webertime

Line and hooks for sure. For me expensive/high end gear gave access to niche stuff that suited my style or biomechanics or whatever you want to call it. That being said 20% of my gear falls into that category. The rest being old high-end stuff or average Joe level.

You're good with 3/4

Heavier fly rod blank seems like it would work. I'm pretty sure there are inshore spinning blanks that approach 9ft as well.

A-rig. Carolina Rig. Swimbaits that are not top tier swimbaits are often useful with these rigs.

I scrunch up zoom speedcraws due to their shine.

Also PSA with swimbaits and braid... 65 minimum if you go braid. Thinner digs into itself.

At home, I have 12" deep wire shelves with snap swivels zip tied to them and hang all the baits. Pegboard can work, too. In the past, I've had plastic storage boxes about 12" tall that I drilled out the lid and did the same swivels thing, too. On the water, either wraps or sleeves (like spro or deps) or just loose in a deep single compartment box. When I get home the get hung back up.

I love them for high "drag/torque" baits or techniques. Dragging a 1 ounce carolina rig for 8-10 hours on the St Lawrence I found the wrap kept the reel from wanting to twist out of my hand.

Maybe, like big Maybe... find knock off blanks and nail polish them up. I know there's a Griffon blank.

Magdraft Freestyle. The hit and hookset is the best.

I built a "sleeper build" TD-Z US Trail. This thing was in rough outer shape. I had meat headed the palm plate and cracked the tab that helped hold it on but had an old Fuego that had a terrible custom paint job so I swapped that on. Replaced the gears set (from 5.7 to 7.1). Added carbontex drag. Stainless ABEC 5 bearings to everything I could possibly add bearings too (had them leftover from when I liked to do that stuff). 100mm Carbon Handle for absurdity. Kept the stock 100m spool as it's freakin' awesome. Thing is like that clapped out Civic that shows up at a drag strip and blows the doors off all comers. 20+ years old. Modern drag performance and retrieve ratio. Bombs all the stuff I throw and weighs less than 6.9oz. All done for less money than the price of a Curado M (reel and upgrades).

UPF 50 sun shirts are UPF 50 mostly due to the dye (color), material and tight weave (many have no chemical treatment). Any chemical treatment to block UV, will have been washed off or damaged long ago. And I still wear sun screen.

Maybe, but they're like 1"×3" spots at the biggest, most being the size of a dime. I'll risk the funny tan 😉.

So like most of us, I have a bunch of sun shirts. Simms mostly but Columbia and some other random ones. Now I have 2 problems... 1. I jump in and help too much sometimes. Resulting in motor oil or road grime stains on these shirts. 2. I like breakfast sandwiches and they can drip oils. The arch created by ones stomach being the usual landing place. AKA Fat guy stains. Now I don't thrown them out, they do their job and I'm not modeling very often so I just roll with it. But today I was doing some inventory and dang like $700 worth of shirts with various stains, washed and dried for years. Enter the OG... Lestoil. I took the sun shirts (also Simms windbreaker, Cotopaxi and Columbia down jackets as well as 2 OG Aftco Reapers) and placed on a hard surface (or A-Jay's abs if available) and just dunked an old toothbrush in the bottle and scrubbed the stains and let sit like 5-10 min before sending through a hot wash and air dry (just to check effectiveness). 99% of the total number of stains are gone... like most shirts look new. I know how stuff is getting expensive and companies getting bought out and quality changes, blah blah you get it. $10 on Amazon saved well over a thousand dollars in gear. Just thought I'd throw this out there.

Vermont... Gilbert Gagner. Over the course of 3 years won the TBF National Championship as a boater then as a co-angler. Great guide as well. Bryan Labelle. Super good guy and esteemed guide. Looking at is BASS and MLF stats... dude just catches. I've fished with big names, including guys in this thread, more than a few asked if I knew Bryan and asked for his contact info, "because I'd love to see how he fishes a jig." Jody White MLF photographer and stick. Mike Comeau owner of NPFL (although Mike has moved). A ton of Fly Fishing guys too.

Looks like a good goby imitation. Me likey!

https://tacklebrosus.com/collections/leaders These are pretty highly regarded.

Re: Trick shad... same reports of hooks and hangers breaking on other swimbait sources. However the manufacturer has begun to address it.

Raid Osakana Slide 170 Megabass iSlide 187 Spro Chad Shad

Dry creek Z gear pouch from Simms comes in a size that matches 3700 and 3600 (and 3500). Yes at msrp they are pricey but they last for years (I'm on my 4th season). I paid $20? on sale somewhere and do see them on sale at various places from time to time. It's soft but no matter what I shove in there it maintains its basic shape. Completely water proof too. I pack a 3 day tournaments worth of plastics in it and am good to go. We all get into bass fishing then sort of find obsessions within the sport. Tackle storage while on the water is one of mine. This bag sort of bums me out because I don't need to keep looking for better lol.

Zoom Speedcraw for the win

Totally works

Tatula 80 is a solid choice. Small with great capacity

The Evergreen Shower Blows rod is an amazing rod and super versatile. Not the high end stuff mentioned here but fishes way over its price. Great 1/2ish-3/4 oz treble rod (jerkbaits traps spooks). Also pretty darned good with moving single hook baits (buzz, spinner baits as well as weedless 4.8 Keitech swimmers). I have tossed senkos with it in a pinch and it worked great. Even an ounce and a half Raid Osakana Slide glidebait was not a burden to use on it. It’s not a P5 level rod but it's definitely a special rod.

I've had the little pad/insert fall out of my cc cap on those. Mine did the same thing, then I saw it on the table...