Angry John

i use 20 because I get it in bulk for my small casters like the alphas. I use a leader of 10 lb fluorocarbon and it works great for me.

The chances of breaking a rod in a yak biased on drag is very low. I dont think you could have a problem unless your anchored and even a slim chance on that. Where you will get into trouble is high sticking wile landing the fish, or if the fish runs under your yak and you dont keep the rod level. The other time would be lifting a fish into the boat but that is not normally a yak problem as we sit mostly. If you get into a decent size pike or musky be prepared to take a ride because even a 3lb bass will tow me around. Yaks are a great way to fish and they provide some inherent advantages, but controlling a large fish is not one of them. I think you would do well with 30 or 40 lb braid. The choice is going to vary as casting large one ounce spoons and get a backlash and the spoon will test your line and knots to the limits. I love 40 because it does not dig in as much but i also cast a lot further with 30. Are you going to run a steel leader or like 80lb flouro leader???

You do realize I linked the info from the daiwa site in my post. It's in the sw secton.

i like the 2000 series reels and if your going to use braid anywase the smaller spool will not matter. The T handle i dont find comfortable when you upsize to the 2500. The weight does not change a bunch 9.3-8.5 but the drag drops a bunch from 13.2-4.4. I use my reels for small stuff so its no big deal but if your putting it on a rod rated over medium you might want the extra drag. http://www.daiwa.com/us/contents/reels/bg_sw_spinning/index.html The lexa has a much smoother transition in drag numbers on the smaller reel. http://www.daiwa.com/us/contents/reels/lexa/index.html

Any synthetic heavy duty grease is good for all around. Mobil one has one at walmart that should fit all your needs cheap.

The alphas is a great small reel. I have never owned a pixy but i am sure they are just as good. If your looking for lite and small the alphas air might be your go to.

I fish the keitech year round. I have been doing very well in the winter with this bait and have had luck on them when nothing else is working. I use the owner twist lock weighted hook and put them right into the cover. It seems as though i can get two actions out of them, a worm type when i toss it in, and a swim-bait when i retrieve them back out. No other small paddle tail has worked as well for me like this and in the very cold water that is going on right now. The scent may have a lot to do with my success because i dont ever add a scent but who knows. I fish the same 4" swing impact behind a jig in the spring and summer to get the larger profile which keeps me from having to buy a lot of different types. I also use the 4.8 fat in the summer to up-size and the 3" to dropshot. Ayu works the best for me, and is all that i buy now.

welcome and prepare yourself for urban fishing. Lots of little ponds around some easy to get to others are quite the adventure.

higher the voltage the more efficient the motor. Less amperage is required to get the same work and less heat is generated and energy wasted.

I like 24v because it runs forever and normally has a lot higher rating. You could go 12v and upgraDE to a larger deep cycle like a 31 group trojan. This should give you enough for a tm and sonar.

So because it interests me at what point do we change the name from leader to topshot. Ten feet seems to meet the magic criteria for me and would indicate the true change in nature on how it is used. A leader indicates that the main line is x and a short section is added for a reason. A topshot by my understanding means that the second line might not be used. Now topshots are a term in saltwater fishing that do not follow this rule but what is the point of calling some thing a leader if your not using the main line. You are fishing the leader at the point the connection knot does not leave the reel and the main line serves no real purpose other than filler. Now for me using braid to keep the spool lite serves a huge purpose but then its just backing.

I have been doing very well on 4"swimbaits and swimjigs with 4" tails. Might also try a lizzard. I never leave home without the dropshot either.

in the cold i prefer a paka craw by netbait. I have not been jig fishing because i am busy getting it done on 4' swim baits.

I lived in ct and dealt with a lot of surrounding states with lead bans. They get complicated buit the size requirement was almost always safe for jigs. The dam bird will not eat the jig so the application of the law is everything.

I like full handles on casting because most of the splits are way to short in the upper handle area. I have one rod that I do like the split and it is a steez flexlight. For some reason the handle and grip area is large enough for me to get a decent hold on the rod. Spinning rods I could have either way as getting a good hand hold is not an issue. My current favorite spinner right now is split grip. The look of a full grip in cork is way nicer IMO but function is always most important. The cork on my dobyns dx rods is very nice looking.

its funny how fishermen can have such vastly different experiences doing the same thing. I see it happen here all the time and if you keep your mind open you will find that there is never a correct or perfect answer just people doing things to make it work for them.

well the zillion is considered the most bulletproof reel that daiwa makes. Its been tested and worked for a long time. If you still have your steez there are a lot of people who can get it back going again, i do a lot of reel fixing on my own stuff but dvt or ebassfisher on tt will do it up special.

What size spook? I work ones less than an ounce on my croix avid c66mf. I am very tall but i am low to the water in my yak so that length works well for me. I run 14lb BerkeleyXL on a daiwa alphas. I have a deep spool from a zonda that lets me have the reserve line capacity to use the smaller reel. I also use this setups for sammys and a bunch of other top-waters to include poppers.

All the rods i have seen from croix are painted blanks so you should not have any major structural damage that you can see. The epoxy holding on keepers and eyes can crack and the epoxy they cover the label with is also not structural. If you are seeing it, the blank should be fine. If your worried i would send a few good quality shots to croix for a recommendation. They have about the best customer service around.

i have a lot of favorites but only a few loyalty brands. I like daiwa for reels and maybe thats because i fish there high end stuff. I am sure if i spent as much on a shimano they must be good to. For rods i like Dobyns and st croix the most for quality selection and customer service. For hard baits strike king and lucky craft have what i need between them and DUO for that Japanese feel. Duo is my high class baits and you get JDM quality without the megabass funds. braided Line is suffix all the way. I like the performance braid the best but 832 is also in the rotation. Flourocarbon is either sunline or P-line 100% The only real sunline i buy is sniper. Hooks are gamy or owner only. Soft plastics are a free for all and my bag is mixed with bps stick-o's netbait packa craws keitech swimbaits, and the list goes on. Large swimbaits are the same way, ms slamer hudds black dog shell cracker and punkers Mattlures hard gills and more. Jigs are serbert outdoors only. He will make you exactly what you want or need and his normal selection is way above average!!!

It is not a cheap reel but it should prevent you from having to mod the reel to your liking and also prevent the dig in from braid that everyone is always complaining about, I imagine that you will be wanting 50 or 65 lb braid for hammering the big girls and you would be set up to go to war!!!!

You might get away with a perfectly rigged bait supper slow and a 3/0 has worked on a standard 4" keitech bUT the fat it has never worked for me at any speed.

The bait is not stable with out a weighted hook. You don't need a lot but a swim jig also does a great job.

I would go with a zillion pe special. http://japantackle.com/daiwa-zillion-pe79.html

I caught m 5lb Largemouth on a Stanley jig with a beaver bait. the trailer was watermelon red and the jig was green.