

I would not use braid or braid with a leader for crankbaits, spooks, swimjigs, spinnerbaits, or poppers. Braids too stiff for crankbaits or anything with treble hooks imo. With moving baits like spinnerbaits and swimjigs, braid doesn't let the fish grab it as well, again, because of the stiffness. I like fluoro for everything mentioned above except for poppers and spooks I like mono. Also I will switch to straight fluoro for bottom contact baits in deep water because it's more sensitive than braid on a semi slack line. Braid doesn't transmit vibrations too well on a slack line due to its low density. It's not so bad in shallow water because not as much line is in the water and it's easier to watch the line jump in shallow water.

Is there any fishfinder that would just show a topo of the lake and where I'm at on the map? I also would like to be able to make waypoints. I don't want structure scan, sonar, etc. Just a topo, and would prefer it to have a larger screen.

In the places I fish, mucky bottoms are no good. Crawfish are a main foodsource so so I figured that might be the reason. I have caught bass out of cover like fallen trees or brush in areas with mucky bottoms though.