Steveo-1969

B. for me because I'm not using very heavy powered rods or heavy line. I don't trust I can get the hook point through the plastic and through the fishes mouth past the barb consistently. I am not fishing heavy cover though...

I use a Trilene Knot with 10# fluorocarbon.

Do I need to add this monofilament to my testing list? After my very limited testing with three different monos it looks like handling and cost are no brainers. Abrasion resistance was better with the 10# Berkley Trilene XL Armor Coated than any 10# fluoro line I've used. I think sensitivity compared to fluorocarbon is going to be the most difficulty criteria to obtain.

I just started my own experiment a month ago replacing fluorocarbon mainline with mono. I was inspired by a post from @WRB. I fish a shallow rocky river by wading or from shore 99% of the time and really only use 2 rods. A ML spinning rod and a M baitcasting rod. The spinning rod has 10# braid and a leader of leftover mainline from the baitcaster (10# fluorocarbon). I'm happy with this and am not switching from braid, though the leader material may change. I have always used 10# fluorocarbon on the baitcasting rod and just experimented with various brands. While all the lines I've tried handled pretty well (especially with KVD Line & Lure conditioner) I go through a spool fairly quickly because if I feel a nick in the line I retie. And if I backlash and then feel a kink in the line I get paranoid and strip line until the kink is gone and retie. My small reel only holds 100 yards of 10# line and it goes quick. So I thought what if I could find a line that handled/casted better than fluoro, was more abrasion resistant than fluoro, and was as sensitive as fluoro for bottom contact? Is fluoro really more sensitive or am I just buying into marketing hype? Thus my experiment. Lots of rocks and snags in my river so abrasion resistance is easy to test. For sensitivity I'm throwing a 3/16 ounce finesse jig, the same jig I've been using for the past couple years. I'm very familiar with how it "feels" on the bottom. First line I tried was 10# Spiderwire Ultimate Mono because of some threads on BR. Casting/handling was great, sensitivity was not good compared to fluoro, abrasion resistance was TERRIBLE! Second line I tried was 8# Berkley Trilene XL Armor Coated. I picked 8# because it was about the same diameter as the 10# fluoro and the 10# Spiderwire. It handled well and was more abrasion resistant than the Spiderwire, though still not great. And sensitivity compared to fluoro was still very disappointing. Sigh, maybe mono just isn't the answer for me! Latest line I tried is 10# Berkley Trilene XL Armor Coated. It's thicker than I usually use, but still handled/casted well. Noticeably more abrasion resistant than the other two monos or fluoro I've tried. And slightly more sensitive than the other two monos, but still night/day difference compared to the sensitivity of fluorocarbon. So (at least for me) it seems the hype of fluorocarbon being more sensitive than mono is true. I also started experimenting with holding the rod differently so I could run the line over my index finger which I normally don't do. Jury is still out on whether I can get used to this or not. I'm going to keep using the 10# Armor Coated until it's gone, don't know what I'm going to do after that. I need good handling, abrasion resistance, sensitivity, cost effectiveness. Keep using it? Try Berkley Iron Silk? Try some kind of hybrid line? Just go back to fluoro? Bite the bullet and buy Tatsu? No idea, but it's all part of the fun.

Still not working. Only 20 more minutes to go and the sale is over. Silly silly silly.

Very cool. Was your boat's maiden voyage in the canals of Lakeside Park? I remember catching a big carp at that very boat launch almost 30 years ago...

Unreal! I just saw the winning weight mentioned on another forum and thought it was a typo. And then here was your thread on BR.

Hilarious! @Darren. I wondered where the Snickers was too, but the beer was even better!! And did you see him cast his spinning rod with the reel on top? That's the kind of stuff that never ceases to amaze me in commercials or TV shows or movies. Like an actor holding a double-barrel shotgun and you hear the sound of a pump shotgun before they shoot... 5 times...... ha-ha

Welcome to Bass Resource RickB! I attended the October race at Martinsville for 5 years straight in the late 90s to early 2000s. Then Rusty Wallace retired and I haven't attended or watched a Nascar race since...

