TNBassin'

Some of this stuff looks like they shrunk down some of those monsters in the Godzilla movies. Hell, they may have used these lures AS the monsters in those movies.

Especially the ones with the plump tails lol.

I personally don't see what the problem is with the hooks on SK baits. I've got a ton of their lures and never once had an issue with the hooks. Same goes for the Academy H20 baits that come with VMCs. You guys must be hooking up with some faaaaaaaaaat girls way more than me if you're bending them.

ZMAN worms float great. They make some great drop shot baits.

For $99, you can't beat the Veritas. Just be sure to buy it in store, as I've gotten a few Veritas rods with crazy crooked guides.

I prefer the bent handles. Gotten used to them over the years, and now the regular handles feel weird to me.

Don't underestimate the S. Great little reel.

This is the exact reason I haven't bought a micro guide villain. I really want that rod, but their QC sucks. Either getting a Phenix Recon or a Falcon Bucoo micro.

Shew! Was just browsing Cabelas.com and had to fight the monkey off with a stick. Some great deals on there right now, but gotta stay strong for tomorrow.

I throw my shakeys on a 7ft MH okuma rod with 8lb mono. Don't have to get too fancy to fish the shakey head effectively.

Until Abu can fix the quality issue with their guides, I'm gonna refrain from buying any that I can't visually inspect. I've had major issues with guide alignment, along with epoxy cracking off on my Veritas micro guide rods. Had to send more than enough back, but hopefully the ones I have now don't develop any issues. NEVER buy an Abu micro guide rod without visually inspecting it first. Guide alignment on some of them is down sickening.

I really like In Fisherman and FLW.

I fought the bait monkey nearly all winter, but I've dropped over $100 in the past 2 days on stuff I really didn't need. I'm gonna drop more during the bps spring sale as I need a dedicated spinnerbait/jig/crank rod.

Try some gambler flapp n shad. Just watched a video on them a few days ago.I was so impressed I had to get some.

Red cherry seed and motor oil chartreuse trick worms are the only zoom baits I use.

I will have to try that. thanks for posting this.

I got my Trokars for free by signing up on their website, and IMO<--------the recreational fisherman like me is fine with Gamakatsus. Tournament guys I'm sure want every edge they can get, and probably don't mind paying a little more for Trokars. The Trokars are super nice, and you can definitely tell they are step up in quality compared to Gammys, but I'm just not losing a ton of fish to where I feel the Gamakatsus aren't adequate or good enough to keep using. I've caught 3 on the Trokars, and all 3 times the hook pierced through the lip and through the fish's head, or through the lip once, then hooked back through again. I've NEVER had a Gamakatsu or other hook do that. For MY money, I'll stick with the cheaper hooks though.

Rage Tail grubs work well. I use them on my Boogee baits as well.

Got a pack of the TN shad color as well. More blue gill colors than TN shad. Hopefully I will fish these this weekend. I rigged one up on a ZMAN chatterbait, so I wanna see how it produces. One thing I noticed, is that they stink horribly. Not a scent that Berkley uses, but more of a plastic/chemical/paint smell. Hopefully that doesn't scare the fish off.

I am a supervisor at a facility where we make silver. I signed about 10 NDAs, so I can't really go into details lol.

You've got a ton of great options in your price range, and I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. Go Abu or Shemano.

Battery.

This statement right here just sold me.

Had an issue with a Gen 3 STX where everything felt very tight, even with the spool ou, excess lube removed etc. Exchanged it and the new one has been flawless.

I use the stock grips. My STX has foam grips and I love the feel of those.