J Francho

Nice review! I'll be trying the 14 lb. as soon as it arrives.

Anything, really. Trim it if you need to.

Put a 3" grub on the hook of that spoon, and destroy them!

There are over 300 species of crawfish in this country. Unless the body of water is extremely acidic, there's some species of crawfish in it. At any rate, I've fished a lake that is so acidic, your skin peels after a day of fishing. The #1 bait there? Jig and craw.

I'd have burned the house down!

I don't fish for river smallies, so I cannot comment on them. Pound for pound, the common argument that smallies fight harder is true. Fight, is the key word. Not pull. After about 4 lbs. though, they start to even out, but even then there are exceptions. My PB LMB was like reeling in a soggy boot. My PB smallie just hung on the bottom, and took some convincing to come to the surface. My #2 LMB made three drag screaming runs on my braid to leader finesse setup. First run was around 20 yards, and they each got shorter. That fish did not jump either. I also wonder if the bigger fight has more to do with being evenly matched with the fish, using lighter gear for smallmouth. That said, they definitely are "squirrelier" than their largemouth cousins.

Yes, as will a side plate from a Sol.

So do hooks. If you're that worried, get a FishGrip, and and clip it to the scale. Like this:

If this is labeled "XF" it's incorrect and misleading. As speed increases, less of the rod bends, when equal pressure is applied. Of course, there are specialized tapers and blanks, especially if you get into the high end area, but they should generally follow this chart:

Been fishing from a kayak for over a dozen years. Unless you're in a SINK, it has zero impact. In fact, longer is sometimes required, if you're fishing deep and/or vertical, to get around the bow of the vessel if the fish runs. Alternatively, you can use the power of the fish to turn the boat, if your using a heavier line. You lock down on the fish, if it runs away from the boat, let the drag fly if the fish runs straight down. We do this when fishing northern pike, or salmon fishing. Not so much bass. Lastly, a note on handle length. Many say they'd prefer a shorter rear grip. Another common complaint is poor hooksets from a sitting position. A longer rear grip, tucked under your elbow, just as you'd be doing standing on shore or from the front of a bass boat, is proper technique. Fishing with the rod and reel centered, in front of you is both awkward, and will lead to poor hooksets. The longer handle, locked and loaded under your elbow will provide all the hookset power you need. Look at this, around the 4:00 minute mark, for a hookset.

I'd want the longer rod for C-rigging. Not sure what the kayak has to do with it, I use the same rods whether in my bass boat, on shore, or in a kayak.

Any reel with a solid metal frame and strong drag will work. For a rod, I like a light weight, heavy/fast rod, around 7-7-3.

Never used a horney toad, but it's similar to the Rage. You have to reel this Tip-toad in a little faster than the Rage Toad.

You 'll definitely want a high speed reel, and might want to try both weighted and unweighted, to compare retrieve speeds. I was reeling fairly quick with the 6.3:1 TD-X HSDL. Would have preferred a burner reel for this.

It was upright more often than upside down. The big hook, and rigging it with an "arch" in it's back helps.

I'm still out there defending tradition.

Honestly, me neither. Last time I fished them was probably four years ago or more. Where I was fishing presented the perfect opportunity to try them out.

At least you got a few smallies. I got one 16" on a Bandit Rackit. It was actually a funny catch. Fish slammed the bait, and start reeling, except there's no resistance. I thought maybe a northern bit me off. Next thing, the smallmouth launched right at me, three feet out of the water, with that Bandit in it's mouth. I finally caught up to it, reel set it. Thing was nuts, lol.

No clue on weight.

You didn't use the direct link, like this:

So many younger anglers consider rigging a bait on a weedless worm hook "Texas Rigged." That's weedless. A Texas rig has sliding bullet weight. I think Glenn's point was that when he goes finesse, he goes with more of mojo/split shot, for a slower, more delicate presentation.

https://postimages.org/ Copy the direct link and paste here.

Anyone try one yet? I got to use them for the first time this past weekend. They're more durable than many other toads I've tried, and the flapping leg action is pretty noisey. I rigged it on an Owner 4/0 Wide Gap Plus hook. Fish liked them, and I caught several on the same bait. One thing I noticed, they were really easy to skip, which came in handy along a stretch of over hanging willow trees bordered by milfoil beds growing to the surface - perfect area for a toad bait. This guy shook my toad off, but I'd already caught a few with it.