T-Billy

Depending on water clarity, google earth can show you some shallower structure, areas with a lot of laydowns, weedbeds etc.

That little swimmer catches EVERYTHING.

7' Shimano SLX ML. Penn Spinfisher VI 2500. Pair of 'em. Happy with both rod's and reel's.

Should serve you well. I have a couple with a few seasons on 'em. Solid reels.

Trilene XT. Low stretch, handles great, abrasion resistant, great knot strength, available everywhere, priced right. Nothing I don't like about it.

Wire for sure. Same reasons as above.

I've broken both wrists, and have tendonitis in my elbows. Jerks and walking baits just plain hurt to fish for long. I avoid them when I can, but sometimes they're the deal. When they are, I put my big girl panties on and grind through it. Jigs and T rigs are the most mentally fatiguing for me, but they're my favorite way to catch 'em. I think it's the focus required. Casting to visible targets. The anticipation of the bite. The way the fish just explode when you crack 'em with that big stick and heavy line. When I'm grinding away with that flippin stick, I'm in my own little world, and there's no place I'd rather be.

IMO, ya gotta have a little give somewhere. Where you get it is a matter of personal preference, at least with heavier tackle. Can be line choice, rod, or drag. I've been on a rod buying spree lately as I've gone to straight braid almost exclusively on my baitcasters. Braid and fast rods isn't a good combination for me. It results in torn mouths, slack line, and lost fish. By going to more moderate taper rods, I've greatly reduced mouth tears on hooksets, the rod stays loaded during the fight and I'm losing very few fish. Much easier on the hands when I crack a fish too. Another benefit is the way a softer rod slingshots fish out of cover. It's been a real eye opener for me. I keep the drag locked down when fishing 30# and up braid and let the rod do the work. The faster you can winch 'em to the boat the less chances they have to throw the hook. Lighter tackle is a different story. A properly set quality drag is key, no matter what type of rod and line your using.

Ultra Molds Sweet Craw 3.5". It's a beaver style bait. Has a nice meaty body with no hook slot so it holds a flippin hook really well. I can fish that thing through the nastiest tangles without hanging up, and it catches the fire out of bass of all sizes. Hands down my MVP since getting those molds. I also weld a hula skirt to 'em and fish 'em on a jig head. Killer bait in all water temps. So, not only T rigged, if I could only fish one bait, this would be it.

Where's your foil hat???!!! I keep my Tennessee hat lined with three layers of foil at all times!!!

I use the Pro's Choice Big Monster worm. I buy them in 50ct bags on the fleabay. Great tail action, great price. Lot's of good choices out there though. Pretty much everybody loves the Zoom Ol Monster. No wrong way to fish 'em. My favorite is to SLOW roll them on a 1/16 or 1/8 oz T rig. They CRUSH it.

Sufix advance is the lowest stretch mono I've used. Very good abrasion resistance too. Trilene XT isn't far behind it stretch wise and is also very abrasion resistant. When it comes to abrasion all braid isn't equal either. I fish a lot of rock with straight 832 and rarely have to retie more than once or twice a day. Good stuff.

Seasonal, conditional, and lake dependant what I start with. Could be alot of things. That said, I almost always have a TRD Bug on a 1/8 football head and a T rigged beaver style bait rigged and on deck, ice out to ice over. Usually 2 or 3 beavers with different weights.

Black, with or without blue flake. Doesn't seem to matter. Black just always seems to work no matter the water clarity, or light level. I like to keep it simple.

I hear ya. I have 3 Super Duty's, one of those discontinued Tournament series and a LFS. That $99 LFS might be the smoothest of the bunch. I'm happy with them all as well. Good stuff.

I have a season and a half of regular use on mine. Still smooth as the day I got it. I'll be replacing a tired Carbonlite with another of these soon. Outstanding reel for the price.

I did. 30' or so of line out, pulled hard on both, Advance had maybe 2" less stretch. Fished them both side by side. No meaningful difference in stretch, abrasion resistance, or handling. Advance is great mono, but it's not the game changer Suffix advertising claims that it is IMO.

I'll be running 40# 832 on it. Great stuff. I fished chunk rock and lay downs all day last Saturday and by the end of the day it was just barely starting to get fuzzy in front of the sinker. I rarely have to retie more than once a day when fishing rock, even with 30# on other rods. I've had a couple big flatheads eat my T rig recently and wrap me up in the timber. No way I can break that 40# with my rod. I wrapped it around my plier handle to break it, and it cut through the hard plastic, right down to the steel shank before it broke. I'd give that 65# a whirl for awhile If I were you. Y'all have some giants in your neck of the woods. If you feel like it's costing you bites drop down to 40 or 50. I've come to the conclusion that we anglers are more line shy than the fish. I've fished 40 in 10' visibility and have noticed no drop off in bites vs mono. All but two of my casting rods have straight braid these days, and I don't see that changing.

Looking forward to getting my hands on it. I'm hoping it has the tip to pitch 3/8 and 1/2 as well as the big stuff. I fish a lot of nasty wood tangles and like to get back in the thick of them. Finding a rod with enough tip and enough backbone to pull em out has been a challenge. My 7-10 H MF SLX does a great job, but it's heavy. Grinding all day with that beast is a workout. Hoping the 766 can take over all around pitching duties, and just use the SLX for punching.

It's not nearly that big of a difference.

Trilene knot works great as well.

Build a new one to scratch that itch, and fish 'em both. Some of those old BPS rods are pretty sweet. I have an old black BPS Extreme 6-6 MH that's awesome for skipping. They rate it fast, but it feels mod fast. Fantastic tip.

10 years later.....Catt's still correct. Atta boy Catt!!!

Congrats!!! That's a day you'll not soon forget.

Dang it NoShoes, You're a bad influence!!! I may have ordered a Sierra 766 this morning. Lol. How are you liking yours?