gulfcaptain

Have a few packs, but need to find a smaller o-ring or put a small drop of super glue to hold it in place since they are a bit thinner then a senko or dinger.

I'm guessing pretty good. The Falcon's I have are although they aren't part of that rod line up.

Dwight's may be over 7, but not by much.

I'm guessing both fish are in the high 5's to high 6's.

If you are worried about it only having 5lbs of drag, go get a 5lb weight, tie it to your rod and try to drag it. 5lbs is more then you think.

X2. 8 is rounder, smoother, and holds it shape better. 4 is well the basic braid. Standard PP isn't bad, but when you try 832 and fish micro guides you can def feel and hear the difference. But the above is pretty much my thinking too. EDIT: Both can be used for whatever application you want, they both will work fine. Just becomes personal preference IMO.

Why do some think it's complicated when it's really not.

I need a sponsor.......but more for my bait monkey addiction. But here I don't think I'm going to find "that" kind of sponsor as we all support one anothers bait monkey issues.

Bingo.....that's why right there. If you're winding it on and you can barely turn the handle it's really tight, if you have a good bend in the rod and can feel a good bit of resistance it's still tight. You don't want it digging in on the first hook up or snag....then go to cast and you and your bait part ways.

appriciate it.....gives me more of an idea on where to start for sure.

You want it tight yes. You will want to put a backing on it....fill it up a quarter of the way with some 12 or 15lb mono for it to ride on and grip. Put the spool on the floor with a screwdriver through the middle and between your feet, make sure you put a cheap rag or towel....area rug for the spool to ride on. use the pressure of holding it between your feet and pushing down on the floor to give you tension. If it feels too hard to reel, let up a bit and fill. Once full, add a couple squirts of KVD line conditioner and you're good to go. When you fish, say you flip or pitch a lot, every so often make a longer cast to straighten up the braid. It's not that big a deal to put it on. And the line size is your choice, I've fished 15lb pp on casting rods. But then I've been comfortable using 6lb on them for quite a long time so the smaller dia doesn't bother me as most ( I did a pole) fish braid in the size dia they are used to in Mono or FC. Oh, and back your drag off a bit to substitue the lack of line stretch.

Think I'm gonna have to play with these and see how they swim first. I'll have a week to get it figured out. Thinking the smaller 120 may work really good on SM but seems some post have read the 168's get hit just as well.

Well that answered one of the 3 questions.

Pay attention to the water temps and the lunar cycle. For some reason they seem to move up right around the time of the full moon with water temps around the 60-62 degree water. If you are seeing beds, fish outside them or off some sort of break where the bigger females may be posting up waiting to go up on the beds.

I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Time on the water lets you learn to read subtleties that some or most miss. You pick apart the cover, look at all the variables and make educated guesses on what you have experienced in the past as well as observations. If you try and look at the whole picture, you miss the little things. Pro's and successful anglers learn to see the little things that might be missed and then piece them together with what the conditons are as well as seasonal behavior. You have to be able to dissect and analyze each bite and fish you catch and understand why that fish was where he was.

yeah, I sent him a PM, but figured I'd also ask the community as well for different points of view.

I'd have to agree with roadwarrior. Other then the few techniques he listed, most of everything else can honestly be covered with a 7'MH casting rod. The more you fish, the more you find combo's that work for you and refine your equipment. I got back into bass fishing 4yrs ago and started out with 2 rods, 1 6ft and 1 7ft both med action. Then moved up to a 7'MH, then a better 7'MH. Now I can't tell you how many and what set ups I have. But I need a new floor rod rack.

I happen to work in the Gulf of Mexico, and as a Captain......so Gulfcaptain it was.

all of this and a frog or two as well.

He's more like a gorilla then a monkey, and he's a bully too!!! Made me buy 3 reels and 6 S Weavers just this week.

Okay, no more giving away secrets....lol

Depending, I would fish a frog, a punch rig if I could get away with it and target the denser weed mats. Especially if it's bright and sunny. They are going to be deep in the weeds as well as the lilypads. Could throw a rattle trap bait along the edges of the weeds, wacky rig a senko style bait. Chatterbaits in the grass or better yet a swimjig. Bottom line, it doesn't matter what we suggest. You need to fish your strenghts and have full faith in what you're doing. Good luck.

I'm not sure what Duckett you would need to throw a 4.25oz Hudd. Honestly if you're gonna get into the larger swimbaits, you need to really get a swimbait set up. Now back to your question. Spinning, I'd look at finding 2 M Fast action rods in a 6'10-7' range. That should cover anything you want to do with your spinning reels. Now, baitcast, I'd go with 1 7ft or 7'3" MH Fast action, and then one in a Heavy action. Both Fast action and that should cover your needs from 1/2 oz jigs, Frogs, cranks, and the smaller swimbaits under 2oz.

They normally send the stuff they have and just ship the other when they get it. Atleast that's what they did with mine. TW atleast as far as I know doesn't hold instock items, atleast they didn't mine.