Chris at Tech

I'm not anywhere close to a serious tourney fisherman, but I'm not aware of any reputable tournament that would allow a stringer to substitute for a livewell. Which series are you going to fish? Seems there's typically 4-5 trails, fluctuating a bit by the year.

That's kinda where I'm at in my thinking. What's cheaper at the point - just buying a new blank or stripping the current rod down. Sounds like the new blank route is cheaper anyway.

You're also chasing them in freshwater though, correct? I get your point, but that's a significant detail worth calling out.

It may do the job in a pinch, but I'm not sure I'd recommend a rod/reel designed for largemouth bass as a dedicated NE saltwater striped bass rig. I'd want more line capacity, more drag, and equipment designed for the harsher saltwater env. This type of fishing has you running into anything from 5 pound schoolie bass and snapper blues, all the way up to angry 30 llb+ stripers and toothy 15+ blues, so I personally would not want to be undergunned with my largemouth tackle. I'm FAR from an expert but I'd recommend spinning gear for the versatility of being able to throw plugs, lead as well as live or chunk bait. Some guys would prefer casting equipment for this, so if that's your preference go for it. I'd go 7'-7'6" under the assumption that you'd potentially be casting to them as well, but 6'6" - 7 would work if you're just dropping bait down to the bottom. At this point, the decision becomes just like bass tackle -- how much do you want to spend? Find a 4000 or 5000 size Penn or a 6000 size Shimano in your price range and spool it with 30-40 lb braid

Question for you rodmakers... I've got a stock Avid and I'm wondering how reasonable it is to alter it a bit. I'm sure it's possible, but is it cost-effective? For example, if I wanted to modify the grip, reel seat and foregrip, is that a labor-intensive mod, or is it reasonable to do? Of course replacement part cost needs to be factored in... Thanks!

My prediction for this thread...11 pages. I'm gonna get comfortable and let this saga unwind.

Yes, I have a few extra spools for both my spinning and my baitcasting reels

Avid 6'6" M/F and don't look back.

Try fishing the salt. You won't be disappointed!

I've had my eye on that rod for some time but I'm just not fishing enough these days to add another rod to the arsenal. Regardless I'd love to hear your feedback on it once you get it -- perhaps I'd be motivated to sell an existing rod or two to make room in the stable!

Hey Mike, My feedback is a rehash of a few items above. The number of product option buttons you have can be a bit overwhelming. I agree with the feedback above to see if you could consolidate to fewer options -- jigs, jig parts, terminal tackle, soft plastics, etc. See if you can reduce some redundancy to make it a bit less cluttered. As an example, I see you have a button for each jig head type, but then the "tackle making" button also contains all those jig heads (plus some other stuff). Can you remove the five differnet jig head buttons and the skirt button and have all that under "tackle making"? The other feedback above which rang true to me was around the jig descriptions. I also struggle understanding the differences between the different lines of jigs. I get the head shape differences, but determining what's different between your several different varieties of brush jigs, for example, can be a bit tough. Perhaps you can combine this wiht the first feedback to have one product button for jigs, and hitting that button takes you to your main jig page where you can put some info to more clearly differentiate between the different series. Just some constructive criticism

I love my Avid 66MF for those baits so I think your Premier would work well.

Good mojo on the way! Kick its butt, Dwight!

OG Zillion fan here! NIce to see the platform not totally retired but does what's so different about this one? Why should I pay $300 for this one when I can find a bunch of fantastic deals on the OG Zillions?

I don't crank a ton but I used 10-12 lb Berkley fluoro when I had fluro on my cranking rods. I went back to mono mostly to give me more versatility in my cranking rod (so I could use it for topwater baits) and haven't suffered from this line "downgrade".

Not impressed... Hehe... Way to go, man. That video is reminiscent of those I've seen of kayak fishermen getting towed all over the Gulf of Mexico.

I'd look elsewhere... My guess is that it's too beefy of a rod, and it's not likely to be comfortable to cast much on (both due to being too short as well as due to weight)

Bama certainly looked good but I'm starting to question if LSU was overrated to start with. It doesn't really matter, but they looked pretty inept once it cecame clear they wouldn't be able to ride Fournette to victory.

So that's now the FOURTH ridiculous finish on four consecutive weekends of college football. Michigan/MSU, GT/FSU, Duke/Miami and now this. Jeff -- you can thank the idiot who got the facemask penalty called on him on the first 2-pt conversion. What a moron!

I fish a good bit in Hilton Head SC where my folks are retired, and it's the first time I've fished in gator-infested waters. The above info is good advice in that the ones who will bother you are the ones that get fed by humans. WIth that said, I keep a few things in mind. I purposely try to NOT be too stealthy when I'm walking around a pond. By making a bit of noise, I give any gators the chance to get out of there before I arrive. I also don't stand right at the water's edge when fishing, I stand a few feet back. When I catch a fish, I try to get them in hand as quick as possible, and my personal preference is to flip them onto the bank with my rod. When I'm unhooking, I take a few big steps back and I make sure I face the water while I'm dealing with the fish. I've had a few run-ins with some small but obviously human-fed gators so I've had to keep my wits about me, but the simple steps above at least keep me comfortable and confident fishing in those areas.

If you dn't want ot make your own, I can personally vouch for the Cabelas travel rod tubes. They don't lock so I'm not sure i'd check them, but I was able to get four 3-piece travel rods to Baccarac and back by carrying them on the whole way. The tube is very well made.

Get one of the OG Zillions. Since the new ones came out, there seem to be quite a few deals to be had on the older ones. My OG Zillion SHLA matched w/ Zillion 7' MH/F is a pretty sweet jig combo as far as I'm concerned.

I always loved the clean looks of those Zillion sticks and I think they fish pretty well too. Never understood why or how they didn't get more popular... I have the 7-footer with a Zillion reel for my jig duty but your combo is pretty fine-lookin' too

I have that Avid and it's a great stick. I've never fished one myself, but I've seen many posts indicating that the Savvy rods are quite underwhelming in the sensitivity dept.

For whatever it's worth, the best five fish limit that I've ever had on my boat (27 lbs) was caught on an LC Pointer in the fall in water that had at most 2 ft of visibility (and was probably a bit less than that).