rubba bubba

Everything you mentioned are all valid points to consider/evaluate but keep in mind everyone's experience is not the same. Continue using your 15 lbs braid on the caster and see if you have any problems; many have not. If you need to go to a bigger diameter, that's the reason many end up tying a fluoro or mono leader to their braid. Keep using it and experimenting to determine what works best for you; that's part of the fun of fishing.

Assuming the fish (singular) in the "bite" section is the same fish (singular) as in the "retrieve" section, you list 2 different depths of water for the same fish.

Assuming the fish (singular) in the "bite" section is the same fish (singular) as in the "retrieve" section, you list 2 different depths of water for the same fish.

Assuming the fish (singular) in the "bite" section is the same fish (singular) as in the "retrieve" section, you list 2 different depths of water for the same fish.

Dozer's with us, celebrating Festivus.

Dozer's with us, celebrating Festivus.

Dozer's with us, celebrating Festivus.

Just watched it. The bad: virtually no instruction. What I like to see most from the anglers is their presentation; rarely is this ever shown on a fishing show and BBB is no exception. The good: smack talking and buds beating on each other. You can usually find better beatdowns here, but it wasn't all bad on the show...

Its more wirk and you'll fatigue faster, with a lower gear ratio you wont fatigue so bad. Atleast from what i've read. Its more work to reel slower, than to reel faster? :-? Sorry, but that makes no sense to me whatsoever. The premise is that in higher gearing reels, they, of course, have higher torque. This means they are harder to turn than a lower geared reel, resulting in greater/earlier fatigue. The better explanation is that it is mentally more difficult to reel slower than to reel faster. It takes more mental focus and concentration to reel slower (easier to forget and start reeling at the faster speeds you are used to turning the crank at), and by buying a lower geared reel it helps eliminate that. i.e. you turning the handle at the same speed you are used to but your bait is running slower.

Higher quality fish on average. Frequently the only fish.

Assuming the IPT's are different, the higher IPT is normally preferred for soft plastics for 2 reasons: to pick up the slack after a hookset when the fish charges the boat, and to more quickly reel in the lure after it exits "the zone" so you can have more casts for the same amount of time fishing.

More so to allow you to move the weight up and down the leader to adjust the depth quickly, without having to retie.

You could also prune/thin out the branches before you toss it in the drink.

You could also prune/thin out the branches before you toss it in the drink.

You could also prune/thin out the branches before you toss it in the drink.

Another option I used to employ before going barb-less is to cut the hook itself. I carry wire cutters with me and have had to cut my share of the hooks with them - 98% of them I was then able to get the rest of the hook completely out by pulling the hook forward from the barb end. Most of the time the barb end is sticking out/accessible and so you can grab it with needlenose and pull the remaining part of the hook through. For those where the barb end isn't exposed, we just cut the hook down to leave the smallest amount of the hook possible inside the fish. This is, of course, if the Glenn method doesn't work for you.

I'm curious how exactly you could come up with an original jerkbait design now? Give it a short fat body? Make it lipless? Build it to reel in tail first?

If Dozer ain't selling it, how good can it really be?

This. Hopefully when you start, the bites are aggressive and easy to detect which will make it easier to learn. However you have to be prepared for that not to be the case and will need to depend on exactly what Catt wrote.

Not since I switched to the Alberto. It's a good knot and works, it's just the Alberto is better. imo, that is.

I exclusively use it with 10 and 8lbs fluoro with no problems. I would suggest trying different fluoro for his leader. Not sure what he is using but hopefully it's not Vanish....

Doh. I use 5 up and 5 down and never had it fail.

I'd go with the 1/0 but even that looks on the big side. I probably wouldn't use the 3/0 at all - too big for nose hooking, too small for t-rigging (a 5" Fluke) if you are going to throw it into cover.

The smaller the better - 1/0 drop shot hook, however the gaps vary on them and I prefer a 1/0 with a wider than standard circle (the differences are very minor, however). You can also use a 1/0 EWG which is quite small for an EWG hook.