Darren.

Welcome aboard, Paul!

Daiwa Lexa, though you can get them now closer to the $99 mark. I don't have experience with some of the others that will be recommended (Abu, Lews, etc.), but Daiwa is really hitting a sweet spot with some very good quality reels in the Exceler, Lexa, and Tatula lineup.

Agree with Dave and Felix. Both ways work and catch fish. If you're concerned about rips and such, you could also buy some glue for soft plastics to mend rips.

Absolutely beautiful, Fish...

Welcome aboard, Todd!

Welcome aboard!

Call Shaggy and Scooby and the Mystery Machine. That's an interesting "object" there.

Just another presentation that has its time and place. Some days dead-sticking doesn't produce, others it does. Keep up the experimentation. Trick Worms are super versatile, as are their younger sibling, Finesse Worms...

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard! Nice pix.

Welcome aboard, Larry!

Welcome aboard!

Fine to mod the rod. I've modded rods by lopping a few inches off the tip so I'd have a shorter length for yak fishing. We each have our own preferences when kayak fishing. My style, longer handles don't bother me so much. I have handled the GX2 in-store, didn't think the handles were too long, but in fairness, I didn't stay long with the rods, plan to on next visit as I might want to buy one for saltwater live bait fishing.

Or maybe there's not a lot of experience with them yet since they're relatively new to the market. Plenty of Daiwa fans here, though maybe not as many as at TT as new said. I've not held the new Tatula rods, my local BPS doesn't carry them (or at least didn't when I was last there). I have, however, held the Lexa rods and was very impressed with the weight. What I've read on the web suggests they (Tatula) rods are quite good.

Welcome aboard!

Knots. The easiest to start with for line to leader (IMHO) is the Uni-to-Uni knot. There are numerous YouTube tutorials as well as apps for your smartphone. It is easy to tie, just remember, any knot, lube it with saliva as you tighten it. Next knot I like is the Albright. Also YouTube it. There are variants of this knot, it is slimmer and slides through guides better than the Uni-to-Uni. However, the Uni-to-Uni works just fine. I have no problems with it through my spinning and casting rod guides. Opinions are all over the place on the forums. But for simplicity I'll recommend the Uni-to-Uni for you to learn. Get good at it, then experiment with other line-to-leader knots IF you want to. I personally don't recommend other ways, but some will use a small swivel tied on to the mainline, then tie the leader on to that....

Well, that's something you will learn to answer. For now, and I have not learned all the situations myself, I tend to use copoly line for most situations. I've ventured into the fluorocarbon world with Bass Pro's XPS fluoro - but there are other brands out there. So if you fish a lot of rocks, you might want to tie on a nice length of fluorocarbon leader. This will give you a measure of protection from rocks, shells, etc. In fact, a lot of folks use fluoro leaders for any and every technique. As a guy who throws a lot of soft plastics via TX, wacky, Jika, mojo rigs, I tend towards copoly and fluoro. In fact, I haven't used mono for anything in years. If I had more $$, I'd buy a couple spools of Tatsu, or Sunline FC to try them out. Folks swear by the stuff. Here's the thing with using braid as your mainline and tying a leader: You buy 1 spool of Sunline FC and that spool will last you a LONG time since you're only using it for lengths of leader material.

Yup. This. Braid for line management (and feel), then use leader of various material (mono, copoly, fluoro) for whatever you have need for at the time. This way you can have the best of all worlds.

What a great time when your kid kicks your butt!! Or maybe it's that she's smaller than you and the fish look that much bigger! LOL I got a chance to hit Newport News Park waters here earlier this past week. Caught several bass, biggest at 2 pounds. Most of the fish lately have been 2.5 and down. Hunting the big ladies though, caught so many between 4 - 6.6 pounds this year. Fishing Jika rig, Mojo, wacky weightless and weighted.

Holy smokes! Great catch! Congrats and then some!!

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard, Troy!

Welcome aboard!

FWIW, count me among those who use a bright, highly visible braid. Though not Sufix, I like to be able to see my line. I do have some green braid on one reel, but it is just too darn hard for me to see in a lot of conditions. With a leader always tied on, I don't worry about stealthy braid color. I need to see it. Don't feel my catch ratios have gone down since I switched to bright yellow braid + leader.

Okay. So this isn't just a thing my eldest son does with his high school buddies on the swim team. Man, I need to get out more. And no, don't participate. Can grow a full beard, but too many gray patches in spots. Maybe when it's all gray I will, LOL.