iceintheveins

There is no contest, KVD L and L all the way.

I have never had problems with pflueger drags.

I have three of the old ones and they are great for cranks, spinnerbaits, and topwaters. Sensitive enough to feel if willow leaf blades are spinning correctly on a spinnerbait.

BPS tourney special.

Jig fishing just takes a little getting used to, the bites aren't all that hard to detect. Generally it will be a small movement of the line (which means you have to be a line watcher). It can be just a little twitch. Ticks and taps are common too, as is a weightless feeling if the bass inhales the jig and moves toward you. Most jig bites will feel like this. If in doubt you can always set the hook. But with a sensitive rod and good line watching tactics, you will notice most jig bites, I promise. They aren't much different than a plastic bite when you are pitching or flipping.

Gamakatsu

P - line 100% Fluoro is a pretty good mid priced one.

I throw a lot of 1/4 ounce spinnerbaits since I fish shallow water and like to slow roll them over the grass. Overall a 3/8 ounce gets the most use from me but I throw a lot of 1/2 ounce too and sometimes 3/4.

Firetiger, natural craw, red/chili craw, chrome blue, chrome black, natural shad colors, and you are set.

My favorite squarebill. All the better if you can bang it off cover. Comes through grass fairly well.

I've caught bass with various soft plastics in there mouth and even a couple that puked up a soft plastic and I removed it.

They stay active for a long time down there since it's so warm. You can catch them in November and sometimes Decemeber even on topwaters. The water rarely gets cooler than mid 40s.

Tough one because I don't have hardly any combos under that price range. I'd have to say my browning silaflex (a fiberglass spinning rod) with a pflueger president. It's okay at tossing smaller cranks under 1/4 of an ounce or small topwaters like zara puppies.

Good one too. The lobster catches all sizes of bass from 9" to 10 pounders.

A rage hawg in black blue flake is excellent in murkier water, as is any rattling jig in black/blue colors or plain black with a black blue rage chunk. A full sized zoom brush hog in black blue or junebug is good since it's even bigger than a rage hawg. Don't overlook a magnum lizard in dark colors either.

Jig and rage chunk

A couple pike over 40 pounds sunning themselves. Biggest fish I've ever landed was a 38 pound lake trout, close to the biggest fish I've ever seen.

A pflueger with a veritas spinning. You can also buy a president/black *** combo or president/quantum smoke combo for under $200 too. Great reels and rods.

Check out Dynamiclures.com if you want some 7" - 8" swimbaits. The dynamos have terrific action for the price and when twitched will do a 180. The FX fury softbait is a line thru swimmer that flat catches them too. All lures well under $20.

Pflueger hands down.

I know i'm in the minority here but I fish jigs with hi vis mono and a fluoro leader since I am a line watcher and fluoro doesn't work well for that usually. Don't like braid with most things except hard jerkbaits, punching, and frogging. In those three applications its the only way to go.

A great crank and man do I miss it, especially in murkier water.

1/4 ounce pepper jig in original pepper jig style, green pumpkin.

A little over 5 pounds, fishing is slow and deep with lots of long pauses.

The silver max by Abu and also the BPS Tourney Special.