timsford

I liked the looks and considered buying it for a finesse crankbait reel for my 6'6" ml moderate aetos because it had 5.8:1 gears and a long handle. It also has a neat feature in that the spool tension is on the palming sideplate instead of a knob like with other reels. This let's them move the handle and dragstar closer to the reel. It also has the older vbs system like the curado e instead of the new svs Infinity. I ended up picking up an alphas sv in the lower gear ratio because the sv spool is so great with finesse stuff. I've avoided the true bfs stuff but for super light stuff the alphas air, ss air, or t3 air would be great choices also. I think the Aldebaran bfs reels are magnesium so I wouldn't use that in salt. A curado/chronarch 50e or scorpion 1000xt with upgraded bearings and spool can go pretty light too, but unless you already own one of those, the price of a used one+spool+bearings is going to cost more than the alphas sv. For a finesse reel I'd definitely look at shimano and daiwa because of spool and customizing options. Abu makes a few finesse oriented revos for the jdm market, but I haven't heard a whole lot of feedback.

Flick shaking with wacky jigheads and split shotting are 2 I do a lot and catch a lot of fish on. Another would be the old doodlin technique that Don iovino made famous. Small brass weight and glass bead with a Texas rigged finesse worm (I like craws too). Cast it out and shake it on bottom or fish vertical under the boat for suspended fish. Just count it down and shake it at the target depth. I've caught a lot of bass like this too, but usually on the casting method with a small 3 inch craw

I'd say about any aluminum or carbon (like chronarch ci4, or daiwa t3) frame reel that can be used for finesse stuff. Alphas and curado 50 size would be what I would look at. If you like using light braid the brenious was designed for saltwater bream with small lures and light braid. It's a 50 size shimano with a narrow spool for braid and upgraded faster gears to fight hard running saltwater fish

I'd look at the aetos or tatula for sure if you can swing the extra money but if not the daiwa tatula xt rods on flea bay are pretty darn good rods as well for the money for 80 bucks! The rod feels pretty close to the regular tatula I think it just has different guides but not 100% sure on that. If you like the aird rods, this is a definite step up from those and I personally feel it's better than the old mojo bass or premier rods built on sc2. The sc2 Croix rods for me personally are solid rods for the price as far as build quality and durability (especially the us made premier), but they don't really feel as sensitive as the tatula xt, *** black, *** green, or some other rods in the price range. Don't get me wrong the Croix is a great deal too, but if you could spend another 20 like you indicated in the thread title then I think the tatula xt is a crisper, more sensitive feeling blank and it's a rod that costs well over what it sells for online

I haven't tried it but the concept sounds solid. I like rigging 10 inch worms on big swinging football jigs and shakyheads. I think it presents it unlike most guys around here, which just use the standard Texas rig.

Medium/x-fast spinning rod and it's shorter than most use nowadays. .. it's 6'3". I had it built because I like to skip docks and trees so much with ikas and other baits.

The whistle idea is a good one. I'm pretty good with hiking but one spot I fish is almost a mile from the parking area and the spot has technically been closed for years now, but I'm friends with some of the mp's.( It's on an air force base) they let me fish because I usually carry out trash (which is why it is closed.). I was hooked up with a smallie and a rod I had cast out for cats and let soak started dragging to the water. I was climbing on very large rip rap and trying to get 2 fish on 2 separate rods and slipped and fell and broke both rods and thought I broke my leg for a couple minutes. After the pain and shock wore off I realized I could limp along and I got out with just a sprain. Could have been a really bad situation and if my leg was broke I'd trade half my tackle for a whistle in that scenario

Manley rods makes USA made rods with a special rear handle that extends or shortens up to 6". They are kayak designed rods that way you can use the shorter grip in the yak and then extend it out when fishing from shore or a larger boat so you have more leverage

