Hammer 4

I'll have to go with Don Iovino. He use to fish at the same lake I did. At that time I wanted to buy some of his famous hand pour worms, that led to him telling me about finesse fishing. Just to add, the same day I got his hand poured worms, I caught more bass that day, in a lake that really wasn't known for being a " bass lake ". Sometimes I motor out to middle of the lake and watch Don fish, I learned a bunch just watching how and where he fished. For that I'm really grateful to him.

Truly a very sad day. RIP Aaron, you will be so very sorely missed.

Actually CC is in the town of Brea.. There are other park lakes in O.C. that are better suited for catching adult bass.

Always held mine with the stem between my ring finger and middle finger, reels were always 2500's..Pointer finger is always in contact with the line.

^^^^^^^^ This would work well in my area. Also I'd consider having both blades in chrome.

OT, I prefer the smell of fresh cut lumber in the morning...?

I fish the same size lures regardless of the season.

I think the OP is asking for REEL recommendations, not rods..? I don't do much cranking, so can't help there, but I can highly recommend the Diawa Tatula 150, or even the 100 for frog reel. I even used my Diawa Fuego frogging for a day, without any issues.

Different colors, and color combos seem to work better in some fisheries than others. I never had any success with junebug, or black in any baits, but in Fl. for example those colors are a staple. Do we need 75 colors, probably not. But then you know the old saying, some baits are meant to catch fisherman more so than fish. I stick with no more than 3 or 4 colors.

He hasn't been on here since Feb 2015..just sayin.

Looks like So. Cali will be dry at least for next 10 days. Really coulda used a few more inches of that wet stuff...

You must be using the wrong Brand.. Just kidding.

Ditto.

Well, so far we got about 1/2" of well needed rain, and some fairly gusty winds to go with it. Hope you folks way up north are staying safe.

Being 73, the old muscles, and joints just aren't what they were even 6 years ago. Back then I was tossing 8 and 10 inch Hudds all day long. Nowadays, it takes much more effort, and is fatiguing after 2 or 3 hours at most. So, I selected Big swimbaits and glidebaits also.

Double Willow, both chrome, or 1 chrome and 1 gold. If I'm fishing heavy stained water, I'll go to 2 gold blades.

Bummer, only avail. in a right hand reel...........☹️

Be it high end, or the bottom of the line combo, as long as your catching fish, and having fun, that's all that counts. End of story.

They are calling for a 70% chance of rain down here in my area during the wee hours of the morning, then cloudy for the rest of the day. So, we shall see.

Unbelievable, how she could make a cake to look like that. Just Awesome !!!!!

Old Guy..? Pfft, your still a young pup compared to some of us..lol Anyway, great to see your back in the mix and gettin out there. BTW, Welcome to BR. Tight Lines.

Another way to fish the 168, no matter the water clarity, is to just use the reel, by turning the handle 1/2 turns, kinda quick. What this does is it almost walks the 168, only sub surface, so it's a zig zag pattern. You can vary this by slowing down, or speeding up. Also try this and then burn it for 3 or 4 handle turns.

I've tried a few of their baits. The only bait I currently have is their frog, which imho is pretty dang good. Lots of folks don't buy the frog I think because of the bad rap LT has in some circles.

Before you give up.. Try a Megastrike Cavitron buzzer, these stay on the surface probably better than any other brand. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Megastrike_Cavitron_Buzzbaits/descpage-CAV.html?from=basres

I use whatever the situation calls for. I do very little finesse fishing, so my spinning set up is down to 1. My Grandson was given the rest of what I had.