craww

Pretty much every rod in either series has a somewhat specific application in mind.

JFrancho is right. Diameter for diameter Braid doesnt cast quite as far as monofilament bodied lines. With that said you can drop down in diameter with braid and get better distance vs a mono you would normally use for a given application. This plays out more with spinning rigs than casting however. I run a 30/8 braid on a few BC's but wont go any lower. I still cant match the distance I get with 12 Yozuri ( a fairly thick line for its rating), but its better than the 50/12 I used to use. I honestly havent had dig in issues but could see it happening at < 20lb diameters.

Recently I acquired a digital scale. One of the things I've noticed is that rarely do lures weigh what their listed at. Most 1/2oz rattlebaits weigh more than 5/8oz. 1/2oz spinnerbaits weigh 4/5 an ounce. One of my personal favorites for numbers is the RC .05. Listed at 1/4, I was always shocked how well I could cast it. Scales indicate its nearly 3/8oz! Air resistance has just as much to do with it as weight. Most modern cranks cast well. In time, you'll be able to look at a bait and judge how well it'll cast. Obviously truely lighter more air resistant baits such as the storm thin fin, shad rap, etc don't cast as well, but just about every crank I use can be cast easily on a MH casting rod.

I use a rod with similar ratings for throwing 1 1/16-1/8 oz spro hair jigs in open water. Not bottom dragging, but retrieveing at a pretty quick pace shaking the rod tip. Other than that it i use it in the creeks for throwing beetle spins and such. I keep it spooled with braid in case I hook into something with shoulders.

That would be a fine choice. The lightweight will be helpful over the long haul. Personally I like the stiff tip of the veritas for spook type baits, especially on a long cast. You'll be able to get good distance with the 7 footer also...

Inline spinners are great baits no doubt about it. Inline buzzers just aren't the fish catchers as the safety pin style (for me). Obviously its a whole different sound/action and I'm sure at some point in might be the deal over the lunkerlure stlye buzzer. I hink its the posture of the safety pin style hanging below the water presenting a good target. For me a buzzfrog or rage craw retrieved on the surface is the better choicet....Weedless, can be killed and jigged under the surface, etc.

I always bring a spinning rod but avoid using it unless its absolutely necessary. I will readily state that for certain things I do "open face" reels are the better tool for my hands. I just enjoy palming a baitcaster much more than cranking the salad shooter. Its an ergonomic thing.

Its a big muskrat...On a small pond, muskrats dig holes in dams and have ruined a few ponds I know of. I can only imagine what a 40lb+ muskrat would do.

As good a rod as you'll find at the price. Is lighter and balances better than alot of $200+ rods. BPS is pretty good about exchanging it if you do have issues.

"Right before sundown"....was likely why they turned on. I'm a topwater junkie, and don't get too caught up on color. Most everything a bass is gonna eat in its natural environment is gonna have some shade of white belly. Black obviously obviously has its place at night and murky waters, but I throw black buzzers in clear water and do just fine. Thing is about black, while it gives a great silloette, it also doesn't show detail as well, which is a good thing IMO.

I've had the best results soaking them in the little containers you put contacts in. You can close the lid so the naptha doesn't evaporate while you shake em up. You will want to change the fluid out several times over the course of several hours. Being that the bearings are in such a small container you can really see the junk that comes out each time, and yes you need to do it several times. Sometimes ill spin the bearings between flushings and spray canned air in them to adgitate whatever's in there.

Here's another..zeta bait tadpole. Nice little frog. I used to do work with that bait on a spinning loaded with braid. I "think" their out of production. I have 2 left.

I have an old crippled shad. Honestly forgot about that bait! Haven't thrown it 12-15 years!

Whats some of your favorites? Im normally good with a sammy, buzzbait, torpedo,frog, spook, etc. But variety is the spice of life as they say. 1. All time favorite, Rapala x-walk 14 in glass ghost. Its a big bait, and fairly heavy at 1 1/4oz. Looks just like a big crippled shad. One of the craziest things Ive ever seen a bass do was follow and hit this thing several times over 40'. It was 9lb fish BTW. 2.Norman topdollar..nice and subtle. 3. Heddon Dying Flutter. A prop bait that walks pretty dang good. 4. Ima Big Stick. Great casting bait and deadly when the time is right. I can take a 7 1/2' rod and spool and E7 curado. 5. Deps Basirisky. A weedless jitterbug. Very different action in areas that fish dont often see these baits. A true big fish bait.

This might sound strange, but I picked this up somewhere years ago and it works...Trim one leg 1/2-3/4" or so shorter than the other. I was having the same issue, it would walk outta the package but the nose just wanted to come up too much. Again I cant tell you why, but Ive done this with a half dozen spros and it works.

And while we're ranting....Kieth Urban???? "I don't think Hank done it this way"

Good point sir!

haha true country girl shake it 4 me is pretty ruff. I've got a Pandora station with him and he has a lot of good stuff that comes across as genuine.

Dont forget the dude from staind, bon jovi, sheryle crow, kid rock, michelle branch, brett michaels,etc... I guess its our fault as a society for buying the records.

You guys arent alone. Pandora keeps trying to force kenny chesney on me on 2-3 stations. Someone really needs to sit kenny and tim mcgraw down and ask them to stop making music. Both of them have been horrible for 10+ years. They both ALWAYS have a crappy song on the local radio rotation. I dont mind the Cary Underwoods and Miranda Lamberts out there, but why does EVERY song they release have to be about being mad at and getting revenge on some dude? Eric Church, Luke Bryan, and Jamey Johnson are the best out there IMO.

I've got some 12" tubes that were made and marketed as a musky lure that has produced a few biggins. From what I've seen, the gliders and some of the of the "musky" lures don't have quite the action the bass want when I've thrown them.

Brady has the most rings and best stats over the longest period. The best active QB. Brees is simply brilliant. Maybe not the best big game Guy, but no slouch. Rodgers is a younger more physically gifted Brees. His accuracy is among the best. Eli is the best big game QB alive. If u consider he's had 2 go through wildcard games for his rings, it makes his runs that much more impressive. If he's grown up and can put all his college drama behind him, Cam Newton will be a top 2-3 QB real soon

My reasons for braid to mono leader on my all purpose rods are -it saves line. Retieing over the course of 4-5 trips can take a good bit of exspensive braid off the spool -i think bass can be line shy at times. With the leader i dont worry about visibility - The strech of mono as a mainline stinks -Im a topwater nut, braid has a bad habit of wrapping around the trebles. The mono leader has. Nearly made that a nonissue.

Ive had a first gen since they came out. Diggy is spot on, you just cant whip it like other reels and you really gotta put forth more effort to cast far. Now that I have the hang of it backlashes are rare. It was my 2nd quality BC and can still remember picking up my buddys old ragged out lookin chronarch SF and being shocked at the ease it took to get the spool going vs my sx. Man thise old chronarchs were special lol. That said, other than having a look at it and scratch it finish, it has been very very durable. Ive beat on this reel. Honestly thrown it down out of disgust quite a few times and it has been rock solid without much care to its up keep. If your lines stout enough a Big fish is gonna come in on your terms lol.

At the end of the day its one of those hard to quantify things... The OP mentioned being shorebound. From the bank I think at times it can absolutely be the difference between getting bit or not. I know a few trout guys who certainly think so. Does braid make fish line shy??? I caught tons of straight braid fish before I used leaders. Ive also smoked buddies fishng on the pier with a leader when they werent. Same argument, with infinite variables. I DO know that a properly executed leader to mainline connection won't HURT me. I can control it, so I choose to.