RB 77

Yup. Plastic worm.

No, no... you really should move to Florida, plenty of room last time I was there. I mean, there is an entire strain of Bass named after the state for cryin' out loud! That should be a slam dunk. I know OP said its out since you lived there before, but man you should see the renovation they have done to the state since then and it is home to "Florida Man" after all. A potential tourney partner. Haha... Yes. The politics, politicians and the following cronies for the most part in this area are bat you know what crazy! Yeah, good ol' Calicorny... Couldn't even buy waders online form Academy because of that nonsense...

Both are what many consider the top two reel manufacturers in the world for fresh water baitcasters and spinning reels. I myself believe this as well. I am a Shimano guy, but would go with the Tatula over the Casitas in this case for the frame difference alone.

All I fish are Shimanos. I primarily use the Calcutta, Curado and Stradic series of reels. I feel you can't go wrong with any of those three.

Both. They are the top two industry leaders and its not even close (IMO), and I own all Shimanos. That's saying something. I have owned Daiwa in the past (among all the other popular manufactures) and they are the only ones I feel match Shimano's build quality. I just personally prefer Shimano's ergonomics more.

My go-to, but not exclusive.

This.

That's because its not terrible, its just fine. Its just that there are what many considered to be better options available.

Izorline XXX. Great line at a great price. I'm using Sufix Elite right now on a few reels, but the jury is still out. Big Game wins for the most affordable quality line. I just prefer the way Izor handles and don't mind the couple bucks extra.

I live and Bass fish in San Diego county and let me tell you the town is BUZZING about this right now. That article is an incredible piece of investigative journalism and a surreal expose piece with photographic and video evidence. Eye witness accounts the whole nine. It’s just insane!

Mike Hart?

Yikes! In a little under a decade of injecting, I have burned myself badly once. It wasn't pretty as well. Luckily it was only a fairly small area. Maybe you posting the picture will help reiterate the importance of proper protective gear.

Ive been injecting soft plastics for several years now. The number one thing when doing this is safety first! 400+ degree Plastisol is no joke and can severely burn you. Think of molten hot liquid plastic sticking to your skin. No joke. Protective eye-wear and gloves are a must. Pants and closed toed shoes as well. Another crucial piece of protective equipment is an organic cartridge respirator. Heated Plastisol will release hydrochloric (acidic) fumes. Long term and intense immediate expose can cause serious health problems. All the nuances of actually injecting the baits is enough to fill a novel, but I thought the safety precautions were worth a mention up front.

20 lb braid to 10 lb flouro. The braid itself helps eliminate line twist and the heavier lb test of the braid helps eliminate wind knots. The flouro is mostly for abrasion resistance.

This is awesome!

For me, hell Yes! Get those red hooks away from me! Black nickel only please. As far as the fish go, I used them all extensively and I couldn't notice a difference one way or the other. I just cant stand the look of a beat up red hook. A super ridiculous pet peeve of mine, I know...

Epic! Haha

That Slammer is beautiful. I LOVE when baits start to look like that. Warms my heart...

I ALWAYS glue my plastics to my jig heads and yes, after switching a few out it does build up a glue/ plastic chunk residue. I simply scrape it off/ clean it up with a knife and carry on. The time and hassle it saves gluing vs re-rigging a swimbait after every cast is well worth adopting this technique.

When it clicks... lookout now! A buddy of mine had never caught one on the jig before, even though I had given him a couple over the years. He just couldn't stay with it and would always go back to plastics. We went out fishing one day and I saw a perfect rock to bank transition that had jig written all over it. I fired that sucker out (99.99% of the time I have one tied on) and after a couple of pops, I felt that tell tale "Thud" with the jig that is so intoxicating. Inspired by what he just witnessed, he finds a new found confidence and ties one on. After a half hour of no bites (credit to him for staying with it) his confidence and interest wanes and mentions he's over it. I tell him I'll start fishing the jig again (I had put it down for another lure) to "fire up the jig mojo" and see if we could get bit. Well, we (HE) sure did! My friend was watching my father fight a fish and I noticed his line "swimming" and thought it an incredibly odd light bite for a jig. Told old boy to set the hook and that rod doubled over! Up comes a 5+ pound Bass, the biggest of the day by far. Confidence was at an all time high and cemented the next trip when we both had about a dozen fish each fishing the jig on and off all day. We now have a saying between us; Its all about that THUD!

Well, first fish was probably just after I learned to crawl, maybe before. Haha. I was a wee youngster for Bass and could barely see over the rail of a sport boat for Tuna. Pops was/ is a fanatical fisherman. Took a 25+ year hiatus to try and catch every wave I could up and down the west coast of California, Baja and other further locales. Fast forward 25 years and a decade later after a fateful fishing trip with a surfer buddy of mine and here I am trying to get out on the water to fish as much as possible.

I have a different take on this. I quit surfing because of fishing. I grew up on the beaches of Southern California and have been a life long surfer since I was a youngster. High School surf team (yes, that is an actual thing. Haha), local competitions, built surfboards, worked in the industry , etc the whole nine. Then one day I called my friend to go surfing and he mentioned he was going Bass fishing. I showed some interest and he kind of brushed me off. I said I could borrow some of my pops gear and off we went. I'm not kidding when I say that day when I hooked my first Bass since I was a wee youngster it was intoxicating. Instantly hooked, game on! Several years later I own dozens of setups, a plethora of lures, fish both fresh and salt water, work in the sportfishing industry (two different jobs actually!), build rods, make lures, etc. I still have dozens of boards and a 1/2 dozen wetsuits, but my surfing has dropped off from 200+ days in the water on average to just a single session last year. On the other hand, I try to get out on the water to fish 100+ times in a good year. Actually just did three in a row! I will always be a surfer at heart, as I will always be a fisherman, but I thought I would share a little story from the other side of the fence to show just how captivating our way of life can be.

Spinnerbaits

Unfortunately, out of the 3 pairs of sunglasses I wear right now (Costa, Kaenon and Oakley) the Costa's fog the worst. Actually, they're kind of the only ones that really do it. d**n shame too, because their lens quality and clarity (580G) is by far the best of the bunch.

Best bang for the buck is Big Game. I do prefer other lines in general (Ixor for mono, Sunline for Flouro, currently giving Sufix a run for the money) but I feel price wise Big Game is the industry leader, IMHO...