ww2farmer

I pitch with every rod I own...........it's just a type of cast. But to get specific, if I am pitching, say jigs or t-rigged plastics to visable targets or weed pockets I most often use a 7' MH/F casting rod.

I use braid for everything, and tie fluorocarbon leaders on as needed.

St Croix Legend Tournamet 7'10" Magnum cranker, Curado 201DPV. The Magnum cranker will handle the bigger deeper baits better than the 7' MH "Big Cranker", but below 1/2 oz. it's not a good choice.

I have no problems casting 1/4 oz crankbaits with a Curado 51E, but it's not ALL on the reel either. You need a rod that will load and cast those light baits too.

I generally spend more on rods than reels.

Clear,cold water = suspending jerkbait for me. If they want nothing to do with it, a small soft plastic bait, like a zoom tiny fluke or 2.5"/3" Gulp minnow on a drop shot what be what I would use.

I usually start in the late fall about as soon as I put my boat away. To start with, I make a detailed list of every thing I have, and restock stuff that I am low on all winter long, so by spring , most everything I have is restocked well enough to last all season. Toss out anything that is rusty, or broken. Sell off stuff that I don't use. Then I clean my reels, and rod handles. Last thing I do is put fresh line on reels that need it, i use braid as mainline on all my reels, so the only time I change it is when I am running low, or it's been in use for a few years and is looking ratty. I can be ready to hit the water in about 2 hours notice from mid March on.

I like a M power, fast action casting rod, 6'6" in length. Thats what I have always used with out much thought behind it. Then I decided to "cut down" on the number of rods I had in the boat and fished them with a 7' M power , fast action casting rod. That lasted one season, and I quickly learned why all those years I liked the 6'6". My current rod is a 6'6" M/F Mojo.

Casting: St Croix Legend Tournament Bass 7' M power, fast action Spinning: St Croix Mojo 6'8" M/XF

I like the Mojo's, I feel bites on them just fine. I fish them right along side my Avids, and Legend Tournaments and have no complaints. Are they the best? Who knows? And better yet..........who cares! Plenty of guys like them, plenty of guys don't. I suspect if you can't feel anything on a $100 rod of any make, you probably don't have much of a feel for whats what in the first place......or your 13 and mommy just bought you a new rod of x/y/z brand and it's the best.......naturaly, because you have one

spoiler alert ......................Alton Jones or Edwin Evers did not make the final 6. It's Ish, Hackney, Grigsby, Kriet, Brauer, and Quinn.

I like St Croix's, but not every rod they make is a winner. I once bought a 7' H power, fast action Premier Casting rod. Calling it a pool cue, would be an insult to pool cues. Any reel made by BPS, before I switched to all Shimano, I had a hodge podge of stuff. No reel I had from BPS lasted more than a season. I had Extremes, Johnny Morris, Rick Clunns, the old Pro qualifier round reels...etc. I would of quit using them, but at least BPS would giveme a new one every time one crapped the bed. Spiderwire fluorobraid.........yeah it sinks..........yee haw.......but compaired to power pro it also has the strength of a wet noodle. And even though abbrasion resistance is never been braids strong suit, this stuff was the worst, thumbing it on a casting reel would frey it.

For YEARS a red craw lipless crank bait was my go-to color in that type of bait. Worked well in all water clarities, then every one started using them, and the last few years I have been doing better with more natural colors. I still throw the red ones, and still catch fish on them, but not like I used to.

I like bubble gum.........in any water clarity, with fluke and trick worm style baits.

While I have not used my Rage rod yet, all the Fenwicks I had used the same style Pac-Bay guides, regular size, not micros, and I used them for years and years with braid and had no grooving issues. Yes, they made more noise than a ceramic insert type guide.

I have been using a St Croix Mojo 6'8" M/XF for 3-4 years now. Great $100 rod IMHO. And like JFrancho said, take a look at the Eyecon's. I am glad I did, I picked up a 6'3" M/XF this winter. I have not fished it yet, but I know, since it's a St Croix, it will be a very good rod.

Sorry to hear this Teal. Hopefully your dad will kick cancers butt. Positive thoughts and prayers headed that way.

Same. ..........and for leaders I use Seaguar

Most of there clearance stuff is not things I use, but every year (or so it seems) in the spring the local ones will have a 2 for $10 sale on GYCB. I make sure to take advantage of that. Even when they are not on sale, they are one of the few places around that still have Senkos for less than $7 a bag, I think they are $6.49 regular price, so I always grab a few packs when I am there.

Anything they can fit in there mouth and swallow...........including each other.

I have always used the little bottles of "Screen Cleaner" that you can get at Office Depot or places like that, works on my PC screen, phone, TV, and my fishing electronics.

I have caught them out from under mats I would bottom my boat out in if I went up in them.........and I have an aluminum boat. More times than not it's with a frog when they get that shallow, but I have yanked a few punching. For me, usually the better punching mats have at least some depth under them........and by that I mean a foot or more.

Whats even more rare.........maybe not to Chautauqua........but on the lakes I fish, is to yank a big smallmouth out from under a dock in the middle of summer in pea soup water. I can count on one hand the number of smallies I have caught under docks in those conditions, and still have a finger or two free. Now out off the bank in the grass it's a different matter, or under a dock with some moderate depth under them, but even Hackney said that fish was in a foot of water. That is something I don't see too often, not counting the spring. Those big alge blooms cause major oxygen issues out in deep water, and it's pretty normal to see fish, even in the warmest water of the year, at a time when water levels are low, to be hugging the bank, or suspend high up in the water collum over deep water, near the surface, where the wind and waves oxygenate the water. I have seen thick,lush, bass holding milfoil beds in 7-12 FOW completely die off in the middle of summer due to lack of light penitration from a bloom.

Sounds exactly like what happened to my wife when a stone blocked her gall duct back in july, especialy the eyes getting yellow part. Kinda surprised they didn't get it out when you had the gall bladder out. She had the stones removed in july, felt better for a while, then it started all over again in late oct. before they finally yanked the gall bladder. Good luck man, get well soon.

Thats the way WNY grows them. Short and thick. A good portion of my 5-6 lb fish barely crack 20 inches in length, but are as big around as they are long, and they are usually stuffed to the gills with some kind of forage. What suprised me more, is the low weights on some of the fish that just made the 12" keeper mark. In my lake, it's not uncommen to see 12"-13" fish that are pushing 2lbs, we don't get many "keepers" that are under a pound.