J Francho

Yep. Good point....

The effects of any animal ingesting lead is well documented. What I want to know is has there been a dramatic decrease in loon mortality due to lead restrictions? There has not. It's a bunch of bull.

Pond size spinner bait Small, popping topwater Bag of Senkos Bag of Crosstail Shad, Roboworms, or other bait you like Senko Hooks and DS hooks 1/2 oz DS weights Print out instructions for the knots you can tie well, so you can teach him.

You're making up definitions. Try the US Dept. Agriculture: https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/whatis.shtml Salmon and trout are intentionally raised, and stocked for the purposes of controlling an invasive species, alewife. Striped bass were under consideration, but Salmonoids won that battle. They are a managed, introduced, non endemic species put there to improve the ecosystem, and drive revenue through sport fishing. Here is a list of "invasive' aquatic species. https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/aquatics/main.shtml Please note there is no listing for any Centrarchids or Salmonoids. When you label something as "invasive," it falls under certain legal guidelines. There are other labels, such as "gamefish." Recently bass have been declassified as gamefish in NY in order for fish mongers to be able to sell farm raised bass for food. Last tidbit - You are forgetting whitefish and Atlantic salmon, both Salmonoids under current and accepted scientific nomenclature, as are all the char species. Technically, browns, rainbows, cuttthroats, are considered more closely related to the salmon, whereas the brook and lake trout are "trout." At least that's how I learned in college. Perhaps that's changed in 20 years or so.

I'm against anything that puts limits on fishing. There's no way to eradicate bass from non endemic locales, and there's no proof that even doing so would help, so it is moot. No one can win that debate. I'm just not sure how you can call a fish invasive if it was included in the stocking plan, intentionally introduced, and managed. It has a negative connotation that I will always question why the word is used. Are you a bass fisherman or a trout lover? Here in NY, trout get more support from local enviro agencies, even though brown, rainbow/steelhead, coho, and kings are all introduced. Go figure. No one refers to those species as invasive.

Yep. And anyone that says bass are HARMING the system has an agenda. They simply aren't. Those species have been in trouble for a long time coming. Has nothing to do with bass.

Around half my cranks have Duo Locs already on them. I cut the split rings off when I get them. A Duo Loc lets me use a strong Palomar knot.

You might try calling Shimano and see if they can help you get the brake assembly. You can remove them, but I don't recommend it. 877-577-0600

It should work great. I actually can't stand most "frog" rods I've tried. They may be great at slinging them, but not always so great at setting the hook and extracting them from the slop. For a long time, I just used my flipping stick. I now use a rod with similar specs as the Lew's rod. I think it's a 7-3 HF.

Bass aren't causing harm.

See Tom's quote above. It's not opinion....

That doesn't make any sense. You move you the rod 2", the bait moves 2", no matter the taper. The deal with a faster taper is recovery, since all we're really doing "tapping the bait" on a semi slack line. You pop it, and then give it slack, allowing the bait to do it's thing, depending on which jerkbait model it is. This is where the fast recovery comes in. If you are moving your bait three feet, then you are moving your rod three feet. That's way too much for a proper jerkbait presentation. You're doing it wrong. Remember - this is a finesse style. Get a fast rod, and ease up. Twitch, not sweep.

I like an extra fast taper, low mass, sensitive stick for this. Fiberglass need not apply here. Graphite. I use an Avid AVC62MXF. The very fast tip recovery offers the best bait control for jerk/rip/slash baits.

If you're so worried about it, why not just throw jigs. A good wire tied jig lasts for ever.

Durability is fine with these and Hudds. It's not like something delicate, like senkos. Get some Mend-It, and you can repair any splits that may occur. You should be able to get many fish out of a single bait.

Fixed it for you. I wouldn't call them invasive, either. Most were intentionally and legally stocked.

Rainbow trout naturally occur in California...bass are the alien species.

Rumor has it, both.

I was looking at a 2013 w/23K miles on just like that one. Stock rims, tho.

220, 221. Whatever it takes.

aren't fish already pretty slimy, lol?

Meh...it's not gonna stop me from buying a bait, but I'm certainly not going to seek them out in other applications that I have trusted, tried, and true hooks for. Not really interested in revisiting failures of the past.

Always fish the lip for lunkers, lol.

Bingo.

You could try a walking popper, like the PopMax. Was my most productive hard bait two years running.