ww2farmer

My favorites in order: #1 Bluegills/Pumpkinseeds (I can't tell the diff.) #2 Yellow Perch #3 Rockbass Fish I have had and don't much care for, crappie, trout, and salmon. Fish I have had and are fine, but I don't seek out for food, bass, and catfish Fish I want to try because people say they are good: Pike, and walleye. Fish I will NOT eat, but others do: Carp, bullhead, and smelt I only keep fish for eating through the ice, or very early/late in the seasons. IE...cold water.

You speak from experience?

I have, battered and fried they taste like bluegills and perch to me. The only way I could tell it was bass was by the size of the fillet. I liked it better than crappie.

Skinny type for me. They hang less, and they stack nice in the box so they store more neatly.

I have had all three. Each has there +'s, and each has there -'s . The Veritas is the lighter, better balanced, and IMHO (because it's subjective) more sensitive. The Croix's are built better, have better componants, and have the better warranty.....5 years vs. 3 on the Abu. Both companies are very easy to deal with on warranty issues.

You have dead hands then, or have no idea what your doing. I have the same rod, and if you can't feel a crank wobble, or tick grass, or defelct off cover with this rod, your not going to feel it with anything. I can feel a fish swim up behind a bait with this rod and "push" water at my bait....I am not saying it's the greatest rod in the world, but it's certainly plenty sensitive for cranking.

I have always kept them in there original bags, and the bags in a larger, deep, one compartment 3700 size plano boxs, with my extras in a storage tote back at the house, or in the truck. I still plan on keeping the extras in the tote, but that system is a little unorginized. This year I am keeping them in regular a 3700 box, sorted by size/color, with just enough in each compartment for a day or two,and will restock the compartments when it gets low, that way I am not digging around for bags all the time, all my worms will be in one box, trailers in other, etc... and it actually saves space by not having a bizzilion bags all over the place in boat.

What he said....except bump up to 50lb on the casting gear if it's really nasty/matted stuff. Some even suggest 65lb, but I like 50 just fine for this.

Well..................your over thinking this in epic proportions. The most popular colors of lipless crank baits of all time are Chrome/blue back, and a red/orange craw color. They work,and they work everywhere. Buy those, learn to fish them, and If your not getting bit, it's not because you have the wrong color. Same goes for plastics....black w/blue flake, and green pumpkin will get it done any time any where....It's up to you to put them in the right spot.

You said it...probably a little more tactful than I I find it comical that some people think that a more "sensitive" rod is going to start loading the boat for them..........I out fish a LOT of people who use GLX's, Steez reels, and all sorts of higher end stuff with my $80-$100 rods. And I have not lost any feel, or had my on the water results suffer from "down grading" to said $80-$100 rods from $200-$300 sticks...

Maybe some ice fishng in the morning/afternoon before the game, but by the time the game comes on it will be after dark here, and I'll be off the ice.

Yeah, I got one, right around Christmas/New Years. In the mean time I have also gotten about a dozen sales flyers, a marine, a spring angler, and hunting catalogs. They used to send me about 7000 catalogs a year, but I guess the earth is running out of paper, because now I only get like 2000. At least when they used to turbo bomb me, the catalogs atually had the stuff they sold in them, now, it's basicly a picture of an item and telling you to go to the website to look at the choices............total waste of paper.

They haven't done it with the Stradic yet. There is still the "regular" and the Ci4

And I don't think it does .............to the bass....I know a guy who throws gawdy bright color frogs in any water clarity so HE can see them, and he does just fine. I FEEL BETTER when throwing a translucent one in clear water, and I do just fine.

What he said............Braid. I use 30 or 50 on the "regular" 1/2 oz. size frogs, On at least MH powered rods, but with the little Jr. sized 1/4 oz frogs I throw them on 20lb braid all the time on M power rods.....frogs are not just for heavy cover and slop

You know..................I see this repeated a lot, and in a lot of diff. places, that smallmouth are supposed to be very active on sunny days....and I have some decent days fishing for them on sunny days, but why is it that all my best days with them have been in almost down right miserable weather?

Looks pretty standard to me. Was there supposed to be something special about these?

Really heavy cover like matted weeds get straight braid. I use the 20lb flouro around tied to the 50lb braid more so for abrasive cover, like rock, wood that is crusted with shells from the zebe's and metal dock post's. 20lb flouro is pretty tough stuff, even when tied to 50lb braid, on a H power rod, it takes a lot of abuse before giving up.

It would either have to be the day a Pike decided my thumb looked tasty and the after math required a trip to the ER..........in which I got PFD ticket from the NYS DEC pulling the boat out of the water to get to. OR the time I stuffed a wave in my boat and all my terminal tackle in a plano 3700 box went over the side with hundreds of dollars worth of stuff (IE tungsten) in it.

I used 4lb on my Perch/Panfish UL set up this year...............man is it small. I didn't care for it either, it frayed way WAY to easy. I will be running 3-4lb Power Pro this year.

I am south of Rochester a little bit...............bout 50-60 miles......IDK about the trout spots..............but I can tell you the only place your going to find Tilapia around here is Wegmans.

It is......Joking aside now..............here is what I do, some people might do it different, but this is what I do: My Spinning set ups have 10lb braid on ML rods or 15 lb braid on M power rods, and I use 6,8,10, or 12 lb leaders depending on the cover/technique. Usuallly 6 or 8lb flouro tied to the 10lb braid on the ML's, and 8, 10, or 12lb fluoro tied to the 15lb braid, on the M's (sometimes I go up to 15lb flouro when I am skipping docks). My casting set ups have 20,30, or 50 lb braid on them. 20 is on my M power rods, and my cranking rods, I use 10, 12, or 15 lb flouro on those, 30 is on my MH power rods, and I use 15, 17, or 20lb flouro on those, and 50lb is on my H power rods, and I use 17 or 20lb on those.

I never tie myself to flouro.

I can't answer the "HC" thing for you, I don't know either. But the 1.5 flats ARE silent. I am from WNY, and probably have similar water to you in N.E., I use clear water minnow in clear water on bright days, and neon bluegill on dark days. I don't have much time with the flats yet, they just came out last year, and I have only used them on a few outings last fall, but they impressed me enough to keep them. I plan on using them a lot in my cold water hard bait arsenal this spring along side jerkbaits, and lipless cranks.

So do I , but some of my biggest fish every year.....5 and 6lbers, come smack dab in the middle of a pike fest, so I put up with it.