Hammer 4

Good on ya Sam..Hope you find a good home for him..

Up to you, I would spend the extra and get the 200.

I'd go with the 200. Has good line capacity, cast's well, has the horsepower to haul big fish out of cover, and works well for swimbaiting. Oh, mine is the 6.3.

Your choice should work fine. Although IMHO the reel is a bit more than you may need. I have the Tatula CT 200 on my swimbait rig, the cool thing is my reel works for flipping and punching too, and it cost's less than the Lexa..

I wear polarized Maui Jim's with readers. Cost..200.00 had em for about 8 years. Always have croakies so they don't fall off.

This is what fishing is all about. Congratz to the young man, and good on him and his Dad for the CR..

^^^^^ This, go with straight braid.

I used full cork handles for a long time. When I got my first split handle, it was way more comfy for me, in so far as I never used all the handle to begin with. Split handle rods are usually lighter, but not always. I even prefer a split grip on my swimbait rods.

Op, 1 to 2 seconds imho is not slow. Letting it sit for 10 seconds or more while giving it small twitches would be better.

I really like Lake Hodges, but it can be tricky with the rise of the water level..Also there's a ton of underwater stick ups that will cause you to lose a lot of baits..unless you know where to fish. Lake Wholford is another good lake, friendly people work there..Again good fishing along the toolies, time on both lakes imho is a must to get good fish. Just fyi, later in the year DVL will catch fire. PM me for info..

If you live in O.C..there are several park lakes/ponds that hold decent bass, Irvine is worthless without a boat. My Son lives close to Laguna Niguel and fishes there Only during the weekdays, there is limited shore fishing since the city took it over, so no boat rentals any longer. Casting near the toolies with something weedless works, swimbaits seem to be the call according to him. I'm sure other baits would work. Get there as early as possible, to beat all the folks that fish for other types of fish..In the past I've caught some nice bass out of just about every park lake in O.C..If your in L.A..the same holds true for those park lakes as well. Happy hunting.

One mistake I see a bunch of is new fishermen fish Much to fast, i.e. especially plastic, worms, ect..As the water temps get cooler, bass don't like to chase bait down if they can help it. Try fishing you spinner bait slower, i.e. slow roll it at different depths until you find the fish. Also, look for hard cover, rocks, docks tree stumps and the like. This should be a good starting point.

I don't mind the wind or rain, as long as it's not super cold out. Not a huge fan of wind driven rain, but if the bit is on, I'm there..Even at my age..haha

One area at DVL that is more user friendly for folks that rent boats would be the Horse Shoe Dam area. Water is really clear, to where you can see the bottom, which is rock, and does hold fish. Swim baits and glide baits work well there, and don't get hung up in the rocks. As Tom said, DVL is now super deep, and the bit can be tough. Best time to get out there is first thing in the morning. We usually get there around 5:30, no later than 6:00am due to the sometimes long lines. Also, since you mentioned wanting to take your Son on a guided trip, DVL has some great guides. Check with Last Chance tackle..

If you ever fished DVL Before the heavy rains that caused the lake to rise like 15', it was gin clear, and we always used straight fluro. In all other fisheries I used mono, copoly and fluro with equally good results, most of the water was either slightly stained with a 2 to 5' vis, or less..The bottom condition also may dictate which line to use, at least for me. Lots of rock, ect, I go copoly, if it's mostly vegetation I use mono or coploy, which ever I have spooled at the time. I've never saw need to use braid for drop shoting, either straight, or with a leader. What I think is more important than line choice, is how, what, where and when to use it. There are also some good videos on youtube, in addition to the one Glenn posted. I do a bunch of shore fishing, in Highly pressured city park ponds/lakes, they will teach you a lot. When shore fishing, I would opt for fluro to help eliminate any bow in the line. Hope this helps some.

If it ain't broke...don't try and fix it..

Not much to add to whats already been said. Praying the man up above looks down on you with kindness. Stay strong, you never know how things may turn out. All the best to ya..

Luke, I wouldn't sweat the fc deal..I used yo zuri copoly for years, and caught fish, while others didn't using fc..More important than the line, is the knowledge you attain while fishing.

Barrett has always been a pay to fish reservoir..And use to get sold out really fast a long time ago. The fishing is amazing there..30 to 60 bass in 1 day. You also have to be escorted thru the gates, and no private boats, only rentals.. I do agree, having to pay to launch your boat is kind of getting out of hand.

A easy way to correct the uneven line lay is to remove the spool, on top of the bearing there is that pesky little plastic washer, just cut it carefully and remove it. It's only there to prevent the bearing from sliding off If you turn the reel upside down with the spool Off..Add a washer/washers as needed. Once the spool is on, the bearing will stay in place. Easy fix, takes about 5 mins or less.

I dunno, caught a bunch of them green fish on mono for a few years..lol

6.3 ..I don't leave enough slack line to have a need for a faster reel..

Found these.. https://www.google.com/search?q=Daiwa+Alphas+CT+SV+70+reviews&rlz=1C1CHWA_enUS634US634&oq=Daiwa+Alphas+CT+SV+70+reviews&aqs=chrome..69i57j0j69i60.4632j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I sure hope you make a full and speedy recovery. I know 2 tow truck drivers, and they have told me about some really stupid drivers. Y'all stay safe out there..

My daily driver is a Duramax, which sits up higher than most cars, ect..I see it everyday, people talking or looking at a cell phone, even driving over 80 mph on the freeway. Ever since can remember, I've always given emergency, and any roadside workers lots of room, and I'm slowing down just in case..IMHO, cell phones should be banned for use in auto's. Your job is to drive, Period.. Sorry for the rant, but someones health or life just isn't worth it. RIP to the utility worker.