The_Natural

I got the red bags at Cabelas; they were on sale for 29.99 with boxes. They claim to only hold 5 3700's, but I can squeeze in 7. I also use Tackle Logic worm binders. I will say the whole two bag system is dumb though...it is just waaay to much crap. I have been just carrying the crankbait bag, and put the plastics I have narrowed down in the Tackle Logic worm binders. A binder fits perfectly in each side pocket, and my terminal tackle goes up front. This is just when I am fishing a tournament, or going to the lake. When I pond fish, I take a small little box, or just throw a couple of baits in my pocket.

15lb Pline CXX...

I cleaned and lubed all of mine right off the bat, even though only two of them seemed dry and not as smooth as they should be. It was obvious they had been sitting a while, but they are all perfect now. I always clean and relube new reels with rocket fuel anyway, so nothing lost...

The Z-flats are the newest WEC's I have, and have had limited use. I played around with them over the winter, but that is it. They had a tight wiggle that you want in a flat sided bait; similar to the Sweet Pea's that share the same compartment. I had in mind that they would do well in later prespawn, when the water is in the 50's. I've probably caught my biggest fish on the WEC wobblers, which they don't make anymore. Thanks for the compliments guys...you will never hear me say I need all that tackle; I just enjoy buying it, owning it, and fishing with it. BTW...I've never heard of the Bee-Zee, but I do want more of the WEC baits. They represent everything I desire in a hardbait.

Definitely Finesse given the two choices you listed. Power fishing with baits such as spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits, traps, etc. does not require a sensitive rod, yet these baits just need the proper action, which can be found in a less expensive rod. I like fishing spinnerbaits on my 843 glx's, but I'd be lying if I said those rods were necessary. The Loomis CBR's are the best treble hook rods I have ever fished with, and are a great value.

I'll give a little insight into how I organize. I have two bags I utilize, which you will see at the left of the pic below. The top one is cranks, and the bottom one is plastics. To the right of my bags are my crankbait backstock, with my plastic backstock residing in my closet. My bags contain 7 or so boxes each, categorized by type. My crankbait bag has a trap box, jerkbait box, chartreuse shallow, shad shallow, medium diver, deep diver, and large diver boxes. It would be a bit ridiculous to take a pic of the contents of every single box, so I'll just show some examples. Each box, i.e. shallow chartreuse, shallow shad, etc., are a mixture of my top producing baits. Some examples are below... my shallow chartreuse... shallow shad... traps... You get the idea. I generally carry two of each color of a bait in my carry bags, sometimes 3 or 4 if it is an extremely hot bait for me. When a bait is lost, I go to my backstock. My backstock crankbaits are divided by brand, and each brand gets its own box. BDS and RC backstock... Bagleys backstock... Bandit backstock... Bill Norman, Rapala, Bill Lewis, etc....you get the idea. My closet holds my plastic backstock. I use the 3.5" deep 3700's, and I can squeeze 40 or so bags in each box, and well over a hundred bags in the rubbermaid tubs. Here is my miscellaneous shelfs...

This is a difficult decision no doubt. First off, the TDZ is out; that is a $350 reel. Now it just depenZds on what you want the reel to do. If you need a high-speed moving bait reel; the Zillion or STX with their 7:1 gear ration would be ideal. I'm throwing the STX in solely on all the good reviews, and am not even considering the drag which I think is only a selling point. If you want a reel for soft plastics and jigs, I'd go with an Mg50 or Alphas.

Here are my reels, minus one pixy and one Scorpion that I just sold... Alphas with new spools...

Here are my Loomis rods and my two Avid spinning rods. Because I know someone will ask, the colored foregrip covers are something I made by special ordering extra-large diameter heat shrink tubing. From top to bottom: bcr893 glx (grey) bcr893 glx (grey) bcr852 glx (purple) bcr803 glx (purple) mbr843c imx (blue) mbr842c imx (blue) mbr843c glx (blue) mbr844c glx (blue) mbr844c glx (blue) cbr843 (clear) cbr845 (clear) 6' avid (pink) 6'9" avid (pink) closeup... Here are my Steez rods, with one being in transit to be replaced. From top to bottom: 711 Steez 711 Steez 671 Steez Here is my broken 601 Steez...

Rod...by far. Right after college, and when I was just starting to fish again and joined the BPS forums, I purchased a Loomis IMX, and put a BPS Prolite finesse on it ($260 rod...$79 reel). Worked well until I could afford an Mg50 to put on it.

