Team9nine

Not the best pic but yeah, I'm going with drum, also.

I know we're going a bit OT here, but... I agree completely on the fishing terminology stuff. In the case of this thread, I think what was written vs. what was meant are two different things - an honest mistake. But back on terminology, the obvious problem to me is deciding who gets to define the terms, and then who all agrees to that. As we've proven many times before on this site, in this regard, there is very little agreement, and hence there will always be differences of opinion on most subjects, which only leads to more confusion, not less for readers - but I'm afraid that's the new reality, and it will only get worse with time.

Buy at your own risk. Might be legit, might not be - hard to tell. Several years back there was a big issue around fake Power Pro, and one of the cautions/recommendations was to not buy from certain websites or countries. Not certain if the issue was quality based, trademark related, or both.

Correct. Straight fluoro sinks too quickly to effectively work any "slow" type of topwater like spooks, poppers, etc., though it actually works pretty well for things like buzzbaits. Very easy to test and see for yourself. Braid with a mono (nylon) or copoly leader would work fine with topwaters and is even preferable to straight braid. You could always back off your rod power or action one notch to help compensate. A longer leader would also gain you a little extra cushion.

With topwaters listed in the mix, you should probably stick to mono or braid. Personally, I'd use fluoro for everything else listed and toss topwaters on another outfit.

Thoroughly tested it to my satisfaction and determined XF was a big mistake, at least with shallow diving and squarebill type baits. Do what you want, but I won't be revisiting the idea anytime soon

Yeah, I was going to question that one. Buck lived in Hickory, NC next to lakes Hickory and Rhodhiss, and likely developed most of his theories on those lakes back in the 40s and 50s. He also spent quite a bit of time in Georgia and Florida, and ultimately traveled all over the country fishing most every major body of water available. To my knowledge, there's nothing special about Kentucky Lake and Spoonplugging other than a few jamborees being held there in the late 90s, and it being a popular lake for some members of the TN club who mapped parts of it and named some of the spots. Tennessee had the largest Spoonplugging club in the nation back in those days, and Buck was actually going to develop a spoonplugging community near Nashville/Old Hickory Lake back in the 70s until his first wife passed away. Plans were scrapped and the land ultimately sold off.

...and I am among the hate it people Not a close second, or even a distant third. I'd never use the stuff again, personally. You could compromise with Yozuri Hybrid, though I'm personally not a fan, but it is pretty solid. From your comments, it sounds like straight fluoro won't be an option due to cost.

I guess I'd either check the roadbeds with their bridges and saddles a bunch as they run straight to the river channel, as well as the channel cut breaklines that run South and connect to the main river. I'd also look just a smidge North (barely off your map) where two feeder cut channels run nearly together with a deeper water connection (Fourmile Slough creekbed and bridge area). As has been mentioned, it's hard to stay on top of them all the time, but if you can figure out their route, you can at least milk run a bunch of stuff and increase your odds of running into a group.

Ditto this ^^ Lighter weight for Ned because it's fished as a "no-feel" presentation.

Floating monofilament on Carolina Rigs is a bit oversold, more theory than reality. Yes, there are a lot of variables like buoyancy of bait and hook used, etc., but generally speaking, mono and fluoro as CR leaders are more similar than different - they both tend to hang much closer to the bottom, following the sinker, than you might expect.

Blade baits or lipless - Ned as a backup.

Lots of spawning areas around there that you just can't see due to map scale. That whole area is the back side of the river channel - all backwaters off the river with a lot of nice cuts and holes. Lots of nice water to check there. A lot would depend on whether there is any weed growth in the area when there. If so, top waters along the edges should be good, or jigs or plastics flipped to the same areas if sunny. If you can find some good hard bottom on any of those points and bars, a Carolina Rig or crankbait might be good. The same baits along the roads where they lead in and out of the channel cuts would also get my attention. If you are late post-spawn, moving a bit east, closer to the main river channel nearer current might be a good move.

Just sold an old Heddon Mark IV reel a couple months back (pic). Still have a couple old non-free-spooling Ambassadeurs. I finally parted with my old Daiwa TD-1Hi's years ago, still own several older green Curados and original Castaics, and my Dad still has his old Daiwa Prolite on a Team Daiwa Larry Nixon pistol grip worm and jig rod

You'd probably get a bit more movement, but I never use a swivel, and only rarely use a snap.

Most of the time, it seems to make no difference, though I'd never say never, as there are no absolutes in fishing. That said, I use a leader now days more times than not for a variety of beneficial reasons, none of which are visibility related.

Not doing it myself yet, but I think the biggest reason (though rarely stated) is the ability to tie two different connecting knots, one for each specific line material used, will often lead to an overall stronger connection than having to use a single connecting knot to join two different material types together.

Not the greatest video, but just one example, as there are a couple ways to hook the band up: https://youtube.com/watch?v=yp-s_TLDkDw

He's being overly cautious, which isn't necessarily a bad thing when you have cash on the line, but you do have to weigh the down time against the likelihood of your line being bad and make a decision. As for normal fishing (non-tourney), even with light leaders (fluoro or nylon) I've found I can frequently go 25-30 fish before failure, but as others have mentioned, I always do a quick check and will retie any time I feel it necessary.

OK, different types or timing of moisture absorption involved, but after all the fancy talk, what say you to the question on the table: "Yes," nylon based fishing line gets stronger (higher breaking strength) after absorbing water, or "No," it gets weaker (lower breaking strength) after water absorption? I guess you could also go with 'C', there is no difference between wet or dry breaking strength. The Jeopardy music begins now...

Nope - Tim's right on this one. Once nylon absorbs water, it's amount of stretch, abrasion resistance and breaking strength all take a pretty good hit (15-50%)...but as you said, whatever works for each of us. All lines have negatives and trade-offs. Each of us places a different value system on those factors.

Can't stand him - won't watch...and he doesn't have a clue what structure is oh, and yes, I use a leader with braid about 80% of the time, both fluoro (mostly) and nylon, for a variety of reasons, none of which have anything to do with visibility.

At least on the original Pop-Rs, you always tied direct and shifted the knot down toward the bottom of the eye because you wanted to get the cupped face up in the air so it spit more than it "popped/blooped." Then guys started sanding their baits when the lure was "brought back" to remove the cupped bottom lip. Then the fancy versions came out like the Splash-It, Rico, etc. that were designed and built to give you the same action right out of the box.

At that depth, I'd try going vertical first if suspended. Maybe even a slow drift, or a spider-rig type setup.

I'm not sure you'll ever make 25' moving any speed with a 1/16 oz jig above a crawl. You'll probably need to up the jig head weight, or go with tandem 1/16 oz jigs. Lots of variables as you mentioned. Length only gets you so far before line drag overcomes jig weight.