fathom

in my hands, the 844 handles almost any plastic well, even down to 1/4 oz...tho, as stated, its sweet spot is 3/8 and above....very good spinnerbait rod, as well. have yet to find anyone who regretted buying the 844.

calais 100a...the only downside is its weight but, the rest of the package more than makes up for it. the core would be a close second, if listed.

nice set-ups.

this time of year, will generally twitch at landing, then a quick pull/slow pause back to the boat. don't rule out the jointed shadraps this time of year...killer slow rise on the pause.

the wife will tell you right quick that i am the only dog in the boat.

I bet it has the "right" ones! I don't have a Core...yet, but The Bait Monkey thinks I "need" one. : you're gonna love it on that 844. 8-)

ordered a reel from 'em last year...came in two days.

you lip your babies to kiss 'em goodnight.

imo, the sluggo ss was a much better fishcatcher than the regular. the red shad was tough to beat.

not the smoothest reel in the world or the lightest...but, definitely one of the toughest. good reel for the heavier patterns.

zoom finesse and cuttails are my go-to's. usually t-rigged on a ballhead...sometimes 1/8 oz., sometimes 3/16 or 1/4. 4 inch senkos work well here, too.

p.s. i generally take both hooks off and replace them with one single 2/0 gammie on the belly. hooks won't foul and the only fish you may miss will be dinks.

wake baits are one of my go-to's. lucky craft cb-001 is a gold mine, as is bagley's bulgin' b...the footloose is ok and i gave the 1minus to some folks down the street that i really don't like. in my lakes, the storm subwart (baby bass) outproduces all of 'em but, you can show it too often. imo, would pick up more than one style...as with all lures, familiarity breeds contempt.

cabela's no-vis. the bps xps fluoro is a close second. gamma and sunline are next on the to-do list.

6 nib quantum pt spinners at a walls discount...box, papers, everything still inside. $149.00 each in bps...$19.99 each at walls...left that store quicker than a preacher with the runs...gave one to the son-in-law for christmas and sold the other 5. nib lew's ng at walmart for another $19.99.........kept it. 8-)

black/blue. good thing we don't all fish the same lake.

looks like you already got plastics and spinners covered...you may wanna look at the mbr782 imx. 50mg/782 imx is a match made in heaven for chuggers, jerkbaits and small/medium cranks...pretty big on the funometer, too. with that combo in hand, you'll probably wind up selling #4.

calais 100a. core 100mg comes bad close.

if you have young hands and you're fishing for toads and using heavier weights doing it, the 200 is very well worth it.

have used the xps the last month or so..so far, i like it better than the p-line and the cabela's no-vis. it seems a tad more limp than the p-line and the cabela's but, the line diameter seems thinner, as well.

get the hardbound edition, too. have the cabela's card, as well, and a furry, smelly mongrel with bananabreath makes me use it pretty regular.

+3 on the simmons.

use fc on mine but, as mentioned above, almost any line you like will work. congrats on the rod choice...still one of the better cb rods out there.

in my hands, lc hits their sweet spot with the pointers and flat mini's. ghost sunfish and american shad are hard to beat in any water.

get the stradic...of the reels mentioned, it is the most bulletproof. and, no, the mg is not better than the non...in my hands, anyway.