JunkYard814

My first casting rod was the Berkley Lightning rod shock and I thought it was perfect for learning. It's designed for superlines but it handles mono well too. In fact I still have mono on mine right now.

Actually I just noticed that the Purist was a bigger spinning reel. You may want to put that on a MH rod, but I'm not sure what you would do with that. I don't fish with bigger spinning reels.

I would: take the Vendetta with either of those reels and make it a Jig/Top Water rod. take the President and Carbonlite and make that a finesse soft plastic rod. take the purist and whatever rod you want to pair it with and use that for all other small baits I'm a little puzzled with the Vengeance. I guess you could use that as a shallow crankbait, spinnerbait, soft plastics set-up but I don't know if it will have the backbone to handle them. Either way, I think that vendetta set-up could probably be used as an all around type rod.

You're not going to be able to major in journalism without taking a variety of literature courses and creative writing courses. I would assume you're going to have to take a few of those even if you minor. No matter what major you chose, there are going to be courses you get to take that you absolutely love and then there are course you have to take that you aren't going to like. You just have to make sure that the path you chose is the one you like the most.

The choices are endless, depending on what you want to do within the bass fishing world. Journalism can be utilized if you want to write for magazines, a blog or anything of that lines. Marine biology is also something to look into. Business or marketing are things you may want to get into if you want to be a tournament fisher or own your own business. I will add that my profession is not related to bass fishing in anyway so you may also want to hear others weigh in on the situation. However, in today's world there are an overwhelming amount of options out there. You may also want to speak with your guidance counselor at school. Don't be afraid to utilize all resources at your disposal.

Gear ratios on all of the reels would help as well as the action of the rods. Also, are you open to shuffling the reels around with the rods to maximize you're set ups?

President for me. I have two of them.

Holding both, I actually liked the feel of the tournament speed spool better than the tournament pro. I felt it to be smoother, and for some reason I felt the TSS to be lighter, even though the specs say it's an ounce heavier than the TP. Plus I liked the shiny black finish over the matte black. I would recommend try to get each one in your hand and maybe mounting it on a rod before you make a decision. Having said all that, I can't see what more $50 could get you over the TSS. The reel is perfect.

Any Medium Light spinning set up is loads of fun to catch bass on. I line mine with 8 lb mono, and use it to catch smallies in the summer. Man is it fun, but boy can it be frustrating sometimes.

I have a box with cranks, a box with jerks, a box for jigs, a box for spinnerbaits, a box for top waters, a box for terminal tackle and a lastly I keep a box with spoons because I do a fair amount of pike fishing as well. I keep all my plastics in the side of my bag.

What type of water color are you fishing? I would imagine the yellow wouldn't be too bad in murky or stained water, but you can see it from a mile away in clear water. I usually just go with green.

Sounds like everyone had a great holiday!

Nearly every time I spool a reel with line, I tie on a 3/4 ounce drop shot weight and give it a heave in my back yard and just reel it in. I actually find myself doing this a lot when I can't go fishing, especially when I want to try out a reel or rod I've gotten. My neighbors and family think I'm nuts.

Make sure you stay hydrated too. Fatigue and cramps can be attributed to long bouts of activity, but can also be side effects from dehydration.

I have the Tournament Speed Spool and it is the smoothest piece of equipment I have ever purchased.

I know it may be a little bit early for this post, but I'd like to hear what everyone is expecting/getting under that tree tomorrow. Small or large, a gift is a gift, and I'd love to hear about it! Merry Christmas all!

You could use it for general soft plastics, although you may want something lighter for finesse fishing.

I think that MH Fast action would definitely be better for jigs. I definitely wouldn't use it for deep cranking as the more line you have out, the harder it will be to set the hook with a fast action rod. You may be able to get away with it for shallow cranking. If you do chose to do that, you might want to go with a fishing line with less stretch, like braid or fluoro.

Thanks for the input everyone! I don't like fishing Heavy rods. I barely like fishing MH. I don't really fish anything too crazy so a MH will be just fine.

Hello all. I'm in the market for a new frog rod. I'm looking for a rod about 7' in length MH XF. I wish to spend no more than $120 on the rod. A few I've narrowed it down to are the Powell Deisel, Abu Veritas, and Shimano Compre. I'll admit that I don't like buying the same rod or reel a second time and I was planning on using the Compre as a new worm rod. If you guys have any advice on either of these rods or maybe another one that fits what I'm looking for, I'd appreciate your input. Thanks is advance.

I agree with everything stated above except I like to use a Fast action rod for topwaters because it offsets my lack of patience when setting the hook.

I always enjoy fishing my Medium and Medium Light Rods much better than Medium Heavies. I don't own any heavy rods because I just don't like them.

So I went out yesterday and it was pretty d**n cold. Switched between the jerkbait and the tube for about an hour and a half. I caught one pickeral and no bass. Looks like I may be packing it up for spring earlier than I expected.

I have never had time available to fish in the fall, especially the late fall so it's a relatively new experience for me. I read a lot about fall patterns, but I get the feeling that they're geared for the southern states where it mostly in the upper 50's and low 60's for a majority of the month. I'm going out a little later today and trying my luck fishing from the shore of the pond. I was thinking of either deadsticking a jerkbait or slow crawling a worm or tube. Any other advice you guys have for me I'd appreciate very much. I'm fishing in north Jersey, the temperature looks to be in the mid to upper 40's. I expect the water to be in the low 40's.

I jig on a frog rod only because I started throwing frogs first. The only thing I don't like is the rod length. I use a 7'0 frog rod and I'd prefer a 6'6" jig rod because I cant pitch in tighter spots. A new jig rod is on my wish list, as is a new frog rod.....and a new everything.