Jrob78

I can't help you specifically but if you want St. Croix blanks, from what I understand Rod Geeks is using St. Croix's Mexico facility to build their blanks using St. Croix materials and mandrels. Rod Geeks C2 blanks should be very similar to SCII and their C4 blanks should be very similar to SCIV. They also will be carrying St. Croix branded SCV blanks. I know that doesn't really answer your question but it seems as though you can basically still get St. Croix blanks from Rod Geeks in many different colors, including bare graphite for much cheaper than before.

A few Ebay scores

Ebay

I had a pretty decent day yesterday but today was much tougher, still have 2 guys going tomorrow but I bet my score dropped 200 points.

Crazy weights, 105-06 for 2 days is pretty stout. 72-02 to make the cut today and 72-15 for the first group. KVD is having a tough season, he hasn't made a cut yet.

I've got the H3 7'3" H and it is a fantastic rod. I use it for jigs, and heavy t-rigs. At the current sale price it's a no brainer to me. For jigs and heavy t-rigs get the H, for lighter jigs and lighter t-rigs get the MH.

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I definitely felt like this one was a crap shoot to pick. Patrick Walters Clark Wendlandt Keith Combs Garrett Paquette Derek Hudnall

With all do respect to everyone else, Edwin is by far the hottest angler going right now. A 2nd, 1st, 4th, 8th at the Classic and currently in 2nd today. Pretty awesome. They are making guys initial the weight after every fish caught this event. I wonder if something happened in the last tournament where someone disagreed with their final weight?

I think the reason they are doing it this way is so that guys don't drive all the way to a tournament and only get to fish 1 day. I believe I remember Boyd mentioning this when they were unveiling the details early on. I don't hate your idea but I can see anglers being upset with driving half way across the country for only 1 day.

I'm not going to try to talk you out of what works best for you. If you can throw big crankbaits, spinnerbaits, punch, flip, pitch, work large topwaters, jigs etc with spinning gear and have the appropriate rods to do it, more power to you and I don't mean that sarcastically. I just don't think most people would agree with you but that's the great thing about fishing, there are no rules and people can do it the way they want.

I don't know if people are serious when they say those things or not. I know it is something said with a macho attitude though, which is silly. I'm not sure about your transmission analogy, if anything it is backwards. Baitcasters seem to be the one people struggle with in the beginning and have a hard time getting used to. To say that one is superior to the other is not true either. They both excel at different things and both have their place in bass fishing and you're probably limiting yourself if you don't own and use both. I can get away with not using much spinning gear because of how I fish and because I have ultralight baitcasting gear that can handle light line and light weight. I do still use spinning occasionally though.

I thought surely it was too at first.

I never touched a spinning rod until I was probably 17 (been fishing my whole life). I own them but don't like using them, no hate, just don't enjoy them. I can do pretty much everything I need to do with baitcasters. I use light line and light baitcasting rods for finesse stuff all the time. I also live in TX and don't fish deep, clear water with finesse techniques like many of you do up north. If I did I would probably use spinning gear more often. I don't call them "fairy wands" or "sissy sticks" and don't look down on people who primarily use them, they just don't suit me well.

I am the same. I'm still watching the Elite coverage but I'm honestly not nearly as interested or compelled by it. I will be watching BPT this weekend and not the Elites. Maybe that is partly because all of my favorite anglers are fishing MLF but it's also because MLF is a more exciting product to watch, imo. I do think they will make some changes in the format as they progress in the coming years but I would rather see them try to schedule events on places with multiple lakes. Fish a different lake in each elimination stage of the tournament, sort of like how they did the last one in NC. I think that would eliminate some of the coasting and practicing some of the leaders do as they wouldn't have a reason to save fish.

It looks like they are hitting another lake a great time, weights are already over 25 lbs in the first period.

We have a creek in my city that is broken up into roughly 1/4 mile sections with small dams that allow water to flow over when it floods. The largest, deepest section held a good bass population but had gotten silted in over the years. Because this creek is connected to a river, which is connected to several area lakes and is all part of the city rain runoff and a huge flood control system, the city decided it was time to fix the silted section (as they do every 30 years or so.) They pumped all water out of that section down stream and used heavy equipment to dig all the slop out. They made the bids public for the job and it was 6 figures. My point is, the cost for a job like this is quite high and even if they do decide to fix your pond, it will likely require completely draining the pond and killing everything in it.

You should always start a new thread when changing topics.

I would look at the Phenix Feather, they offer a ML and a L power. I would also check out JDM Major Craft rods, they have a wide selection of BFS rods. Digitaka has free shipping on 2 piece rods and great prices. Custom is also a great option.

I think you are on the right track with your line choices. You don't want to use the fluoro leader for topwaters because it sinks. I might even go with mono instead of copoly but I'm sure either will work. As for the reels, I would go with the Tatula CT or the 100. I've never had any issue with t-wings but I don't fish braid much and never with leaders. I wouldn't worry about the drag pressure, 11 lbs is more than enough. If you're going to be casting a lot of really light stuff the SV would be my first choice but you're only going to be able to cast as light as your rod allows so it probably won't matter. I am partial to Daiwa and have had really good luck with their reels, that's why I am recommending them. All the reels you have listed are good and should suit you well.

These techniques would use 2 rods ideally. 1 for jigs and t-rigs and 1 for crankbaits and jerkbaits. Those techniques are pretty far apart on the rod spectrum. I'm sure you can make it work until you get another rod but these would be best on 2. Jerkbaits and crankbaits - Med power - Mod/mod fast action Jigs and t-rigs - Med heavy/heavy power - fast action

Buying lures is part of the enjoyment of fishing for me. I use a lot of Megabass, Lucky Craft, Ima, Jackall etc and balsa crankbaits but always have a lure retriever handy. Swimbaits are what get really expensive though. Easy come, easy go....but I do my best not to lose them.

The backlash itself doesn't destroy fluoro, kinks in the line do though. You just have to be careful when picking them out, don't start yanking on it. I also try to feed the line out in the water while drifting so that I don't have a pile of line that gets tangled up when you go to reel it back in.

I would bump your numbers up by $50, -$150, $150-$300, $300+ but otherwise I agree. The majority of my gear is in that mid range, $150-$300 and I think above that you reach a point of diminishing returns in a lot of cases. There is also a lot of quality gear in the budget range below $150. Get in where you fit in.

I picked up a couple of Seeker glass blanks, they aren't the same but really nice in their own right.