Did I need to say 'knock, knock' before my post or what! Long Mike- please see my post above...I was being sarcastic; using heavy mono such as Pline CXX in 25lb to me seems no different than using braid. That was my point .

+1. The BPS fluoro is not only great line, it is a great value and available in 1000yd bulk spools. Indeed it is Toray line. The Seaguar Inviz-X/Cabelas No-Viz Xtra is very limp and castable, but it has a little too much stretch for my liking.

+1 . I've never used 25lb CXX, but I imagine it has a breaking strength around 40lb Braid, with quadruple the abrasion resistance. I thought about putting a smiley at the end of my post, but I wanted to see if you all would see the sarcasm/irony

Braided line is for inexperienced anglers that don't know how to properly play fish. That's why I use 25lb CXX monofilament...it's just more sporting and takes more skill.

I mainly pitch also; I flip probably 10% of the time when compared to pitching. I use either one of my Mg50's or TDZ's, and 15lb CXX or 17-20lb fluoro.

I use a Loomis mbr844/TDZ and 17lb fluorocarbon. I utilize a carolina keeper with a drop of super glue instead of a swivel, which dramatically increases sensitivity due to strike vibrations not being canceled out by the swivel. I use a Tru-Tungsten sinker in 1/2-3/4oz and a glass bead or brass clacker...sometimes both. 90% of the time I C-rig in the Summer, on points and such, and go with a worm or french fry.

Springtime and stumps equal bass, and you could probably pick your poison and be successful with whatever you choose. I'd go with a shallow crank without a doubt, and have been tearing them up with a BDS1 as of late. It's hard to argue against a spinnerbait as well, but my passion lies in cranks.

There are different ways to retrieve it. You can hop the weight or 'pump' it, which will in turn get your bait a little lift, or you can just drag it slowly (most popular), and the worm will drag behind. I know it looks like the worm is just scooting across the bottom as if you were slowly dragging a Texas rig, but the worm/creature/etc. is behaving much differently without a weight attached to it. Even though it is being dragged slowly, the worm behaves weightless, yet sticks to the bottom...slightly popping up as it hits rocks. That is what a C-rig and Drop Shot do that no other rig can; present the action of a weightless bait on or near the bottom. Also, as mentioned above, you can experiment with floating baits, but I do not have much experience using floating baits on a C-rig.

I just spent $70 on a Shimano Sedona and Berkley Lightening rod at walmart. The new lightened Lightening rods are indeed very light and feel nice. It's amazing how much better they are now at $30 than they were in 1989 at $70-$100 (my first rod).

I always recommend a 4" ringworm texas rigged with a 1/0 or 2/0 hook and a 1/8oz bullet weight. Trust me, you will get all the practice you need setting the hook .

No. On days bass want a Lucky Craft, I catch just as many fish as I do on the days they want a Bandit. I guess a better question would be do they want a Lucky Craft more often...and I think they do, solely because they haven't seen as many. It is a more consistent crankbait than any of the other cranks I own. That is strickly my opinion. A lot of people will comment on paint, build quality, etc., which we all know is better...but most want to know if they catch more fish. When a bait is hot...it's hot, and if fish are on the Lucky Craft I sure wouldn't want to be without one...the same goes for a bomber Fat A, etc.

*** would be a good one... ( *.com )

You could absolutely be right...I honeslty don't know and was just guestimating. CXX is definitely a stiffer line...I bet in your colder climate it would be worse. I call it the 'no-nonsense' line...if it was a cigarette, it would be a Camel filterless. If it was a drink, it would be black label Jack Daniels ;D. One of these days the technology will be there for an ultra-thin, ultra-limp copolymer with ridiculous abrasion resistant capabilities and stretch equivalent to braid. We'll sit back an laugh at all the time we spent worrying about our line (I definitely contemplate my line choice way too much ).

I'd pick Gamma, but it's not really a fair comparison considering Gamma costs 3x that of Yozuri. I'd pick Bass Pro's XPS fluoro over Gamma though, and it's significantly cheaper .

Bingo. I mentioned this in the thread about the gentleman that was disappointed in his TDZ, and I felt the same way a few years ago when I held a magnesium reel at BPS for the first time. Magnesium reels feel different; they are actually sensitive reels. You feel everything, but it's a precision feel, and with an ultra-lightweight high end rod, it equates to a more sensitive combo.