RDB

A tip if this ever happens to anyone else. My brother and I were fishing a private lake in our kayaks several years ago and he was pedaling to a spot and knocked a rod in the water. When I got to him, the first thing I asked was whether he marked a waypoint as soon as it happened. He did not. When you are moving and away from landmarks, it is difficult to find a specific location. We drug for probably an hour but no luck. Most sonars have the ability to mark a spot with a single button. If you have one, do it.

If the other angler knows what they are doing, I will let them fish the front deck (especially friends or a team tournament). I hate getting front ended all day and want to make sure others have an enjoyable time in the boat. It’s much easier when I don’t have to worry about positioning for the other angler. I agree you don’t need to rip a hernia but IMO, a strong hook set is sometimes needed. With jigs, etc., the quicker I can get control of the fish and get them moving to me and away from danger, the more likely I will have a positive outcome. It’s less about hook sharpness and more about fish control.

There are a number of good choices. The Arkie style I probably use most often is the Dirty Jigs Tour Level Pitchin’ Jig.

Arkie style

Lot’s of folks on the site who are more knowledgeable about smallmouth than I but I would probably look at the humps in 10-25ft of water, preferably with some weeds, rock, gravel, etc. I would also probably look at rocky or sandy points as well. They are still going to relate to something the majority of the time, so I doubt they are spending all their time suspended. IME with largemouth, suspended fish are difficult to catch anyway.

I’m a cross their eyes hook setter with jigs & t-rigs, especially in heavier cover when I need to get their head turned quickly. It doesn’t happen a lot but most of the time if a lure comes flying back at me, I take it on the hand. It’s kind of an instinct thing like blinking and I have never been able to break the habit.

I am with you on this. I have nothing against people preferring braid…I use it on my frog and heavy cover rods. My personal preference is fluoro which is on 80% of my baitcasters. The only time I used a leader on a baitcaster was when I used braid for topwater but I now use mono. It’s personal preference but for me, I see no benefit and some negatives using braid for most applications.

You do not need to but most people probably do without realizing it. 20lb braid to 10lb fluoro or 40lb braid to 15lb fluoro is about the same diameter.

You might consider a Chicken Rig or weedless Neko rig if you want a little weight, especially in heavier cover. If you want traditional wacky or Neko movement that is more weedless that just a weedless hook, there are several hooks on the market that do well like the cover Neko.

I’m glad they do…simple and easy to customize. Many will cut the legs on one side slightly shorter to help it walk better.

New releases from ‘22 JDM iCAST.

If you loosen the spool tension, once you get to a certain looseness the spool will pick up a side to side movement (play). The looser the tension, the more play in the spool. People who set in this manner will typically set and leave it alone and just make brake adjustments. This is how I set my reels.

If you catch them on bugs, there is no reason to shy away from craws…they are not that different. I use Rage Bugs more often because they skip better.

^^^agree^^^ Add in fall rate which @riverat referred to.

You may be over thinking it a bit. Drop shot hooks are typically lighter wire, so penetration shouldn’t be a problem. There is no need to set hard but it’s not going to kill you if you can’t break the habit as lighter action rods plus working with the bait tip up is not going to produce a lot of force. Your slack should be controlled slack (bowed line), so there is no need to lower the tip to reel slack. Just a controlled set straight up while reeling.

First thing I would do is upgrade the quality of your gear ?. I would add a MH moderate action rod (something like an Alpha Angler Rebound or ChatterBound). I am a Loomis fan but would not get a Loomis for moving baits like cranks/spinnerbaits/topwater/etc. I think there are better rods for those applications for less $ (though the MBR’s are better than the JWR’s for moving IMO). You have listed 2, 4, and 5 power rods and are considering replacing the 5 with a 3. Based on what you are fishing, I’m not sure you need a 5 power. If I only wanted 4 rods, I would stick with the 2 power spinning, 3 & 4 casting, and a moderate moving rod. If only 3, I would go with the 2, 4, and add a different moderate. Edit: I have the 893 and it’s a great rod but IMO, it’s upper sweet spot range is around 1/2 oz. The 4 power will give you an overall wider range. Edit 2: I picked up a JDM Megabass OneTen Stick for jerkbaits and really like it (6’5”). I think I paid $300 v around $500 in the US.

I can’t help with personal experience but generally I have heard pretty good things about the rods…not so much about the customer service. When I looked at them, there just didn’t seem to be much info out there, so I never pulled the trigger.

Being your checkbook

Fork has some fairly heavy cover with a lot of wood and some vegetation. For LMB, a spinning rod with 10lb test is a pretty light setup for Fork. The water is stained, so no need to go light line. If it were me, I would start with a MH rod and a baitcaster with min. 15lb test. Once you get comfortable, a baitcaster is likely what you will have in your hand the majority of the time anyway.

Today it’s probably necessary if you rely on a check to feed the family, otherwise no. I would also add that a pretty good percentage of weekend anglers who use FFS are not very good with it. A good number are still pretty weak with 2d, 3D, & side imaging.

I’m not redefining anything…I simply stated that I PERSONALLY consider tip separate from standardized, one size fits all actions. Pro’s make that distinction all the time. The only real leap I may have made was to assume those descriptions were endorsed my the manufacturers (pretty sure they are). A common rod I like and have shared on this site specifically uses descriptions of their tip softness (separate from action) to distinguish their rods v competition on their website and videos. Sorry I set you off…it wasn’t my intention. I have learned a little bit about rod terminology in my few months of experience but acknowledge I’m still learning. Just so you know, I promise it wasn’t me who infused terms like soft and tip into bassin’ lexicon and I’m certainly not trying to get others to follow my lead. Thanks for the tip on the book. I may need the audio version, preferably no higher than 5th grade level.

I am a Diawa fan as well but for swimbaits the size you are getting into, I would use a 300-400 Tranx…your HD can handle medium sized swimbaits. Good news is it won’t cost that much more than your Slide Swimmer ?. If you stick with Diawa, I agree with the 300.

I agree with @WRB For my style of fishing, BFS is solving for a problem that doesn’t exist…I prefer spinning. There are several combos of Dobyns & St.Croix rods and Diawa & Shimano reels that will meet your budget. Stick with a name that has a proven history and you should be good.

Good rule of thumb for topwater is wait for the weight. Whopper Ploppers are fairly bulky and are not the most forgiving lures when given slack…I would think even more so with barbless. I don’t use barbless but I think if I did, I might use a rod with a little more tip to help keep them pinned.

1. I’m not the one trying to make myself look superior by saying everyone else doesn’t know how to fish grass and then leaving long drawn out posts explaining how to do it. 2. If you like to fish both, tell the OP. Don’t quote it back to me when I call out your BS. 3. The question wasn’t whether anyone liked to fish craw worms, it was about situations when you might choose a t-rig craws v jigs. Are you a reading man? Just own the fact that you saw an opportunity to make a catty comment for a little self promotion and move on. It’s just like the last time you made a catty comment to me and justified it by saying how many 10+lb fish you have caught across 5 states. Had nothing to do with our argument but it was an opportunity for you to self promote. I have no desire to upset your carefully crafted online image, I usually find it quite humorous. But when you make it about me, I’m going to say something. To quote a Texas saying, I believe you are all hat and no cattle. ✌️✌️✌️