Hammer 4

I use sniper and shooter also, the San Diego jam works for me, which is the single.

I use a Diawa Tatula XT 7'4" H/F, and it does a good job walking. I'm use to longer rods, and no, I'm not real tall, 6'1" and I fish a lot from shore. If a shorter rod feels better to you, than go with it, no one will handcuff you for going to a shorter rod.

Yes. You mentioned Flipping, nowadays there seems to be 2 opinions on what "Flipping" is. Normally you/I would use a rod up to 8' and depending on the cover, sparse to really heavy, you'd want a XF/XH for the nasty stuff, for leaser cover, like sparse to med vegetation you can get away with a shorter softer rod. The old school way of Flipping does Not require a cast, check youtube on how to flip. Today from what I see, guys are really pitching, which involves a short accurate cast. I would never consider using my frog rod/rig to flip with.

The Fuego will work just fine ..great reel..

I've got the Tatula XT 7' 4" frog rod, pretty happy with it so far. Does a good job of casting a size 65 live target frog, rod is fairly light, and I like the action on it. Great value for the $$$ IMHO.

I've caught 7+ lb bass on 6 lb seaguar invisx..No problem landing them. Using your drag, older shimano sahara reel worked just fine.

That would be about the max amount of line you would want, so yup, your good to go..BTW, nice reel..

^^^^ This. And may I add, keep it FUN for him. Kids lose interest once it becomes a chore, or boring.

Sometimes I think bass are like people in a way. As the old saying goes. their eyes are bigger than their stomachs, or in this case, their mouths.. Subject is interesting though..

Being old school, and fished almost daily with a Shimano 301E Curado, is it now the norm to buy a reel for it's physical size and not how it performs..? I don't have real big hands, but not small either, I never felt the need to have a smaller reel just for comfort, what am I missing here..?

HXF, straight 50 lb braid. 7'9" for flippin and a 7'4" HF for pitching, and light punching usually on 20 lb mono, or 50 lb braid if the cover is thick.

I have never seen anyone try to catch mullets, so I have no idea..

Great story to go along with a great catch. Nice work by your boys too.

In dense weeds/vegetation it's time to punch, meaning 1 to 2 oz. tungsten weights on 50 to 65 lb braid, baits would something along the lines of a sweetbeaver to a good sized worms/senko's..You need the weight to get through the thick stuff to where the bass should be, under it. Also, look for shade lines along the weeds.

Fished Newport a bunch, and yep what your seeing are mullets..And, if you see or catch a long skinny lizard looking fish, those would be lizard fish ( junk fish )

Looks to be a baby striped bass.

The sweet beaver is my go to for flippin and punching, and for some of my jig trailers as well.

Being in So. Cali, and fishing mainly city park ponds and lakes, I can't recall going more than 2 or 3 days in a row without catching a bass, and these places are very high pressured. Don't get me wrong, I've been skunked many times. Mostly when fishing a lake from shore where the bass moved to deeper water, which from shore you have no access to, and there isn't many if any spots to get to the shallow water fish holding in cover.

I tested mine for the first 5 or 6 times to get a feel for it..I come pretty close to what I want..

The day or night before..for most baits. Things may change during the fishing day.

Good point. So far I haven't had any issues with my drag, if I find it's to tight, only takes a split second to losen it up.

Years ago I started using the pull method. You get a feeling for what works without having to measure the pull after doing it for so long, but I'd guess my drag is normally set at about 1/2 of my lines test.

As I mentioned a while back about losing a child, your Son, and how difficult it must be. I can offer my heart felt condolences once again and hope that with time the pain eases somewhat. My Son's wife's Mom just passed yesterday, due to that ugly c word..They need to find a cure for it. Anytime you want to talk, pm me..I'm a good listener.

So, I've been watching and thinking about this subject, and have a couple thoughts on it. I've fished almost every city park pond/lake in L.A. and Orange counties, one thing I've noticed especially among younger and newer anglers is, they seem to gravitate towards guys that 1. look like they know what they are doing, and or the guys that has 3 to 6 rods and a bag packed with lures, maybe they figure that if they fish close enough some of the bass/fish just might get caught by them. Of course they have no way of knowing If the guy they moved in on is a good or knowledgeable fisherman or not, but they feel their odds are better that way. Then there's the guy that figures being close to another angler ups his odds of landing some fish, had that happen more often than not. Now for the bucket brigade. Some of these guys think because that caught a fish in a spot close to where you already were at, that they have rights to that spot regardless of who's there and that tossing 1 oz torpedo sinkers won't spook any fish your fishing for. Then there's the guy with his bucket, a fold up chair, 2 10' rods and rod holders, that claims he's been using this or that spot for years..yeah right, never seen your face before in the last 4 years bud. In all these examples, I have Politely asked them to give me some space, especially when a guy stops and starts casting within 6 to 8 feet of me. I explain that I'm fan casting, almost always have to explain what that is to them. About 10% of them will move, the other 90% say they have a Right to fish where they want, regardless if someone is close by. Being old, and somewhat stubborn, and have given way in the past, I for the most part refuse to move, If I'm catching fish, I fall back on the old, have some Respect for your elders sometimes and it works. A fishing spot imho is not something to have to resort to fisticuffs. Maybe there should be an etiquette quiz in order to get a fishing licence,