OnthePotomac

I read an article years ago by Denny Brauer, in which he stressed the importance of his rods and reels being of one brand and believed it provided him the right "feel" no matter which rig he picked up. Interesting take and I have no idea how other pros feel about this. Of course sponsers make a difference.

Fishing the Potomac grass beds is not a good place to throw plastics a mile away. There is a happy medium I have to control with my thumb in the event I am retrieving 5lbs of grass with the fish. Like to hear Toxic's take on distance in grass beds since he has been on the Potomac a lot longer than I.

10lb mono backing on every reel I own held on with a tiny strip of white duct tape colored red with a sharpie. Sure saves on fishing line.

I feel your pain.. When I began cleaning my own reels years ago one of those little buggers would end up missing until I disciplined myself to remove them immediately and set them aside to keep track of them. It also helped to keep extras on hand just in case. Same goes for the bearing wire retaining clips.

Exactly, my frog rod is rated for 10-25lb and it has 50lb braid on it for frogs.

You got it. The snap swivel on the bottom goes on my spoons.

Mudhole sells the rod epoxy, but it is runny and the rod will have to be turned in a turning device continually until it dries to prevent a blob. A rod repair service will make it look like new.

Only on my spoons, I remove the split rings, put on snap swivels and put them back in the box. You cannot use funky snap swivels though.

Not gospel, but I think most anglers reserve snap swivels for any king of spoon and just plain snaps for crank baits including blade baits.

I only cast and the fast tip is needed to get them out of the grass bed and keep them hooked. I fish with the barbs crunched down and have for years. Never had a problem with them tasting the Senko on those rods.LOL

My brother in Michigan is a smallie fan and uses a Mitchell spinning reel that has to be 20 years old. He doesn't like change.☺️

I am weird. I really like the white rods, especially with a matte black Curado K on them.

I have been fishing with the Carbonlites for several years now and have converted a couple of old quantum rods to the 2.0 series. I love the rods because they are so light and the new 2.0 series are really nice with the Winn grips. I have never broken one, or had any line inserts fall out and they have taken a beating on the Potomac grass beds. My baitcasters are 7' and 6'6" MH fast tips and my spinning rods are 7' mediums. I think every Carbonlite I have came at an on sale price, which is usually $20 off. Can't beat them for the price. My grandson slammed his truck door on one he had for over two years and they just gave him a new rod, no questions.

All of my ploppers go out on a 7' medium Carbonlite baitcaster with 17lb XL mono.

Take a small paper clip, bend it open, then bend over the small loop, then tape the other portion to your rod where you want it with electricians tape. It gives you a perfect loop in which to place a hook. You can also bend the small loop further down if you just want to place a hook under the bend and not through the bend opening.

My Senko setup for many years on the tidal Potomac massive grass beds has been BPS Carbonlites, 7' and 6'6"MH, fast tip with a variety of Curado reels, currently 8.5:1 Curado K's all spooled with 15lb Invizx and a 4/0 Gammie EWG hook. My adult daughter, when with me, uses a 7' Medium Carbonlite spinning rod spooled with 8lb mono, same hook. Sad to say sometimes she does better than I do.?

Another "fishing fool" knot here for my 50lb Sufix 832 on my frog rod. Never fails. Easy and fast to try.

That is a Shimano I do not have yet, but have only read good things about it on several other bass sites.

I am weird in that I have fished 8lb mono on my three spinning reels on the Tidal Potomac for 18 years and have never seen a need to change. It never seems to detract from catching bass from the Potomac grass beds.

I picked one up at a Gander on sale for $80 when they were popular. It is a 7' medium and only weighs 3.5oz and is an incredible rod for crankbaits. Really easy on the old wrists for a long haul. Six years ago and still going strong. Yes, really sensitive.

Wrong response, subject is spinnerbait rods and not spinning rods. KVD had a great 7' MH spinnerbait rod he designed for Quantum a number of years ago, which I found on sale at BPS back then. He really knew what he was doing when he came up with this one. Not sure if they still sell it.

If you mean noise on the cast, open the cover and try oil on a Qtip rubbed around on the brass shaft on the cover against which the brakes rub on a cast. If it is bone dry it will be noisy.

Wildest one I ever read on another popular fishing site was a guy who posted that he bought a Shimano Curado, used it twice and "it fell apart". When others ask him to define "fell apart" he disappeared never to be heard from again on the site.

I am, no surprise now, a big Carbonlite fan and have been since they hit the market. I do now have three Carbonlite 2.0 and really like the improvement in the grips. In spite of all the bad mouthing about the rods, I have never had one fall apart, or break and believe the tidal Potomac has tested them with bass, snakeheads and cats. My Carbonlite spinning rods are all mediums in 6'6", 7' and 7'2" and my bait casters are 6'6" MH and 7' MH with two 7' mediums. Everyone came from a sale price. Very light and easy on the old wrists.

The general rule is fill to 1/8" of the spool lip, bait caster or spinning reel.