Bluebasser86

Great looking fish! Sounds like your dip in the water was a pretty minor setback. Wish mine would have stayed upright when I went in (and that the water wasn't in the 50's).

Seaguar Tatsu if I'm fishing anything other than grass. Seaguar Flipping Braid if I'm fishing grass.

I own a Daiwa Goldcast and have used the Zebco Omegas. These reels are not Zebco 202's. They cast well, don't tangle, retrieve smoothly, and aren't bad to fish with at all. My biggest issue with them is casting accuracy and retrieve speed. They're very slow, and controlling where the bait lands is difficult at best. My wife and son both started with spinning gear, because even as nice as those reels may be, there's no reason to use them IMO.

A Ned rig is like crack to smallmouth anywhere I've fished for them.

Slider makes a head called the Pro Slider head that has a much stouter hook. I use them occasionally and landed many solid bass and a 12 pound flathead on one recently.

I pour swinging football heads with 7/0 EWG hooks and fish big worms, Zoom Ol' Monsters and the YUM Mighty Worm being my favorites. Not exactly a shakyhead, but pretty similar.

Welcome to the forum Dane. Personally, I don't use regular Senkos with weighted heads because they sink quickly as is and I feel like it ruins a lot of that action when they're rigged to sink too quickly. I use the weighted wacky heads for things like trick worm that sink too slowly if fished without a weighted head. 1/16 is the size I use the most.

Bandit makes or used to make an all black crankbait.

I have the same Dobyn's as well, and it is a nice rod, but it won't handle the size baits the OP is wanting to throw.

Most any MH/F rod in the 7'-7.5' range will make a decent jig rod. I have used none of the rods you're looking at, but given the options, I'd go with a proven and trusted company like Fenwick. I'd certainly look at some of the new St. Croix Mojos, or an Okuma Citrix in that price range. The Okuma rods and reels are a very overlooked option IMO. If you haven't tried one, you're missing out.

I usually fish braid until it becomes worn and doesn't cast well, then I'll flip it like described and fish it until it's worn again. A spool of braid should last a couple years as long as there's no major issues.

I have an Okuma Guide Select. They're impossible to beat for the money. They look really nice since they've been revamped also.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome from the next state over!

Welcome from the next state over!

Welcome!

The ones down towards the southwest end of the pits are my favorites. The closer you get to the Pittsburg the more pressure they get. If you see shad flipping or swimming around, you're in the right pits. If you fish the trout pit you have to have a trout permit, regardless of if you're fishing for them or not. The trout pit has some of the biggest fish in the state, but they're not dumb either.

In store locally. They have several actions/lengths in store that they don't show online it seems.

Pouring your own works great if you use a lot of them. I pour my own with a Do-It worm nose (mushroom) head with a single wire weedguard. Had to do a slight modification to the mold for the weedguard, but that was easy.

I have the same rod in the fast action and it works for an all around rod.

A jig is my favorite way to go after them, but I catch big bass on a variety of baits each year.

Don's taxidermy in Smithville is where I had mine done at. http://www.donstaxidermy.com

If that's how you fish a grub, then yes.