walleyecrazy

The areas I fish have a ton of rock on the bottom anything that makes too much bottom contact is most likely going to be gone pretty quick. Ticking the rocks with the swimbaits is generally as much bottom contact as I get.

I pair my Daiwa 7'6" rods(both Tatula and Taula Elite) with either the Tatula LT, or Procyon AL reels. The Procyon AL is actually a little nicer to fish with these longer rods due to the slightly heavier weight helping to better balance the rods. As far as line goes I think you are on the right track with the light braid to leader. If you are targeting walleye I would likely go with a 8lb leader where as I generally use a 6lb leader for bass, but the 8lb will be fine for them too. As far as shallow river walleye I don't think you can go wrong with slow rolling 3-4" swimbaits on or just above the bottom, or throwing jerkbaits. Those are my two most productive lures for river walleye.

Take a look at the Daiwa Tatula 7’6” ML/M. It should do everything you want, and is long enough to sling baits a long distance from the bank.

The Outkast tackle perfect ned heads are the best I’ve found.

They have quickly become my favorite online retailer for tackle. The premium membership is well worth it. Also right now you get an automatic $30 credit when you either start or renew their premium membership, so you are essentially getting it for free. Mine didn’t expire until next month, but I renewed early and got the $30 credit on my account and it just added a year onto the end of my original end date for premium.

Fishing(and hiking) is my time to get out away from all the BS of every day life and allow me to clear my head. I work in a job that is generally very high stress, and my time outdoors allows me to decompress, and just really shut my brain off for a while.

Not really tackle, but more tackle storage/organization. Decided to change up how I store most of my soft plastics, so I went to HD and bought a peg board setup. It’s hard to tell but this allows me to store a ton of plastics in a relatively small space. The hooks with the Z-man stuff in the bottom left for instance both have 20 packs per hook.

If you are willing to wait a touch longer for a sale, or tack on a little extra money, the Dobyns Sierra 735c is awesome for swimbaits in that size range. I have mine paired with a Coastal SV, and not the Coastal TW, but I do own the Coastal TW, and think it would work well on that rod. I actually use my Coastal TW on my dedicated swimbait rod which is a Leviathan Omega rated for 2-6oz baits.

I think you'll enjoy it. That has been one of my favorite, and most used rods since I picked it up a few years ago.

They are truly one of the best in the business.

https://tackletrap.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_2091_2418&products_id=10718

Daiwas “regular” action is similar to what most companies would call a moderate fast.

My go to for walking baits in the Daiwa Tatula Elite TAEL721MHRB 7'2" MH Regular action. It has a fast enough tip to allow me to easily walk the lures, but is moderate enough to not be any issue with keeping fish pinned on treble hooks.

It makes a great hair jig rod, neko rod, and I find it excels at fishing little finesse swimbaits.

I have to agree. My BLX rods are beautifully made, and they have the best quality cork out of any of my rods.

St Croix, Megabass, and Daiwa.

My personal preference is cork, and then EVA foam. I actually am not a fan of Winn grips at all. There is just something about the feel of them that I can’t stand.

Check out Edwin Evers youtube channel. He posted a video while he was using them a little while ago.

For the last couple of seasons I I have used the Daiwa Tatula 7' M Regular action "Shallow Cranking" rod as my jerkbait rod, and it has done very well. This season I will still likely be using that, but have added a new St Croix Victory 7' M XF "The Jerk" to my arsenal, and will be giving that a good test as soon as we see ice out here in NY.

You get Aluminum side plates, upgraded handle, different drag start, and different cosemetics. It doesn't perform much different than the standard Tatula SV though. I own one because I buy things I don't need during the long north east winter, but I would say it is definitely worth spending the extra $50 to get the Zillion over the Tatula Limited. The Zillion is easily worth the price difference in my opinion.

My two favorites in this size range are both by Golden Belt Customs. I like both the 7" Harvester and the 8" Sickle. The 8" is the one painted in the Golden Shiner pattern, and the 7" is the Pumpkin seed pattern.

No, just the standard depth. I haven’t gotten my hands on one of the deep ones yet. I have been thinking about grabbing one for my top water baits. They seem to take up quite a bit more room in my boxes than my other lures.

Not really a purchase, but that kind of make it all that much sweeter. I was watching a live stream from Omnia fishing the other night and participating in some of the discussion in the comments as it went on. The next day I got a message from Brad from Omnia telling me to send him my address because I had won an Edge box for participating in the live stream. I walked out my door a little while ago to find this beauty waiting for me on my deck. Now I just have to decide what baits I’m going to cram into it.

I throw most all of my tubes on spinning gear. I throw pretty much exclusively tubes in the 3.75” size with the Secret Lures Stupid Tube and the Xzone X-Tube being my favorite two. In lakes with grass I fish the stupid rigged on a Megabass Levante Enforcer. If I’m fishing the river or more open water I fish them with an open hook jig head on a Daiwa Tatula TTU701MFS. In either case I generally use either a 1/8 or 1/4 jig head. The only time I ever go heavier is if the current requires it when fishing in the river.

I’m in the same boat. I’ve had about enough of the ice and cold. The other day I looked at my wife and told her I’ve about had my fill of living in NY.