Stingray23

same here. I see nothing and I see nowhere to put a code in.

How'd you do it?

Yum craw papi

We're more versatile anglers up north the the soufers.

Good deal? Thats a steal

Sunday, April 6th was my first day out on the water. Ice prevented me from going earlier. I caught my first bass of season on a chrome/blue/orange belly 4.5" Xcalibur XS4 jerkbait in about 7-10' of water. I was using my 6.3:1 Quantum Energy PT casting reel spooled with 12lb Seaguar Invizx and my 6'6" M/F Quantum Tour Edition Gerald Swindle Signature edition casting rod. The bass weighed 4.10lbs

Its always good to set a budget, but most of the time, the order exceeds it.

So what did you get?

Definitely Berkely Vanish

This. YZ hybrid is really good line. You should also try their 6 and 8lb test. Good stuff.

12lb Seaguar Invizx for jerkbaits and 10-12lb mono for topwater

I use an APC. Works great.

Any of those reels will be great. I use Tour Edition spinning reels and they have been flawless. Can cast a mile and the drags are excellent. Just picked up 2 Smoke 150's and 1 EXO but havent fished them yet. The Tour MG will be my next reel. And I havent fished or handled the new Energy, but if its anywhere near as good as my gen2 Energies, its a winner. They have been fantastic reels for me for the last 5-6 seasons.

You dont need to slow roll a spinnerbait in 55-60. You should be burning it. I fish a spinnerbait at a steady speed in the 40's and catch all the time.

The misinformation is that their CS sucks, the build quality is inferior, they stop working right away, stuff like that.

Well, for the record, I think its all in your head.

Hardly. Like I said, I dont care what people use, I just dont like misinformation to be spread. And its always from the shimano and daiwa guys.

Today was my first day out fishing. Up until a day or two ago, the waters by me were frozen. We had 60* air temps with sunny, clear skys. Its was beautiful. I decided to get out and fish for a few hrs. Water temps were a little higher then I thought. I saw temps in the 46*-47*. I was expecting low 40's. I caught 3 nice LM in 3-5ft of water ranging from 2lbs, up to over 4lbs. The first 2(biggest) were caught on a jerkbait. The last one was caught on a weightless fluke. I tried a spinnerbait and jig too and nothing yet on them. The water was stained. Like I mentioned, this was only days after ice out. Try the baits I tried and also a grub on a jig head.

Jerkbait, weightless fluke

What I meant by that, is that the JDM crowd scoff at other brands that are not JDM. And that goes for rods, lures, line and whatever else. I couldnt care less about what anyone chooses to fish. I just dont like how false info is spread and the sheep believe it. The higher end Quantum PT line is great. The fit and finish and longevity on my reels is flawless. Dont blame the reel, blame the careless owners. Any reel will look like crap if not taken care of. I have a Quantum Pro 2C that I bought new in 1992. My first "real" baitcaster. Still looks new. Still performs flawlessly. In the end, buy what you like. We're all here to fish and have a good time.

There is no logical explanation for the hate. It mostly comes from the "JDM only" people that think they're gonna catch more fish with their stuff. Also, the clueless sheep that follow what others say. Like I've mentioned a million times here and everywhere else, I've fished Quantum only reels for over 20 yrs and I have never had one issue with any of them. They have never failed me on the water. I use the higher end, PT models. A lot of other people that fish Quantum will attest to what I said.

I use Hot Sauce grease on gears, including the worm shaft. Hot sauce oil for bearings and spool shaft.

I think a lot of people these days use too big of a hook. The bigger hook impedes the action of the bait. For example, I like to use a 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook on a 5" Zoom super fluke. I've seen guys on here say they use 4/0 and even 5/0 hook on the same size bait. Thats crazy. The bait needs some room in the tail end to move and wiggle. I also prefer the thin wire hook for 99% of my plastics. I'll only go to a heavier gauge hook when casting or flipping/pitching into heavy cover.

I pretty much throw all white, all chartruese, chart/white 99% of the time. I'll experiment with a different color every once in a while. I prefer double willow for more flash and speed because I fish clear to slightly stained water. I use all silver blades on sunny, clear days with clear water. I use one silver, one gold in clear days or cloudy days with slightly stained water. I will use both gold blades on clear or cloudy days in stained water, say, after multiple rainy days with a lot of run-off that muddies the water. I also use all white blades or chartruese blades for smallies whenever. Spinnerbaits are one of my go to baits. Its extremely effective at finding active fish and a very fun and exciting way to catch bass. They slam 'em.

You have to try the Quantum PT line.