timsford

There are plenty of rods with good balance. Most are 7' and under. Dobyns rods are balanced great, but so are most of the powell, phenix, irod, st croix, loomis, daiwa, and many other brands I've fished with. Most of my rods are under 7' though. The only rods I have that don't balance at the reel are a couple of deep cranking rods and a swim bait rod, but I use these tip down anyway and it doesn't bother me. If you palm the reel then the reel isn't affecting the balance anyways since your hand is where the reel is and it's the balancing point of the fulcrum (rod). Adding weight to the butt with a balancing kit or chair protecter with weights is the only way to counteract the weight of the rod forward of the point where you hold it

I've gotten bassmaster magazine through subscription for over 20 years. Since I was 9 years old. Online articles have made it mostly obsolete imo, but I've learned so much about bass from it I still keep renewing. It's a lot cheaper to subscribe than to buy at stores anyway

In heavy weeds I'd go with braid. I'd also pick 40lb because of the diameter so it won't dig in on your baitcaster. Out of the lines you list locally available I'd go with suffix 832. If for some reason you find yourself around less cover and/or clear water, you can always use a 12-20 lb fluorocarbon leader

I wouldn't worry about upgrading the bearings on the laser reel. The only time I worry about upgrading bearings is if they are going bad and making noise or if I'm trying to throw lighter stuff. Usually I just use spinning tackle for that though myself. If you are confident in taking it apart then a good flushing and relying of the stock bearings should help the reel throw baits a lot better

I'd try concentrating around the fountains, cover that makes shade, and any deep water. Basically anywhere the water is cooler, even if only by a few degrees. Try fishing slow with finesse stuff like ned rigs, shakyheads, drop shot, and weightless senkos wacky rigged and Texas rigged. If it's cloudy or you see fish busting on top try topwaters, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits

If the fish want more movement or in murky water I use the rage crae, baby rage craw, zoom ultravibe speed craw, or r.i. sweet beavers. If the water is just a little stained I use zoom Lil critter craw, strike king bitsy craw trailers, and net bait paca craws. In clear water I use the yum crawbug, and big bite baits hd craw. Haven't tried the huddle bug but it looks great. If I want more of a reaction strike I pitch a jig in heavier weights than normal or I use cranks like bandits, bombers, normans, and wiggle warts in craw colors. The soft plastics I pretty much use 2 colors. Black and blue in muddy water and green pumpkin with orange claws (I dip in dye if the company doesn't offer this color). All the craws around here (tn, ga, al) have some orange highlights so I try to match that. On the cranks I use orange and brown craw patterns in clear water and reds in muddy water

I bank fish a lot of dams and rivers myself. In heavy current around rocks, it's almost impossible to fish a Texas rig or anything bottom bouncing without constantly hanging in the rocks. The fish are normally feeding on shad and bait fish anyway, and I have better luck imitating that. My best tailrace baits are floating and suspending jerkbaits(rapala floating minnows, husky jerks, and xraps, bomber long a, Smithwick rogue, and lucky craft pointers), crankbaits (a bunch of different brands but the Norman deep little n is my favorite), soft jerkbaits(zoom super fluke), underspins (fish head spin and davis baits underspins with super fluke trailers), soft swimbaits (fat impact, lunker city grubster) and in line spinners (roostertail). All in variations of shad colors (white or chrome belly with blue, black, or green back.) If you imitate baitfish you may be surprised at what you catch. I catch bass, stripers, hybrids, white bass, walleye, and catfish on all these baits below dams and sometimes all in the same trip. Stick with it and don't give up

As much as i can get away with. I always try to make it sound like an "investment" to the wife, but I'm scared she may be catching on

Not a lot of people fish them around here. I used them quite a bit last year. It takes a pretty heavy rod to throw them and hook bass in deep water. I used my tatula 7'4" heavy, but any heavy rod, flipping rod, or smaller swimbait stick should work. I experimented a lot, but did the best stroking them off the bottom like a jig and getting bites on the fall. I haven't been out a lot during the day this year, the smallies bite too good at night. Other baits you might try are swimbait on heavy jigheads. Reeled steady or stroked like the spoon. Big hair jigs retrieved the same way, magnum cranks like the 10xd, big spinnerbaits over 1oz slow rolled on bottom, Carolina rigs, and drop shot. The main thing is to see bait (and even better to see fish) on the ledges. I also seem to do better where the channel has a sharp bend, runs into another Creek channel, or has a stump row or other cover nearby

I don't know which came out first but I've used the zoom horny toad for at least 10 years and maybe even 12. I've never tried the culprit, the horny toad, and rage are all I need. A friend of mine uses only one lure. The zoom horny toad in black with a 1/8 oz sinker fished slow on the bottom. I don't know if the fish think it's a frog or a huge fat crawfish, but I've seen him catch at least 10 bass over 7 lbs on days when I couldn't buy a bite throwing everything in my box. I would never have tried it if I hadn't seen him catch a hog 8lb 9oz bass on it the first time we ever fished together

