Dwight Hottle

Depends on the bait size you want to match up with. For bigger baits I like Ledgeheadlures. They make a cradle head style bait with bigger hook options from 5/0 to 10/0 long shank & 1/4 oz up 1 3/8 oz weight. The wire securing the blade sits well away from the hook & is bendable to provide greater clearance if needed. Lots of baits look good but the clearance between the blade & hook is inadequate causing the blade not to spin because it interferes with the plastic bait you are using. For smaller underspins I like the HogFarmer WarPig HD & also Blade-Runner Spintrix which match up well with Basstrix Spintrix trailers.

Off the rocks where at? It's a big lake Chris.

Bantam mgl available for $274 JDM sites with free shipping. It's my absolute favorite in the $250-300 price range.

I agree with the dropshot rod & it makes a good jerkbait rod. Like already mentioned it's good for cranks, topwater, flukes & livebait applications. It's actually a very versatile stick.

Legendary waters but the great lakes system is a much higher percentage of catching a trophy as you define it.

How are you going to bet when a guy rigs a wacky wormie on his jig. ? Best of both worlds?

Your right attitude has a big part on keeping you on the right path. Just stay as positive as you can & don't worry because it's out of your hands. Your attitude so far has been remarkable. Keep on keeping on. We are all pulling for you.

X2

I have been using shimano's for at least 40 years. I always started off with two brakes on & two off then adjusted accordingly just like you. But with the current generation of braking especially with the bantam the best setting is with all four brakes on & setting the dial at 2.5 then adjusting it accordingly. A lot of guys bought bantams & then shortly thereafter had them up for sale. We both know they weren't disappointed with the quality of the reel. I figured out it had to be disappointment with the casting distance/experience. I talked to a highly regarded reel tech and he told me the bantam cast the best with all four brakes deployed & starting with the adjustment set at 2.5. I took his advice & have advised others to try it. The guy knows his reels. I just got a jdm bantam pg this week & surprise, surprise when I checked the brake setting all four brakes were deployed from the factory. This was the first one of the six I own to come that way.

I gave my advice to help him out. Maybe you should try it before questioning the reasoning.

Try all four brakes on & set the dial to 2.5 then adjust the dial as needed.

I sold all my mets to buy bantams. I have two pg's for cranking & slow reeling applications, two xg's & two hg's. They are the smoothest best built quality casting reel I have ever handled in a low profile reel matching the quality of the conquest round reels.

Several tips that will improve the taste of fish. 1-Bleed the fish immediately after catching it by tearing or slitting a gill or cutting the throat area below the gills that attaches to the belly & put on ice after it has bleed out. 2- When filleting fish you can zipper them by removing the red meat section which runs from head to tail between the white meat which I call the shoulders & the belly meat on the bottom of the fillet. Cut a notch on either side at the tail & grabbing that piece while you pull it lose from the top & bottom pieces like you would pull a zipper. 3-Remember that most of the contaminants that build up in a fish's system as it ages are located in the belly meat so I usually discard it unless I am cleaning panfish or perch. 4- Chose young or smaller fish to keep for eating not the big or older fish. 5- The above mentioned soaking the fillets in milk or water.

I have gotten into the Kistler brand about 5 years ago. I have two Z bones a LEXF-3MH-70 which i use for jerkbaits, light cranks & topwaters with copoly lines. Absolutely love it with no complaints. I also got a 2019 Z bone ZB4MH73 with the x ray blank and use it for plastics & jigs. Outstanding rod. I don't own any conquests but do have several NRX's & like the Z bones better for quality of workmanship, lightness in hand & great sensitivity. The complaints about Kistler quality concerning breakage happened many years back before North Fork Composites. At that time Kistler was sourcing blanks from China and there was a quality control problem. I guarantee you if you buy one Z bone you will buy another.

X2

J I have had smallmouth twist a treble out of elongated & mangled stock split rings on quality jerk baits several times. It does happen.

PB's are always sweet. Congrats.

Call Loomis & have them ship you one

If he switched to Shimano then I would be impressed.

Hope it's something non threatening.

Smaller bass will hit bigger jerk baits. Your skinny cutter at 4 3/8 is not too big at all. Just go for it.

Good luck with your surgery & rehab. Work your hardest to get your range of motion back during rehab & you will be fishing like a new man shortly.

We know you can catch them on a rubber frog.

It depends on the body of water & the health of the fishery. A group of guys & I used to fish three farm ponds in south Georgia exclusively with live shiners. The ponds held some big fish 9-10 lbs but were mostly over populated. We caught numbers & quality. After a couple of trips I decided to try artificials only to compete against the two other guys to determine which was the most successful. Using wacky rigged senkos we determined that the hassle of buying (expense) & keeping the live bait alive wasn't worth it. The senkos were just as effective & more user friendly. I ended up catching my PB at the time on a LC pointer from one of the ponds. Winner artificials. Now my experience in fishing public waters in Florida gives the edge to live bait hands down. I know some professional guides in FL who will only fish live bait. One guy in particular has caught 100 trophy bass this year 2019 entered in the state run trophy bass program exclusively on live bait. Minimum weight to qualify is 8lbs submitted to the state with a picture of the fish on a scale showing the actual weight. This same individual has three 13lb plus bass to his guiding credit. My experiences on lake Erie fishing for smallmouth always gave the edge to artificials over live bait. My success with artificials with good enough I never really considered live bait as an option. It just wasn't necessary.

This guy will turn your dream into reality. https://warrior2bass.com/