SirSnookalot

All my offshore rods, I think most are made this way, have eva grips and for fighting some of the offshore speices they are pretty comfortable. My freshwater and inshore rods are cork, but in cooler weather they get just a little slick but I still choose them. What is the biggest importance to me is a foregrip, I wil not buy a rod without one, no exception.

Never ends here, inshore is winding down and now it's bass time for a few months. Not a fish in the world would I wear one of the winter costumes for, lol.

Time and a place for each. I think you are going to have less short strikes and easier hooksets using a lure with exposed hooks. Don't always get that good hookset with a weedless fluke, in many of my Florida canals it's a must bait to use.

It's taken more time to read this thread than it does to respool. How much 65# braid line does the reel hold? My guess is less than 150 yds, for 15 bucks I wouldn't bother with backing. Line gets worn strip off and reverse it, 2 spool ups for 7 bucks each. Straight braid and no knots is the only way to go, no muss, no fuss , no confusion.

Just set the hook...................you'll own em.

Braid and leader for me and nothing but spinning gear. If you have no confidence is line to leader knot use a swivel, but at an alberto knot is very strong and easy to master. Most of the popular 20# braided lines have a breaking strength over 30#, that line should never break if it's in good condition, what's going to break is a lighter leader and that's where your drag comes into play. Don't worry about anything, just go fishing.

I'm not going to be real tactful. You can do pretty much whatever you want to, as stated numbers are only guidelines. IMO reading too much info has more of a negative effect than a positive one, just too much to digest and opinions flying in from all sides. Nothing wrong with making a mistake on a rod purchase, now you know what you don't want, no better teacher than personal experience. I consistently overload and underload every single rod I own. One major difference in bass fishing is knowing how to set the hook as bass don't slam overly hard and set the hook themselves. Setting the hook has more to do with natural reflex and reaction than anything else, this can be done with any rod using any kind of lure. Once setting the hook is mastered, a more technique specific rod is a benefit.

This is another of one these issues where there is no right or wrong way to do it, it's whatever you want it to be. I use braid and leader just about all the time, and I don't care for the knot coming thru the guide either. I use swivels to attach my leaders, and my swivel is always going to be large enough as not to pass thru the top guide. I do tie line to leader for certain species, when I do I keep my leaders on the the short side. Putting on a fresh leader takes me very little time.

I have nothing against f/c although I don't care to use it, nor do I care to deal with a line conditioner. I'm a braid and leader user 95% of the time for all species of fish. I do not fish defensively and I do not concern myself with abrasion, I just go after fish and take my chances. I probably have lost somewhere around 20 hard lures in the last 2 weeks, not a big deal as I'm catching lots of nice fish. Losing jigs is another story, whether they get chewed up from saltwater fish or get snagged fishing for bass, your going to lose a lot of them. IMO being worried about losing a 5lb fish may keep you from catching a 10 lb one.

I'm not contestant but probably had my most productive bass fishing day in a long time yesterday about noon. Went to a canal I hadn't visited in quite some time and right from the git go it was hot. I had 7' med spinning rod with 12# braid and 1 1/2 packs of flukes in my pocket. Not much more than 45 minutes later the flukes were gone, I only missed landing 2 fish (a few short strikes too). A good portion of the fish were in the 15-18" range, nothing big but I know on past experience they are there.

Numb fingers no, but a bit of an ache due touch of arthritis now and then. I do have a pinched nerve in my neck that has not responded to treatment over the last year or so. I still fish every day any way, I have a pretty high pain threshold. At my age there is a different ache or pain almost every day, I try not to make a big deal of it.

Grew my whiskers in 1975, still got em.

I did not buy the rod sight unseen, a friend had one and I used it. For an 8' rod the distance is a little disappointing, but it goes far enough, lol. What sold me on the rod was the aluminum reel seat and tightening rings, they are really nice and solid.

If backing is the objective I see no reason to use braid when inexpensive mono is readily available, adding to the existing braid with more braid to top it off is not top shotting. If any distance is obtained using braid as backing, it would most likely be not significant enough to make much of difference. As stated, the poster has some partial spools of braid laying around, I suppose in that case there is no harm in using that braid as backing to eliminate waste, but as a method I don't see the point. Don't know if this is the situation, but people spend hundreds of dollars on a combo and then get cheap on the line wanting to use backing, another thing I see no point in doing. I don't ever using backing on any outfit, at any time, for any reason, with no exception. We aren't talking reels holding 500 yds or more of line, most reels are low line capacity.

I have the new cabo 40 as well, mine is on an 8' okuma cedros inshore med hvy rod. Excellent performing combo

True. The only review and rating I read is Alan Hawk. The most comprehensive reviews I have ever read, each review comes with a bevy of photos doing a complete teardown. Each reel is also fished with as well before the review is posted. It's only saltwater spinning reels.

Some split rings sold have a pound rating , just like a swivel.

For a while yet, as long as the water stays above 80 degree, then they vacate. The rougher the water the better, hard to catch snook in calm flat water.

Not weighing my fish I couldn't say what my largest bass from the bank was, I keep a 20" mark on my rods and estimated a few bass to be in the 25-28" range.

Nothing different and I like my gear, my methods work fine so I'm sticking with them. When they don't work that's the time for a change.

The way to go, or a bullet weight if it doesn't pick up too much debris. I use a mono leader and purposely fish flukes on top or sub water. I probably fish flukes in Florida canals 90% of the time this way.

Braid backing is not uncommon in saltwater, better know as topshotting. http://www.georgepoveromo.com/content.php?pid=60 I don't see the point for using a top shot for bass fishing.

In the $100 price range I would not shop warranty unless it's over the counter. I don't think it pays to pack and ship a rod back, for more expensive rods it does for sure. Either rod is fine, I'd base my purchase on the kind of water I mostly fish and the the kind of lures I like to cast. I really like ml rods, but if the vegetation is thick I'd want a bit more beef.

This time of the year Singer Island is very productive, we are coming to the end of the bait runs but there is still a lot of fish out there.

Many use braided lines on their 2000-3000 reels which on average will hold some where in the area of 140 yds of 20# braid, that's a lot of line. Most species that one would use a reel that size do not have the ability to run 400 feet, pace it off and see how far that really is. Of course it can happen but those incidents are rare, a fresh water tarpon can be hooked while bass fishing that can easily strip off that kind of line. Inshore fishing most of what we catch will not run that far, again it does happen but it's not all that common. For the most part a pretty hefty fish can be caught on reels of that size. In the event your target species does have the ability to strip out lots of line with a tight drag, you should have been using a bigger reel in the first place.