Steveo-1969

Have you considered a used or rep sample NRX rod? You can easily find either one for under $400. The 893c is 7'5" MHXF.

My short answer is "I don't know where your fluoro leader should break." My long answer is my limited experience with braid and fluoro leaders. I use 10# braid on my spinning rod and always tie on a fluoro leader with a uni-to-uni knot. My leader used to be 8# fluoro and when I had to break off, the fluoro would "almost always" break at the connection knot. For the past year I've been using 10# fluoro and now when I have to break off, the fluoro "almost always" breaks at the lure.

I caught my first spinnerbait bass this year.

No clue, sorry. But welcome to Bass Resource!!

Congratulations guys! Let's Go! Mountaineers!!!!

Ooooh, another celebrity has joined Bass Resource!!! ha-ha All jokes aside, I really enjoyed your Lunkerville episodes. You hammered on them! Now please release your fish below the gunnel or you will get a 2-minute fish releasing penalty.

Nice. That's a BIG smallie where I fish!! ha-ha

I haven't seen any Burney Haney episodes but I'll watch for them.

This was one of my favorite episodes. Even better that it was in 2 parts!! Your friend put on a clinic, I almost felt sorry for Mike D........

Yup. And he didn't ask "If you could only fish with one lure what would it be?" or "I want to get a new pole, what should I buy?"...

Dude, that is seriously impressive!!!!!!

If the water in my local river is low enough to safely wade, then I'm wading with only one combo. 98.527% of the time this is a baitcaster. All tackle is in a small over-the-shoulder tackle bag and I'm good to go. If I'm on the bank then I only take two combos, one spinning and one baitcasting. Any presentations I want to fish are covered by these two rods. I hate keeping track of one unused rod while fishing and I can't imagine having 2 or more rods laying around.

I throw away the shoe box and put the spool in a shoe. Seriously...

In-Fisherman is a great multi-species magazine with very informative articles. I have also subscribed to Bassmaster magazine for the past couple years and really enjoy it. Especially the Day on the Lake article in every issue.

That's what I look like when a big fish gets away too!!!!!!!

@ErikmonBillsfon I am one of the "Keitech durability complainers". How do you rig it so you can catch 12 fish on the same swimbait?

Yes it is. I love mine! Nice. I bought mine last spring as well and put it on a G. Loomis NRX MBR 842c. Spooled with 10# Seaguar Red Label. Light as a freakin' feather and I can feel everything with it. And it casts a 1/16 ounce jig head and small grub with ease.

I thought I was the only one on this forum that owned an Abu Garcia Revo LTX!!!

It's probably going to be useless with pics too... Very difficult to accurately judge a fish's weight from a picture. I can easily make a 1-pounder look like a 3-pounder. And I do. BTW: Welcome to BR!!

There was a movie called "What About Bob?" that was made a decade before you were born. It takes place on Lake Winnipesaukee...

Smallies? Yes please! Welcome to Bass Resource. Looking forward to your contributions in the Smallmouth Bass forum.

What About Bob?

Ditto. Trilene knot for mono, fluoro and braid.

This past weekend I saw first hand how quickly a smallmouth can change color. I was fishing a river with fairly clear water and hooked a smallmouth (which immediately jumped) and it was so dark it looked black not brown. I fought it for less than 30 seconds and when I lipped the fish it was light brown with dark stripes. This same thing happened on 3 different fish. Crazy...

I'm not a dropshotter and I can't help you find/catch walleyes, but I do use a 6'10" MLXF rod for river smallmouth and river walleye fishing. It's a G. Loomis and lighter powered than your St. Croix, and technically it's a walleye jig pitching rod but the smallies don't know that. I use it for any presentation as long as the lure weight is within the rod's range. I also use a Stradic CI4+ 3000 size reel (great choice!!). For line I use 10# braid, but you can use 15-20# braid as well. For a leader I generally use 10# fluorocarbon because that's what I use on my baitcaster and I always have line left over, but you can use mono or fluoro in lighter # test if you want. Walleyes have teeth but they will NOT bite through your line like a pike or musky.