Airman4754

I have two of each, you will never have a problem with durability. Do you want a lighter reel or one that feels more stable? Nothing that light feels stable/sturdy.

Live Target, I like them.

6" max for smallies and spots. 168 S-Wavers are extremely productive. Ospreys are really good for smallies and the clear and black flake Trash Fish are awesome too. A 5" flutter spoon is good in summer too. Run a treble free on your line at the top of the spoon.

Cheapest and best aren't a real thing. I use Owner ST-56's. Anything Gammy, Owner, Mustad, or Trokar puts out will be good enough. Your rod action will do way more to keep the fish pinned than upgrading your hooks.

I have three rules. If I decide on a spot/area I fish it a minimum of an hour. Some guys have a ton of success running around, but I don't do it. Second is to fish areas other people aren't. Even in a small club tourney the "great" spots get hammered. I'd rather be on decent water that is unpressured over good water that is pressured. Lastly is to have fun. I'm very selective in what tournaments I fish now. If it's too serious, too crowded, well known the fishing is going to suck that weekend, or just any other scenario where I wouldn't go fun fishing I'm sure as hell not paying money to go do it.

I use the trout color 130. Great lure.

A great technique as the grass gets close to the surface is run a 1/8oz weight between two and three feet below your worm and just work it through the grass. It climbs up the thick parts and drops down into pockets. It's gnarley.

If the human head weighs 8lbs and that bass has a head as big as that guy.... I'll buy the 15lbs.

Under $130 it's a Pfluger Supreme XT. My advice is spend $15 more and get a Pfluger Patriarch. You get a spare spool and they are just really really nice for under $150.

Yeah. I fish a 7'6" M, for drop shots. I just don't like the way that rod behaves for anything other than slow dragging.

I run 20lb PP to 10lb P-Line fluoro. The one thing that took my drop shot game to a completely different level is getting away from nose hooking and going to a light wire straight shank. It is rigged weedless so you can fish it anywhere with no worries and you literally never miss fish. It will blow your mind when you realize how many fish you were missing on a nose hook that you didn't even know were there. You don't have to set up or even apply pressure, you just work your drop shot like you normally would when casting. Then suddenly you just have a fish on. Before you reply with how much of an expert you are go buy a pack of 2/0 light wire Gammy straight shanks and a pack of 7" M3 Robos and throw them for a day. It will change your life, I promise.

Really? I have that rod and I hate it for pitching. It's a good footballer though. I like the Orochi XX Jig & Worm. It has tons of power and it's short so you can maneuver well.

I don't have any of their rods, but the bulk of my bait casters are Lew's. I have from their highest end reels down to the Tournament MB's and they have all been bullet proof. I would never hesitate to buy and trust one of their products anymore.

This. I have the XG3 that I throw 15ft and under on and it's great. About 70% of my rods are Phenix now and I would never change them.

So you yelled at a guy for legally fishing?

I've never found anything in the same league for deep cranking as 8lb CXX. It's the best abrasion resistant line I've ever used, it has a tensile strength of over 20lbs, and it's small enough in diameter to not get that awful memory you normally would with the bigger test CXX. Then when you throw in the price it's a slam dunk.

You shouldn't set into a chatter or spinner bait. The rod and pace of your reel sets for you. The only thing you're going to do it tear the area they are hooked in if you set back on them and that's not good.

You could put your fist in it's mouth so it is at least 5lbs.

I've never seen the 5.8, so I guess they would be similar.

The 6" Speed Shad, which is a fat impact copy but much larger than the biggest fat impact. I also use magnum flukes. I rig them on a 3/4oz scrounger and cut the bottom humps off so the bait is flat which gives it much better action. The other way is to just rig it weightless with a 6/0 heavy wire EWG and count it down to where they are suspended then just fish it like you would a normal fluke. Lastly I run a 7" tora tube with a 1/2oz tube head and put a spinnerbait trailer hook on it. You have to cut the tube body pretty far up so you'll need to glue it back together when you are done. Then just crack fish it on bottom like you would a normal tube for smallies.

Yeah up there it is. The lake is 4,700 feet in the middle of a mountain range. It won't stay above the 40's at night until mid August. If you went by the textbook water temperature do bass spawning there they wouldn't spawn until September lol.

End thread.

Tungsten for punching, lead for everything else.

Lamiglas Pro-X 735, Lew's Tournament MB 8.3:1, PP Maxcuatro 65lb. You're set.

I will need to see quite a bit of video evidence of fish hitting that duck before I consider one. I will admit I thought the SPRO rat was a gimmick when it won at iCast also, but that thing is a BAMF.