Jason Penn

There's already been some of the stuff on there. I know of at least 3 Steez rods. They look to be in pretty rough shape with guides missing. I probably would be hard on gear if I fished as much as he & the rest of the pros do. I don't imagine Mike had to come out of pocket near as much (if any) as I had to for the Steez rod & reels I have. No slam on him meant, just sayin.

I go with quality over quantity but that doesn't mean that everything has to be high dollar. I have a Steez 100HA on a BPS 6'6" MH Crankin Stick that I use for spinnerbaits. I plan to get a new 7'MH Crankin Stick to use with another Steez for cranks. These aren't high dollars rods but they perform well and feel good to me. A few years ago I was talking with a guy out on the lake and he made the comment about how nice my stuff was. I told him that I only carry 6 rods/reels at the most with me (whereas he had probably 15 rigs in his boat) so I could afford to buy nice gear cause I don't have to buy a lot of it!

I've been looking for a new 15' boat myself. I like the look of the Excel boats and the price seems to be in line with G3, Xpress, War Eagle. All more than I'm ready to spend at this time, but I guess not too bad. www.excelboats.net

I had a lot of success with TF line. I used 15# for pretty much everything except spinning and deep cranks and never had any problems. The only time I ever had a break off was with a 4' gar. I've been trying different lines this year but I'm probably going back to the TF shortly, or 14# Silver Thread Excalibur. The first TF line i tried was the 14# Camoescence and found it stiff. The clear Perlon was what I ended up with and really liked it.

I've got a 6'9" MH. I like the feel of the rod and the length. I think they're a pretty great rod for the price. It balances well with a Steez, Revo Premier and a Fuego. It really balances too well for me if that makes sense. I've yet to stick a fish with it and I think it's because of the balance. I'm used to fishing rods that are a little tip heavy and I think they kind of help me fish.

That's my suggestion also, if you want to keep the weight down. I've got a couple of the older models from 6-7 years ago that work great for me. I've got the 6'6" MH that I use for spinnerbaits and a 6'6" M that I have been using for shallow-medium cranks & topwaters but its just a little whippier than I personally like. I plan to pick up a 7' MH in the next few weeks, the 6'6" just doesn't feel right for throwin cb's. The Daiwa S rods is another rod you could look at but they are pretty heavy. I have the 7' MH version and it'll handle a wide range of cranks as well as 3/8 & 1/2 oz spinnerbaits. I love the way it hooks fish but I'm just about down to all sub 7oz reels and want to lighten up my rods as well.

I've never been down there but I'll bump this up for you. I'm interested in fishing it as well.

I would say find the most comfortable rod in your price range. Slab some braid or flourocarbon thru the guides and you'll be fine.

http://www.hagensfish.com/

I'm not really a braid fan. I used powerpro for a while 8-10 years ago and seemed to lose more fish with it. I can't seem to slow my reaction down when setting the hook and I rip a hole in the fish's mouth large enough for the hook to fall out. With copoly the hook just pierces through. That said, I just got in some new Daiwa and Suffix braid to try out. My vision is getting worse so I needed a hi-vis line for jigs & plastics. The Daiwa has really shocked me at how quiet and smooth it is. I haven't got to fish with either of them yet so I'm not sure which I will like better. I hope that a good stretchy mono will offset the braid enough for me to get comfortable with it. Maybe this time next year I will have braid on all of my rigs, and this system will work for me also!

I don't pour any of my own, but I do assemble spinnerbaits and jigs from parts bought online. I've been catching more fish on spinnerbait that I've probably got $1.75-$2 in than the $6-$7 spinnerbaits I have! If you're cool with straight 1 color heads you can get by pretty cheap. If you want multiple color heads with eyes then it will cost you more. The three places I have bought stuff are Barlows, Stamina/Lure Parts Online and Janns Netcraft. If you have plans on making any money at it you would probably need to get setup to pour or buy A LOT at one time from these places. They all have bulk discounts.

I use the 5/16 & 7/16 oz with a twin tail grub. I stick with either black/blue, green pkn or mo craw.

I've got some in 15# for jigs & plastics. Not really having any problems with it, but it really only gets visible to me when it's between me & the sun. If it's off to the side it's not really that hi-vis. I've got some neon fire suffix braid ordered to try. I just don't really care for braid but my vision seems to be getting worse. I'm hoping that something really stretchy like Big Game or Excel as a 2 1/2-3' leader will give me a little cushion.

Are you burying the hook inside of the bait or texposing it? I use the ewg's a lot and don't have any problems with them. They seem to always hook the fish near the side of the mouth for me. That makes it easier for me to remove the hook.

I wouldn't bring anything, I'm sure KVD has enough junk in his boat for both of us!! ;D

I use PLine sometimes and it is very tough. I use the 12# for jigs & plastics and that's about as high up as I get. I tried the 15# one time and it was just too stiff. I've never broke off the 12# so I don't see any need to go higher than that. I feels very similar in diameter to 15# Triple Fish perlon, but I don't know the actual measurements. The TF line is a very good value and one of my favorite lines.

I kinda dig the odd sizes as well. 6'9" seems to be the sweet spot for me and I wish there was more options available in that length. 6'9" fishes more like a 7' (to me) but it's easier to transport when you don't have a rod locker. I fish out of a 14' aluminum boat so I have to strap down my rods/reels in the bed of my pickup while traveling. Even the boats I'm looking to purchase in the next few years have lockers that hold up to 7' rods so the 6'9" would be better there.

I agree the Cabelas 100% FC is really good. I use 8# on my spinning rig. It seems like it says on the box that it's made in Germany which is where the Triple Fish is made as well. I picked up a 200 or 250 yd spool of TF FC for my dad a couple of weeks ago for 7.95!! That's about as cheap as I've seen FC anywhere.

thanks

I've been thinking of trying the Hybrid in 12# but don't know how it compares with "normal" line. I used to use PLine CXXtra strong in 12# (15# was just too stiff) would you happen to know how the Hybrid compares with the PLine 12#?

http://www.georgescustomrods.com/Old%20Site/split_your_grip.htm try this

I fish trick worms t-rigged with 1/4-3/8oz tg weight. I use junebug or green pumpkin. I rarely use any other worm. I have fished them weightless but have not had much luck.

i've never been on table rock but being limited to 5 rods is not necessarily a bad thing. i've only got a 14' aluminum boat so i'm pretty much always limited to what i can carry,6 is max for me. i would suggest 1. spinnerbait 2. shallow-med crank, traps, topwater 3. deep crank (gets used very little in the mudholes i fish) 4. mh for trigs, finesse jigs 5. h for bigger jigs, crigs, heavy trigs 6. spinning for jigworms, dropshot, road runners

that's livin the dream right there!!!! reasons why i would never be a pro bass fisherman 1. i'm lazy 2. too broke to gear up 3. not really a very good fisherman 4. don't want to have to go fish when its freezing!

I use my Fuegos for plastics & jigs. I've had these 2 for 4-5 years and had zero problems from them. They're a little fast for me for moving baits. The Sol I had was perfect speed for spinnerbaits for me. I could fish just fast enough for willows and it wasn't too fast to slow roll a thumper. I wish that it would've had more line capacity. Using 15# test, it seemed like I spooled it on every cast! ;D