Glaucus

10.12

Senko rod

Google says the average 25 inch LMB is around 9.3 pounds. Gotta be somewhere around there... I'm sure someone has pretty much guessed it. OP may be looking for the correct second number in the ounces part of the weight. Like 9.37.

YZH with KVD L&L is just amazing. I've been on the YZH train for awhile but never did the L&L until this year. In limited experience with it so far it turns YZH into almost a different line, for the better, and it was already great.

There is no real world in which a Fury or E6X is low end; they're just not high end by some standards. I have an "all around" E6X and 5 Fury rods (which are new) and they're great. I have some regular Tatula rods which I really enjoy. They're not Elite Series so I can't comment on that and this probably therefore isn't any help at all, but anything Tatula has been solid to me.

I'm very ignorant of salt water fishing. I've never even seen the ocean in person. Is squid fishing with a rod and reel actually a thing?

And when you start pitching, you may find that you pitch more than you traditionally cast.

Typically the only things I'm absolutely bombing are lipless crankbaits, squarebills, Whopper Plopper, and such. I can send those things darn near out of sight (not quite so literally), especially a lipless. Casting a lipless is like throwing a baseball, casting a squarebill is like throwing a football, and casting a spinnerbait is like throwing a basketball. My pitching distance isn't as far as I'd like it to be but it is very, very accurate.

I've only had one encounter with an officer here and she was just checking licenses of people fishing the Kankakee River at the Kankakee State Park. I've never had an encounter with one at any other river at any other time. I've never had an encounter with one at any of the lakes. Illinois is a deeply flawed and troubled state however.

I was browsing them in Walmart a day or two ago because of the ad that's been at the top of the forums. I didn't pull the trigger but I probably will next time I go.

So much of this is tough to enforce. Typically someone doesn't like to be seen leaving trash (when I do catch a bonehead it's just unbelievable that they really just don't care) so they do it sneakily or away from people, or they are alone. And nobody would ever know if minnows were given bottled water. Honor code is broken anymore.

Add Fenwick HMG, Okuma EVX, and I've heard good things about the Shimano SLX.

An all around spinning combo for bass and crappie isn't really "all around". It's very whippy and finesse-y. Casting crappie lures and catching crappie on a medium powered spinning rod is going to feel off because you're going to want a medium light powered rod; meanwhile casting lures a 1/2oz or more in total weight (which is a lot of stuff) for bass on a medium light powered rod is going to push your rod to the limits and feel bad. The compromise is finesse bass fishing with a medium light powered rod, which covers both species and more and is a ton of fun as finesse fishing catches tons of fish with some good sized ones too - but that isn't "all around".

12.72

50* and 20mph winds today after being in the 30s, 40s, and very low 50s for several days with overnight lows in the 20s. Shut the fish off again and the wind made it brutal this evening. Not even a sniff.

Scott Martin is another serial offender. "That's a freakin' 5 pounder, dude!" *nets bass* ...Is maybe 2lbs

9.58lbs

Adding Crappie into the mix kind of confuses things between a ML and a M. It really depends on what lures you will be using. For small creeks, small ponds, Erie SMB, Crappie ... I'd say a ML rod, 6'6" to 7'. Daiwa Aird X rod with a Pflueger President size 25 reel. The only problem is you will limit yourself to finesse style fishing, but it catches a lot of fish, some really solid fish too. You just won't be able to fish a more broad range of lures.

That's a picture perfect LMB

How about a quote? One I've always loved is, "Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."

I beat the heck out of one of those combos on the river last year.

I don't know how much this helps but when I first learned I used 12lb mono (good diameter but not too big to become unmanageable), a moderate fast action rod, I cranked the brakes up and tightened the spool to where I would have to give it a slight jiggle to make the bait fall, and I always always always did a smooth side arm cast using both hands and followed through like I was swinging a bat - but I did not cast hard! A smooth follow through. Casting distance will not be good but it built my mechanics and within the day I had the hang of it. Not entirely perfect of course but I slowly back off the brakes and tension over some time, experimented with different casting forms, and slowly increased how hard I "swung" Definitely start slow and build up. Over time you won't need to even thumb the spool on an average cast.

I guess of all concerns (for lack of a better word) my main one was humans catching a hook.

What's up Gronk