Also no contest for me. During the day I've only fished ponds and the river once or twice and all my big ones were on swimbaits at daybreak or dusk. Mattlures ultimate gill in the ponds and Keitech 4.8 fat impacts in the river. At night I've fished larger lakes and dam tail races on the river and caught all my big ones on 1/2 oz night spinnerbaits in the lake and burple or albino colored bomber long A's in the river

The Fenwick eagle or Berkley lightning rod are nice. I think they are out of the 7' mh vendetta which Is what I was going to recommend since you said 7' heavy. Compared with pretty much every maker I've tried their mh is a heavy. You could get the abu combo they have in 7'mh and try to sell the reel or keep it since it's a great deal. You could get that combo for not much more than 50. Other than that look for a lightning rod shock 7' mh or h at walmart. They have been less than 50 several times I've been to mine, along with some vendettas and falcon bucoo rods. I'd look for some deals like that at walmart, or any big box outdoor store like academy, bass pro, or cable as on their store brand rods. The h20 ethos from academy gets a lot of praise and I've used and enjoyed several bps and cabelas rods

I use hybrid too on baitcasting but on spinning I like trilene Xl because it is more limp. I fish a lot of open water though so with more cover I'd use hybrid and if there's a lot of weeds where you fish I'd recommend braid

I'd personally get an *** black on clearance at tw right around 200. The avids and zodiac are really nice, but the *** is a more sensitive rod in my hands. The daiwa chronos is right up there with the zodiac and I like the avids better than both of those, but that's just my personal preference. I like looking for deals on used stuff, but you may not. You can get a megabass xx or another 250-300 dollar or more rod in very good shape for 200 bucks. Heck, you can find used glx's for not much more if you shop around various forums a little while and place some Web adds you might be surprised what you find. For example I just got on another forum and saw a near mint glx rod with a minor handle issue for 150 shipped. Pays to look around sometimes. Just some ideas to muddy the water a little bit, but the avid X is a very very good buy, so if it looks good to you, I'd definitely get it

Also I prefer spinning also for senkos, but bait casting equipment is as sensitive if not more so than spinning depending in the reelseat, as long as the rods are in the same class. I would expect a blackmax baitcast combo rod to feel like my scv spinning rod as an example, but a casting rod with the same quality blank is just as sensitive. I feel a lot of bites with senkos, but I fish them faster too a lot of times. I feel way more bites deadsticking with mono or fluoro than with braid. And the line usually has a visible jump to it when the fish bites while watching the line and then you will see the line sink and pull out more quickly usually if the fish swims off with it in their mouth. Sometimes they just hold it though and sit still. I usually feel and/or see that jump in the slack line with mono or fluoro and set the hook, but if I don't see or feel I always pull slowly on the line to see if there is any resistance and set the hook if so, just a bass is just sitting there savoring the flavor.

Also if you do want to stick with spinning gear, or for casting gear, a mh rod will give you more backbone to move fish than a medium. Well, I should say in most cases. I've fished a mh recon2 and a medium abu veritas and the veritas was a more powerful rod. Cxx and hybrid are both abrasion resistant and stronger than rated, but I'd still use at least 10lb and probably 12 if there's any cover.

I'd look at the daiwa tatula or exceler, quantum energy, or lews tournament mb off of fleabay for reels. The pfleuger supreme on is also a good reel at a great price. Shimanos new caenan sounds pretty nice and ive heard lots of good things, but id rather have aluminum if possible and all the others i mentioned are aluminum and it is plastic. I prefer the daiwas myself, but all are great deals well under retail. As far as rods the powell max 3d 684 c on sheltons clothing site is the most versatile rod I own. Can do anything with that rod except maybe frogging, flipping, or heavy swimbaits/a-rigs. 100 is a very sweet price for this rod. The daiwa tatula and tatula xt rods on ebay are other great rods for around 100. The 7'1" mh, 6'10"mh, and 7'2" mh rods are all very versatile. The 13 green and 13 black on tackle warehouse are also great buys and the green models are able to fish any bait I've tried within the weight ratings. Fenwick had some aetos models on their website under 100. If they still have those they are really sweet rods, especially at that price. Both left are very versatile as well. The 6'10"mh mf is a little better at moving baits, and the 6'9" mh fast is a little better at bottom contact, but I fish about anything with both rods. I bank fish a lot and whatever rods I bring HAVE to be versatile. The powell, a tatula, an aetos, and a custom St Croix spinning rod are usually what I take and I can fish about any lure I want. I like them so much i own duplicates of several in case they break, but none have yet. All are sensitive, very well made rods that would be great for kayak fishing. They are also well under retail like the reels i mentioned. The tatula and supreme reels are both 150 or so at retail and the aetos, tatula, and max 3d rods are all 150+ retail. You could have a 300+ combo for under 200 and have a very versatile rod to throw about anything with a reel that will last a long time with proper maintenance

