deep

Beautiful bass Paul! Kinda thin though The Gen2 hardbass is getting it done.

That's awesome! I caught a 5# channel cat on a Rapala jointed minnow once, and a 12" baby cat on an inline spinner this spring. The only 2 catfish I ever caught lol.

I do some very basic cleaning and lubing once a month myself. This summer I sent most of my reels to DVT for a proper cleaning, and I have been very pleased with what he did to them!

I have a Cabela's house brand 6" UL rod, paired with a cheap spinning reel, spooled with 2/10 power pro. I think I fished it 3 or 4 times this season. It is a lot of fun though catching "anything" on this setup.

A stiff leader (stiff compared to braid) definitely helps when slack-lining top water baits. I have a feeling that might fix the problem!

Very cool indeed! That is a nice catch.

Tom, I have been following this thread since it was started. Great inputs (as always), and I've been taking notes. Would you share what sort of pork trailer you use now, and where they can be bought from?

This might be of some use: http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/reviews/energyE750PT.html

Jigs, and swimbaits.

I sometimes mess around with the weedguard, but that's about it.

Brush and/ or grass.

X2.

Big enough! Congrats on the catch.

I have a story to share. Early this year, I found a bed about a couple of feet offshore with a really big male (turned out to be 2 lbs 12 ozs), and a decent female (turned out to be 5 lbs 2 ozs). I named them Alice and Bob, since that was the first bed I found with fish big enough to mess with. The next two nice-sized bedding bass I found were named Cindy and Dave by the way; you get the pattern. I caught Bob once, on a Monday. After I released him, he didn't go back straight to the bed, but went into deeper water. Alice moved in and stayed around the bed, guarding it. The next time I checked back on them two days later, both of them were back on the bed. I hooked into Alice too, on Wednesday; after a lot of effort to *not* catch Bob (I wanted someone to guard the bed). And she did a similar thing. i.e. go back to deeper water and not come back immediately, while Bob took care of the inquisitive bluegills. I'm pretty sure she was able to lay her eggs. I kept going back to that nest, not to catch them (again), but to see how they were doing. After a few days, Alice was gone, but Bob was still hanging on and around the bed and stayed there for 3 days I think, chasing little 'gills away, and guarding the eggs (I presume). They were a cute couple.

http://www.ebay.com/...=item2ebf9b7bde http://www.ebay.com/...=item51a163649c http://www.ebay.com/...=item20cb3be56e All 3 are less than or around $110. (I'm not familiar with prices for RH reels.) I'm not sure why you don't want to get a used reel. It will save you money, and get you more bang for your buck. I recommend a Curado B or a Citica D; the latter (I have 2 of them) I like better than the Citica E. Of the 3 reels you're thinking about; I'd probably only consider the Pro Qualifier. (And I'll take the Citica E over a PQ any day.) The Caenan has a graphite frame; and although I'm 100% Shimano guy, both casting and spinning, I won't buy a reel lower than the Citica. The Exceller I have no opinion of; except that it's not a Shimano, and not worth my time. Might work out well for you or someone else though. I have had ordinary to bad luck with non-Shimano reels, and after a lot of wasted money and time, I just stick to what I know will work.

How tight is your budget? There are some nice used casting reels on the fleamarket here. I'd not buy a cheapo new baitcaster that's a pain to fish with and will probably fall apart after a season.

Jparker; I'd urge you to look for an used Curado B series reel, either on Ebay, or on the buy/sell/trade sections of bassresource. The reel should cost you no more than 60-ish if you look hard enough. A Citica D would also be an excellent choice. Go used, (and go Shimano), and you'll have years of trouble-free and enjoyable fishing experience. You can spend the rest of the money on a budget rod, which admittedly is a category I don't know much about. However, I have been quite impressed with a Berkley Lightning 7'6" flipping rod I recently bought for $25.

OP, I'd recommend Dominic's (backwater4) jigs. That's all I use anyway. He did custom skirts for me too. I don't know much about the skirts, except that they look good and catch fish. They are wire-tied, and the paint on the heads seems to last a pretty long time. I bought about 25 jigs from him this year, ordering twice; average cost per jig was around $2.20 I think, including shipping. P.S. I'm not sponsored by him, or anyone else for that matter. I just like to talk about, and put a good word in, for the products that I use, like, and catch bass on.

X2. I don't recall when was the last time I kept a bass; but I do and will give them to needy persons who'll ask for one nicely enough. What I will never do is kill a trophy bass; or even a big bass. It has beat a lot of odds to get up to that size, and it deserves respect and needs to be protected.

Hooligan, I did; ironically that was after you recommended it. Admittedly, different folks look for different qualities in their braids, but I was far from impressed. Here's what I thought about the Seaguar braid, and I'll still stand by it. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/90694-seaguar-kanzen-braid/page__st__15#entry1057849

X3

Not a lot, but the first "big" bass I caught ate the bait when I was daydreaming. I've conditioned my mind to wander about and daydream while using certain techniques...

Nailpolish!

OP, just do what roadwarrior suggested, You might want to use 4" senkos instead of 5" ones. Trust us, it'd work. Even a knockoff would probably work.

RW is right. If you're fishing from the bank like I usually do, then you're going to lose jigs if you're fishing them right. Which is the one of the reasons I stick to cheap (which does not always equate to inferior, contrary to popular opinion) jigs. Heck I've lost one or two jigs every trip even fishing from a rowboat. I throw a lot of Booyah baby boo jigs on my spinning gear, and they only have a rubber band to hold the skirt (not good). I learnt long ago to tie the skirt with some braid/ heavy mono so that it doesn't fall apart. Seems to work for me. I did have a couple of jigs whose weedguards splayed out and then fell apart after only half a dozen fish. I won't name the brand, but I have learnt to stay away from that particular overpriced stuff; especially after the customer support I received, or rather did not receive. EDIT: I had one Booyah baby boo that caught me well over a hundred LM bass before I lost it.