Chris at Tech

In my experience, the benefit of the swivel is that I can swing pretty hard on the cast to maximize the distance. With a Carolina Keeper, I need to do a gentle lobbing action or the keeper will slide and shorten my leader.

I have a Stradic FK 3000 on my Avid Inshore 7’ ML/F. The normal Stradic will balance better than the CI4

Yessir! You ever throw that South of the Border?

It'll be fine in open water, but I think you'll struggle fishing thick mats with that rod.

See which balances better in hand when put on your rod. The Vanford is lighter by itself, but that can also result in a rod feeling tip heavy when the reel is put on it.

We were fortunate enough to get down to HHI to visit my parents for Thanksgiving week, and I got in a few fishing outings. While the golf course pond bass were not cooperating too well, my saltwater friends were. My usual guide was out of town (how inconsiderate!) but I got the chance to fish with another really good guide. We picked up a few small trout on topwater as the sun was just rising, but nothing picture-worthy. The fun started at the second spot as we locked in on a school of redfish. They were not feeding as actively as we would have liked, and I have never before experienced such light bites from redfish, but they could not resist the Gulp shrimp for long. We ended up with 8-10 fish to the boat, with a few pulling loose. After the trip with the guide, I also managed some land-based success on my own as well. The first session at this spot yielded only a flounder, but the second session is when I finally managed to get the Lowcountry trout to come out and play. I managed to trick 5 trout up to 18 inches all on artificials. I think I'm starting to get addicted to sea trout fishing, so now I've got the itch to figure out how the heck to break my ~5 lb PB! These guys sure are fun when they decide to eat your lure on a ML spinning rod!

As mentioned by several above... Speak to the guide, explain what you want out of the trip or trips, and ask him permission on saving spots. Heck, you can even ask the guide to specifically target community holes to get you started on that body of water.

I think a 6’8” M/XF Avid would be a good fit for most of the techniques you mention.

Where is this vacation house? Recommendations are likely to vary based on location

Hard jerkbaits like X-raps too. white, some sort of shad or baitfish pattern with some sparkle, and a darker color

Flukes, soft swim baits, spooks...

Wouldn’t be a trip to ole Big B if AnDDy didn’t break a rod ?

I wish you many DD’s, watered-down margaritas, and proper Coronas! PS - I hate you.

Don’t forget your spinning reel with 6lb fluoro. Ned rig is the way to go on Baccarac.

Are you using braid? That may help with the rods that seem too soft or parabolic.

Hampton Lakes?

@Bird - I clearly indicated this DID NOT happen to me. But if it did, it would have been a treble. ?

Glad to hear it worked out. Big Fish Jeff is a big deal, and he knows people!

So what's the problem? That still leaves you with OVER A MONTH to learn how to fly a plane. Like it's hard, or something!

So (hypothetically speaking, of course), has anyone ever managed to hook their pants to their pedestal seat cushion when they say on a lure they forgot they put there, then had to take their pants off in the middle of the lake in order to actually be able to see the mess and unhook themselves? Wow, that must be so stinkin' embarrassing for anyone if that ever actually happened. How ludicrous! What an idiot! Good thing that has NEVER happened to me! ?

I'd suggest you try to tie a leader that's long enough to allow you enough reties for at least one full fishing outing. Start with ~6 ft. When do you replace it? That's easy -- whenever you need to. Need could be driven by the line getting frayed, or getting too short from multiple reties. So be sure to carry that extra leader with you out on the water. On a related note, be sure to practice your line to leader knots if you're not already comfortable. Lots of folks seem to love the FG, but I can't get that stinkin' thing to hold so it's not in my regular arsenal. Uni to uni is my old standby, but lately I've been playing with the Alberto knot. To me, both of those are reliable and easy to retie either at home or on the water.

My 2 cents... Get one natural color (smokin shad, baitfish, watermelon/red, houdini, etc) and one highly visible color (pearl, bubble gum, chartreuse)

Daiwa BG

I love my 6'9" MH Kistler Magnesiums and KLXs for this technique. As a matter of fact, I have a previous generation 6'9" Kistler Mg that I could stand to get rid of, if you're interested.

FWIW - the 6 ratio Tatula 150 and 200s have plenty of power so deep cranks are not likely to be an issue