Pretty nice. I bet that thing catches some fish!

If you are talking about a hard swimbait, the only way I know of is to carve them from wood and use eye hooks for hardware. Soft baits can be made using bought molds or molds can be made from silicone

You can stick with spinning gear and try something like 10lb hybrid since it's a lot stronger than the rating, or try braid and a fluorocarbon leader, but breaking strength is still gonna be the same as the strength of the leader, and actually probably less because of knots. I use casting gear and 14-17lb fluorocarbon in clear water and still catch plenty of fish

The owner hook is just as thick as the gammy, unless you are using the super line hooks. I don't know of any much thinner than the standard ewg hooks, and I've used gammy, owner, trokar, Eagle claw, daichi, mustad, and vmc, and probably a lot more I can't think of right now. What lb test line are you using

Great post ajay and burning spinner baits for smallmouth is one of my favorite ways to fish. Another way I've used is to use those rubber core fishing sinkers. Remove the rubber core and crimp the sinker over the hook shank. If it isn't big enough, it's easy to spread it with pliers.

Sounds like a great day on the water! Most of the pond bass around here feed mostly on bluegill and crappie once they get big enough. Bugs and tadpoles until then. The bigger ones also feed on craws and frogs, but I guess you already figured the frog part out. Shad and most other bait fish bass feed on in larger lakes aren't in small ponds for the most part. My favorite and by far most productive bait in ponds for catching large bass is bluegill swimbaits. I like the mattlures ultimate gill the best, but I like the u2 gill a lot too. I've also caught some big ones on the savage gear bluegill, hudd bluegill, and little creeper sunfish. A bigger Keitech fat impact in a green pumpkin or watermelon color works good too, especially if there are lots of weeds because you can rig it weedless with a screw lock swimbait hook. Or if you don't have the time or money to try these, or just don't want to, the real thing works great. A live bluegill around hand sized hooked under the dorsal with a small balloon tied on the line a couple feet up has caught some huge largemouth, stripers, and flathead catfish for me. I usually use the swimbaits but sometimes in really clear water when I've already tried those, I try the live bait option fished near any cover or fish holding structure

Storm original wiggle wart in any of the craw colors. I honestly seem to catch just as many on the new ones as I did on the pre rapala ones everybody goes crazy for. I rarely fish the pre rap ones except the ones I've already used a lot that are all scraped up from grinding rocks and catching fish. I save those for tournament days

I skip weightless senkos, flukes, ikas, and floating worms all the time with spinning tackle and 10lb trilene xl. Never had a problem setting the hook. Other dock baits I like are jigs and finesse tubes. Also soft swimbaits. Most of the docks here are the floating kind so they can move up and down with the winter drawdown, and sit very low so I haven't tried skipping cranks or anything else. I've caught a bunch of fish casting them at an angle so they swim under it though

Birds circling is a great way. Other than that look on deeper structure and if you see schools on a certain type of structure like a point or dropoff, look for others like it and also any other structure in that depth range

Some stay around them year round. There's several old bill dance shows of him fishing old dead pads in winter. Most he is fishing jigs and finesse jigs but I've also caught fish around dead weeds in the middle of winter shallow. Most fish move out into deeper water though