Choporoz

Ty. Good to know. I have Onos and Costa readers and I am less than perfectly satisfied with either. The Onos are great when new-ish, but I am hard on them and don't get more than a year out of them. (Note that @A-Jay takes better care of his and hasn't mentioned any problems.) The Costas are superior lenses, but I find that the bifocal reader portion is too small for me.)

What is your budget? There's likely a million different great combinations of possibilities.

Curious as to why. I think I used a loop knot a sum total of one time in my life...on a small rip bait, IIRC. I'm sure it works fine, I just didn't like tying it and didn't realize any benefit for me.

Angle is a good question. Matt Steffan has a couple/few pretty good videos that address line tie angle. Unfortunately, I can't find any good underwater videos, which would probably be helpful to many. Some of the things I believe are affected, are the bait aspect while swimming, aspect while nearly motionless off the bottom, ability to come through grass or wood (90 sucks in cover), etc. The ratio of amount of weight behind tie is important, too, but I'm not analytical enough to worry much about that when I'm on the water. For me, 90° is for more vertical and deeper presentations. 60 swims well, even around cover. 30 is great for fast swimming and ticking grass and wood. That is too simple, I know, but you really just have to experiment and maybe even do your own pool tests. As to the rotated tie, I have no clue. I hate them because I cannot get them through even the most sparse cover - and within 10 foot of rocks, forget it.

The article cut off for me. @Bazoo , in the article, Tom suggests crawling/swimming the jig back to you, keeping it within 6in of the bottom.

The reels I like best go on the rods I use the most, with just a couple exceptions. The slowest speed reels are usually on my cranking rods. The 200s go on my swimbait and A--Rig rods.

I'd keep tossing the spoon. You've found gizzard schools and that is half the battle. 4 and 5 inch spoons. If depth is 30' or less, let them drop all the way to the bottom. I try 3 or 4 different presentations around several bait schools before I put the spoon down. Big rips off the bottom, swimming through and under schools, casting to and dropping right in middle of nervous water on semi-slack line. Not sure the fish really care, but I have most confidence if spoon has feathered treble. Not often, but sometimes swimming a four or five inch soft swimbait above the schools can be better than a spoon.

@Bazoo, that paint scheme looks very similar to old BPS XPS jerkbaits. Agree the hook hanger looks weird. Maybe an Ali Express special

The issue for me with a low seat like my Wilderness is the handle length moreso than the overall rod length. No problems on my Hobie or Native Slayer with the higher seats.

In just the past two weeks, I have thrown spinnerbaits, soft swimbaits, spoons, jigs and Magdraft on H rods.

I care a great deal the first time I use any rod. And magically, I don't care at all by the second or third time. On my deck yesterday, I had full cork, half cork, Eva, Wynn wrap, carbon fiber and rubber - never once thought about the grip when switching rods.

Specific brands and models have always been mandated as long as I have been fishing kayak tournaments. There were problems with some that could be bent slightly, so now, I think they all require Ketch brand, which don't flex. I did hear of someone cutting an inch or two out of the middle of a board once, but that may have been just a rumor.

Swimbait jig head; no weed guard. He also has a few types with weed guards.

Sieberts has those, too. Not necessarily intuitive to get to; Products>Categories>Tackle Making>Swim Jig Heads. There are a few weedless types there. I have largely gotten away from weed guards; I really like the Inhaler. Locked up is good, but I have a conflicted relationship with the fixed screw keepers

I hate almost all of it. I do like power locks and power windows, though. That's about it. Not joking. Between the $*@%& I don't even appreciate that breaks and cost an arm and a leg to diagnose and fix so I can pass a safety or emissions test - and the sheer complexity, electronics and inaccessibility that prevents diy much of anything.... my next truck will likely be 20 years old or more. Even my BASE model 2007 truck has given me fits due to sensors... not the crap they are sensing... just stupid sensors. I just spent 5k on repairs to our 2012 truck- only a few hundred for parts - but the labor cost for mechanic to get to the problem was the bulk of it. I'm sick and tired of lights in the dash of 2015 car for crap that doesn't affect safety, driveability, longetivity, etc., but cost $120 to diagnose (even after I have pulled codes) and thousands to fix just to pass mandatory state inspections AC and FM radios are probably some of the last vehicle 'innovations' that I truly appreciate.

Today, November 10th, 42° with winds gusting over 20mph, it was almost too cold. Same conditions in February will be ok...lol.

Yes. He was the loudest defender of another accused cheater a couple months ago. I think the event he got busted for was a low payout online tournament. Unreal. CPR may be in real trouble without some truly enforceable changes.

I agree. I spend time on BR mostly to learn and improve.

I tried to deep clean one myself a couple years ago. It didn't work at all when I got done. It is clear that I don't have the dexterity, patience, or aptitude for that work. I sent a couple others to DVT to service, I sent that one along and told him to keep it for parts. He fixed my mess and sent it back with the others.

Wire tied means skirt tie will last forever. Rubber collar can disintegrate after time or when exposed to temp extremes.

Siebertoutdoors.com for jigs, 100%. Also, take a look at Dave's Tournament Tackle for spinnerbaits. I wish I could tell you why they seem to get bit better than many others. Maybe just a confidence thing, but I have had good sucess with them.

Matbe old news...IDK... but I see that Berkeley is in the 'gill game', with the 'Flux'. A bit cheaper... but not by a lot. Is it in the same league?

First year retired and fishing same lake every day. I've said it more than once on here; I am absolutely amazed at how much things change almost every single day. When I fished once or twice a week, I had always extrapolated from limited data and weak assumptions. It is a rare week when I can be effective doing the same thing two or three consecutive days.

Gets bit pretty well here. I tend to lose too many to snags, so I don't throw it as much as I'd like. Does ok in grass, but I haven't figured how to rig/fish it effectively around any wood.

Loons arrived here in north central NC last night. Loved hearing them this morning. Surface temps in high 50s last few days and the bite has been lousy. I expect it is about to get really good for a couple weeks.