Darren.

Nice chunky bass! Well done!

Welcome aboard!

Hi Dane, welcome to the forums! I'd suspect it is a good pairing, though I'm not as familiar with the Aird lie of rods. My son has a Lexa 100SH and it's currently on a MF rod. So long as the rod's bend is not in the F to XF range, I think you'll be ok. Others who crank more often than I should chime in soon enough. Good luck!

Welcome aboard, Craig!

Welcome aboard!

If I'm not mistaken (and I could be), I thought DSG was channeling more of their camping/fishing/hunting over to the Field & Stream stores? In that case, it would make more sense to have one sports store, and the "sister" store being more of an outdoorsy store. Maybe. I dunno.

Check out some of the yak stores online like austinkayak.com, paddleva.com, and yakattack.us. Personally, I prefer to DIY stuff, but for side rails, see what BPS recommends for, or what is compatible with your FS128T...

Greetings and welcome!

Welcome aboard, Ron! Nice Striper!

Welcome aboard, Mathieu! Nice to have you aboard

Especially since he's only 2 miles from the lake! I'm with John here. Foam blocks for the top would be my next recommendation, with the others.

Really nice bass there, NE! Well done!

Hi Kevin, welcome aboard! Most of us have lost lures in bass at one time or another. I think it'll survive. I can tell you this, I've never found a dead floating bass with a lure in its mouth. That doesn't mean it isn't harmful! But I also think the bass will survive. At least I hope so

Sweet! Nice catches!

I feel your pain. Happened to me this week. Not sure if it would have been my PB, but would have been the best this year so far, for sure. My mistake was leaving my drag set for when I had a 15# leader on it rather than the 6# I was using for dropshot.

Welcome aboard, Nathan!

Welcome aboard!

Awesome haul! Sure wish smallies were down here in the Hampton Roads area. Love catching them. Yeah, I could go to Richmond, but easier said than done.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard!

You could also look at the Bass Pro Carbonlite rods. They're very nice at $99, and currently on sale for $79.

Hey, at least it wasn't a skunk day! Bluegill are plenty fun to catch. Congrats!

For me, I tend to stick with "finesse" gear these days. I used to buy "power" baits but always caught the most on "finesse", so I stick with what works. I want to catch, not fish a tourney, etc., just enjoy the sport, so what works best is what I tend to use. Wacky continues to be my number one method, followed by (this year), drop shot. Now I wacky with up to a 15# leader, but mostly 6 or 8#. Today was a day of regret for me as I neglected to reset my drag on my Stradic after changing my leader to 6# from 15#. The lovely bass I had snapped my leader midway on a turbo surge after she saw me. Would have been my biggest this year, I believe.

So if I may ask, not to hijack @iabass8's thread, but perhaps add to the discussion, because I'm curious about them as well. Are sun gloves and the sort "cool" in the summer heat?

I stayed at the spot for about 30 minutes, fishing around the cluster of cypress trees there. Was a perfect spot in the "calm" of the wind swept water. Alas, she wasn't interested anymore. I *may* go back out tomorrow, but we have t-boomers forecast. And by fish of the year, I mean *so far*... As every year, I plan to best my PB!