piscicidal

John/Dwight/Matt, Thanks for your positive comments. Skeletor, The Hawg Handle is 94mm long and weighs 26grams. The stock curado 50e handle is 80mm long and (I believe) weighs about 32grams (interpolating.....curado 200E handle is 84mm and 34.5grams) Carbon fiber allows you to go longer while reducing weight. Its true that speed is unchanged (IPT remains unchanged) but the amount of effort required to achieve that speed is much less. So to many, the CF handle "feels" faster. Virtually 100% of the people using our handle have responded favorably to the added length. The longer length really helps with fatique and the length/cork grips really help your hand stay engaged when a big fish slams your bait. Steve Daniel (elite series pro, and top Okeechobee guide) commented to this in our interview with him a couple weeks ago. I can post up the link to that later.

Robert, I really feel bad our South Florida contingent couldn't get you on some fish while you were down here. We certainly tried. It is very rare when we have a week of poor weather/fishing in Florida. However, not fishing isn't the worst thing that can happen I guess....especially when you see what's going on in the NE right now (my thoughts/prayers go out to all those affected). I'm grateful though, that we did get to meet you and your charming fiancee last night. We really enjoyed hanging out with you guys...and we WILL do it again soon...whether it's California, Las Vegas or Florida. Here's a picture of us hanging out last night at the gorgeous Boca Raton Golf and Country Club. From L to R... Robert (Redline Robert), Martha (Robert's fiancee), Robert (South Fla), Mike (piscicidal).

Got him a spiderman rod at age 3, spinning reel at age 5, he turned seven this September and today I gave him a baitcast flippin stick (cut down a rod I had in the garage) They grow up so fast (sniff)

A longer handle will restore some crankin power to that Fuego. Just sayin!

Robert, Check your PM...

Robert, Yeah, we have a bit of a tropical storm issue here. Not the best timing for your trip. There is a TON of water in the everglades right now...make fishing out there very tough. Needle in a haystack...unless you know where to look for the needle. This weather will not be good for fishing Okeechobee either. Can't speak too much for the offshore stuff..I imagine if you can tolerate the waves/weather, the saltwater fishing might be pretty good. Sirsnookalot might be better to speak about the salt... If you have a day to get out Thursday/Friday send me or Robert (South Fla) a PM and we can probably get you on some fish in the glades.

I use baitcasters 99% of the time. Sometimes I'll use a spinning rod for throwing jerkbaits if it's windy. Perhaps as a shakey head/senko setup in clear water, also (using thin flouro line). For me, it's mostly about accuracy...I can't even come close to the same accuracy with a spinning reel as I do my baitcaster. I can't imagine flipping/punching with anything but a flipping stick/baitcast reel.

I'd be more concerned about it on a baitcaster (digging in). I use thin braid all the time on spinning setups (esp. saltwater). I think you'll be fine.

Ryan, You've gotten some good advice so far...I think your issue is a combination of the rod (Veritas) having a very fast tip and using a thin, flourocarbon line (of questionable quality). If you are "winging" cranks repeatedly with that set up, that line is being strained at the rod tip. Flouro does not recover from strain like conventional mono does and repeated casts will create a situation where the line is being continually compromised (strain is additive) and will eventually break. You don't need to do all four, but you should do at least one of the following... 1.) More limber rod 2.) Thicker (and hopefully better) flouro 3.) Change to straight mono or hybrid line 4.) Retie often! cutting off last 3-4 feet.

Theres our buddy mikeyballzz. Flippin/punchin guru... To Jack's point before...sometimes when it's windy, the mats get packed really tight. You might have to flip the weight up to get it through. Watch JT Kenney pitch that bait in the air and punch it thru a spot on a mat...its an art form. If you can pitch it low its better, though. The best approach it the most silent.

Yeah man...love the 804. I was hesitant about the "4" power on it, but it has a strong backbone. I've got four 6's, two 7s and an 8.5 in the slop on it in the past month.

Yeah buddy! I've still got that Veritas sitting in the garage. Chronarch/veritas is a nice looking combo.

"Man you got a fat sack!" That one gets some strange looks from the wife.

The 735SS is a very good buzzing frog rod. Relatively soft tip and a stout back end for getting that fish up and out of the slop. I used this rod for chucking horny toads until I got my 804C. Very similar actions, but that 804 launches baits a lot further with a lot less effort. For buzzing toads, you want a relatively soft tip, if you are doing it a lot. You'll wear your self out throwing horny toads all day with a broomstick and the soft tip helps launch the light horny toads out there. Most flipping sticks have a soft tip and do make decent frog rods, if needed. OTOH, for hollow body toads I prefer a different action. I prefer an extra light rod with an extra fast tip (ie Veritas). This type fishing, the strikes often come on slack line and you need to move a lot of line very fast (esp if you are fishing in tall weeds/reeds). Casting distance is not as much of a factor here, as the spro type lures cast well.

Solis caught his BFL fish up by Cochrans Pass flipping that Medlock Jig. I think he was south on Sunday. I talked to some of the prominent flipping gurus at the Lake on Sunday and none of them broke 10lbs. Solis is on some different fish than the rest of em, apparently...

Corey is the current world record holder, correct? He got another 12lber?!

Jack (shallow thinker) and I fished it. We weighed 16.71...11th place. There were 81 boats....turnout a little low. The big wind kept a lot of people home. Also they are operating the lock in Clewiston only letting through ~15 boats at a time.

Strike King is also top notch. I recently sent three red eye shad back which had "blown up" (puffed up like balloons...weird!). Got new ones back and a few extras.

I met Bobby at ICAST. At the time Robert and I were close to launching the Hawg Handle and we searched him out because we wanted to talk with him about warranty. He was very adamant about standing behind the product. We incorporated much of his advice into our lifetime warranty policy. Good to know he practices what he preaches.

I use a 7'6 MH Veritas ($99) for hollow bodies and a Dobyns 804c (~$180 with my military discount) for buzzing toads. That Dobyns rod is a little bit over my price point for moving baits, but the rod is so perfect for fishing small/mid sized moving baits and I use it so much, I can certainly justify the cost.

Robert and I found some new Citica Es at Dicks last week and bought a couple for under $100. Those E series Citicas are pretty nice.

Yesterday was a day in bass fishing heaven...fishing Lake Okeechobee with Steve Daniel in the morning, lunch with Steve/Deb at Roland Martin's tiki bar talking old school Okeechobee fishing, radio show with Steve, afternoon trip at Loxahatchee catching toads non-stop (first time in my life I've been disappointed catching 5lbers), followed by a cold beer and the best hot wings in South Florida (Park Avenue). Someone pinch me... https://www.hawgtech.com/blog

No good deed goes unpunished, I guess... Robert and I will be running around out there tomorrow. I'll give a report late.

Nice! A little money-saving tip I use for a swim bait trailers...We use alot of Gambler Big Ez swimbaits in the grass down here in the Everglades/Okeechobee. When the nose of these baits gets beat up, I break the baits in half (they are jointed in the middle) and use the tail end as a swimjig trailer. The profile looks a lot like a sunfish.

And for the record, I did not say a newbie should go spending $800 on a combo. What I did say...$100-$300 for the rod and $100-$400 for the reel. I also said I favor the rod on vertical presentations and the reel on horizontonal (moving) presentations. I have $100 rods/reels (veritas/accurist) and I have $300 rods/reels (champion extreme, chronarch) yet not one of my combos is worth more than $450, because I allocate my resources according to the presentation.