buzzed bait

don't forget about Mike Siebert.... still making quality jigs at reasonable prices!

un-freakin-real man! that's a boss hog kinda fish man!

were you talking revo mgx or supreme mgx?

i "liked" your post for the green grass just as much as the collection!! really nice on both accounts!

happens, but also had a spool of the spiderwire once and it seemed to come off quite a bit more than others while spooling. also found that power pro hi vis yellow comes off quite a bit more than the green

i prefer the "shorter" rods, mine are between 6' and 7'. but i also think the length of the butt is about as important as overall length.

i had a 10.5 that i would top on my toyota camry. i've seen plenty of vans and suv's with what look to be 12' kayaks on top. your main concern will likely be the weight of the kayak and how easy it is to get high enough to put on top of the van.

saw a thread on it a while back and then it went dark. i also saw it in the magazine the other day and thought i would have heard more about it by now...

i hope not!!!!! sorta just kidding.....

would agree on something like the bass raider/pond prowler type for under 1,000

really like the looks of those, especially the watermelon/brown! nice work!

i did the same thing the first time i took mine apart (also probably the last time i'll take it apart)

i'd try to spool up 3X with that 200 yd spool with mono backing, roughly 65 yards of the tatsu on each spool.

that's insane! i'd love to see it!

looks great to me, really like the shape of that handle!

i take zero offense and wouldn't want to mislead anyone. but i still think what i pointed out is more or less exactly what he asked for especially given that he noted "you get what you pay for" in the OP. i have no doubt in my mind that your experience will likely prove true and i will at some point probably break the vise. good part there is that i already feel the vise helped me get over that learning curve and could easily wire tie my silicone jigs without a vise for the rest of my time. again, wouldn't want to mislead the guy either, but $20 to see if you like it vs $85 minimum on a good vise, to still see if you like it.

this is the one i'm talking about and it's actually $20 with shipping included: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009SANF50?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00 i honestly can't say what size hooks i'm using on these jig heads though, perhaps Ted @cadman can answer that part since he was the source. it actually doesn't provide any hook rating on those specs there, but i'm thinking somewhere on it i saw it rated up to 5 or 6/0, but don't take my word for it! i've only used it to tie about 30 or so jigs thus far though. but i've moved it around 3 or 4 times now and it's continued to work fine. for the "entry level" request you were after i would think this would do you just fine. if you decide you really want to get into it, then you could definitely upgrade to a much nicer unit. and dan, watching your videos makes me a little jealous of the rotary just because of how easy you make it look!

nice fish!

have 2 lightning shock rods and fished fluoro on both with zero problems

good point on hook size, the cheap one i bought was rated for hooks up to 5/0 or 6/0 so big enough for the hooks on my jigs.

type r is about 36 IPT and ci4 is 32 IPT if you want to take that into consideration. i prefer the way the ci4 palms so i'd probably use it for whichever rod would see the most use.

and all of which explain very well why even the most experienced of them all will never snag a unicorn or a leprachaun. unicorns obviously being far too smart to fall prey to any human rig, period. a leprachaun being too small and quick to land, not to mention if you do actually hook one they're mean a$$ little fighter with a drunkards wobble with arms just long enough to unhook a well placed hook from any spot other than their Achilles heel.

i think what you described is a charity.... most non-profits turn a profit for somebody.... awesome idea! i actually sent a spinning reel to Mike at DVT for this very purpose. He put it back together again with the intent of passing it along to a fisher in need!

agree with smalljaw on why to start with the shakyhead from the bank. and they're pretty dang productive on my local ponds too.

i use an offset worm hook until the plastic is just too big to do so and then i'll use an EWG hook.