CarolinaBoy4Life

Depending on depth a 7'M Mod Carbonlite or for bigger deeper cranks a crankin stick. Both under $120 and use both and not one complaint.

I like H20 from academy and XPS from BPS

Go MH/F(I'd go with a BPS Carbonlite) 12LB Yo-zuri hybrid Pro Qualifier reel. Can do jigs in light cover, cranks if need be, T-rigs and on.

BSP Pro Qualifier on sale or at regular price. TANK.

Siebert jigs are GREAT. His dredge jigs I use pretty much for any type of jigging, and football jigs I use a long with the dredge jig in real rocky bottoms.

I've had an interesting exchange with a few fellow fisherman a time or two. Nothing really gets under my skin unless its blatant disrespect. I tend to be cautious on how I approach the situation until I know for certain they are doing it on purpose. I'm an easy going guy don't give trouble but don't expect it either. Every situation is different and requires a leveled approach. Now with that being said I always carry a pistol for protection. You hate to have to think of that as a requirement but in todays world it is unfortunately. I don't understand these peoples mindset and over aggressive approach. I've trained mixed martial arts for over half my life and I have always noticed you cannot judge a book by its cover.

Seen this same thing play out multiple times on local lakes especially during a tournament. Some of these caught fish will travel back as demonstrated by a study that was done recently. Cannot remember the name but they did a study to see how many fish traveled back to the place they were caught from. Then you have the fish that just relocate to where they were released and do not go too far away from that point. Other fish will generally move in to where the fish was caught and removed and take its place. Its a crazy thing if you think about it. I just seen that old man yesterday leaving work at the store and he had a picture of an 8lber he was taking to hang on the store wall he had caught last week. Same exact spot in the marina!

I have literally watched an old man in a small jon boat with a homemade livewell win a tournament and never leave the marina. He fished the cove where the boat entrance was. Not sure if fish located there due to being released at the ramp and were stacked in there or if the shallow grassy flat with access to the deep channel that led out to the lake pulled them in but he slap wore em out. Had like a 29lbs bag. Next closest was 17lbs. If your club has no HP or size restrictions get in and do it. No better learning experience then being out on the water in a real tim scenario

I use Ragetail worms and Gambler worms. Depending on how deep I am fishing them and weight I use anywhere from a 7' MH/F or a 7'6 X/XF if fishing deep ledges and offshore structure.

Some of those reels you listed are decent reels. But if you are willing to spend just a little more you will get much better quality. BPS Pro Qualifier is a tank of a reel and a forum favorite. For $99 honestly it can't be beat. My line up is full of PQ. Also check out Lews speed spools

I'm not a round reel fan except for my swimbait set ups. But if you like round reels for those techniques then the C4 amb. is a good choice. Honestly the size reel depends on what type of cranking your going to be doing. If your just going to be doing shallow to mid depth cranking go with the 4600 in my opinion. Its lighter but still has the capacity required for that. The 4600 would also fit good with topwater and the same depth question would apply to spinnerbaits. If your not one of those guys that fishes deep offshore ledges and structure no need to get the larger reel in my opinion. Again this is just my view. Smaller is usually better. Go with the smallest reel you can for the application you are going to use it for. It may not seem like much but the weight of a bigger reel will play out over an entire day of chucking baits.

Yes completely forgot the Dirty Donkey. Have one and sold my lunker punker cause I liked the DD better. I like the OG better then the DD2 but have both and use both. I know this is wakebaits/topwater but check out the suicide glide as well. I have 3 and love em

MS Slammer, Cl8 bait baby possum (favorite at night, looks killer as well)

FFO. They sale discounted fishing gear. Reconditioned reels too

Out of the ones you listed, Pflueger supreme. You can also get the Supreme XT on a certain outlet site for less than $100. Its recon but for that price thats a steal

My first swimbait set up was an Okuma guide select with a cardiff round reel. Have 3 of that same set up now and no issues what so ever. Have a higher end LDC swimbait rod Ben built and also scooped one up off the underground that was a custom. Are the Okuma GS as good as these rods? Obviously not but to be honest just starting out you can't do any better for price and durability

Great catch! Not sure if the fish or being off work fishing is the biggest plus lol

I bought my old man a Pflueger President for his birthday last year. He uses it saltwater and freshwater and loves it. Has caught some stud drum, trout, and flounder with it and it has not given one bit of trouble. I just bought the Trion as a cheap alternative gonna give it a try on a spinning set up I bought.

I just got my first boat last year and was in the same boat. Knew how to load and unload but was still nervous. I created a check list and went over it until I memorized it. I would unhook the straps and everything on the boat. I would back down where the trailer tires were in the water. I would have a tie off rope on my boat tied and take the other end and tie it to the dock. Leave just enough slack to where you back it in the boat will float off about a ft or so and stop. Go park the trailer come back to the dock un tie rope from the dock and push boat off. Drop trolling motor get out of the way of anyone else or from the dock and then untie rope from the boat and store it and head out. Just what I do. Number of ways to do it honestly

I am trying out Yo zuri hybrid on all my gear and honestly from the first couple uses I like it a lot. Have it on spinning and casting.

Carbonlite gets my vote

Awesome fish and trip. Rage toad is a killer bait

I have the 7' M Moderate Carbonlite for shallow to medium cranking. Anything other than that you will need to go to the crankin stick line up

My buddy own's a 36 acre private lake that used to be open to the public for swimming. Its got some old floating docks and piers on it. Had caught about 15 smaller fish up to that point. I was fishing around a sunken floating dock with a Gambler EZ on a weighted screw lock hook. Threw it out past the dock where a tree ran parallel to it in the water. Ran the bait through the end branches and it got about midway up the tree and just a solid hard thump. I honestly thought I was had hit a larger branch and was stuck but I set the hook anyway. The rod doubled over but didn't budge. I kept the line tight and kept pressure just in case. Literally 10 seconds later the rod tipped started dancing. I immediately thought this has to be a cat fish. I was reeling but the fish wasn't moving it was pulling drag. Finally got the fish up out of the tree and got a look at her, I seen it was a bass and knew she was big but didn't know how big. She came up out of the water trying to throw the bait and thats when I seen just how big the fish was. My PB is 9.2lbs, this fish had that fish beat easily. I don't like to guess but if I had to this fish was 11lbs if not 12lbs. Just the size, length and girth of this fish was amazing. Biggest fish I've seen in person. Got her in to about 15 ft from the cement walkway and she jumped one last time and pow line broke just above the knot. Those 15 smaller fish I had caught and for some reason I never retied. Literally cost me the fish of a lifetime here in NC. Now I check my line after every fish no matter how big. Don't know if I would have gotten her in if I had retied but unfortunately I will never know. On the bright side I know she and many other lunkers are in there and this place gets pretty much ZERO pressure as my buddy is particular about who he lets on his land. Will make many trips to try and get that fish

While I agree your odds in certain states go up I don't believe everything in that. Fishing in NC isn't the top rated fishing in the country but there are bigger fish here. I know a guy who is basically a big bass hunter in an old tracker and he catches DD fairly regular. But he goes out and targets them specifically. He fishes where the larger bass are positioned in the lake. He has studied and planned and fished for hours on end. But he literally catches a large fish about once a month or more. The only difference between he and many of the other fisherman that fish the same waters is he is willing to put in the time to learn when how and where and why. He has had many days where 0 fish is the result.