SissySticks

I"m somewhere in between. I have some very high end rods, but most were bought on ultra-clearance. I keep my tackle for a long time, so I can afford to wait for things to go on clearance. However, I have a bunch of $50 castaway spinning rods with tennessee handles (some of which I use regularly, and some of which are loaners) and I'm convinced that I could catch all the same fish with them if I didn't have my $200 quantums and shimanos, lews and customs. I just like the expensive stuff and it enhances my enjoyment of the sport, but I don't think it enhances my catch. Check out In-Fisherman writer Ned Kehde's equipment. It's antiquated (and cheap to-boot), he fishes "slack-line" baits 100% of the time, and I can say from personal experience he catches more fish per hour than any fisherman I've ever been in a boat with, bar none, including some professional tournament anglers and LOADS of guides who used some of the most expensive equipment available.

Bummer. I just sold my electric boat and I'm in Tulsa. Having said that, I have really kind of begun to hate tournament fishing, so while I'd be happy to fish with you sometime, it'd probably be for fun anyway.

4" BPS XPS grub (smoke or green pumpkin), 7' ML spinning rod, 10lb. Sufix 832 w/ 8-10lb. fluoro leader. Close second would be a Zman Finesse ShadZ (green pumpkin) on either a shakey head or a drop shot.

Seriously? Tell me about this... Some big smallies in my area.

I could absolutely fish with just one rod. It would be a 7' M spinning or a 6'8" MXF spinning. I would catch a ton of fish, probably just as many as I do with lots of rods. But... I like rods. So I have a bunch. However, I have discovered, that as recreational fishermen get older and more settled into a particular type of fishing, they tend to offload a lot of tackle and fish with just what they know works well day in and day out. I submit well-known outdoor writers Rich Zaleski and Ned Kehde for evidence. I suspect, in time, I'll get to that point and cut back to just a few sticks.

My fishing is pretty specialized, as I am a die-hard finesse fisherman, so of the 12 that I carry (I own more than 20), 9 are spinning rods (hence my handle). However, I could do all my fishing on 3 rods (and do quite frequently when fishing from a float tube). 2x 7' M spinning 10lb. braid, fluoro leader (grubs, shakey head, light t-rig, drop shot, grub, tube, senko, small topwater, small crank) 7' MH casting 12lb. fluoro (big worm, mag shakey head, big senko, mag drop shot, finesse jig) I would be retying a lot at first, probably, but I could do it with those. To be honest, though I certainly have technuque specific rods in the boat (esp for the drop shot technique, which imho to do really well requires a specialized rod), the bulk of the 12-13 rods in my boat at a given time are fairly similar and are carried merely to avoid having to constantly re-tie. I like to be able to throw a drop shot, a shakey head, a grub, a scrounger, a little crank, and a finesse jig (insert whatever baits you're using) all at the same piece of structure on consecutive casts while I'm determining a pattern. Once I think I've got them figured out, all but 2-3 of the rods usually go back in the box.

Big worms are the one big bait I throw, other than that, I'm basically a finesse fisherman... Having said that, imho, You can't beat a MH for all purpose worming... For lighter worms, I'd prefer a M, but if it has to do ALL your worm fishing on one rod, I think you'll be happier with a MH. However, if you MOSTLY throw lighter rigs, then I'd go with the medium. I would also consider going with a 6'10"-7' MH or H spinning rod with braid if you're really worried about versatility. With 15-20lb. braid and a 12-15lb. fluoro leader, it would handle any worming you will be doing from 4" finesse worms to 12" monsters and from 1/16 oz bullet weights up to whatever the rod is rated for. The one thing a spinning rod isn't ideal for is heavy flippin/pitchin.

Targeting smallmouths more this year. How big a finesse worm will a smallmouth eat? I know most guys throw a 4-5", but the state record here in OK was caught on a Trick worm, which is more like 6.5". The Kansas state record (where I used to live) was caught on a 5" senko, which is also a pretty big finesse worm. What's the biggest straight tailed worm you'll regularly throw for smallmouths? What situations, for you, warrant throwing a bigger worm? What kind of tackle/rig do you throw the big worm on most?

Sammy 65 or 85, scrounger w/ Zman 3.75" streakZ, 4" smoke grub, #6 X-Rap.

I have one of the Academy H20 Elite rods (the blue blank with the EVA grip) and for $79 ($59 if you wait for one of their rod riots), it boasts fuji micro guides, a fuji skeleton reel seat, and I've fount the 6'10" MHF to be a pretty sensitive, lightweight, functional all around baitcaster paired with a good fluoro. It's my main heavy t-rig rod, and that means a lot if you're me.

X2 on Sufix. Great line and sinks (not as fast as fluoro, but MUCH faster than other braids). Reasonably priced and lasts forever.

Have a custom builder build you up a Batson Rainshadow 802.75 blank in either the RX7 or RX8 series. Its a 6'8" MXF somewhat like the St. Croix but a tad more powerful in the butt IMHO. My favorite all around blank for finesse plastic fishing. I have literally 2 dozen spinning rods, and I like many of them for many reasons, but if I had to fish with just 1 rod for the rest of my life, it would be that blank in the RX8 series with a tennessee handle and titanium framed alconites, which you can get built for about $200. If it's plastic and less than 10", you can do it with that rod.