The 15"+ walleyes I catch on the Upper Potomac River put up a great fight. I caught a 20-incher a couple weeks ago on a M-power baitcasting rod that pulled drag twice and gave big head thumps the whole time. I thought it was a flathead catfish until I saw it. As the water continues to get colder I will start catching more and more walleyes and they will get me through until next spring when I'll start targeting smallies again.

I love coming home to packages like that! But only one pack of Keitechs? The Bait Monkey and the bass will demand more!!!!

If I'm interpreting the above post correctly, this is what I do too. I've carried up to 10 rods in my car this way, though usually it's only 1 or 2. As already stated, you just have to be really aware of where the tip is when putting them in and taking them out. As for having kids in the back seat, I just tell them if they touch the tips of the rods I'm going to break their fingers. They don't touch them...

X2. Definitely not a sucker, looks to be a fallfish.

Where I grew up in Wisconsin a freshwater drum was called a sheepshead (or a goat).

When I was a baitcasting rookie, I didn't know the difference between magnetic brakes and centrifugal brakes either. Or that the spool tension adjustment is controlled by a "knob" and the magnetic brake adjustment is controlled by a "dial". I learned those things on this forum just as you now have. Your reel has magnetic brakes which help slow the spool down at the end of the cast. If you are backlashing at the beginning of the cast, use more thumb on the spool or add more spool tension with the "knob". You might also be casting too hard. I have a reel with magnetic brakes and when I try to really whip a cast I almost always backlash right away.

Welcome to Bass Resource Mr. Barrett! I'll start the replies though I'm sure there will be more (and better!) coming. Bass are both indigenous and stocked in the U.S. For example the range of smallmouth bass and Florida-strain largemouth has been expanded across the country substantially through stocking. Where they are stocked depends on climate and water temp. Generally smallmouth don't do well in warmer water and Florida-strain largemouth don't do well in colder water. I don't know if the range of northern-strain largemouth has been expanded through stocking or not. As for perch, we have yellow perch and white perch though in some parts of the country any panfish might be called a "perch". A "redfish" or "red drum" is an inshore saltwater gamefish found along the East coast and Gulf coast of the U.S., it's not a freshwater fish. We do have another member from the U.K who fishes here in the U.S. @Tim Kelly

Certainly nothing wrong with legally harvesting/eating the bass you catch. My question for you @Pkfish49. If you weren't 100% certain on the ID of the fish you kept and ate, how were you 100% certain it was legal for you to keep them?

I don't know Glenn, that dude was a dead ringer for you!!

I just wanted to thank the Mods for leaving this thread open. It's been one of the most entertaining things I've read on the site all week.

Thanks for the clarification Ksam, not sure why I thought you were looking for a spinning rod! I would say with your $250 budget you can't go wrong no matter what you pick. Good luck in your search! Just to muddle the water further the St. Croix Legend Tournament is about $260...

Can you explain one more time EXACTLY what you are looking for? What I gather from above posts is you want a spinning rod, longer than 6'6", Medium power, extra-fast action, price of $250 or less, to fish Senkos and other soft plastic baits. Is that close?

Nope, no kissing. But I always thank them before gently setting them back into the water.

Sorry, I have no advice on any rods you listed but I noticed you mentioned a St. Croix Premier (costs $140). You may also want to add a St. Croix Mojo Bass rod to the list. They have a 7'1" MHF spinning rod for $130.

Thank you for the post @J Francho. Lately I've been super gluing them onto jig heads with mixed results. The toothpick seems much simpler.

Thanks for the link to the FAQ page @RPreeb! I totally understand wanting to handle a reel in person before buying. It sounds like if they'd had this reel in stock you would have purchased it from the store that day. So now that you've gotten hands on with the reel what is stopping you from purchasing it online?