Darren.

Hey man, I realize there's rain falling on your party, but the bottom line is you caught a monster and you should be proud. You can call it your PB absolutely!! So congrats to that. Honestly. It is unfortunate you'll never know the actual weight but we've ALL been there. My weighed PB is 7.5. But I've caught bigger -- by my best estimation -- though I don't/can't call them my PBs because I never got to get their actual weights as I lost them before I could do so.

Welcome aboard!

I have to agree, unless you weighed it or got it's measurements, it's just a guess. May be a great guess! But still a guess.

Jumpin' Jehoshaphat! That's a chunky brownie!

Agreed. OP, please tell us more! Pix would be nice

I have liked you until now.... Just kidding!!! Congrats on the Final Exam de-stress-bass-haul! Well done!! My day could have been as good, but two very nice bass tail-walked on me and left me with a drop shot and wacky rig all alone. I did catch a 2# though. My other two would have been closer to yours if I could have landed them. Again, well done! You are a master among your peers! (the rest of us)

Sorry I can't help you with that, but as this is your first post, welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard! Lots of Virginia bass folk on the forums. I'm sure someone will have some suggestions on your area.

She's a beaut! Congrats!

Beautiful Black Rat snake. I've got one in my collection that I've had for, I guess 13 or so years now. She laid a few clutches of eggs when I had her with a male corn snake, so we had a clutch of hybrids that are gorgeous.

Agree with Fly, most shops tend to offer a smattering of brands and try (at least in my experience) to help you find the right yak for your needs. Not to say there aren't dealers as you describe. I'd also go SOT only, and probably something he could stand up and spear fish in. You'll be looking at yaks from Native Watercraft, Wilderness Systems, Feelfree, Jackson, Perception, among many others. Stand up yaks are so popular now everyone's getting into them. Even Bass Pro has models that are under $1000 and stand up capable.

I will use a bobber stop, sometimes two when using a bullet weight and TX rigging. I like to vary how I present the rig. Otherwise I'll use Water Gremlin's Bull Shot, which is a crimp-on bullet weight...

#jealous But great review! Thorough, well thought out. Much appreciated.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard! Since you love St. Croix, you could pull a Premier in the $150 range, and the suggestion of the Daiwa Tatula CT or a used Chronarch (flea mkt) would fit the bill.

Been hit or miss here in Tidewater VA. Went out with one of my sons yesterday, lovely day, spinnerbaits, drop shot, wacky, only two short strikes on wacky. One for each of us. Bass took the worms but never got the hooks. Prior to that, last week, drop shotting netted me 3 bass 2 pounds and under but on another reservoir.

Using 10 and 15# yellow. 10# regular Power Pro, but my main reels are now spooled with 15# PP Super Slick 8 (got a great deal on a 1500 yard spool) which I really like.

Welcome aboard, Austin, and congrats on the boat!

For quite a few years I was accumulating. Then when I was supposed to be satisfied I fell upon a deal here and a deal there and got more than I *needed*. Today I am trying to maintain what I have while buying what I need most, baits and hooks.

Just to set the record straight for those who call snakes "poisonous", they are not. Poison is ingested (swallowing hemlock) or by touch (poison arrow frogs). Venom is inJECTed. A cottonmouth is venomous, not poisonous. As for cottonmouth, they are belligerent and will stand their ground if you are in the way. I've had dealings with them and treat them with great respect by either moving out of the creatures way, or moving the creature out of the way with the butt end of my rod, or a long stick. All cottonmouths will have a muscular triangular head. People often mistake a common watersnake, especially a Northern Watersnake. I just so happened to see one of the largest cottonmouths I've ever seen in the wild today. As thick as my forearm. Here's a handy identifier: http://ufwildlife.ifas.ufl.edu/water_moccasin_watersnake_comparison.shtml I am not for people killing snakes whatsoever, but I would consider human life over a venomous snake if there was no other way around it. No question about it. As for the boys, they were just being boys. Probably never taught to respect nature. I got after a couple knuckleheads once who were trying to catch bass, but instead caught a bluegill and were running around with it, dropping it on the rocky road, etc.... I told them to stop and release it before it died. I think it was dead by the time they threw it back.

Welcome aboard! What brand of braid are/were you using? The reel shouldn't be the cause of wind knots. I use 10 and 15# PowerPro and Power Pro Super Slick 8 braid on 5 Stradics from the FI to the CI+. No FH in my arsenal, though. Are your other Stradics mounted on the same Cherrywood rods? If you swapped out rods, did it help with the wind knots?

I don't get to fish for smallies often...but when I do... On a drop shot.

I'm with you, @TOXIC, and @J Francho, the term is convoluted, but I think John, you hit the nail on the head with "finesse" and "finessing", at least to my mind. There is Finesse fishing with light tackle and smaller baits. And there is Finessing a presentation with heavy tackle. So for me, I finesse fish 95% of the time. Medium and ML rods, 10 or 15# braid plus a leader of 6-10# (mostly) on 1000 size reels. I also finesse with a ML casting rod and Chronarch 50e, but will swap that rod out for a MH and go non-finesse. Craig DeFronzo's article on light tackle fishing is good on this topic, IMO.

Very nice! Have found very few beds in my reservoirs where bass, for years, made beds. Odd, but things are not as they have been here.

This is what I look for in reels given I live with both fresh and salt water fisheries. Though I only recently started fishing salt, because I live here, I chose to buy Shimano Stradics (and a couple other models and brands over the years). Had a Daiwa Lexa 2000 in the mix for the same reason. So big respect for Daiwa and Shimano. FWIW, you can take any reel into salt fishing, just needs extra TLC to keep it in good shape.