SirSnookalot

$700, I thought it was a Typo.

I could care less about Ashley Madison or TW.

IMO understanding the nuances of a targeted species is a lot more important than the lure tied on. Learning YOUR fish on your water is a big key to being more successful. This is a bass site, that's the emphasis, I don't fish bass much different than other species, except feeding times, tides, wind,weather and water conditions, time of year can play a big part too.

They are not always aggressive

yes, you could have caught one. You described one of my favorite scenarios, Drag a crappie type jig in the sand in front of them, it may take a few casts to get them intrested. They will bat or push them away and finally strike they get ticked, gotta give it time. You can drag an xrap same way. If you can't see them you are then blind casting, just fish normal.

Biil Dance is great. I've watched him many times land bass and never gets up from his chair, none of these wild hooksets. Most people do what he does, goes to a familiar place and fishes the areas where he has had success. I've seen him fish saltwater he doesn't struggle there either, seen him land tarpon on bass gear, being a tarpon fisherman myself I can tell ya that isn't easy. He is vocal and his explanations are easy to follow. The real question is can you do what he does on your home water?

I prefer 1 piece, with previous cars I could put a 7'6 rod on top of the seats. My cars now have a trunk pass thru, about any length is good up to 10'

NIce thought for a winter day in front of the fireplace. When I'm out fishing, I'm not playing with video games.

The object of a tv show is to make money, how would it be fishing a mudhole and getting skunked or small fish. Bet BD ha plenty of small fish edited out. If you catch a fish you claim it to be anything you want, wherever you caught it. Many people fish high end technique specific gear, along with electronics, does this not make fishing easier, would a PB be counted then? Why not if you are fishing better water. My suggestion, forget watching Bill Dance and learn your own water and how to fish it.

I agree about inshore rods, which I use for bass fishing. I have a Calico Jack Med that I like a lot. Both the fore and rear grip is ample and have the backbone to handle snook and jacks, about 60 bucks

I agree about the fluke in south Florida freshwater canals, always some kind of vegetation. Same fluke can be used in ICW or ocean for snook and tarpon I've caught 100's if not thousands. Fluke catches everything down here, IMO the only must have lure, either weedless or on jig head.

With a follower quite often they get disinterested if you slow down, speeding up increases their aggressive nature. We troll at better than 10 knots for some species.

I have several friends that are hardcore salt fly fishermen, many of them have changed from $1000 rods to TFO. I have used their signature spinnng rod and liked it just fine.

My max in freshwater is probably an xrap. In the long run plastics may cost more, but any lure can be lost from cut off or snag on the very first cast. I catch a lot of fish on DOA 5.5" jerkshads and Strike King jig heads, it adds up. I do no better than the people using a Zoom fluke on a Walmart jig head.

Don't do that with braid if your target fish hit at 25 mph.

About anything you want to use it for. I'd use a rod like that for open water fishing, jerk baits, topwater. MH for bass, I'd prefer for snook or redfish.

Spooltek is hot down here. A Florida bass will like a New Jersey lure just fine. I took Florida snook lures to California last month for stripers, they were appreciated.

I went yesterday, 1st time in about a month, made 2 casts and came in. Had a swirl on top water, I could see it was a small fish, didn't want to fish the heat for small ones.

My favorite is fishing the surf with a healthy groundswell coming in. Groundswells are more like a tsunami, calm water with big breakers, 10 mph wind from ne, even 10 pounders are a tough battle. Offshore 3-5 waves, the rougher the water the better the bite, usually. Fish about 600' for dolphin. SIghtcasing in the backcountry in the keys, pretty good stuff.

Used to hit up Faces quite a bit.

If I fished another 50 yrs, I wouldn't have near the stuff as some people already have, I don't buy a lot of tackle.

Quite a few rod brands have a shortish rear handle ( for me) in 7' lengths, the 7'6 of the same models I like better. One of my freshwater rods, Calyco Jack both the fore and rear grip in the 7' med. is perfect for me, I like this rod a whole bunch. Don't think height is real important, I'm 5'4 and my topwater rods I use at the ocean are 8', but we do work the lures a little different.

I would only balance a rod if I threw the same weight lure every time, which I don't do.

I fIsh only spinning, never heard of a choking point, good bet I've never done it or will, don't balance either.

Only thing about the rod, I prefer a longer foregrip. I judge a rod for what it is, not another rod in it's price range. My criteria is somewhat different than what I read. One of the few aspects of a rod review I pay attention to is breakage, for whatever reason. I have bought some of the popular brands only to return them, not they are bad just didn't meet my needs or expectation for the price. Where I fish I don't need to feel a strike, I need to hold on when I get one. For a 100 bucks there isn't much to lose with a TFO, where I buy my rods I can return within a few days no problem. For 300 bucks I better buy a rod that significantly out performs what I already have, have yet to find that one, including custom which in many cases can't be returned.