Bluebasser86

I use an Okuma TCS "Matt Daddy" rod for that type of fishing and really like it. Okuma makes great products that get overlooked a lot.

I own 1 Livingston, one of their swimbaits, it sounds like a cricket chirping when it gets wet. Haven't caught a fish on it yet but I had a big one try real hard to eat it but I pulled the trigger to fast when she tried to eat it at the boat. Waiting for a Walking Boss part 2 to ever come back in stock to give one of those a shot, looks like a good bait.

Yeah, smacking a wood bait on the water is a big no-no, but you know that now.

I'd try fingernail polish sealer, just don't let your wife see you using hers.

I use P Line C 21 or Xtra strong a lot, as well as Big Game. I use Seaguar or Sufix for my braided line needs. In fluoro I use Seaguar flipping flouro or Tatsu.

I like trying to find them in overlooked places, which often leads to tough fishing until the fish are located. Finding tough fish is one of my preferred tournament strategies also because I know most guys won't bother with them. As long as I feel like I can get enough bites each day, I'm good.

This is the same for me. Everything is Pflueger except 1 C14 Stradic on my shakyhead rod, and my RTX25 on my dropshot rod. The fact that the reel is lightweight and fast are why I opted for it.

Jerkbaits are about the only option in ponds here during the winter due to the amount of leaves and moss on the bottom of them.

All my jerkbait rods are graphite.

Our gills around here are a blue/green/purple mix with a touch of chartreuse on the tail when they're juveniles when bass prey on them the most.

The man himself fishes with $20 Shakespeare rods from Wal-Mart, and is extremely efficient with them. It's a no feel technique, so a sensitive rod isn't needed.

If they're all lumped into one category, soft plastics by a wide margin. I like flipping and pitching, so I'm a sucker for creature baits and beavers. After that it's jigs, a byproduct of pouring and tying my own.

Nice!

I caught fish on Grand in 38 degree water on a shakyhead, and I wasn't ice fishing Shakyhead is one of my go to baits in winter. It turns into more of a dragging presentation than a shaking or hopping. Everything that lives in the water slows way down when it gets cold, so I adjust my retrieve accordingly.

The 2500 is listed as holding 140 yards of 8lb test, that is a ton of line. If you're mainly using it for dropshot, I'd look at the 1000 size honestly.

What size hook? I skip a lot of docks and don't have issues with snagging there either. Is there a lot of cross support beams or something? Not meaning to sound doubting, trying to find if there's a solution for you other than having to pop for expensive, weedless style heads. These new Ned heads don't really have enough lead to put a weedguard in I'm afraid. Have you tried one of the slip on style weedguards? There's some guys around here that use them and like them pretty well.

Line capacity should only be an issue in bass fishing for a select few presentations (bombing big cranks or fishing big swimbaits for example). Even a giant largemouth is only going to pull a very small amount of drag compared to a lot of similar sized fish. Like has already been stated, it has about the average line capacity anyways. I'd go with the higher speed option for what you're wanting to do.

All personal preference with no right or wrong answer. I have several MH rods in the 7' range for the main reason that they're good all around rods. Some are better at one thing than another, but I couldn't pick one out of the herd as my favorite.

Guilty

I was about the same way. Never used them for anything but catfish and crappie, fish I wouldn't be heartbroken over losing a few. Since they redid their lineup though, I use their hooks for everything from Ned rigs, shakyheads, swing jigs, bladed jigs, wacky rigs, replacement crankbait hooks, jigs, just about everything really. They're strong, sharp, and very affordable, there has been no downside to the switch and I'm 100% confident in their products now.

I tie mine with copper or coated wire from Hobby Lobby. I believe it's 24 gauge. I make mine with 2 wraps before twisting and cutting off the extra. Only twist until it's tight, don't overdo it or you'll cut the skirt. It looks very nice when you get the hang of it and the wire stacks perfectly.

Those look great!

I fish mine through all kinds of cover and never have needed a weedless version. The right combination of hook size and jighead weight eliminates a lot of hangups. I think a lot of the request for weedless versions come from guys using heads much heavier than what is standard on a Ned rig and fishing them more like a shakyhead. I never use a head heavier than 3/32 and the bait is rarely contacting the bottom except the initial fall. When you get the right combination, the rig is surprisingly snag resistant for an open hook presentation. That stinks you had issues with the hooks. My last 1,000 pack had 1 hook with a broken points, and 2 aberdeen "J" style hooks. I didn't count them all out, so maybe those 2 hooks weren't taking off my 1,000 count, but 3 bad hooks out of 1,000 I can live with when they're priced like the Lil Nasty hooks are.

Nice fish, too bad about the rod. Looking forward to your "Best spinning rod for $X" thread

Have you seen the video of them underwater? The amount of action they have is incredible. They seem to be surprisingly durable too, at least with straight pressure applied to their appendages.