Choporoz

I was with you, @bayvalle, until the last sentence...:) I haven't been able to get down below five rods in the yak. As to your question, I am only answering to tell you that there's on way I can answer. There are soooo many variables possible in those rods. Since you own both, you are in a MUCH better position than I am to answer your question. Fish them both with a variety of the lures you use (that fall generally within the rod lure ratings) and see which, if either, works for you. I don't have an 6' ML baitcast rod, but if I did, I'd probably try using it for target casting small cranks....or small jerkbaits...and see if it casts well for me...and flexes well with a fish on....and has sensitivity I want....

Seriously, the answer to your thread title, is 'Yes. Smoke is a decent reel.' However, your question alone means little. Spinning or casting? Model? Age? New or used? Condition? I have four Smoke casting reels. Love them. But, I have never paid MSRP for one. I have one Smoke spinning reel. Bought it used. Bail won't close with handle...however, I manually flip the bails (most of the time) and everything else about the reel is incredible. $50 for a brand new Smoke 200 RH casting reel would sound like a great deal...unless you fish LH....$50 for a broken 6 year old Smoke reel that has never been maintained might not be such a great deal.

They suck. Please send me the info. I'll spare you the heartache.

Agreed. I think I might just throw one in the boat. May not be a fall season rig. But, there are plenty of summer days when I find active bass at a certain depth (deeper than the weeds) throughout a lake. Instead of casting worms, I may be able to troll this along, say, 12 foot contour lines. Not sure why I always troll for walleye, but have never tried it for bass....sort of a mental thing

First I saw this, I immediately thought of the walleye bottom bouncer trolling rigs in my tackle closet. I haven't trolled for bass, but I have to think they could be effective. Anyone ever try them?

Toss out the book, GD. Couple weeks ago, they were killing jerkbaits here in dirty water with temp of 78.

Had a monster on a crankbait on Sunday....turned out he was wrapped around a sunken tree limb....or two. Couldn't have gone two pounds, but for a couple minutes I thought I had a state record flathead

Sure was a beautiful weekend....3 day weekend....almost 19 hours on the water....good thing the weather was nice....anybody catching anything? Three different bodies of water - all pretty muddy and bites few and far between in each

Mine too. However....GP (with flake variants) is the color that I throw more than twice as often as any other....so, there's that

I use YZH for most treble applications, also....though I do use some braid

First time in over 30 years that I am sorry I failed Statics. Logic seems flawed, but I can't begin to explain why. However, when you consider the shock stress, vice steady pull, it sounds more plausible. I'm sure there's more than a couple engineers standing by to set us straight.

This a a great place to start

I get by fine with Muck-like boots and jeans until ice. Wool socks and thermals on coldest days

Interesting....your mention of the 'other knot' is where I had problems looking at various interweb versions of the Yucatan. I only looked at 5 or 6 diagrams and/or videos, but none showed another knot, though some mentioned one. I got the impression from most that you don't need that second knot - that you can trim the braid tag. Not your experience?

I'd not heard of it, either. Lots of variations on the interwebs. One, on I think Rapala site, shows both lines doubled and twisted. For those that use the 'Yucatan', please post of some details of how you tie successful ones - braid doubled? or both? how many twists? challenges, etc? I know use Alberto with pretty high confidence, but always willing to consider alternatives.

I know nothing about the source, nor the information contained, but this article is interesting regarding tidal LMB and shrimp: http://unionsportsmen.org/shrimp-tidewater-largemouth/

Interesting. Thank you. I would have imagined that salinity tolerance of bass and shrimp didn't overlap. I fish tidal waters, but rarely those with much if any salinity. I used to hit some more brackish spots in Hampton Roads, but never did very well.

good point...I changed the subject....I, too, learn something every time I get on here....I just don't do a great job of remembering or applying all the time

I read nearly everything on BR...I've been fishing for some 50 years....and yet...I'm still learning new (to me) important things. What was your big lesson in recent days? I've got a few, but one that smacked me around a bit was that the split shot rig is the real deal....and adapt or get owned. I'd never used it. But my wife and I fished a tournament two weeks ago and got schooled. We prefished the day before and killed them by working the bottom under heavy grass. It was a challenge, but extremely effective. The next day, we tried forcing that same bite for way too long....while the winners were playing on the top of the same grass with 1/16 oz split shot and cleaned up. I tried light slider heads and owner ultrahead finesse briefly, but kept going back to the bottom with little luck....fishing memories, I guess

I don't use them, but I spent a week fishing for walleye and northerns in northwest Ontario this past June with my 77 year old mother and she outfished me using just ultra-lights....handled 24 inch walleyes and 30 inch northern pike just fine. Her wrists won't handle more than a couple hours with my gear, but she managed almost 10 hours per day with ultra-lights just fine.

Funny, I never got a bite on the more realistic crawfish lures, like R2S and Savage Gear. But, as @WRBsuggested, they are probably most effective fished exceedingly slow, which isn't my strong suit....I'm like the owl in the old Tootsie Pop commercial....on the third count of my attempted 30 second drag, I'm already reeling in to re-cast

Pflueger President XT. I have two and like them better than my more expensive Shimanos, Quantum and Daiwas.

Might be this. For no good reason that I can articulate, TWS makes this more likely than a more conventional 'hole' line guide....at least for me

I didn't. Spent a few hours in the kayak, in steady rain, and only found a dink and a blue cat

http://www.heliceo.com/en/industries/bathymetry-drone/ I should have known....it already exists!