J Francho

That isn't too bad. Last time I bought it, I was doing over 300 reels a year, so 4 oz. isn't to cut it. I think the 16 oz. tin was around $50.

You do not pitch from a seated position. You can roll cast, or kind of lob cast, but pitching is out. This was a 7'6" rod:

What does height have to do with it? I'm 5'7" and my heavy cover rod is 8'. I pitch with it all the time. It's a tip up presentation. If the bait is smacking the water, you're not using enough tip speed. When the weather is better, I'm going to have to make another pitching video.

I haven't seen any Vexus boats in person. I can't even find what thickness aluminum they use. I'd hope it is 0.10. I'm not seeing a huge leap in fit and finish, just updated styling. I've fished with a partner that had an X19. I had an H18. Yeah, the new style seats are nicer than my bench, and not seeing machine screw heads is also nice, but these are things I'd expect to see in a new boat, over what was in my 2008. Don't get me wrong, they look very appealing, and the colors are beautiful. I just don't think it's as groundbreaking as the hype would have us believe.

Better control of the fish on a short leash? Yes. Better control casting? That's just practice.

The hulls look a little unique, but yeah it's a tin can. A really nicely executed tin can at that. I'm not really sure what is so much "improved" over what was there before. The fit and finish on my Xpress was pretty good. Though they are comparably priced boats, so maybe they are comparing themselves to lower end boats. Vexus looks like they running a pad hull, like Xpress. I still feel like the tag line "fiberglass infused aluminum" is misleading. @Catt, the employees are from several major boat makers, not just Ranger.

No, that isn't true. You can see videos showing the construction of the boats. They are aluminum top caps. The storage tops are painted and carpeted aluminum. The consoles, cooler and livewell are fiberglass. I forgot about the foot tray and bow electronics area - they are fiberglass too. This should help explain it:

I pitch with all my rods, from 6'2" on up to 8' in my kayak. I'm not sure why a shorter rod would be better, or worse, just different. Now pitching to heavy cover, at short range, like 10' or so - a little longer than a flip cast - I find a shorter rod to be an asset controlling big fish on a short leash. I favorite G. Loomis 803 JWR I use for this type of fishing.

They're most likely 20" transom height. These aren't deep-v hulls. The other deal with the "glass infused" thing is it's just glass parts, like the livewell, consoles, and cooler. It's not like the hull is some new material.

I can't say good or bad with splashdowns, but I do notice that skipping a bait gets fish's attention. Even if I don't need to skip a senko, I often do. I watched Dean Rojas skipping a frog when there was no reason to. This was an Elite tournament on Smith Mountain Lake, a decade ago. I asked him why he skipped, and he said it was part of the presentation. Sometimes when fishing frogs, I'll toss them on shore, and hop them into the shallows at the water's edge. It works pretty well.

Loosening spool tension is a pretty common trick.

Fourscore and a decade ago....:P I do not believe there is a website, but his baits are available through online retailers. Search for "Brian's Bees" and you'll get some hits.

Bantam Oil is a good general use. My favorite high performance oil is Oust Metol. TSI 321 is very good, but expensive. Yellow Rocket Fuel is also very good. I like ReelX for roller bearings on spinning reels, and any saltwater setups. Reel Butter and Hot Sauce didn't hold up for me. Grease, I use Cal's or Cal's Purple. I've tried a lot of things on roller bearings, including ATF. TSI 321 or a another light oil seems to work the best. Grease attracts grime and even traps braid fibers, so that's out.

This comes up frequently. I'm sure it works, but I've never thought I needed to complicate rigging to catch a bass. I guess I struggle with the idea of trying to get a fish to bite a bait that has no hooks in order to get them to bite the bait that has hooks.

Fourscore and 13 years ago someone asked about senko colors.... Answer is the same today as it was then: my favorite is smoke with purple flake. I throw other colors, but that is very versatile up here.

Don't make assumptions with spinning reels. My 6.0:1 CI4 takes up 34 IPT, which is similar to a 7.3:1 reel.

Reminds me of this one:

I've forgotten my paddle twice in the 14 years I've kayak fished. It truly sucks.

Interesting. Never really took notice.

I have a couple Eyecon spinners, though they aren't moderate. The build quality is good, and it's one of my favorite handles for spinning.

Yes. All sinking lines do this. It's from surface tension.

I'm not sure if the mid day concentration is because it's a big bass thing, or if it's just that by then, I have things figured out.

Many of my top bass were caught between 10 and 2, including my NY PB 7-2.

It's like forgetting the plug - everyone does it the first time.

There are dozens of options for 12v LED lights under $20.