This time of year fishing can be tough in the heat. Target the deeper holes with dropshots, jigs, to rigged creatures and worms. Lipless cranks and square bills in the open spots. I usually find fish holding tight to cover or under it on sunny days. Early in the morning and late in the evening they will be more active. Then I'd try top waters like spooks, frogs, and buzzbaits. You might try at night. I catch way more bass in the dark from may-september. At night try single Colorado spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, jigs, and to rigged worms. My best color is usually black or black and blue at night or if the water is muddy. During the day my best pond colors imitate bluegill or crawfish. What swim baits did you try? My absolute favorite pond bait is a bluegill imitation swim bait like the mattlures ultimate and u2 gill, savage gear gill, little creeper panfish swimbait, or hudd gill. Cast it out, reel it slow, and hang on:)

Most of the time I think it's because of flash. In muddy water or at night its definitely vibration. I think the flash matters more in clear water, but then again i catch tons of big smallies on chartreuse and chartreuse and white spinner baits with painted blades

I use 3/0-5/0 owner twistloc weighted beast hooks with a keeper spring for fishing around cover. In open water I use ballhead or darter head jigs in a variety of weights from 1/8 oz all the way to 3/4 oz depending on how deep I want to go. As far as technique it's pretty simple, just a steady retrieve from slow to medium. Sometimes I catch them stroking them off the bottom, but I usually do best on a steady retrieve

You can try just drilling some small holes in the ones you have so air can flow and moisture escape. And throw in some of the silica too because it can't hurt

I have a daiwa tatula rod I use for jigs. Very nice rod for the price. The new cronos is supposed to be lighter and more sensitive according to a few guys who have both so I'm picking one up this week. The shimano zodias gets great reviews as well. I have owned a couple of cumara rods and sold them to a friend. He uses those and the zodias and says the zodias is a nicer lighter rod. The Fenwick aetos is in that range but is on sale for under 100 bucks right now. I have 4 of these (6'3" med and mh spinning, 6'4" med casting, and 6'6 ml casting) and they are excellent rods at retail and a steal at that price. Titanium guides and a lifetime warranty. There are lots of good rods under 200 bucks. For me it comes down to grip material, guides, sensitivity, weight, balance, and customer service

Rapala f11 floating in silver. I've caught largemouth, smallmouth, spotted bass, striped bass, white bass, yellow bass, hybrids, brown trout, rainbow trout, walleye, gar, crappie, bluegill, channel cats, and blue cats on this bait. Not far behind would be a 1/8 oz white roostertail.

At 100 the choices are pretty limited. There's the Pflueger purist and Trion bait caster for under 50 bucks and an abu Garcia vendetta 7ft mh and Fenwick eagle 7ft med both under 43 bucks. If you are wanting to fish mainly heavier stuff over 3/8 oz I'd get the vendetta, if you like using a lot of 1/4 oz-5/8oz or so I'd get the fenwick. The most all around combo is probably a 7ft or so medium or medium heavy fast action rod. As far as reels, most in that price range have only simple magnetic braking systems. These are ok, but many have an easier time learning with dual braking reels (both magnetic and centrifugal), centrifugal braking reels, or dynamic magnetic braking reels by daiwa that have magforce v, z, or 3d

The max 3d rod is 99 dollars at a place called Sheltons on the net. I haven't bought from them but other guys have and it's legit. The 683c can handle a ton of different baits. They did a review over on tackle tour and it handled a ton of techniques great and they even casted a 2 ounce swim bait on the top end down to a 1/4 oz on the low end. It's definitely worth a try as an all around heavier rod than your mojo

Go by diameter and stick with the top size or smaller and you will be fine. It's a jdm shallow spooled reel so it doesn't hold much line but has better line management than a usdm 1000 or 1500 designed for light line. I use 8 and 10lb trilene xl on 2500 reels all the time and it works fine. With that reel I'd stick with 8lb or smaller if mono or fluorocarbon and 10-20 lb braid

I've been wanting to try these. Several guys on TT said they were more crisp and sensitive than the tatula rods I really like

Daiwa tatula because of aluminum frame would be my pick, but the new caenan and cauis (not sure that's correct spelling) look pretty promising with vbs braking, heg gearing, and super free like the old citica, curado, and chronarch. They have a plastic frame, but would be my choice if I liked centrifugal braking reels. The lews tournament mb and quantum energy are good reels also if you prefer dual braking and can be found under 110. Spinning reels I'd definitely go with the Daiwa procyon around 100 but the Pflueger supreme looks good too and gets good reviews. There are lots of good reels and rods around 100 bucks now

I stand corrected sorry guys. I looked on tackle tour and the shimano rep said it had a graphite body. I'd much rather put a few bucks with it and just get a daiwa procyon off the auction site. Aluminum vs graphite and virtually the same weight in each size. Imo I'd rather have aluminum over graphite any day

It's got an aluminum body

I have used the first generation all black cumara and the newer red one. Maybe it was just me but the first gen felt more sensitive and responsive. I think they added something to make it less prone to breakage in the red version but it made it less sensitive. The cumulus was the one of the lightest production rods made. I wish they would bring them back. I like the crucial under 7ft lengths but the longest rods are very tip heavy. The red rod you got is a very good rod and I think you will be happy with it

I don't know about the science of it but I do know that I can feel slack line bites with fluorocarbon or mono that I can't feel with braid