Darren.

Such a great pic, @Goose52. @keeganzpapa I would think you'd want at least 12 - 16" bouys for your purposes. I made such a DIY project years ago, don't have any of it laying around anymore that I could measure for you. I *think* my lobster pot buoys were 14 or 16"... Don't even remember where I got them. Wish I could be more help to ya. They were more than enough for me and one or two of my kids or me, my wife, and a kiddo.

LOL, nothing there, @Sam! Guess the file didn't upload...?

Hi Tom, welcome aboard! I'm sure there are some Coloradoans who will chime in on your quest soon. Good luck!

Can't help you with your relocation, but good luck, and welcome to the forums, Randy!

Looks like a cool area! Better luck the next time you guys go out

Welcome aboard! Again

Welcome aboard and congrats on your icy bass! Nice catch!

I'm with @Scott F on this. No problems in Plano boxes. My main kit is an older Plano Guide box with a large top where I keep all my go-go plastics, some jigs, swimbaits, and so on. Inside I keep other plastics (not go-to) in their bags, also keep my Boga Grips, line, hooks, and a bunch of other stuff, too.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard, Pat!! Thanks for your service. Japan is on my wife's and my bucket list -- not for the bass fishing, but that's something I'd love to do there, too. I know some of the Japanese bass pros here in the states do a lot of drop shot... I wish you the best.

Fantastic catch! And yeah, the smile says it all. Bet his heart is still pounding

For me it was my first encounter with an otter in our local reservoirs. Quite the experience for me as I didn't know we had them...after the encounter I had to immediately call the ranger station and make sure I wasn't delusional.

And here I thought by shorter you meant 6'6" and under! LOL. I'm in that category. Shorter rods are more my thing. Sounds like you'd be fine with a 7'6", it's only 2" shorter. I don't think you'd have trouble with frogging or swimbaiting in heavy cover with that rod.

Welcome back, Darin!

Welcome aboard, Todd! Briery Creek is on my list of places in VA to fish. @Wayne P. is your guide for that lake.

ML is great for smallies. A St. Croix ML is going to have a great backbone. I've got a 6'3" MLXF Legend Tournament Walleye rod that I use for bass fishing and it has plenty of power for turning big largies, let alone smallies. @Will Wetline is right about fine tuning. You don't want your drag too tight, and a ML rod will load up both on cast and when "playing" the fish to your boat or shoreline if your shore bound.

Trick worms - wacky, use a 2 to 2/0 wacky hook For TX, mojo, split shotting I like a 2/0 - 3/0 O'Shaughnessy bend hook. Zoom Finesse - wacky, 4-1/0 wacky hook For TX, mojo, split shotting, 1-1/0 and on occasion a 2/0 O'Shaughnessy bend hook. Haven't used the Magnum finesse worm.

Got one and love it. I swap my 50e between it and a 6'6" MH Carbonlite. The ML excels at casting wacky, mojo, split shot, cranks, and so on. It's a versatile rod. I can throw very light baits like 4" GYCB Shad Shape Worms, 4.75" unweighted Zoom Finesse worms on a light wire hook.

Pretty sure it was on a Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm on a drop shot.

Out of curiosity, Mike, why do you not want to go lighter than a M power rod? ML rods, especially St. Croix, will be more than enough to bring in a trophy smallie and then some.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard!

I can tell you I had one problem with my Lexa, the anti-reverse pawl. It got mangled on a few casts. I was able to straighten it with some pliers and it works fine now. Just mention as a FWIW. I read in some other forum of this being an issue in some Lexa models. Heck if I can remember what forum now as that was a couple years ago and I never bookmarked it....

@IndianaFinesse, I have (well, one of my sons now) a Lexa casting reel and it is quite nice. Casts light baits, etc. It is very similar to the Exceler except, I believe, for a few bearings. I think for jerks and tops you should be ok with it...but I can't be 100% certain. I believe @ww2farmer has used/uses Excelers? Maybe he can chime in.

Likewise, Jim!