Choporoz

http://moanerhooks.com/moaner-products/the-weighted-stroke-a-keel-weighted-hook/ These look perfect. I bought a ton of 3/0 gammy's a few years ago and I'm still working through those (with HitchHikers.) 4/0 will work as well. Good, but not as sharp as Owners, which I'm moving to almost exclusively. After working through most every brand of hook, I pretty much only buy Owners now. 3/0 in 1/16oz and 4/0 in 1/8.

I don't get many crappies on Cut-R's

3/32 Owner twistlok weighted hook. Keeps it upright and comes through all but the nastiest stuff surprisingly clean. Even though it appears to be about the thickness of a senko, it doesn't do all too well on straight gap hooks. I much prefer a wide gap. I used to trig 1/4 oz a lot, but I find that too be pretty heavy for most of my fishing anymore...sometimes even 1/8 feels heavy. I flip it into cover. I drag it along the bottom. I swim it just over the tops of weeds. I hop it off the bottom...sometimes big pops...sometimes little hops...that tail will shimmy at any speed...swimming or falling.

Another satisfied S.O. customer here.

Timely. Limited selection. Very cheap at Dicks....I just put some in my DSG cart. Don't tell @John Loughlin....I'm experimenting with the cheap stuff

did you try rotating your phone 90 degrees before hitting 'upload'?

lol....or, maybe just offering suggestions for application of shallow-grave landscape fill

I've learned the hard way that I have little use for floating jerkbaits. I've got a number of them that I very rarely use. And, I've had so many cheaper 'suspending' jerkbaits that float...at least a slow rise still allows some jerking action....I don't see a need for one that is designed to float. I've got plenty of Rapalas and Smithwicks that cover that action for me.

As much as I love chucking and winding, I'd have to say that 'Go-to' would have to be Rage Tail, rage rigged 6'9" MF ; 30#Yellow PP w/12# leader Owner Weighted Twistlock Lite 3/32 Rage Tail - about 40% of the time Cut-R; 40% Structure Bug -- the other 20%, I get radical and go up to go up to Anaconda or down to Thumper With this set up, I can skip, flip, drag deep, skim shallow across top of heavy weeds, etc.....the accuracy, versatility and reliability can't be matched by anything else I carry.

supportive....and glad.....and just a tad passive aggressive? OK....so...don't dump her...what about photography...my wife loves to fish...not like I LOVE to fish, but she enjoys it...at least she does when they're biting...when they aren't, she might engage HER first passion: photography..the two hobbies work pretty well together

You sound like a nice guy...and you've thought a lot about this...I was going to bite my tongue ....but the other guys above.....well...come back in a year or two and tell us they weren't right

I am unfamiliar with that brand, but it looks like they use the same mold as Perception...remarkably similar, anyway. I think that the seat is going to suck bad, but toss a boat cushion in there and for $200, you might just be doing ok for a while. I've always advised to avoid most any new kayak at that price, but that might actually be a reasonable deal.

I use alberto for leaders, palomar for braid, and sd jam for everything else. I wise man on here (I forget which) suggested that the type of knot you use really isn't nearly as important as many would make it out to be. Far more important is picking one (or more) of the perfectly acceptable ones, and learning to tie it well. Every time.

Good advice above. At your budget, you'd best be glued to craigslist and fb local swap or fishing groups. IMHO, a sub $500 used kayak is almost always going to be much better than any new sub $500 yak. Factor in a pfd, paddle, crate, rod holders, etc (some of which just might be included with a used one.) You aren't going to 'love' anything you get for a couple hundred. BUT, it will get you off the bank; and it should hold enough value that you can sell it for little loss and upgrade in a year or two.

Every fish is different. Every situation is different. However, while I know that pike, walleye, snakeheads, smallmouth, and others will hit more than once...even on same retrieve....I have zero confidence that a LMB will hit a lure soon after getting a good taste or tug and spitting it. As I said, every fish is different, and I have no clue what the average memory span might be, but I wouldn't hope to hook it again in the next half hour or more. Bumping and swiping are completely different, though. BTW, are you any relation? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_XSdBa1ZNw JK....sry

Other than braid, I use Yo-Zuri hybrid almost exclusively. I can't speak to your Sniper at all. But when using YZ, KVD makes a tremendous difference. It really does nearly wipe out the memory. As to baitcasting, I believe it makes a pretty big difference, also; though I only use YZ on cranking rods. I suspect that as you go up in quality of FC, you probably get diminishing improvement from KVD L&L.

