Oklahoma Mike

This. I mostly use Japan Lure Shop and Japan Fishing Tackle. I will use the others occasionally as well if they have something in stock the first two don’t. I’ve also found that 7 Palms is a good place to find stock when I can’t find it anywhere else. And of course there’s always the hookup tackle in AZ. Their prices are higher, but no tax and free shipping help to offset that to some degree, and they do get some pretty good stuff through there.

If we are considering what you can get at sales, the Rerange and LC Pointer all day easily. Staying within that price range at regular prices, the X-Rap.

I use braid or braid to leader on a majority of my setups for the plethora of reasons listed already in this thread. There definitely techniques where I want straight FC or copoly or maybe even mono, but I can get the majority of my fishing done with braid as my main line with less problems and better overall performance.

I throw a pretty wide variety and I throw them often, but my go-to is the 4.8" Jackall Rhythm Wave. The holo black is absolutely killer around here in virtually all conditions.

While I will throw both in calm conditions I do not throw a popper on choppy water. I want the wakebait when they’re aggressive and I want to cover more water quickly. I want the popper when I want to target specific areas and stay in the strike zone longer, and also when they’re pressured and I want something a little more finesse.

Came to say exactly this! Love mine, and have been throwing everything from 5" paddletails to Magdrafts to Gantarels on it. Also makes a good frog rod.

This is the method I use and it works great. I will sometimes do the same with a paddletail Swimbait when I want to keep it just below the surface.

I prefer to run braid to leader on most of my setups because I feel like it gives me the best of everything. I tie an improved alberto knot and never, ever have knot failures there so that is not a concern for me. The few exceptions to the above for me are as follows: Topwater - straight mono Heavy swimbait setup - copoly (Defier Armilo) Any bait where I am making long casts and trying to keep it as deep as possible, like a spybait or deep crank - flourocarbon Frogging, jigs not fished around rocky areas, chatterbaits, buzzbaits - straight braid On the few setups that I do use straight FC, it is Tatsu 100% of the time. Also, none of those are spinning setups.

There are some guys who specialize in a narrow set of baits and they are very good at it. They catch fish on those baits no matter the location or conditions, so they seldom deviate from it. For those rare few, I kind of get it. They do “X” all the time and have a lot of success doing it, so why change. I’m not good enough at any one technique to just go out and consistently catch fish doing that one thing all year round. I do have preferences and baits that I’ll use as a starting point, but if what I’m throwing isn’t getting bit, I’m changing to something else even if that something else isn’t something I necessarily enjoy throwing.

I’ll take it. PM incoming.

First thing I would go to in that scenario would be some form of back gliding creature bait. Totally different presentation from what the guy in front is throwing and will allow you to poke your bait down into some spots he’s never going to reach.

Ive been throwing the grandebass snake-o for a couple years with good success, and I’m pretty sure I tried them for the first time based solely on some pictures you posted on this forum!

I don’t know what Kent Craw is but the rest of this pretty much covers it for me. I’m definitely in for some!

I’m that case I would reply with “all of them.”

MH/XF jig rod with 40lb braid to 15lb FC leader.

Couple of Magdrafts, few Huds, some Spark Shads, the Lobinos from the TW giveaway (they sent me the Rico and the Rio Rico both in Cosmic Shad, a color I already had in both)… VMC crossover rings, some 5” HP 3D Wacky worms, braid, some Dark Sleepers, some more Trokar hooks from the TW sale, and some Hyabusa spin muscle hooks (my favorite Neko and wacky hook ever). My wallet needs a break from the monkey.

That’s just the tiny child rig with a creature bait. I use that setup quite a bit with various soft plastics with a decent amount of success. Basically just a weedless version of a Ned rig presentation-wise.

I would probably choose a different color if it were an option but I wouldn’t hesitate to throw the shad color if it were all I had. I catch plenty of bass on swimbaits that don’t exactly “match the hatch” on various fisheries year round.

Based on your info I would suggest braid to leader. I like the strength and castability of braid combined with the flexibility of tying on whatever type and size of leader you need for any given situation. I use an Alberto knot and do not have failures - if I get hung up I will straighten the hook or snap the leader but it’s never the knot.

Some more goodies from the TW sales And some stuff from Japan Got this from Japan Lure Shop as well. Have not yet had a chance to get it out but man is it a thing of beauty!

Entered four different emails, hit on one of them.

I prefer braid or braid to leader on most of my setups. For the few that have straight FC, Tatsu is the only line I will use. Yes, it's a little more expensive than others but those few bucks save me a lot of headaches I seem to have with other FC lines. A lot of people seem to like Sniper. I have tried it and found it better than a lot of others I've tried but still did not like it as much as Tatsu personally.

You can definitely use the same rod for both so long as you have enough rod to drive home a jig style hook and still have a tip sufficient for working the hard bait. My personal preference is to use a spinning rod for hard jerkbaits and casting gear for flukes, but both of those rods could easily work for either bait.

I don’t like the Palomar for jig style hooks that require a swing set but prefer them for treble hook lures. Since it’s a pretty big bait I’d just tie on a quality snap, it will not hurt the action of the WP. Otherwise use the SDJ, and for heavy baits (2 oz and up) use a double SDJ.

Diawa, irod, Okuma all have good budget-minded options on Swimbait rods. I will second a Calcutta for the reel. I grabbed a 200 size 21 model from Japan Lure Shop for around $400 OTD.