Hammer 4

If your reel is spooling line out, then you are in fact pitching. Under most circumstances striping out 30' of line, then trying to flip that into cover is going to be difficult to say the least. Go on youtube, and watch the pro's flip. Nowadays, the term flipping is somewhat misleading, i.e. you don't cast like you would when pitching.

If your putting a lure 30' out, you are Not flipping, rather you are Pitching. I'd love to see someone strip off 30' of line then flip into some thick toolies..

If your tying fluro, I'd vote for the uni knot, very easy to tie. The palomar would be next, as long as you tie it correctly. I should say, that I prefer the San Diego Jam knot, except for drop shoting.

Sounds promising. We are all hoping for the best for your Mom..

Being that your using it for Flipping, where you don't make a cast, line capacity isn't so much of a concern, but having good gears for winching the big girls out of heavy cover is. Pick the reel that suits that technique the best.

Good luck on your outing. Hopefully you get to do some fishing, and catch some bass, or whatever you go after. Are you really taking 11 rigs to fish from shore.?

I'm more of a power fisherman, although I have done quiet a bit of dropshoting, doing the finesse thing is something I need to work on. Heck, I'd rather throw a 5 oz swimbait all day long then just kinda stand there twitchin my rod every few seconds..lol

Depends on what type of fishing your wanting to do. First off, straight 30 lb would way overkill, unless you were throwing super heavy baits, i.e. like 10 oz baits. So, I'm assuming your asking about a 10 lb leader be it mono or fluro to a 30 lb braid..? Anytime you add a leader, that knot is going to be a weak point. If you tie a good knot correctly your likely to be o.k. I don't use leaders any longer. Anyway, 10 lb mono, or fluro to 30 lb braid would be fine. You didn't mention what rod and reel this would be going on, which could help, also what type of fish are targeting..?

Your Shimano reels were also made in Japan, unlike the USDM reels we get here. But I agree they perform great, wish I hadn't sold mine.

^^^^^ This. When it comes to buying line, don't buy the cheap stuff. Higher quality line may cost a bit more, but well worth it in terms low memory, ect, If you choose mono, which I would vs Fluorocarbon. And you'll get tons of recommendations, but do as stated above.

Never tried a jig head, but give it a try. the scrounger head gives the fluke better action imho.

100-200 is my range for a rod. i have already purchased s shimano curado dc reel that i need to pair up a rod with

Do you see any birds diving for bait fish.? If not, then fish deep. A scrounger head with something like a white/pearl colored fluke can work.

100.00 to 200.0 will give you a wide range of rods, and good ones at that.

You can get some really nice rods in the 100.00 range, some you can find on sale for less. Be nice to know what your budget is..

This is like the OLD...Ford vs Chevy debate..

The type of rod will largely depend on the weight of the baits you intend to use. If say your heaviest bait is 3/4 oz, then a rod that has a max weight of 1 to 1/2 oz, would be good.Normally, but not always, a med. Heavy rod in whatever length you like is usually a good all around rod. Keep in mind, not all manufactures rate their rods the same, as there is No industry standard.

Tom, did you ever catch any good sized bass with those big worms..? I never did, at least with the 16" version.

Then I'd bet you have a bad insert on one or more of your guides.

Get a cotton swab, and run it slowly through the guides on your rod, to see if there any nicks, that would cause yoour line to break. Also, how old is the line, and have you been using it around rocks/rip rap, or concrete docks.

Anglers Marine use to sell some really nice 16" worms. Think I bout about a dozen of em, back in 2011. They were all hand poured.

Still have a few hand pour worms I got from Don Iovino in 1984 or 5, and a pack of Mann's jelly worms from about the same time frame.

I think I'm going to wait until this virus mess is over before I head up there, just to be on the safe side. Which may mean that I might get a whole 6 or 7 months out of my fishing license..