Dwight Hottle

My wife loves the Sumatra.

Congrats on the new PB.

I use 7 wraps just to be on the safe side.

Bitters bait & tackle in the Orlando FL area. Bulk pricing for soft baits galore. https://www.bittersbaitandtackle.com/

When you start to see them feeding on the surface or they are in shallow water. I think your sense of sight has already given you the answer to your question.

Hawgtech has you covered. Give Mike or Robert a call if you have any unanswered questions.

I do it all the time including international flights to Canada & Mexico. I have been doing it for at least 30 years. I have seen others prevented from taking reels with line on into Canada during 9/11 and once on a connecting flight after having already arrived in Mexico. Only two times Have I witnessed it happening. My argument with airport inspections was it isn’t any more dangerous than a belt or shoestrings from a shoe for weaponizing fishing line. Most airline's prohibit hooks on carry on especially trebles. Single hooks like flies sometimes fly under the radar.

Wipers or hybrids do fight harder than stripers in my experience because they carry more girth to length ratio. So a 30" wiper will have a greater girth than a 30" striper.

It also depends on the manufacture of the trailer because certain boat lines offer more than one trailer choice.

Color doesn't really mater until it does. It depends on the day, light penetration into the water, water turbidity, body of water and time of the year based on changing or migratory bait availability.

That Point Blank spinner looks very well done & understated elegant at the same time. Well done.

That’s why I made my congratulations under reservation!

I bought the Ventrex soft tail series in 3" & 3 3/4" size. Both of tails were crooked right out of the package.

Glass boats are generally heavier than aluminim but there are exceptions. My last boat a Starcraft STX 2050 weighed more than a 20 foot ranger bass boat. Almost all aluminum have historically had more dead rise angle & higher gunnels or sides which make them sit up in the water column compared to your average glass bass boat. Also most alm boats are multispecies boats rather than pure bass boats which contributes to their sail effect in the wind.

I see we think alike.

I'm not sure but if the reference to vertical concerns holding a musky vertically instead of horizontally but their ability to leap vertical obviously doesn't hurt them. But holding certain species vertically does. I have experienced a 30lb plus lake trout snap it's neck while hanging from a scale when it flexed or wiggled. It was immediate death. Larger esox species will suffer the same if hung vertically. Conversely straight vertical holds are accepted practice for bass.

@12poundbass congrats on the new position & responsibility.

Your going to be missed John. Good luck moving forward.

Congrats on the new PB.

I’m pretty accurate on smallmouth as I have weighed & measured a bunch. Largemouth I’m pretty accurate with fish I personally see or catch. The ones that perplex my senses are fish pictures. Some fish actually look bigger than actual weight But they are in the minority. The fish pics that don’t give a fish true justice are the foolers. The recent 10.14 smallmouth caught in Canadian waters by Ohio anglers just doesn’t look like a ten pounder to me but it obviously was officially weighed on certified scales for the record. Some pics just don’t justify the true weight. Obviously I’m not talking about any of @A-Jays pics as all of his pics make the fish look bigger than actual. Maybe we can get him him to disclose his secrets.

The palomar knot has been around for a long time preceding braids popularity. I always use it for braid connecting knots without any failures. I do not use the double palomar knot.

Don't waste your money. I bought two & was not impressed.

To me a search bait is a bait you can work quickly & cover a lot of ground with while looking for active fish willing to bite. Once bit with no other action you keep moving until bit again. If you get multiple bites then slow down & work the area thoroughly with another presentation like a jig. My favorite search baits are lipless cranks, fast working jerkbaits or chatterbaits depending on the structure.

I think @A-Jay hit it on the head regarding his advice. The only thing I would offer is once you have located a bass that shows interest is too approach them again but use either a finesse slow style approach or a speed approach which they can only commit to or not, like burning a spinner bait.

Your Sahara 1000 would be the same size as a Stradic 1000 & both are much smaller than a Shimano 2500 series reel.