Nevermind, I did a search and got the answers to my ?s. I also note that Rich Zaleski, who is a die-hard drop shotter and kind of a fishing idol of mine, has repeatedly said that despite trying some of the very best braid/fluoro combinations that exist, he simply catches more fish on fluoro even though he can't explain why. He suspects it has to do with the way that braid, because it floats, impacts the natural drift of drop shot lures when the line is slack. Between his experience and this discussion among us, I'm inspired to break from my braid tradition and spool up one of my drop-shot rods with something else this season. Would I experience similar slack line sensitivity from hybrid, or do I need to go with a straight fluoro? If so, can someone recommend a fluoro that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

I must admit a certain level of shock. I thought you were a die-hard hybrid guy? I'm curious about a lot of the posts I'm reading about slack-line sensitivity. I have not used straight fluoro much at all, as I cut my teeth at the feet of a braid/fluoro leader guy and always have used it since, but I HAVE noticed that I don't feel many bites with braid when my line is slack. Does fluoro as a main line significantly help with that? If fluoro makes a significant difference in slack-line bite detection, why are guys like Shin Fukae, Tom Mann, and Brent Erhlers (all pretty serious finesse fishermen) using it instead of braid? Not wanting to start a brawl, just legitimately curious what you guys think.

My two custom built drop shot rods. One a 6'8" MXF G-Blanks baitcaster built with a split pistol grip handle and micro guides, with a abu garcia silver max and 10-12lb. McCoy fluoro, and the other the same blank built with a graphite tennessee tube handle and alconite guides with a Abu Garcia 702lx reel and 10lb. Sufix 832 with a 8-10lb. McCoy Fluoro leader.

Old Shimano Bantam Chronarch 101b.

I would perosnally rather be shot than be forced to use 12lb. mono on a spinning reel unless its a 4000 size, but I'm a total primadonna about line management . I'd go with 15lb. braid (I'm partial to sufix 832) and a 10 or 12lb. fluoro leader (anything but Seagar Red, which I hated).

Fluoro for baitcasters, braid with fluoro leader for spinning. I just can't get past the managability issue with spinning gear, braid is just so much more twist resistant. I like fluoro on the baitcasters where twist isn't an issue. I also prefer braid for hooksets in deep water because of its lack of stretch, and most of the techniques that I use deep are done on spinning tackle, with the exception of spoon fishing in winter. For cost purposes, I buy both in bulk. I use 8, 10, and 12lb. McCoy 100 fluoro, which I buy in 1000 yard spools, and I buy 10lb. sufix in 1200 yard spools for use on my spinning gear. I have yet to go through a whole spool of any of them but cost per fill is very low.

As a person who is 90% plastics, I agree. However, I tend to think that location and presentation (which are both functions of confidence) are a lot more important than what is actually on the end of your line. To use your 9" worm example, if I'm throwing a 9" Barlow's and another guy is throwing a 9" rage tail, and we both put the bait in front of the same 8lb. largemouth and fished it slowly and with confidence, it would bite both worms. It would probably also bite a lot of other baits if they were fished with concentration and confidence. If throwing the rage tail gives someone more confidence, then that is what is important about the rage tail, not necessarily its action (not to say the action isn't good, I"m sure it is, but so is the action of Barlows). So I just won't pay the money for the rage tail unless I think my presentation and location are perfect already, which they never are.

Thanks! Those look great and very reasonably priced too!

I think everybody just has different values when it comes to fishing. Some just value frugality more than others, which has led me personally to fish mostly z-man (because they offer such a high fish/bait ratio) and generic soft plastics. I'm so dorky I'll actually calculate how much a rig on the end of my line cost (i.e. a z-man finesse worm on a custom poured open jighead costs me .52, a full drop shot rig with the same worm costs me .73, a stupid rig with a barlow tube, about 1.00). I don't like to throw anything that cost me more than 1.50 to put on the end of my line, with the exception of a VERY few hard baits that I use occasionally (sammy 65, x-rap). For plastics, my bread and butter, I just can't get to the point where I believe that a senko catches enough more fish than a generic to justify the cost. I also like buying in bulk because it saves me on shipping over time. But then, I fish out of a 25 year old boat and normally won't spend more than $50 on a rod (with the exception of 2 custom drop shot sticks) or reel, and buy most of my rods and reels used, so I'm hardly the norm.

The only thing that I think the line conditioner helps with on braid is even more casting distance than you're already getting with braid, and less guide noise (maybe worth it just for that). That's for uncoated braids (powerpro). I don't think it does anything at all for the coated braids (supercast, 832, etc). I just use generic silicone spray from the hardware store for both uncoated braid and fluoro, its MUCH cheaper than KVD.

FYI, and semi-unrelated, but for fun, I just checked, and I'm absolutely confident that a serious recreational bass fisherman (tourney guys are a different breed when it comes to buying baits) could spend $500 at barlowstackle.com and purchase enough soft plastics to probably catch bass, crappie, and walleye, year round, for the rest of their life. Talk about lowering the cost of the hobby (addiction?)! Figure another $600 in rods/reels, $500 in terminal tackle, and $3000 for a good, functional fishing boat, and bass fishing is suddenly looking like the blue-collar hobby it was always supposed to be instead of the $100,000 recreational activity it has been made into by commercialized tournament bass fishing. OK, I'll get off my soapbox now.

This issue has a lot to do with brand. Not all brands do bulk packaging, and even some that do only offer certain baits in bulk. Off the top of my head, I know you can buy bulk in Gene Larew, Berkley Powerbait, and nearly any of the smaller, regional or hand pour soft plastic companies.

X2. If you can fish a 4" worm, you'll almost always be able to get bit. Since I learned to finesse fish 5 years ago, I haven't been skunked (now where is some wood for me to knock on?)