JediAmoeba

Go bigger - the swaver 120 I barely consider a glidebait - it's more like a twitch bait that you fish sort of like a jerkbait. The best small glides are in that 2-4 oz range imo. I have 4 rods dedicated to swimbait fishing, none of them too expensive.

Idk, probably in the 10 oz range

Depends what that natural forage is - but for the biggest bass: 1. Bluegill/Perch 6"+ 2. Large Golden Shiner 8"+ 3. Large Sucker 8"+ 4. Goby 6"+ 5. Hellgramites(especially if smallie hunting) 6. Large Night Crawlers Although, last week I was fishing an 8" glide bait and a 12-15" Pickerel was following it. A huge bass, I would estimate it was at least 8#, came up and ate the Pickerel coming straight up from underneath and eating it sideways. Really cool to see but why couldn't she hit my 8" bone glide???

I tie a blood knot on the water - for me I can do it with my eyes closed and it has never failed me. I have broken off jigs and all sorts of things and the blood knot has never failed.

Man, I like change and new things but the site is an abomination for choosing models now. I want to order 6 different crankbait colors which is now a PITA. I went to Fish USA instead.

I don't believe much of what Mike Bucca says - just look at his history. I also wouldn't trust much of a southern guy telling me how to fish baits for Northern strain giants in the north.

I have never liked the action of the LC Sammy - there are so many better options for me personally. Largw Wake baits Yellow Magic Popper Megadog That's about it for me.

Come fish the NE with a fast sink and you will get smoked by someone fishing a XS Sink or even a slow floater. In my experience only young, hungry fish eat fast large swimbaits. And to get big in the NE, those fish are pretty old...

A killswitch would help but who knows, they may have been ejected and knocked out. I changed my inflatable to manual so if I am knocked out, my life jacket isn't inflating....

River fishing is completely different. The sneaky pete was designed specifically for the river if you want to check that out. But overall I have almost no use with swimbaits for anything faster than a slow sink if it has bottom trebles.

I am loving all my Tatula Elite models. I have the 7'4" bladed jig, 7'6" crankin and the 8' deep cranking models

How deep are we talking? 10xd gets down past 20'. If deeper you can always run a heavy jig head with a paddletail on the back just slow enough where you feel the bottom...

This happens but if the base is spooled properly and tight you can make a decent and lengthy cast and hold itntoght with your fingers and reel it back in... I always have this problem when pitching into tight cover with thick braid because the reel engages at a different spot each time so the line can get funky to one side. I run 20# braid to a leader on my jerkbait rods and small crank rods without issue. I am surprised they would recommend fluoro over mono or copoly. Fluorocarbon has terrible knot strength if not done perfectly, which most noobs have trouble with. Also, I find myself having to replace fluoro leaders all the time since it stretches and gets nicked fairly often to the point it doesn't seem like the integrity is still there.

I have to disagree. I run braid as mainline on all of my rods and reels. Everything from 10-100 lb. I get years and years out of my braid and have very few backlashes. I run 6-30' leaders on the best majority of applications which makes my spool of fluoro last a long time. For the price conservative angler I think this is the best route... I run 20 lb braid on many of my baitcasters - most of the mid to higher end baitcasters have no problem with thin braids if spooled correctly. I have a bfs reel with 10# on it that has no problems as well.

I have all my drags pretty loose. If need be I can tighten it but I use my thumb as the drag. I usually run as light of line as possible so I don't want break offs.

For dropshotting I use the ML 7'0" Tatula rod. For wacky worms, a 7' M Tatula. Anything more than 3/8 oz is going to be thrown on a baitcaster.

I have all the crush city and most them are not elaztech. They are pretty durable though and catch fish.

For beating the bank I have a tackle backpack that holds 3 or 4 3600 size boxes. I usually take 2 deeps and 1 shallow 3600 size. I look at the conditions for the day, figure out how I want to fish and load the tackle boxes, from all my tackle, with whatever I will be using that day. When I get home I put it all back in its correct boxes/containers. I usually carry 2 or 3 rods...more often than not 3 because I throw large swimbaits much of the time. But keep it simple and make sure you have extra line and all the tools you will need.

Throw something the size of the baitfish. Underspins with keitechs, straight boot tails on a swim jig head. Flukes work wonders this time of year as well. You have a lot of options but it can be tough competing against the smorgasbord that now has less hiding spaces as the grass dies off.

Swimbaits are addicting. Juat speaking on hardbaits: If you are fishing shallow you really only need a few styles - wakes mentioned above are good but I would recommend a resin rat over the ABS plastic ones (readily available ones would be a PB rat or a bull rat). As far as glides go - you want some XS sinks. Many of the ones on the market sink entirely too fast IMO. Sure you can catch some good sized young fish but for the big old ones you want to be able to go slow and not sink fast. The milliken draw is decent in that regard. And don't discount the DEPS 250 - but that one is over 6 oz so you need a stout rod. The bullshad glide is decent but those are harder to get. And if you really want to get fun, go the custom route - BGC, Pizz, Tater Hog, Rafa, Toxic, Hinkle, Matt Lures...

I want those blades. Those oklahoma blades are my favorite ever. And you can't get them anymore...

The daiwa td-x 103

Any with extremely thin wire. They just vibrate better. Usually they only last for a few big fish before they start getting janky

For pond fish, nothing beats a few spinnerbaits. Get different blade combos and you can fish any part of the water column. If they aren't hitting that, a 4 and 5 inch senko. Make pond fishing simple.

Very bad. Nothing. I know they are quality products and I have cast a few friends but I have never wanted one. I particularly dislike the DC reels and their noise. Centrifugal brakes, I am not used to, and I can cast my daiwas like a champ.