BrettD

I use a straigt shank hook tied with a snell knot and its seemed to help my hook up ratio. When I put the hook in the sweet beaver I dont push it all the way throught just enough to hold the point of the hook in the bait. When you set the hook with a snelled hook the point of the hook will drive throught the bait into the fish.

I use micro guide for flipping here in FL where there is plenty of junk in the water and have never had an issue with them clogging up any worse then regular guides. The tip guide is the smallest guide it stops junk from going any further just like on a normal rod.

Most of my pond fishing trips are 2-3 hours in the afternoon from 5pm till dark. On average I catch around 8-10 bass but I focus on quality fish. Some days I will only catch 5 fish but others I will catch 20+. My best day at the pond was 43 fish in 2.5 hours the biggest was about 3# with most in the 1.5-2# range.

The only time I use a leader is when I need abrasion resistance when saltwater fishing.

Mono would be my last choice for a worm/jig line my first choice would be braid followed by flourocarbon.

I did marine construction for 8 yrs and we would scrape pilings before we wrapped them with plastic. If you did it first thing in the morning by lunch time is was prime time to catch them.

I like to use a 7:1 reel and a 7' mh extra fast rod for soft plastics and jigs. I use 40# powerpro I used to use 20# but had a issue with the line digging into the spool.

Sweet bullet are the colors red and grey? If so it looks sharp and I've never seen one that combo. Congrats on the new boat.

Top water plug or soft plastic swimbaits depending on conditions and cover.

I use it for topwater and it works great for baits 3/8 and heavier it really shines with 1/2 oz baits. It also works well for small cranks and square bills its a very versatile rod especially for lures with treble hooks.

The trick is give them a second or two to get in their mouth then set the hook like your trying to break the rod. Also bending the hooks up and out is a must I wont use a frog until I do this. You have to keep in mind that most of the time you are hooking the fish in the roof of the mouth where its really tough.

I use them all the time its my go to bait I catch 10" bass all the way up 9lbers on a gambler big ez. The trick with swimbaits is you have to slow down your retrieve compared to most baits.

We fished a small tournement today out of scott driver and the conditions where brutal to say the least. It was the windiest day I have ever fished.

Its a 4 day tournement I think everyone fishes day 1 and 2 Top 50 fish day 3 Top 12 fish day 4

Sheepshead

I started my younger sister out on a zebco 33 and one of my old st.croix rods. For bait I gave her a gambler big ez which is a soft plastic swimbait they are completely weedless this is important and all she had to do is chunk it out there and reel it in slow. At first I gave her a senko but after the 3rd gut hooked fish I could tell she couldnt detect the bites there is no missing a bite with a swimbait. Keep in mind you probably wont be doing much fishing yourself keep the mindset that you are guiding her and not there to fish. Staying patient with my sister was the hardest part but it payed off. Watching her catch her first big fish was more rewarding then catching a 10lber myself. This is the 5th bass she ever caught on her 2nd trip with her zebco 33 she uses a bait caster now. 6#10oz

I've had the best luck with the 6th sense bobber stops the even hold a 2oz tungsten weight in place. I've tried the type roadwarrior posted and the eco pro t-stop but I keep going back to the 6th sense bobbers stops they are like 1.79 for ten.

That the same little creature I was talking about. One bass I caught that was like 5.5# had I bet 15-20 of them in his mouth. Probably just a skinny fish I've caught skinny fish that had nothing wrong with them and they looked 100% healthy.

I bet 8 out of 10 fish I catch have small leech looking things on the inside of its mouth. I doubt it harms them at all the fish that do have them are completely healthy.

I dont use leader I think its just another knot to fail. Ive never understood the need for it I know people say the fish will see you line sure they might but their pea sized brain doenst know what it is. Treble hooks dont seem to scare them off or does the alabama rig with 5 stainless wires coming off it. If it makes you a feel more confidence using a leader then use one but I believe they are not needed.

Those are the same hooks I use and I have caught a couple 8#+ with them.

Lake Falcon or for peacocks on the Amazon.

I've only caught 2 of them. Both on the same day.

I have a 4 powell endurance rods and the only rod that I think is a better value is the falcon bucoo micro guide rods. The sensitivity is about the same between the two but the bucoos are lighter. The only thing that may make a difference to you is the bucoos have a eva handle and the powells are cork It doesnt make a difference to me I actually used to be a cork or nothing kinda of guy but recently have been liking the eva grips more.

Im like Ike when I lose a big fish. The worst was when I lost an 8+ on a kvd 1.5 because the hook straightend out this was before I started changing the hooks on them.