Jason Penn

Back in the day, i had a couple of 7'mh extremes and green curado 100 combos that i used for plastics & jigs. I caught a lot of fish with those. I had a 7'mh clunn rod that i really liked for spinnerbaits. They seemed to be a slower action than the extremes.

Ive got a couple of 8's and use them for plastics & jigs. The 1 complaint with them is they are kinda tough to,get dialed in. Abu came out with a new version at icast that has 2 brakes on the spool i believe. They are very comfortable to palm on an ecsm seat, but they can feel a little too small (to me) on others.

I do like catching fish about any way possible, but all it takes is 1 good jig bite and I have to MAKE myself put the jig rod down I'm not quite sure if it's the fact that you really don't have to mess with it like you do soft plastics or what, but I just truly enjoy fishing jigs.

Im an avid fc user, and have tried a lot of different brands. With vanish, i found i really had to step up the packaged pound rating. Check diameter on the lines you are happy with, and try to match that with whatever fc you want to use.

I have nothing but wood in my area, but the brush jig is what I keep coming back to. I've tried other styles, but the brush just works for me.

I havent messed with the regular or elite rods, but one thing i dont think i'd like as much on the elites is the reel seat. The original tat rods appear to have a seat similar to the 1st gen zillion rods, and the elites look like the seats used on the cronos & old ballistic rods. I have a 6'9 mh ballistic (killer spinnerbait rod that fishes more like a glass rod) and those seats are closer to an ecsm seat than normal daiwa seats. The normal daiwa seats like the air beam and old tds rods makes a reel feel much smaller than they do on the ecsm & acs seats.

I have no experience with the Ike rods, but I like mh power crank rods for spinnerbaits. I just feel they tend to pierce the hook thru rather than rip.

I'm in northeast, but it's been the same way here. I kept waiting for fall bite to turn on, but it never happened.

I tried to get into bfs-type setup, but I realized those baits don't really feel right to me on casting gear. Spinning gear just seems to work much better for me for finesse presentations.

For the price they can be found online, the Tatulas are hard to beat. I've had a couple, but I'm really digging the Revo ALX.

Congrats on the raise!!! Of your choices, I've only owned the comp-x. Lots of folks seem to think they're not really that sensitive, but I never had a problem. It's been a few years since I've had it, and I believe cheaper rods have improved a lot. I'm not sure I would make the call for the steez rods nowadays. i would probably go with the Megabass Destroyer if I was looking at a high end rod now. I've read a lot of positive reviews on them, and they are cheaper than the Daiwa. Loomis, I haven't used in 10-15 years, so nothing current do I know about, but it's still Loomis.

I get the impression from a lot of posts that fishing a jig is an almost impossible task!! If you can fish a t-rig, you'll be fine. I think maybe a lot of people that post replies on jig posts are just like me....they absolutely love fishing jigs, so they talk about it with more excitement and it may make it seem like it's more than it is. I love fishing plastics also. The only reason a jig is more favored for me is less time rerigging after a catch.

I've been using the Eugene knot for the past month or so, and have had no issues with 17# sunline assassin on t-rigs & jigs. It's really an easy knot to tie

I've been discussing a custom build with them thru email. Hopefully they'll be able to fix me up without being too expensive.

I've got a pair of 8:1 carbonlite 2.0 and have had zero issues with them. I'm sure the pq2 will be just as good.

I don't really buy into fc being more sensitive by itself, but because of the sink rate I feel more connected with bottom baits. I've tried using braid, either straight or with a leader, and just haven't been able to get on with it. If there was a mono/copolymer that was denser, I really don't think you'd be able to tell much difference. The whole invisible thing, really doesn't matter to me. I've seen a ton of crappie caught using gold stren

A jig is my favorite thing to fish, and I will echo what has already been said above. Black/blue, and green pumpkin will catch fish anywhere. For trailers, I use a twin tail or a small beaver-type. I use either 3/8 or 1/2oz brush jigs. I do trim the skirt to a finesse-type on the 3/8, just for a little different look, and it seems like I get more bites.

I agree with this. If you like the way a jig looks, you'll fish it hard and catch fish

I had an SV 6:1 and did basically the same. A friend of mine has never used casters, and wants to learn so I gave it to him. I ordered 2 of the 7's for jigs & plastics

i've watched a lot of the videos on his youtube channel, and kinda like the guy. he seems like a pretty down to earth dude

http://www.siebertoutdoors.com/ https://www.barlowstackle.com/ http://www.lurepartsonline.com/ i just ordered some brush jigs with a lighter wire hook from cadman from this board. i sometimes think i want to starting pouring my own, but then realize i really don't lose or use that many jigs. i can't really justify the cost of getting into it vs just buying 15-20 when i need them.

i use a 2/0 offset. i probably fish a t-rigged trick worm with a 3/8 weight more than any other plastic.

i think gear is more preference than anything else these days. if a company's product doesn't live up to its price tag, it'll be all over the internet in about 5 minutes. i purchased 1 of the tat sv's in 6:1, and was highly impressed with it. it didn't work for me for what i was wanting it to, so i gave it to a friend that was wanting to get into using casters. it's kind of amazing how rods & reels have made such jumps in performance while coming down in price over the last 10-15 years, while the other costs associated with fishing keep going up.

the brush jig works best for me around wood.

i've gotten even cheaper, i'm buying unpainted now i realized that baits that look good in photos, and baits that i can catch fish on are 2 seperate things