buzzed bait

i've even got 15# on one casting reel and it works just fine. you can step up the backing a little bit to use less line and also give a little confidence if for any reason you ever got down to the backing. i'd maybe go 8 or 10#.

i don't think it matters that much, just whatever you have confidence in. i've been using 15# braid lately with no issues.

match made in heaven!!

nice rod and VERY nice fish!

hahahahaha nice pic!

man those are some BUG EYES! great catch!

man that's crazy, glad you're alright though!

congrats man! she looks happy and healthy!

Suggestion: don't give up or get frustrated.... even a bad day of fishing is a great day for me!

Hit the Chattahoochee yesterday with my wife and couple friends. I was in the yak and my wife was trying out her new paddleboard. The water was wayyyyyy low, but we managed to make the float from Johnson's Ferry to Cochran Shoals in good time. I was tossing a wacky senko and a Beetle spin with a chartreuse yamamoto grub for the bait. They liked the beetle spin! It's a lot of fun throwing that bait on the Phenix Recon 2 683 casting rod with my Curado 51e/Yumeya BFS Spool and 15lb braid. Effortless casts will make the bait soar on that setup. I managed to snag 3 nice little shoalies and saw 1 monster bass in the shallows, not entirely sure which species but have no doubt it would have broken 4 if not 5 pounds which is no slouch in the river! First bass was HUNGRY! He had a mean little gut already and had a crawdad in his throat that was half his size! On top of that, he wanted more food and smacked my beetle spin! Pretty cool to see that! Had a great outing and got off the river right as it turned cloudy and was about to rain.

my only winn grip experience is with golf clubs. while they are no doubt the most comfortable grip in the golf game, they are not known for their durability which does make me hesitant on the fishing grip. Although, i've yet to hear a single bad thing about the fishing winn grips so they may be a totally different animal. i'm slowly getting more interested in them!

http://www.basspro.com/Strike-King-Bitsy-Bug-Mini-Jig/product/20152/

agreed and even the Fury 705CB will work if on a tighter budget.

most likely the bitsy bugs

awesome!!!

that looks miserable man. i've got to restock some of my stash, but i keep sunscreen in the truck, kayak, house, garage, everywhere i can just to try and avoid the "forgot my sunscreen" look you're sporting!

great start it sounds like!

using a twistlock hook or a skip gap helps a lot. i've never used them, but the z man plastics last forever so i'd look at the fluke imitations they have.

VERY nice boat there man!

i really like my ride 135 with the trolling motor! the steering is done by the foot pedals so it's hands free. only thing i wish i could do is steer while standing. it can be done, but not the easiest thing to do!

never seen that before, but that's pretty slick!

paracord is what i use, but i don't have the anchor wizard. one way to get it even thinner, yet maintain a lot of it's strength is to take the inner stands out of the paracord and use on the exterior cord. it's still way heavier breaking strength than you'd need and will lessen the diameter quite a bit.

WOW!! those are awesome for your millionth attempt, let alone first!!

i had a couple lew's spinning reels and was less than impressed. i have 4 of their casting reels, so i'm no hater in that regard. just think that for the $ you can get a much better reel than the lew's spinning. i have no experience with that Abu so can't offer much there.

daiwa tatula 6'10" MHF. can be found on sale for about $110 right now. i've tried many rods that were well over that price range and none of them suited me better than the tatula.