Logan S

The world record largemouth (Kurita's fish) was caught on a Deps Sidewinder rod with a Shimano Antares DC7 and 25lb Toaray flourocarbon. Probably close to $1000 retail value at the time. The world record spotted bass caught recently by Cody Meyer was on a high end Daiwa rod with a Daiwa Exist spinning reel and he located the bass on his electronics and was able to drop right on it to catch it. in another 10 to 30 years this gear will be considered outdated too...Time goes on and equipment evolves.

Haven't had a XXX, but recently got to handle one that a buddy has...It was very nice. I'd like to grab one eventually but not really in need of any new rods with those specs right now so I'll probably wait to find a deal on a used one.

Rather than type it out, here's a screenshot of my tackle sheet...I'm not coming out of the rabbit hole . This is all what I personally find them to excel at. Primary/Secondary means the rod is very good at it, Other means it's good enough, but probably better suited to a dedicated rod if you use that technique a lot. In terms of better options, I'm sure there are - All depends on budget and personal preferences...You can probably see one instance where I do prefer another brand though...The lone Daiwa . I've found the XX series to be one of the best price/performance values in higher end gear which is why I have so many of them. (In case anyone wonders...I keep this sheet mainly as an offseason boredom project, but it does help me decide to get or not get rods sometimes - Easy to see holes in the lineup this way)

Pretty much the same as the Potomac - Bladed jigs, spinnerbait, shallow crank, etc...Depends on what you like I guess. You can also cover a lot of water flipping/pitching by doing it while moving around instead of picking apart an area to death. No problem...Yes that's true, but pretty much everywhere is better in spring and early summer than they are in August.

It's a custom/homemade based on a slider-spider head.

This rod with this bait is on my deck close to 100% of the time...It doesn't mean that I fish with it the most, but its always ready to go. If I'm struggling for a bite, this will go into action to solve that problem .

They are similar in ways and different in others ... The tidal stuff obviously and the shallow cover fishing (mostly grass) are where they're similar....You can fish the Bay without re-rigging your Potomac stuff. On the Bay you can target fish in deeper water (more than 6') more often. Smallmouth are also more of an option on the Bay, there are small windows during the year where you can catch really nice smallmouth. It's still dominated by largemouth, but smallies play a much bigger part than they do on the Potomac. The Bay also fishes smaller than the Potomac in general...There's a ton of water up there for sure, but there are less of the major tributaries that make up a huge percentage of the fishing area on the Potomac. The Bay is also a little more hazardous in terms of navigation overall, so make sure you pay attention to where you're going (especially in the Susky). Starting out, attacking it with the same mindset as the Potomac will get you going in the right direction and once you get some time on the Bay you'll start to tailor your approach to it's nuances.

In the long run, I'd put money on the same people being successful in a no-electronics trail....From Pro level down to local level. And you don't need four Solix 15's or HDS 16's in order to use electronics successfully. Even very basic units have Side Imaging now for affordable prices (relative to the tournament world, where we're assuming the person already has boat/truck/tackle/etc). The top of the line units are nice, but a person that devotes time to learning electronics can be deadly effective with the budget models too. Using electronics is a developed skill like any other. If you did take them away it probably wouldn't be long before the same people start to complain about shallow water anchors or mapping or boat/motor size or practice time or or or or....

@Delaware Valley Tackle Thanks! Following your advice I removed it carefully in a few minutes. I'll clean it up a bit eventually but I'm just happy to have it off! Thanks again for the fast and accurate advice .

Hope to get some advice from the experts. I purchased this Megabass rod used and the previous owner had a hook keeper installed by a rod builder. I hate the location of it, it's always getting the line caught on it....I just want to remove it. Is this something I can do myself without ruining the rod? I've searched and seen people saying gently heat up the epoxy and I should be able to unwrap it...Any truth to that? I don't want to replace it, I just want it gone....It would be nice if the original MB lettering was once again visible too so I don't want to just clip it off and leave the threads/epoxy. Pic of the hook keeper for reference. Thanks!

Skeeter ZX250 / Yamaho SHO 250 Atlas Hydraulic 12" - Dealer installed Any future boat I'd get will have one too, though I plan to keep my current rig for a while . My home waters have the 2 biggest reasons to have a hydraulic plate - lots of very shallow water and lots of rough water. Being able to lift or drop the motor on the fly makes life much easier....Particularly dropping the motor in rough water, acts like a completely different boat and takes waves very well.

I can't believe it went unnoticed through practice and Day 1 launch...Especially since those guys have to drive past a tournament official during launch for livewell checks. The FLW tournament staff definitely should have caught it beforehand, but it doesn't excuse the violation. I think the rule makes sense personally, not sure why so many are upset about it....But even so, it's been on the books for almost 10 years now. I feel bad for him, but at same time...It's not like a hidden or interpretive rule.

I'll be really mad at myself when I inevitably lose a Zoom/WEC crankbait...But they were made to catch fish and they do a good job of it so I can't let them sit. I probably won't be replacing them though since the ones I really like are $80+ now.

On HB you can adjust scroll/chart speed, on Lowrance you can't...So you do have adjust boat speed to get the best picture. 5mph is faster than I've ever scanned though, but everyone's rig is different so who knows. 2.5 to 3mph is the sweet spot for my boat. Lowrance does change chart speed based on your range setting, but you can't adjust the chart speed yourself.

