craww

6lb pline cxx and 6lb gamma copoly (harder to find but a sweet line).

It can be a HUGE FACTOR. Bass chase lures down from 30' away, catch dragonflies 20" out of the water, etc. Their eyes are on the top portion of their head. They see alot more outside of the water than folks think. Camo may or may not be the best option, Heck a darker pattern may make you stand out MORE. Just depends on the situation. When I'm on foot, I fish like I'm hunting. Heres a few things I do. -Cast to an area 30-40' from the bank BEFORE you slug your way up to it. When you get your bait to the bank, "pop" it back to you. With practice you can get pretty effecient doing this. I caught a nice topwater smallmouth week before last doing this. -Your posture can give you away to. Crouch when necessary. Use whatever cover nature provides. Catails, trees, tall weeds, rocks are all things Ive hidden behind. -Every body of water is different, but in my experience fish are more spooked by things on the shore than in the water. Maybe its from 1000's of years of herons stalking the shorelines, I dont know. Stealth is key. If you feel like you've spooked them, back off and let the spot rest, they'll usually return if you didnt booger them up too bad. -Clear water river Smallmouth are the spookiest fish Ive been around, I cant tell you how many big smallies Ive seen pull up on a bait right at my feet just to back off when they see me. For me it boils down to this. There are many negative cues that we as fisherman can give the bass, this is one of the things YOU CAN control. Sure we hear about guys catching bass in pink polo shirts, but we have no idea how many bass get spooked by them either.

For up top, the rapala guitar kid mentioned is still my favorite bait. They dont cast that great, but make a nice subtle splash when they land. My alltime favorite though, is the Heddon Zara Gossa II. They have been discontinued for about 15 years, Flea bay has a bunch for cheap however. Not much to look at, but they have the action of a sluggo in the water. Great junk fishing bait. Rapala also has a new balsa bait with the Xrap foil they released at Icast. I have no experience with it but I'm sure rapala hasnt let me down, well except for the sub-walk

I run 30lb with great results. Have a good friend who uses 20. You need to spool it TIGHTLY. Having the initial wraps even and smooth across also makes a difference.

For me its the usual pop pop pause in open water. Im a bit more deliberate and patient near visible cover where i know theres likely a fish. I also have great results ever so gently "jigglying" the lure, trying to emulate a large grasshopper,bird or the like struggling on the surface. Not necessarily trying to make it "bloop" or "pop", just a quiver on semi tight line. This is deadly here in VA come August.

Dude get a bicycle and save your money for a car!

Dont really understand wanting a thicker rod ( dont qoute me on that lol). For what its worth all of daiwas lower end stuff seems to have a really thick blank...it actually caused me to pump the brakes on the new TD rods.

The RI is my favorite. If you cut one down the middle (along where the 2 sections come together) they make a great little bait to throw on a jighead. The bps version does have a color with a white belly and watermelon top thats BOSS.

At some point during the day we'll usually beach the boat to stretch or wizz. I usually take the time to walk the shore line. I gotta say, people drop some weird items in the lake, most of my finds are hard lures, with cranks being the majority. I dont really deep crank,but have enough D22's and bandit 300's to last a lifetime.

You guys are 100% dead on on the Chef Paul Spices. "Meat Magic" brings grilled burgers to a new level.

One more tip for the spinning rig. Clean and polish the lip of the spool (directly above where the line is). Can't tell by your pics, but I've seen a few of mine get gunked up over time. A through clean and a little wax did make a noticeable differance.

I often fall asleep on the couch, and sleep quite well on it. My prego wife told me that it bothers her when I dont come to bed, so for her I usually make myself get up after the initial nod off and go to bed. For what its worth, Ive noticed that sleeping on the couch everynight will wreck a sofa pretty quickly.

James, I own half a dozen of the old ambassadeurs, from 4600-6000's and while I'm a big fan. Lures with much less than 3/8oz just dont cast well with the heavy spools they have. Spinning reels with that size circumferance spool just arent a good mix with that heavy of a line. It slaps against the spool lip, stealing distance and giving potential line management headaches. Go down in line diameter and your distance will improve...

Im not aware the size of that spinning reel, but 14lb mono is beyond pushing the line diameter limits for a bass fishing sized spinner. If you wish to continue throwing baits over 1/2 oz, id go to a 15lb braid...garauntee your distance nearly doubles with a rattletrap style bait. The ugly stick should forgive the braids no stretch.

Had an issue from the initial model I purchased, but the Johnny Morris Carbonlite has grown on me overtime. Love the lightweight and it handles light baits pretty good. Now that I own a few sub 6oz reels, my 8+oz revo and PQ feel like a brick. As someone whos spent a TON of hours workin big topwater type baits over the years those 2-3 ozs are important to me.

Bingo. Other reasons people use leaders are. Abrasion resistance Doesnt wrap around trebles as easily You CAN break it if your hung. Trying to break 65lb braid isnt easy lol. It saves line (one of my personal reasons)

Yeah theres been a few times were the guys wereout of the same camp or friends or what not and wouldnt fight. These guys just dont wanna lose. I saw an interview with Bones the other day where he literally came out and said it. I loved BJ Penn's take on the weightclass thing, he basically said "I'm a fighter...period!". Love or hate guy he had a warriors spirit. He didnt buck at fighting Matt Hughes, GSP, even though they were bigger dudes. The weight cut is more drastic for some guys. Supposedly Anthony Rumble Johnson walks around the same size as Cain Valasquez lol.

Guys are so career concious these days. Lets face it, the fact GSP, ANDERSON, Bones, etc won't fight each other is the fact that they might lose. It's all about their brand. I'd love to see some of the old school one night tournaments where guys fight multiple times in a night, how awesome would that be?

10lb of any mono is a bit much on a bass sized spinning reel. In fact 8lb hybrid gave me a few issues.

Marketing fluff. Most "monos" are a copolymer of some type in all actuality. Different recipes can cause some differences in the final product, but the basic construction of them is a basic one (mono) strand of nylon. Some are coated, extruded or whatever, but its for the most part its all nylon. People call trilene xt a mono, for a period it was marketed as a copolymer...bottom line is do your research and find out how the line fishes. Pay attention more to diameter than lb test

I have a bag, don't have alot action and there are alot of inconsistencies between the baits. Colors are different from bait to bait (which is fine). But some baits are lopsided and have kinks in their tails. I could see them workin on a C-rig I suppose, but I never throw them.

The BPS cabonlite 6'9'' XF MH should do okay for you. I got it for throwing my sammy 95's. Really lightweight and I prefer the XF for working those baits on a LONG cast. Might be a little light in the britches for Heavy froggin. But will work in a pinch.

D shad has some of the best action of any plastic ive ever seen. It flutters like a senko on the drop, but much more pronounced. Thevye made the houdini shads i used to use obsolete.

U never mentioned what lb test ur using. Theres lots of good lines to choose frim in that situation. Hybrid in 6lb. Cxx in 6lb actually handles pretty dang good and is strong as a logging chain. If u can find it, the gamma copolymer in 6 is a joy to fish as well.

Find one of the curado e7's. Ive owned all reels mentioned except the curado g. And its a much better reel (and im mainly an abu guy)