WIGuide

Nice fish and it looks like you guys are on the right track! If i were you when you get the new reel I'd bump up the braid to 20 or 30 lb test. 20 has the mono equivalent diameter of 6 lb test and 30 has the equivalent diameter of 8 lb test. Using line diameters that are closer to one another will make your leader knot easier to tie. Also, it sounds like your fishing from the bank so if you use the heavier braid, you will be able to break off on snags and only lose your leader or part of it instead of your main line. Something you might want to try is a dropshot. If the current isn't to heavy they can be deadly for smallies.

Looks like a nice fish, how big was it?

I'd probably go with a MH/F. It won't be the perfect rod for everything, but it will allow you to do what you want. As far as length goes, that's more of a personal preference and what you're accustom to. I like rods on the shorter side as they provide better accuracy in casting, where the longer rods you'll add distance. Not knowing how you fish, that decision is going to have to be made on your end. A rod line that might be worth checking out is the Mojo Series by St. Croix. They've just been redesigned this year and have an upgraded blank making them lighter and more sensitive. I'd pair it up with a Bass Pro Pro Qualifier (which you might be able to get on sale) and you'd come in under budget which would leave you some money for line. When It comes to that, I'd keep it old school and go with some Trilene XT in 12 lb test. That would I would go with if I was picking out a combo to meet your criteria, but there are a ton of options out there!

Eh, what are a few limbs or even lives lost as long as the boat is safe for that one guy who reads previous line the wrong way.....sarcasm...clearly sarcasm.

Before you go off looking to buy a new trailer, what do you have currently? If it can be adjusted to properly fit the boat, or do a few small modifications to make it better it will be a heck of a lot cheaper in the long run then buying a whole new trailer. If your current trailer is a drive on bunk style trailer it sounds like you may have the trailer in too deep on a steep landing. Otherwise, if we see what you're working with, we could suggest easy changes to help the issues you're facing.

You're really over thinking this. Put the prop on and run it. If it's slipping you'll know since when you spin a hub you don't usually sort of spin it, it's spun so it'll slip when the most torque is applied to the prop and that's at takeoff. A lot of times if the hub is spun you can't pop the boat up on plane. The reason Mercury went to the flo-torque hub insert wasn't so they'll break in the event you hit something, it was to make Mercury props interchangeable with other brand motors. Previous props were designed around a Mercury prop shaft so if you had a different brand motor it wouldn't necessarily match up spline wise. It does take a lot to spin a hub, but it can happen. It's not a fail safe of protecting your lower unit, but lower units are pretty robust. I've seen some pretty mangled stainless props that had no lower unit issues. That's not saying it doesn't happen, but I've never considered that a reason not to run stainless. The performance difference alone is night and day

That's impressive, but dang the price on that! A little steep for my pockets.

Congratulations to you and your family!

I think he's just been doing too many crunches! I'm not sure what causes that to happen, but I've caught a few that have had similar issues. I haven't seen any that extreme, but it does happen.

You can definitely meet them. I was at an event down in La Crosse and since the landing is right across the road from where they weighed in you got to talk to the pro's when they pulled their boats out and inbetween then and the weigh in. My dad and I went down for the final day so a lot of pro's had left, but some stay around if their sponsors have booths up. It's a pretty cool deal. Last year I fished in the WI Bass Nation State tournament on Sturgeon Bay, which was the weekend before the AOY championship tournament. On that Sunday you were seeing a few wrapped boats and trucks around. I ended up running into the Lane brothers in the grocery store. Pretty much every pro I've met over the years has been really nice and down to earth. Pics from LAX

I think if they can live or not really depends on the type and size of the plastic. Some plastic swells while in the water. I've pulled up some jigs that people have broken off with craw trailers that had swollen bigger than my hand. I know I've got a picture somewhere, but not here at work. It's crazy how big they get though and if a bass were to swallow one before it swells I can't imagine them doing to well.

I've got 2. The first is a St. Croix LTB 6'8" M/XF spinning rod which I use mostly for the Dingers I rig wacky style, and I've got a 6'6" M/F Legend Xtreme casting rod for texas rigged baits. I they both work great for senko style fishing. I would say go with the shorter rod as you'll get better accuracy. Fishing a worm of any kind isn't a technique you're trying to cover water with, but rather work high percentage areas and to me that's when accuracy becomes essential.

They will work in open water. As blue said walking them is the best presentation for that. I would look at adding some braid and fish them in the pads too. Otherwise if you're only going to throw it in open water, adding a rattle inside of some sort might give it more drawing power.

x2 exactly what I do.

Both are nice rods, but since St. Croix upgraded their blank in the Mojo, I'd be swayed to go in that direction.

There are a lot of factors that play on making a rod or reel good or bad. With rods it's the balance, sensitivity, components, power and action, and build quality. A lot of it has to do with how all of those blend together. Some rods just have a dead feeling to them, like you can't feel anything with them. They may have a poor build quality with the guides not straight, or the guides themselves might be cheap and be easily grooved. As far as reels are concerned, a lot comes down to build quality, components, smoothness, durability, tolerances and overall weight. You can buy a pretty cheap reel these days with lots of bearings in it, but if they're crap bearings it's not going to keep your reel smooth. A good reel with have an adequate number of bearings and have tight tolerances. It won't have lots of slop where pieces come together. You can feel the difference in smoothness between a good and bad reel. A bad one might be ok right off the shelf, but when you use it a bit, you'll feel the difference for sure. On poorly built model, you'll definitely feel it when the reel is under strain. It feels like you have gravel inside the thing at times where a quality reel with remain smooth. There's a lot that goes into it, but that's a bit of a rundown to give you an idea.

These guys did a pretty good job of covering what could be the causes, so there's no need for me to list them all agian, but one I didn't see has to do with your hookset itself. Not knowing what your hookset itself is actually looking like I can't say for sure, but you could be snap setting which is where you don't reel down on the fish enough before you set it on them. It produces a rather large amount of stress on the line vs a tight line hookset. Try to make sure you either reel down on them until you feel a little pressure, or don't bow to them or move the rod in their direction.

You should be fine. Your rig shouldn't be heavy enough to take too much weight off the front wheels. If you do run into an issue, just get a few people to sit on your hood and you should be just fine.

Maybe you could try the bell sinker with a small snap attached to the loop. That should give you a bigger opening to fit the keeper through.

I'd go with a 4/0 or 5/0 Trokar Mag Worm hook.

Generally I'll throw moving baits to try to find active fish, or to get a reaction bite. They also work well when fish are active and willing to chase something down. Soft baits have more action with less movement so in general look like an easy meal. Both have their time and place and some people can make one work when another swears they can't. Just have confidence in them and try to find out the times that work the best for you.

Try swapping out you Trilene XL for XT or big game. Either are more abrasion resistant than XL.

That equipment might work for you depending on how "heavy" the cover is and the size bass you're trying to pull from it. Being that you mentioned walleye fishing I'm under the assumption that you're from north of the mason dixon line and you might be able to get away with it with that gear. A heavy powered would be better suited for it though.

Congrats on the upgrade!

There are a lot of variables that go along with a spinnerbait. It's possible you could have been throwing or doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. For instance the day your chatterbait was killing it, I would be guessing is a day they wanted more vibration, if you were throwing a spinnerbait with willowleaf blades, you're going for flash and hardly any vibration. Spinnerbaits will catch fish, but you will have the best luck with whatever you have most confidence in.