Bluebasser86

Keitech makes great baits, but they're only a small part of what I carry. They may work great today, chances are they'll eat something else better in a week. If you're going to buy all one brand you could do worse though, that's for sure.

Academy has the best house brand line of fishing gear I've found. Their squarebills are the main ones I carry.

Savage Gear has the best lineup of affordable swimbaits out there. From the Shine Glide, Glide Swimmer, 3D Trout, 3D bluegill, 3D line through trout, and the Rad Rat, you really can't go wrong with them.

I'd just use straight braid in those situations with all the baits you mentioned.

Why not match that TCS rod with a Helios TCS? I have a 7.3 and the 8.1, they're great reels.

That handle looks awful, not that the rest of the reel looks great.

What are you planning on using it for? That will be one of the biggest deciding factors.

I had the hose pull out of mine once, took on water really fast when that happened. Thankfully I have an auto bilge and when it kicked on twice in a couple minutes I knew something was up.

I agree that it's a juvie gill, but FWIW, crappie are legal bait in KS as long as they're legal keepers and you count them towards your daily limit. Not sure if it's the same where Dorado is though. My eclipse day fishing was pretty awful, but I did catch a monster sunfish, a bluegill/green sunfish hybrid I believe, which are pretty common here. 10.5" long whatever it was.

Ideal? No, but you could do it.

I fished all day and during the eclipse, it was less than spectacular fishing.I caught 14 bass and 2 huge sunfish all day.

He's been gone from the forums since 2012, just fyi so you're not waiting for a response.

I gave them a shot last winter and had very lackluster results. I did catch one PB though, just not exactly the one I was looking for.

This use to be a common way for crappie anglers to stay on schools of fish. Catch the first one, attach a line with a bobber to the fish somehow and then release it. I would for sure check the wildlife laws in your area, but it does work well when I've seen it done.

I never use a leader on casting gear with braid. Only time I use one on spinning gear is if I'm fishing deeper and want a line that sinks, or for the abrasion resistance.

I use 20# on some of my casting reels. It's amazing the difference in feel and handling between 20 and 30 pound braid. 20 is just so much more supple and cast so much further. I also have lots of situations when I need to cast as far as absolutely possible. So in those situations, I not only need a long casting line, but I need the ability to put a lot of it on a spool to get the most out of my cast. I tried to up to 30# once because I'm dealing with very large fish potentially, but found I couldn't even come close to reaching the fish when I made that move.

A 7' MH/F with 15lb copolymer will do just fine.

Bass don't get "pregnant" since they're egg layers. Are you finding eggs developing in fish you're filleting, or are they just fat fish and you're assuming that must be the cause?

Are you sure it's bass? Carp love to flop around up shallow. For that matter, big bullfrogs can make a heck of a commotion themselves while chasing food around. Very possible it could be bass, and I'd certainly be trying to catch them in those areas.

Bass thumb is nice, but bass palm is where it's at!

Welcome!

Redbug, blackberry, and watermelon red candy are some of my best Ol' Monster colors. Have to add plum apple to the list. Something about that one seems to work everywhere I go.

Certainly don't trash them, there's plenty of good baits in there that will catch fish. Even if you don't want them you could trade, sell, or give them to someone else to use.

None of them are extremely old that I can see. A few that might go back to the 1970's, but all mass produced so no real monetary value if that's what you're after. I'd fish all of them.

Not really sure what the question has to do with the rod? The reel is going to look a little out of place on that rod, but it will work fairly well for what you're wanting to do. I prefer copolymer for swimbaits, but if you're mainly fishing pike where I assume you'll probably encounter grass at least part of the time, then braid is going to be your best bet.