Would it make a difference if that spool in the Shiamano pic were flipped over? (line coming off the back and reel turning ccw ---as viewed from spooler's right side?)

No Plano spool box for you, I guess?

The official response would be something like: Dear @TX-Deluxe, Thank you for your suggestion. We will consider it. The unofficial non-response is more like: "Ha! If your line is screwed up it's your own darned fault. And.....Bonus!...You get to buy more line sooner. We win." sorry...that isn't much help...I have switched to braid for most of my fishing and no longer worry about it much....Glenn had a vid about spooling spinning reels that had a good tip...I just don't remember it. My father used to crank on a few a dozen turns and then pull out a few feet and let it hang between reel and first eye and then look for twist...if bad, then flip over the supply spool. My other non-tip is that if I am not using braid, I usually use Yo-Zuri, and 'label up' works 100% of the time for me.

They usually are. That monster on Thursday bit Cut-R, also. I carry a number of different worms, but Cut R is by far, my favorite for most anytime I want it swimming.

After catching exactly one in the last 2-3 years, I have caught four in the past week. I wouldn't have called it 'lucky' however, they take a bit of time away from bass fishing to land and handle, and they absolutely tear up my plastics.

I'm with @RoLo, but I prefer the Amber O'douls. I'm currently taking a break from drinking, but I actually enjoy the brown bottle O'Douls.

I like it a lot trigged, jika and swing-head rigged. But, like @Columbia Craw , a weighted EWG is my preferred method .....maybe 90% of the time.

Got on the water each of the last four days in NOVA. It has been an interesting few days. Thursday paddled down from Bull Run Marina in evening. Got two dinks and no good bites. Until .....well after dark...just north of BRM I hooked what I thought was a log...and then it ran. I was fairly certain it was another huge flathead and it wasn't until probably 4 or 5 minutes later that it broached and soaked me with a tidal wave splash that I started to think it might be a bass. I fumbled with a light as I struggled to get her alongside and not lose control. I've caught plenty of six to sevens in the rez, but I swear I have never seen live a bass like this. As I went to lip her (could have easily got entire fist in the mouth) she jumped away and broke off....no pics and no scale, so it never happened....but I'll be seeing that image in my brain for many years to come. Friday, I got outboard running for first time this year, rented a boat and went north out of Fountainhead. Nearly seven hours and just three bass, none over about 2#. (Was a beautiful day, though and wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else...until I got back to marina and found that the kid there had given my driver's license to someone else...who lives in Leesburg. I did get them exchanged on Sat, but what a PITA.) Saturday, I went out late in afternoon and paddled up from BRM. Managed one slab crappie by accident and not a single good bass bite. Sunday afternoon, I gave the rez a rest and paddled Pohick. Winds were projected at 9-10....somehow, the weatherman neglected to mention the 30MPH gusts. It was miserable and essentially unfishable by yak. Until almost 5PM when it died down. For the next 2 hours, it was the most incredible two-hour period of bass fishing that I have ever experienced. 20+ LMB and 3 snakeheads. Smallest bass was 15". It got to the point where if I didn't get a solid bite on a cast, it was a disappointment. If it weren't for the snakeheads, I'd have caught a lot more bass. The d**n things fight like hell and take a few min to get off...and they tore up my Cut-R's. When I lost the last Cut-R of the package, I couldn't buy a bite on anything else. I was frantically, trying curly tails....cane thumpers....Senkos..rage bugs.... I managed to find an old Cut-R at the bottom of my bag and immediately started catching them again. Wish that I'd launched from Belvoir so I could have stayed out there all night. I was catching them all the way back into Pohick. While it had slowed a little, I still managed over 30 bass for the evening.