Big Bait Fishing

braid to leader will solve that !! .......

Phenix Recon 2 - 7'2'' Medium or the 7'6'' Medium

yup, BlueBasser's quick !!!

it's in a tree , BlueBasser86 will get it !!

those 4 species could be fished on four different reels !! 1000 size - bluegill 2500 size - bass 3000 size - walleye 4000 size - pike but if you are definitely gonna use it for all four , go with the 3000 as it has a lot of line capacity plus a higher drag .

all good !! i have a 9525 (Pflueger Patriarch ) , i don't see my self buying a bigger spinning reel ever ...

from watching the episode on Stoked On Fishing , they didn't show him measuring the fish

which fish the 10 lb fish or the 11.4 ? the 11.4 was on Stoked On Fishing tv episode yeah it's a bummer , so when another fish is toted as the record but is smaller than one that's been caught it kinda diminishes the new ''so called IGFA spotted bass record" , kinda like the fish out of japan that weighed a little over 22lbs &4 ounces when a 25 lber was caught but not an IGFA record .... Paul Bailey is a VERY good swimbait Fisherman and a great guy , wish he could have gotten the IGFA record cause he deserves it , till some one lands an 11lb. 5 oz. spotted bass , Paul Bailey's spot is the known record

the 6925 is a 1000 size reel

nice fish , almost as big as Paul Bailey's 11.4 lb. spotted bass out of California .

before any rod recommendations can be made we have to know what you are flipping , are you flipping weightless plastics , small jigs , big jigs , 1/4 oz. baits , 1/2 oz. baits , or up to 1 1/2 baits ??? , you could use a medium rod for weightless plastics all the way up to a XH rod to flip 1 -3 oz. baits , you need to elaborate ....

the Surgeon's knot is excellent for braid to flouro , i use for my spinning setup ( 10lb. SX1 to 6lb. Sniper ) and on my casting setup ( 30lb. SX1 to 14lb. Sniper ) both rods have micro guides .. the Surgeon's Knot is nice and compact , very strong and Very easy to tie !!!

even though i don't care for their rods , i'd go with the dobyns 867 because if you are gonna use it for heavier baits (6+ oz. baits ) you will need the longer handle , trust me ...

why don't you contact a rod builder in your area and see about a custom , those LDC rods are built of of Phenix Black Diamond blanks and the Black Diamond Hybrid blanks , getting one of the blanks and taking it to a builder and have it made to your liking is the best bet , or you could always go with a production rod ... if your looking for a 8 ft. rod , check out the PHD809XH or for a 8'6'' rod , check out the PHD869XH , both those blanks are the Black Diamond Hybrid blanks ... depending on the builder and their schedule , they could have it built within a week or two

i am all for low prices , i was just wondering why there are two different MSRP prices ! that price is supposedly set by the manufacturer , and i'm not talking about the final price as i want the best deal too for example if the real MSRP is $150 for a blank but a dealer says the blank has an msrp of $250 but says it has a big sale with 30 % off , then the price will be $175 , still higher than the real MSRP , so it gives way to misleading advertising , that's my point ....

that doesn't make sense for consumers

so what's the real MSRP ??????

out of curiosity , i looked up Utmost Ent. website and was checking out the Eternity blanks , the 7'6'' Mh , Utmost lists the MSRP price on the blank at $259.48 and saying to contact them for additional savings . then i looked up GETBIT 's website on the same exact blank and they list the MSRP at $219.47 !!! sounds as though Utmost is jacking up the price then trying to say they give you a big dicount , sounds like false sales advertising , Michael , i don't know if you shop there but thought you'd like to be aware of that .. SKU Rainshadow_ETEC76MH-SS Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price $219.47 Action Fast Alication Jig and pig/pitching plastics in and around heavy cover Blank Weight 2.9oz Butt 0.540 Length 7'6" PCS 1 Power MH Line Weight 12-20 Lure Weight 3/8-1 Tip 5.5 Color Sanded Swirl

if you are gonna keep the blank , put some size 3 micro guides on it , assuming it's a casting rod , should balance it out . if it's a spinning rod , i'd look into a micro guide set up too , i have a Phenix M1 7'8'' MXF rod with micro guides and it isn't tip heavy enough to be noticeable ..

the Irod has a rear handle of about 13-14'', the Okuma has a 14-15'' handle, the Gloomis has about a 14'' handle , the only rod you mentioned that have an 18'' handle is the dobyns mike Long rods . TW doesn't measure the handles on the rods they sell correctly , rear handles are to measured from the rear most portion of the reel seat to the butt of the rod . TW measurement includes the fore grip and reel seat , so if you had a rear handle of actually 7'' and a 6'' foregrip ,also adding in 3 1/2 '' for the reel seat, you'd have a 16 1/2 '' handle by TW's saying , but in actuality you'd still have a 7'' rear handle . ask any rod builder and they will tell you the same . using shorter handled rods while throwing big swimbaits will wear you out a lot quicker than a longer handle , plus the better casting distance due to better leverage to get that rod moving with a big bait .

a lot of brittle lines do that , CXX will weaken big time when you get a kink in the line . yeah it's a strong line but throwing big swimbaits will reveal that weakness and it will happen down in the spool . i had lost numerous Hudds with 20 yards of line flying behind it . after too many of those episodes i made the switch to Izorline XXX and never had that happen . when i needed a stronger line , i went with Gamma Co-poly , using 25 & 30 lb. lines though Gamma has a little more memory .. Gamma Co-poly 25lb.- break strength @ 42 lb. 30lb.-break strength @ 51lbs.

good line but has a lot of memory., next time you make a TW order , try a 300yd spool of the Izorline XXX

a true rod handle measurement is measured from back of reel seat to rod butt , that handle is 13 1/2 , here's a pic of my St. Croix - you'd be suprised how much better the rod casts with a longer handle a really great line that is super strong , not much memory is Izorline XXX , i would use 25lb. line for baits up to 7 oz. , 30lb. for baits up to 10 oz. and 40lb. for baits up to 16 oz. another line that is ridicilously strong (strongest out there ) is Gamma Co-poly , has some memory but is still not that brittle to where it gets kinks (like p-line CXX ,that stuff will cause unexpected breakoffs down in the spool , i quit using that stuff years ago , learning the hard way ...)

get that Butch Brown stocker trout in the water !!!

i live way down south in San Diego , i know they have a lot of Hitch up north , try baits with alot of silver maybe the blue back herring