Jrob78

The $80 Slammer is 14" long and weighs 8 oz. You want the 7" or the Mini.

They just look really sharp, I don't want the OP to poke himself.

I think you're right. It looks like an old one that is no longer made though. Put some new hooks on that bait before you fish it again.

You will be much better off throwing mono with jerkbaits than fluoro with topwaters.

Sounds like you just need to stop casting in trees and you'll be fine. No, you shouldn't be going through spools of line from backlashing.

Thick vegetation is where I feel braid really shines.

This is the proper way to use those wire keepers.

Walking a frog requires a different rod movement than walking a Spook or Sammy. Like BassinLou said, it's a shorter, faster twitch. It definitely take some practice but once you get the hang of it, it will be easy. Start off with a shorter, lighter rod if you have one. Big heavy flipping sticks are more difficult to use.

I've always used mono for topwater but I am playing with braid and a mono leader. I just haven't used it enough to say if I like it or not yet.

That seems pretty irresponsible to me.

I used to love orange serbert when I was a kid, good stuff.

A new reel.

I am in the same boat as iabass. I fish fluorocarbon for everything except frogs, punching and topwater. I've also found that using a good fluoro makes all the difference in the world. I use Sunline Sniper and Seaguar Tatsu in 12 lb - 20 lb. I don't have any trouble with memory or backlashing. I spray my line with KVD L&L the night before a trip and don't have any issues. I use braid for frogs and punching and it's fine for those techniques. I've tried it with jigs and t-rigs but just don't like it. There isn't a right answer to your question. We all have our preferences, use what works for you and don't try to force something if it doesn't.

It depends 100% on the conditions.

I throws those baits with fluoro on casting gear.

I fished from 7am to 6pm today and square bills were the only baits that produced fish for me all day. I threw a LC RC 2.5 in American Shad and a R2S Biggie in the larger size, Real Sunfish color. I would reel the baits as fast as I could and pause it after hitting cover. They would slam it on the pause.

I like the Rodent's and will buy them when they're on sale. As mentioned, they are kind of expensive at regular retail price.

That's just how fluoro is, to a degree. Invizx is the closest to mono that I've tried. It's soft and very stretchy. I've used Pline 100% fluoro and found it to be pretty manageable, haven't tried Halo yet. Pline generally makes very good lines in my experience.

Check out the MS Slammer also, no one has mentioned it yet.

I buy more reels than rods too. I don't really know why, it's always been this way.

You just have to manage your slack line better. When fishing from a seated, fixed position, you really need to be fundamentally sound with your hook sets.

It's definitely not as potent as JJ's but it works fine for dyeing plastics.

Unfortunately, there isn't any setting that will make a baitcaster easy to skip with. It takes practice and lots of it.

KVD L&L is probably the #1 thing I buy at BPS.

Learn something new everyday. Here in TX, the shad ARE the bait.