Dwight Hottle

Good suggestions. Catch a donkey.

Classic news report.

Longer is better for sure. Enjoy.

They are great shippers & fast. No worries.

Man sorry to hear you have been under the weather. I hope you make a strong recovery & get back to fishing & posting up a new PB.

Yes I have used the HJ14DD husky jerks extensively on lake Erie for smallmouths. I mentioned in another thread that the HJ14DD in glass perch caught at least 30 smallies over 6lbs in my boat. I used then on 10lb braid with a 15lb maxima ultragreen mono leader from 10'-20' long. I drifted with the wind at my stern using my electric trolling motor to steer. I was long lining them behind the boat 100 to 200 feet back. They would touch bottom in 17' to 21' depending on the bait. I also used the HJ12DD a little but mostly the bigger HJ14DD. Early on I used both sizes equally but got more bites on the bigger size which also has 3 trebles instead of two. The HJ12DD would get around 12-15' depth on the same gear. I always used two rods out per man in my boat. One in a rod holder & one held by hand. We would stagger the lines with two out long & two out shorter to keep tangles to a minimum. By drifting with the wind you allow the waves to impart action on all baits. The rod holder baits would sweep forward with every wave then return to limited action. The hand held rods we worked as normal jerk bait rods with twitches, sharp jerks, pauses, sweeps & any other actions we chose to impart. When someone got bit we would bring the other rod closest to it in or leave it out depending on how cooperative the smallie was coming into the boat. I would always stop the trolling motor once bit. Often times the other three rods would get bit while the first fish was coming into the boat. That happen fairly often. Yes they suspend well, they get bit very well & achieved good depth among my arsenal of deep diving jerk baits.

2x is double the strength of a regular hook or 1x. Hook strength goes up the ladder one rung at a time;ie 2 times as strong, three times as strong, etc. The Zo wire 38 is 20% smaller in diameter than a plain 38.

But was it the black bait or was it the copper blade? I have had some awesome outings using copper blades under cloudy low light conditions.

Jig

In the state of Florida any one can carry when fishing.

Xraps are good. The husky jerks & deep diver husky jerks are great for all species, walleye, smallies, largemouth, lakers & pike. The HJ14DD in glass perch put at least 30 smallies over 6lbs in my boat. Killer bait.

At least 5 years maybe a little longer. I have never had a problem with the eva lock nut. No way to know what the blank or look will be until it is announced.

Try the hj12 & hj14 sizes. Their are killer sizes for smallmouth & largemouth.

I have been a Kistler fan & owner for about five years. I have bought 3 z bones, 5 heliums & 1 klx. All my purchases were based on NFC blanks & only one rod was purchased from a vendor, all others were direct purchases from Kistler. Kistler's incentive program & frequent sales make for strong customer alliance. I see no reason not to continue my support based on my past experience.

Glad to see your enjoying your time on the water.

Old guys rule.

I have the first generation 7-6 imx swimbait rod. It's rated from 1/2 to 3 oz. I used it heavily down in Mexico at Lake Baccarac. It flung a 3/4 lipless crank a country mile. The guy I was fishing with has the same rod in the imx pro series. He was super impressed with the casting distance & how it handled big fish. I can tell you it handles big cranks with no problems. I was using SK10 XD's & duo realis G87 20A's which pull pretty hard & that rod was very comfortable to use. I also used it for 1 oz underspins with large paddle tails & hudd 68 specials & bacca buritto 2oz swim baits. I think you will be impressed with how well it handles single hook & treble hook baits within it's lure rating. Very versatile rod. I had it paired with a curado 200pg & suffix advance 17lb copoly.

Not the first time Auburn tricked Satan on the last play. Remember a couple years back when Satan tried the long field goal & Auburn put a player under the goal post who caught the missed field goal & returned it for a score. That was a classic loss.

Disclosure I was born & raised in Ohio. OSU beats Michigan in their big house to keep the streak alive. Go Bucs. Then to cap the day off Auburn beats Alabama in the fourth quarter of the iron bowl. Sweet.

Great first post. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Welcome to BR. Two rods come to mind. St Croix Legend X 7' MF 3/16-5/8 Model XLS70MF. Second choice is St Croix Legend Xtreme 7' 6" MLXF 1/8-3/8 Model LXS76MLXF. Either rod would serve you well for smallie. The MLXF although rated as a medium lite fishes more like mag lite or 1/2 power heavier than you would think. Its a real fun rod to use but will still handle a trophy smallie.

A mans gotta do what a mans gotta do.

Fishing lake Erie I always run two rods, one held in hand & worked & one in a rod holder trailing the boat as the waves pushed the boat imparting action. Second guy would do the same. That gives you 4 baits to monitor & make selections based on what is getting bit. X2

Tom you have my support for the best outcome with your son. If MD Anderson can't be of help check with University of Miami's Sylvester Cancer Institute in Miami. They have some cutting edge treatments & trials.

No your not off in this thinking. I have caught a lot of bass on jerkbaits & can guarantee you based on my results that Megabass jerkbaits are not necessary to your jerkbait success. Different jerkbaits manufactures almost all work well. Some work better than others. I have had excellent success with Lucky Craft, Rapala, Smithwick, Duo Realis, Ima, & Deps. Disclaimer: I do own Megabass jerkbaits totaling about a dozen, They are good quality & work well but are not necessary if you already have a good selection of different baits. I achieved a high level of success using various jerkbaits before I ever started using Megabass so I'm speaking from experience. On any given day one particular jerkbait will outfish others because of its size, sound or lack of it, suspension, erratic movement, tilt or position in the water & color. Some days the fish want the bait work slowly other times you can't work it fast enough. Time on the water will help you overall success more than having one particular "hot bait".