Missourifishin

I have an Avid (pre-"X") spinning rod. It's 7'0" M/F. I think you'll want the M rather than the MH. St. Croix tends to run a little heavy on power ratings.

On a scale of 1-10 I'd rate my year a 3. I had an unusually bad spring. And then didn't get out and fish much in the summer. Fall was better. If I was only rating fall I'd give it a 6-7. But the first part of the year was kind of disappointing for me.

I agree completely. And I agree with EvanK. Of course, I also agree with Kmac, that in this case more information is needed.

Depends what your definition of a ton of money is.

I have several of each and switch back and forth without noticing or even thinking about it. Feel both, and if you strongly prefer one style, go with it.

I use the 6'10" M/M St. Croix Mojo Glass crankbait rod for squarebills and other shallow-medium cranks. I like it a lot. I'm not sure if what you're talking about it just an updated version of it.

2 in each hand for me too. I wish I had a better system though, because it starts to get tedious if I'm moving around to different spots a lot.

I use 6.4:1 for everything. If I did more deep cranking I might want to go down to a 5.4:1

I agree on the Pfleugers. I'm not experienced with Shimanos. But I think 2500-3000 size is the range I'd be looking at, regardless of brand.

Good point. There are some things you can do to prevent it. Given the choice though, not having to mess with the non- closed eye ones is still my preference, mainly for that reason. But I have box full of both kinds anyway.

Oh, I find discounts on gear year round too. But black Friday is a very tempting time since there are sales EVERYWHERE. You have a ton of choices of different things at discounted prices that day. I guess the worst part is just seeing all the rest of the guys here posting their new stuff this time of year, when I happen to be broker than usual I didn't get to do much, if any, fishing gear last year either because I had to spend my extra cash on a tv.

I've often showed poor self-control, including when I find a deal on fishing gear. But remembering I have bills due in the next week or 2 that won't get paid if I spent even 1/4 of what I'd like to tends to help me with the self-control a little. Plus I know there is nothing I truly NEED right now, so that helps too. It did hurt to pass up some of those deals. I need to do some financial planning built around black friday fishing sales for next year

I prefer closed, but I don't mind either kind. I'm curious though, does anyone else ever have the problem of your line sliding up or down the wire of the lure on the open ones? It's usually not too big of a hassle when it's happened to me. But I can remember at least one occasion where it happened multiple times, which made for a number of wasted casts since it messes up the action of the lure if it slides very far.

Yep. That should cover it.

I'm basically reiterating what's already been said, but read everything here you can. Read and watch videos elsewhere on the internet as well. And put in time on the water learning from personal experience. It will all add up.

I'm soooo tempted to spend money I can't afford today. But I really have everything I need, other than extra money. So I think I'm going to try to ONLY buy the bare essential small items I need for the next year and save up for next year.

KVD 1.0's, 1.5's and 2.5's are by far the best I have used. Particularly the 1.5's. A lot of people hate on the 1.0's but I've had a lot of success with them. I have 3 or 4 Lucky Craft squarebills that I haven't used yet though, and I'm looking forward to trying them out soon.

I kind of phrased this wrong. I have multiple rods that I like, it just happens that the only one that is practical to keep in the cab of my truck is a 2-piece spinning rod. JigMe, why do you recommend I not keep a rod and reel in the cab of my truck? Possible theft problems?

I know this has been discussed before at some point. But I wanted to hear your guys' thoughts on 1-piece rods versus 2-piece rods. The reason I ask is because the only rod I own and like to use for bass, happens to be a 2 piece spinning rod. I like to have fishing gear with me at all times, just in case. So the 2-piece spinning rod is the only one that is practical to keep locked in the cab of my small truck. I'd prefer a baitcast rod, but all of mine are one piece. So I'm considering making my next rod purchase a 2-piece BC rod. So, I guess my question is, how much of a difference (if any) do you think there is between a 1 or 2 piece in terms of performance?

I'm a big St. Croix fan. But I must admit that there are plenty of brands I haven't tried yet, Dobyns being one of them. So I want to try more before I truly dedicate myself to the brand.

I primarily fish from the shore of the lake in relatively shallow water. A shallow crank (mostly squarebills) seems to be my go to bait, particularly in spring and fall.

That was a good read.

The lake I did most of my fishing on the last two years hasn't been producing any decent sized bass for me this year. So I tried I new lake I'd been meaning to try for a while now, and I'm doing much better. I don't doubt that your spot holds fish. But sometimes changing it up makes all the difference.

Your Walmart's deals are better than mine. I was just forced to make a trip to that place (I hate going there) a couple hours ago. No deals like that, so far anyway. There were some plastics for around 40-50% off, which I was thinking about going back for, even though I definitely don't need them. Maybe I'll wait a few days and they'll have $1 Gamakatsus. One can always hope.

There are a few items I'd like to have shipped to me asap too. I'm just waiting for the sales though.