My primary usage on the Potomac and Bay for side imaging is finding grass that hasn't reached the surface. Keep the range at 60 to 100 feet and set the contrast/sensitivity to a point where the areas right under and near the boat are a little washed out - That will give you a good picture of grass further out when you come across it. Idle the areas you're searching, drop waypoints on the edges of grass you see on SI. You'll probably also find submerged laydowns, rocks, and other cover that's worth a waypoint. I'm also a Lowrance user (HDS 9's) and this is what works for me...Lowrance unfortunately is not as good at shallow water scanning as HB (I ran HB previously), but with some practice you can dial it in to show you essentially the same thing. One thing though, you'll want the SI unit mounted on the console...You can use it up front but it will be way more effective and efficient when mounted at the console. It's not overkill because it's definitely useful, you fish the Potomac and Bay so I'm sure you know how valuable it is to know where grass is - especially when you can't see it on the surface . FYI, when you go to a lake and look for 'real' structure/cover, you'll need to change the settings a little bit...Setting it up to find shallow grass will give you poor results in deeper water and harder bottoms.

Supposedly the Yamaha SHO 200 thru 300 HP outboards are all actually the same motor mechanically - But with different tuning to achieve the desired HP. Assuming it's the same with the 115 thru 175 HP SHO models too. Might be something like that going on with the Mercury's you're talking about? Would be my guess anyway.

You've got it right. Spinning reels typically have a lower gear ratio, but the 'real world' speed is actually faster than baitcast reels of the same ratio. Example: Stradic Ci4+ 2500 - 6.0 gear ratio - 35 inches per turn (IPT) Curado 200K - 6.2 gear ratio - 26 inches per turn (IPT) The Stradic spinning reel is actually on par with the Curado XG that has an 8.5 ratio (36 IPT). The 4000 size Stradic has 39 IPT with 6.2 ratio....On a casting reel it would take a 9+ ratio in most reels to get that IPT . There are plenty of examples where casting reels are a better option than spinning, but gear ratio isn't one. I wouldn't put much stock in 'Karl'.

Our area presents us with a tough choice...Do we outfit a rig that will be great on the HP-limited and/or electric-only lakes but less than ideal on the Potomac/Bay? Or go for a rig that's better suited to the bigger water but will be less than ideal on the more numerous HP-limited and electric-only lakes? When it comes to the Potomac and Bay a small boat, to include everything you listed, will always pose a certain level of risk. Even if you're smart about it, those freak storms or fronts can blow through and it gets ugly FAST. Even in a 21' bassboat it has scared me unexpectedly. Plenty of people fish both places in small boats just fine, but it is something that should be in the back of your mind. If the Potomac is going to be a regular stop for you, I'd say go on the bigger side...If not, I'd optimize your choice for Occoquan and the other lakes around.

A top line new bassboat has always been roughly similar in price as a new Corvette. Quick Google search on current Vette prices shows that to be between $60k and $80k depending on model...What do ya know, about the same price as a new 20 or 21 foot Skeeter, Ranger, Phoenix, Basscat, Triton, etc...And actually most of the bassboats are probably coming in on the low end of that range (or maybe even under). As bass fisherman we are also a bit nutty with the amount and types of gear we use when compared to other fisherman or any other hobby/sport out there....So I wouldn't argue about bass fishing being expensive because we make it that way. It's self inflicted though, any bass angler could absolutely be budget minded and still have quality gear and be very successful if they wanted to - Most of us just don't seem to want to ?.

I always think line type is an important consideration, so by default yes.

Lake Anna in VA has a pretty bad rep...To the point where it has nicknames like One Fish Anna, The Dead Sea, Lack Anna, etc.... It takes some time to learn but it's not a 'bad' lake in reality, and it has giants in it. A big reason people hate it is that around here (Northern VA and MD) tidal rivers are the dominant waters for bass fishing and especially tournaments, so many guys are really keyed in to that type of fishing which is about as opposite from Lake Anna as you can get. The other reason is that even for a clearwater lake, it's not typical since it has sort of an odd nuclear power plant configuration (not a typical warm discharge)...It's unique and you sort of the throw the book out the window when you fish it. I personally like it, but I've spent a lot more time there than many who don't like it

Gator Grip - It's what our club provides to boats for weigh in so we have like 30 of them, don't think we've had an issue with a single one yet...Going on 5 years or so with the current set.

You can probably fix the holeshot problem with a lower pitch prop if that's the primary concern. Might try this first before spending thousands on a repower. Most AL bass boats are not performance hulls so throwing more horsepower on it might not get the performance gains you expect. It would obviously be better, but it's possible that the improvement might not seem worth the thousands spent once you've done it. Add in the insurance angle - both to insure it yourself AND what could happen if you were ever involved in an accident with an overpowered boat - and I'd be shopping for props right now not motors . Just my 2c though.

Not sure what length Veritas you had, but the shorter heavy-power rods (like 7') can definitely have that pool cue feel to them. Bump up the length a bit and most of the time you get a little more tip even in a heavy power rod...To me, a 7'4" H (what I use for frogging) feels much better all around than 7' H. Having said that, if you like what you've got now you might consider just keeping it as is...Unless/until you find it underperforming or underpowered first hand (like not being able to get fish out of the cover).

It's one of my most productive baits all summer long. One of the best baits for fishing through grass and that's what we do all summer in the tidal water around here. I have three bladed jigs tied on in the boat right now . Probably a regional thing...We don't do much deep cranking around here in the summer and guys in other places would probably think that's crazy (just one example).