Jrob78

Agree Also, if you are one to modify your frogs, be careful bending out the hooks on your mouse. Because of the way it walks/rolls in the water, it will snag stuff pretty badly if you bend out the hooks too far. It's a good bait though.

I use a couple of different 7' rods for pitching, one with 15 lb fluoro and the other with 20 lb fluoro. I also have a 7'6" "flipping stick" with 50 lb braid that I use for punching and fishing heavy vegetation. I find myself using the shorter rods with fluoro much more than the flipping stick. I also don't really flip much and don't find the extra length beneficial to pitching (for me).

I would get him a 50 sized Shimano and a 6' rod. You might as well get him something decent that he can use for years. Turn the brakes up and let him have at it. 6 yrs old is old enough to start learning a bait caster. Just make sure you have something else he can use if he gets frustrated.

If I had to pick one hard bait company and one soft bait company to cover all my fishing, I would go with Lucky Craft and Zoom. I generally make my own jigs and prefer War Eagle spinnerbaits.

If that's the rod I'm thinking of, it says the very unstable, "medium action," with no real action listed. I have that rod and I use it for small cranks, shad raps, jerkbaits and some top waters. I do like the rod for these techniques.

Awesome baits!

I paddle a WS Ride 135. I started with a cheapo paddle just because I didn't have the money to drop on a good one after buying the kayak and all the crap that goes with it. Last fall I bought a 240cm Werner Shuna Hooked. Man, it's amazing what a difference it makes. The paddle is light but mainly the blades are very stiff. I looked at the Bending Branches Angler Ace and the Aqua Bound Manta Ray Carbon but felt like the Werner was the better paddle. I'm very happy with my choice.

Lucky Craft BDS 2 1/2 green pumpkin football jig with Rage Craw trailer Watermelon red RI Sweet Beaver, 1/2oz pegged tungsten weight

The Elite Series now requires you to fish out the same boat for the whole season. You can fish from an aluminum boat but you would have to use it for every event.

There have been several guys use them for various tournaments. I know Steve Kennedy used one a few years ago, Mark Menendez and Tommy Biffle have too, I'm sure there have been many more besides those three. Like Justin said, John Cox is running one all season this year.

Who knows. I also noticed that Jeff Kriet is fishing Shimano Metaniums now. He's been fishing Revo's for years. Dean Rojas and Mike McClelland aren't with Quantum anymore either. Contracts expire and they decide to go their separate ways, for whatever reasons.

I use 15-17lb mono for my leader line.

There are only a few companies making rods with unsanded blanks. Most matte blanks are sanded (including the blue NRX) just not finished.

I would use the 12lb fluoro, if it were me.

Alton isn't with Ardent anymore. His contract expired and wasn't renewed, for whatever reason.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/132098-why-are-the-old-round-baitcasters-still-popular/?hl=round

My opinion is that people greatly over-estimate how far they're casting. 35-40 yds is a long cast and hook sets become iffy at those distances. It sounds like you're doing fine. As you get more experience, your thumb will get better at stopping the spool and keeping it from backlashing. There aren't any magical brake settings, just experience and practice. I wouldn't expect your casts to get much longer than they already are though.

This, except I opt for a swivel. Either way works fine though.

Thanks for posting this! I bought the Spyderco Sharpmaker a couple of weeks ago after reading through this link. It was the best $50 I've spent in a long time. My sharpening skills with a stone are hit or miss. The Sharpmaker makes it easy and comes with quality stones. All my knives are now sharper than when they were new.

I generally don't rig up until the morning I fish. If I know exactly what I'm going to be doing and what the water conditions are, I will rig up the night before. I don't worry about it effecting my line or the plastics. I don't leave stuff rigged up for long periods of time though. When I'm finished fishing for the day I usually cut everything off and back my drags down, (not necessary but my ocd requires that I do it).

Welcome to the wonderful world of Senkos.

Don't you love it when you ask a question and everyone repeatedly tells you their idea is much better than yours, even though you've clearly thought it out? Anyway, I don't wear prescription glasses but I prefer grey polarized lenses for my everyday sunglasses. If you are ok with wearing amber in your everyday life, that might be more useful for fishing. Either will be better than non-polarized for fishing though.

I would opt for a H powered rod to throw jigs, frogs, c-rigs, etc or a MH-mod fast to throw crankbaits. It really just depends on how you like to fish.

7' MHF St. Croix SCV custom with a Shimano Chronarch CI4+. Watermelon red RI Sweet Beaver tx rigged.

I use both but if I had to pick one it would be round.