mntreeman

Gulp 10" worms.....Those things were awsome. They had some girth to them & were definitely bass magnets!!!!

Unfortunately what you are looking for is very hard to find. You said big & thick. Most of the replies you have received are for longer worms but there is no thickness. A lot of companies make a 5", 7", & 10" worm and they are all basically the same diameter. The best large worm I have found (now discontinued) was the Berkley Gulp 10" Turtleback worm. The 10" was twice the diameter of the 7". A true big bass lure!!!!

I started fishing, as a boy, in the mid 1950's. Red head plugs were very common - river runt, bass oreno, etc. Still have a couple in my tackle box and many more on display in the fishing cabin. This was also a go to decoy color for winter northern pike spearing in Minnesota. My Dad made many home made decoys and he always painted them red/white.

Sensitivity becomes more of an issue for the jigs and soft plastics. If you could add a few bucks and go with a St. Croix Avid 7' MH Fast or XFast I think it would be well worth the investment.

Snoopy, I think you pegged it! Friction happens when the line is not running true or is hung up or is catching on something. Check all the guides plus the flow of the line from the reel to the top guide.

And so what is wrong with a net? Is lipping bass a macho thing.....hey I can't believe you are all tournament fisherman! Maybe we should all be concerned about the welfare of the bass and have a non traumatic (for the bass) catch & release.

Yes, raise your budget just a tad and the St. Croix Avid will be all that you ever wanted!!!!!!!!!!

I have a 7' MHF and am totally satisfied with it. Very versatile rod.

I like your rod choice - I beilieve the Compre is one of the best rods for the money that you can buy. As for the reel I would pair it with a Curado --if you don't want to pay new price there are a lot of the old green Curado 200B models for sale on ebay for reasonable prices.....

Yes to hair jigs. I fish with an old guy who swears by them and has caught a lot of bass on hair jigs without a trailer...My experience has been that I like my hair jig incorporated into a spinner bait - particularly the Joe Bucher line of hair spinnerbaits. Great bait for big bass in the fall. I think this is a generational thing - just for perspective I have been fishing for over 50 years and my friend over 65 years.