HoosierHawgs

Nice fish! Sorry to hear you lost one on the buzzbait, but you'll get the hang of it eventually. Topwaters are extremely fun and exciting!

This thread has so many responses in scared the bait monkey may very well take over the world.

There is a thread below where a lot of guys say that they like PP. I bought some spiderwire because it was cheap at the time. Time will tell

Hello! Also a Hoosier! You will find many of us around the forum!

Not necessarily a buy.. But my buddy couldn't get the hang of using a casting reel, so he gave me a Lew's Speed Spool and a Veritas Rod. The Lew's now have me hooked, and I didn't like the foam grips on the rod, so I sold it for $50. Turned out pretty well I'd say. Also, my used Lew's have been good buys too.

All of the Bass Pro Shops XPS lures at fairly good quality. On par w/much more expensive baits. Big Bite Baits soft Plastics are also a good value that perform very well.

Mono... Yep, mono.

The bait monkey comes and night and logs into your online retail accounts. About a week later you unsuspectingly receive a nice box of tackle along w/the BILL

It's about 2.35 in Indy if you use your Ricker's card to get the 7 cent discount. That's not too bad... But when I was born it was .89 a gallon!

Medium weight jig on a 6'6" Medium Heavy casting outfit. Jigs at a mid range weight (3/8 oz or so) are really versatile. Put a rage craw trailer on the back, and clip the legs if the fish call for less action. That's what I would take if you could only have 1

Lotta guys like fluoro for jerkbaits, but I like mono because of handling and stretch w/trebles. I see why in clear water some might want the non visibility factor of fluoro, but mono is not high vis by any means, and there is not need in my situation to get extra depth so I use mono. Generally I use Stren Original or Seagur Senshi is quality line also. As for #Test I use 12, but I've seen guys on FLW use as light as 8 for visibility reasons.

At that price range they are all pretty good. A Lew's Tourney Pro is a good option, so is a Chronarch (The Silver One) or a Curado, I'm not a fan of Abu's, but I like the look of the Revo STX as well. A Daiwa Tatula is a little cheaper but a very solid reel for the $150 price tag as well. It's all about the features you are looking for. (Plamability, power and torque, or another feature) Would this reel be for all around use?

True... Evinrude does the motors that come stock on the Rangers and they are both sponsors of the Walmart FLW Tour. It'll be interesting to see how things pls out.

The Nitro boats seem nice enough to me.. They are affordable also. You saw Triton just came out w/a new 22 and 20 ft model. They are still higher end boats. Also, you can get your boats worked on at local shops. One by me does full boat repair work.

My two front teeth! Just kidding, I'd like to get a Lew's Tournament MB Casting Reel, Some gift cards to TW or BPS, and maybe a few nice baits in my stocking. Also, I'm buying myself a kayak! Merry Christmas! Jakob

Usable gear. It is not too complicated and can be easy to use. Also, it will still be decent. If he doesn't like it, then who cares, he can give the stuff to charity. If he likes it, then he can get the tip shelf stuff

Cost of living in Indy is low (for the most part) but my dad and I still look for good value when it comes to fishing stuff. There is a point where price and quality meet, and certain lures do that. Other sits are cheap but bad quality or good quality but too much $$ to justify.

Buzzbaits- Black is a great color at night, White/Chart during the day. Work it just fast enough to keep it gurgling on the surface, so it says in the strike zone longer Walker-White/Shad colors are good most of the time. I like the Savage Gear ones because they are easy to work, they have better actions than original spooks. Popper- I like the original Rebel Pop-R in white, chrome/blue, and other shad colors. I like a 3 pop pause cadence. Change it up throughout the retrieve. These are good for targeting specific areas, and can left in place for a long time, while spooks aee good for covering water I fish all of these on a 6'6" medium casting w/a 6.3:1 reel (lo pro, because palmability is key) w/12# mono

Shallow cranking was huge this year. So was topwater at night.

Big Bite Baits Kriet Tail Worms are my favorite. They have a good tail w/lots of action and water displacement. It's what I would call a 'stick worm on steroids'. It's also a great bait.

Any type of 'contact bait' (jigs, soft plastics of any type) give off no negative cues. They look natural, act erratic, and feel/taste natural. On the other hand, a moving lure w/a built in action is not as erratic, and generally do not taste/feel like the real thing.

My setup is a 6'6" Medium Berkley Lightning Rod w/a 4.9:1 Reel, and I think 10-12# is fine. I wouldn't go bigger.

Prespawn- Bomber Switchback Shad in either a Shad or Craw Pattern (switch the bearings to silent) Spawn-LOUD Square Bill Postspawn) Depends on Water Depth and Style of Fishing Fall-Back to Squarebills, but silent this time

Like I said, not a bad reel, but there are better reels at that price IMO. Also, I've had other BPS reels, and they are better quality. I have used the ProLite and the Johnny Morris aeries and they have smoother drags and better casting. The PQ is a workhorse though, and its a tank of a reel.

My Picks would be: 1)Lew's Speed Spool (People have been fighting about these in the tread below, but the vase model SS is a great value) 2) Pflueger Supreme (Pflueger makes some darn Good reels, especially for the money) 3) Daiwa Tatula (feature packed, looks sexy, the t wing is cool too) I would stay away from: 1)Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier (some love it, some hate it, I just think there are better reels for 100 bucks) 2)Lower end Shimanos (Shimano makes good high end reels, but they're low cost reels just don't have the features of others in the price rafe) Just my 2 cents the best advice I can give is go out and feel reels. Put them in your hand, wind em to feel for smoothness, put them on your rods and feel it for comfort. Then pick the one you like the best.