TTS

I recently purchased an FR 765FLIP. I Don't have a lot of hours on it yet, but I really like it so far. Very light in hand. I'd say it's action is pretty accurate. Not a pool cue at all. I don't do any true flipping for the most part. Works great for pitching though. I'd buy it again. Tom

When I recently put together a topwater rod for myself, I went really old school on the line, at least for me. 14lb Stren. Haven't used it for probably 30 years.

I use mono for topwaters. Straight braid for frogs and punching. Straight braid or braid to floro leader for spinning. Everything else gets floro. I can honestly say, I've just not had issues with it on casting gear. Spinning gear is a different story. The biggest thing I've had to do, is tighten up spool tension slightly. I've only used Seaguar Red Label and InvizX.

I have somewhat limited experience with Trokar hooks. I've only used their flipping/punching hooks so far. They've worked fine for me. For what it's worth, in MY opinion, most of the hooks by the high end manufactures and smaller niche companies, are generally pretty good. What one angler swears by, the next angler swears at. Again, just my experience.

I started with black/blue years ago. Later added green pumpkin variations. Then tried white. Still use the first two...

Yeah, their shipping isn't the greatest. I actually paid extra for second day shipping awhile back. Still took a week. They did refund me $14.00 for the extra cost though.

Always.

It takes a little practice, but easy once you get the hang of it. Best and easiest for me by far is a Spro Bronze Eye Shad. Real wide swing with these. Tom

Last couple of years I've been using a St. Croix Mojo 7' MH "spinnerbait" rod, Lews BB1, and 40lb or 50lb Power Pro. Good compromise for target casting smaller patches of weeds and making bomb casts on larger weed flats. Tom

Its often been said to go as light as you can get away with. I like to use as heavy as I can get away with instead. If they'll hit a 1/4oz. as good as an 1/8oz., I'm going to throw the heavier weight. It lets me fish faster, cover more water, and contact more fish. I'll go as light as I need to, but usually start out a heavier than lighter. Tom

With all of the different types of plastics that can be T-rigged, I'd have to go that route because of the nearly unlimited choices. When that includes everything from a weightless Senko to a heavy creature bait, it's hard to pick against it. However, if limited to just ONE style of soft plastic, I'd then go with a jig. I generally have at least one jig and at least one soft bait on the deck at all time. Which one I'm using totally depends on the cover, conditions, and fishes moods at the time. Tom

I use EWG hooks for tubes. Biggest trick is finding a hook that has a big enough gap for the thick body of the tube, yet isn't too long so that it extends past the body of the bait. Tom

I like watermelon w/black flake, green pumpkin, black w/blue flake and junebug. I'm sure lots of other colors would work fine too, these are just the colors I stick with. I've personally had zero luck with white however. Tom

To keep it simple, I pretty much mix and match black/blue, green pumpkins, and watermelon. I usually start out with matching colors, but will sometimes switch the soft plastic to contrast. Such as a black/blue skirt with a green pumpkin soft plastic. Kind of let the fish tell me what they want. Tom

For fishing weeds- All Terrain Tackle Grassmaster Swim Jigs- Lethal Weapon II Swim Jig Bought some Secret Lures 2XHD flipping jigs this year to try. Haven't had a good jig bite going yet though. Tom