bigspirit

Kershaw or Buck have been my go to. Would love a Benchmade but I have a tendency to make pocket knives disappear so can’t bring myself to pull the trigger. Specifically, the Kershaw Leek is one of my favorites. Very slim and light weight.

Ha, my buddy caught a baby gator this summer on a frog. Fishing from the bank he made a cast parallel to the bank but the bushes blocked his view. Heard a splash and felt the pull, sets the hook and reels in about a 2’ baby gator. The hook was safely removed but we got out of that spot cause where there’s little ones, there’s big ones!

SLX for a rod I don’t use as much but was lacking a reel. Will be nice to have that as a compliment to my others on the boat. gavacho frog, some nichols and R2S spinnerbaits, flouro, fuji hook keepers, zoom finesse worms and some culprit fat max worms

For all of 2022, what would it be? One bait only. Just for kicks, hypothetically it is something you would keep on your rod the whole year. Only reason to retie is you broke it off. Not to change weight size or anything.

Anybody find it effective to throw large worms (7”+) in the dead of winter? Waste of time?

Just went through this myself. I got the 6’ 9” M F Zodias. Love it! I have a 2500 stradic ci4+ on it spooled with 10# braid to 10# flouro leader. Really enjoying it so far. Has a short handle and just feels light and snappy. I set the drag a little light…then I lighten it a tiny bit more.

I’d be interested as well

South Georgia or panhandle of FL. I was 98% saltwater fishing until 2 years ago and I still prefer it to any freshwater fishing, but man it gets old having to wash everything down after a long day on the water. Even then, life expectancies of just about everything is often greatly reduced!

The new Curado line from shimano probably has what you want. Lots of “speculation” it’s the old Zodias rods

Not saying it is or isn’t…but my last purchase on a certain credit card I have was at TW. 2 days later get a fraud claim and the provider is issuing a new card

^ive got the kast king pliers as well. Love them! The cutters cut braid with ease too which is a huge bonus

Unfortunately I’m restricted to weekends right now since I just started a new job but that should be more flexible in the future. Quite a ways for me to go until I hit that retirement phase! Valid points. I should have specified but in my post I’m referring to 10+ mph which does affect my current setup. Correct, I was referring to the specific ponds I grew up fishing. I’m very aware there are extremely pressured ponds but I can assure you these were quite the opposite! Ha, if we want to get that specific it’s a highland reservoir, post frontal, wind and rain for 3-4 days. Not much grass, mostly rock and wood make up the structure in the lake.

Let me preface this by saying this might be a dumb question. I’m relatively new to the bass fishing game. I’ve fished by whole life but mostly saltwater. The bass fishing I did growing up was neighborhood ponds and there wasn’t a whole lot of effort or thought needed to catch fish. Now I’m jumping into it more because of location and have been the last 2-3 years. I now really want to get into jig fishing. I have read the thread about it and am close to committing myself to only taking one rod and a handful of jigs. However, this made me think of a question. What do you guys do when it’s “kind of” to “super” windy? How do you feel light bites or even see a bite when the line jumps if your line is getting blown around? I’m also either fishing out of a kayak or using a trolling motor with a tiller handle, to further complicate things. Any tricks to it or are those the kind of days you throw something else?

Can’t say I’ve heard of groove issues…but have heard that system is not a fan of connection knots going through it

Awesome

That’s awesome! Congrats!

What kind of spoon are you talking about? New to Georgia and a little north of you but this is my first year throwing a flutter spoon and have enjoyed it so far. Just wouldn’t have thought to use it in that cold of water

Well, I’ve got to use it on 3 outings so I’ll give my feelings on it so far. Overall, love the rod. It has a short handle so it doesn’t impede while working a topwater or jerkbait - which is what I got this rod for primarily. Fast enough to work the bait well but not too beefy to rip treble hooks out. Sensitivity is fantastic. I really got to break it in fishing saltwater this weekend for speckled trout and redfish. Feeling bites was stupid easy, granted, they normally grab it pretty good. However, I’ve never been able to feel the change in bottom composition like I could with this rod. Now the “not perfect” things. I didn’t notice it immediately when I got it but there is one eye about 3/4 the way down the rod that is a little out of line. Not thrilled about it but it’s not enough that I’ll lose casting distance or sleep over it. First outing throwing a jerkbait I had 10lb flouro to 10lb braid connected with an Alberto knot. After 20 minutes or so I noticed I could hear my connection knot going through the guides more than earlier. I check the knot and somehow it was starting to unravel. I was done for the day so not a big deal. Well, fishing the salt this weekend I had my 10lb going to a 15lb flouro leader again with an Alberto knot. Hadn’t been fishing long and all of the sudden I make a cast and watch my swim bait and leader go flying through the air and complete weightlessness. Came disconnected at the knot. Now, I’m not saying I didn’t tie a bad knot (two times in a row). But what I AM saying is I’ve NEVER had that happen to me before with this knot. My theory is the really small guides are catching it and over time causing it to loosen and unravel. I went to a uni to uni and didn’t have anymore issues. Might try a blood knot too. Either way, would have been ticked if it was a vision 110 that went sailing on me. So I may have to adjust my knot usage on this rod. It is what it is if that’s the case. Other than that, extremely pleased with the rod and loving it. Sorry for all the words!

Nice! Just moved back to the south after 2 years up in northern Iowa. I’ll miss the smallmouth up there but sure as heck won’t miss 5 months of winter! Especially only being able to ice fish for a few of them!

Totally understand, best of luck with that!

@Munkin, do you sell other than in person shows? Love the looks of your spinnerbaits and the colors. If able, I would love to hear info on if you take orders and lead times and such

Well, was supposed to be here this past Saturday and didn’t show up until today. Not the end of the world, right? I’ll just use it this coming weekend. Wrong. USPS had other plans apparently… ALF has already sent a return label. They said they’ve had multiple issues with this same problem, unfortunately. Guess it’ll be another 2 weeks before I get to (hopefully) figure out how this rod performs

Do you make a finesse jig?

Great to hear, i meant to update this thread but had a busy couple of days. I ordered the 6’9” M Zodias from *** Fishing. Should be here today. I’ll get a feel for it and let you all know my thoughts so if anyone else finds this thread one day maybe it’ll answer their question too

I lied, 1/16-1/2oz which seems rather broad