SDbassin

I'm also more concerned about performance than looks. Even though when I played football, I was one of those guys that thought "the better you look, the better you play" but no so much with fishing. I just want something that performs well, and will keep performing long after I purchase it. I look for what will perform well for the way I fish, and what feels "right" in my hands

a drop shot, for me, is one of my go-to rigs. Being in southern California, many times its the most productive and I've caught my two biggest fish on a drop shot with a roboworm

ive got a tournament pro, super duty, team lews lite and team gold carbon spinning reel. I love my tournament pro, and have it on a micro magic 7'3' mh, to me its the best all around reel, Its great at throwing both light and heavy stuff. I also really like the team lews lite, I have it on a micro magic cranking rod, really light, but to me it doesn't feel as sturdy as the tournament pro. tournament pro is my favorite out of all of them and feels better in my hands.

I have the 7'4 heavy and the 7' m spinning. I love them

I bought five rods and reels in the last two months, so about $1400 on rods and reels, and probably $700 on baits over the last four or five months. I need to build up more websites and domains to support my obsession and pay my tuition, and this is my last semester in college, so I can't wait when Im done paying for my classes, then it all goes to fishing and other investments!!!!!!

you can get the micro magic (not the pro) online for about $100 brand new from simmons sporting goods ebay account. I've got a few from them and they've been great, cheapest ive seen the micro magic new online, not sure about the tatula though, im a lews guy

look on ebay right now, I know there are a bunch of micro magic's (not the pro) brand new for around $100- $110 from the Simmons sporting goods ebay store. I've bought a few from them and they've been great. So you can get a micro magic for the price of a ghost. free shipping too ive never tried the rage, but I love my avid x, much more than my micro magic's.

7'4 H St Croix Avid X 7'0 M Avid X spinning rod lews super duty in 8.1:1 and a lews team gold carbon spinning reel. ....and way too much food!

ive picked up most of my lews reels, particularly the tournament pro for around $150 brand new, pretty much all the lews reels that ive bought have been about $50 cheaper than the retail price, and I haven't had any problems with the reels or the sellers at all, just like everyone says, find a reliable seller and use paypal. I almost always buy my lews off of ebay, mainly because I can get them about $50 off of retail brand new.

I was fishing a local lake a few years ago, actually my first time fishing for bass. Within 20 minutes of fishing the bank I landed my first ever bass and right as I lipped the fish a wife and husband were going by in kayaks 20 yards from shore and she yelled "nice halibut!" the husband turned and said to the wife "halibut don't live here, it looks like a 10 pound carp, nice carp bud." Another angler fishing for bass like 30 yards from me turned to me right after that and said, "ya, nice 10 pound carp bud." We both almost died from laughing so hard, the bass probably wasn't bigger than 2 pounds!

Roboworm but I rig it like Aaron Marten's. I get better action out of the worms that way

I fish 5" weightless Senko's on a 7-3 MH/f micro magic on 17lb flours with a lews tourney pro 7:1.1, but might switch it over to a 7' MH/f avid x, just because I like the avid x better, but I do like the longer rod. In really heavy cover ill fish it on a 7'4 H/F avid x, but my lakes don't have really heavy cover so I don't fish it on that as much. Wacky rigged Senko's on a 7' M/F avid x spinning rod with 12lb braid to a 8another sitelouro leader with a team lews gold spinning reel. I will fish it on a Carolina rig with a mono leader when I'm fishing deep, I seem to get solid bites with that in deep water.

I found that site out a few days after I posted this, I've found some great info about our local lakes on that site since I moved down here.

I love my lews reels. I have the tourney pro, team lite, super duty and the team gold spinning reel. Ive found the tourney pro for $145 brand new from some online retailers, and I personally think its well worth the money to make the "step up" to the higher end reels. I absolutely love Lews, Cant go wrong with any Lews reels in my opinion!

For me, I've caught largemouth in Ca and AZ. Caught smallmouth in Washington state. And trout in Oregon and all the other states I've mentioned. I want to catch a bass in all 50 states, but that may take a while

I just got the lews team gold carbon spinning reel. Granted, its my first really good spinning reel, but from the reels I've played around in stores, its just as smooth, or more so than many of the more expensive spinning reels I've messed with. I love it and will buy many more.

I figured that out after fishing all day, never heard of tail walkers until today! The rangers said the trout usually pick up a few days after the stock so I need to remember to bring my spinning rods next time I go in a few days. it was just weird, because nobody was really catching the tail walkers either, couple guys caught some crappie and bluegill but that was it. no one reported any bass and it seemed like there was just no life in the lake, no movement, and most of the grass was dead

I was at Dixon today, with the stock going on right when I got there with Nebraska tail walker. Threw a trout swimbait and a finesse jig for just about 12 hours today, not one bite and didn't see any fish from the bank at all, I think there were deep or maybe last week's rain got the bass confused, im not sure haha. Im one of those people that can be on the water for 15 hours, not catch anything and still have a blast. but man it felt good to get on the water again after not fishing for 4 months

ain't that the truth lol. used to live in Tustin and hated going into santa ana, it's Tijuana in the states

I was at Dixon today (north san diego/ escondido)for 12 hours and didn't even get or bite, and did not see any bass at all off the bank. I think they were just deep and i couldn't get to them off the bank. They stocked Dixon lake today with Nebraska tailwalkers and the next one is in a couple of weeks. I was throwing swimbaits, jigs, Carolina rig, weightless senkos, squarebills, swimjigs and rattletraps (junk fishing but somehow forgot my spinning rods for finessing) and hit all my "usual" spots that have produced in the past from the bank during this time off year, and didn't even get one bite, it could have been different if i would have brought my drop shot and shakey head rod. I was obviously way off today. The hydrilla and milfoil was all dead or mostly dying, so Im not sure if that had anything to do with my mistake luck today, and apparently no one reported catching bass today according to the park ranger i talked too, which is a surprise because Dixon usually produces big bass, and a decent lot of them for such a small lake, especially with the trout stocking that's going on right now . Diamond valley (temecula/ hemet) is my probably one of the best fisheries in socal, but drop shot and finesse is the key in the lakes I fish in socal. At Dixon I could see very clearly down to 25-30 feet, most of the lakes here are really clear, so sometimes finessing is the only way to catch them (at Diamond valley this summer, my cousin had a drop shot on 6 pound line, not bites, but I was getting bites on 4 lb, which I almost never go down that light, and we were both using the same worm). Just think translucent colors, most times only translucent baits will catch the fish, finesse and light line would be your best bet because the water can be extremely clear in socal

thanks tom! great info

I just got a st Croix avid x 7'0 M/F that im gonna use for shakey heads, wackey rigged senko's and weightless stuff and plan on getting the 7'0 ML for dropshots. haven't used the avid x yet but so far im really impressed

duckett 7'3 mh/f. I use it for jigs, Carolina rigs, football jigs, small soft plastic swimbaits on a 1/2oz swimbait jig head, t-rig weightless senko's , soft plastic t-rigs, swim jigs, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and have thrown a few frogs on it, not in heavy slop tho. its my most versatile rod

talked to lews customer service today, really nice people and said they'd check out whats going on based off of what I said to them and your guy's info. its sent now and hopefully it comes back all fixed

thanks tyler, great tips. the lakes I fish are all really clear water, most of them being in san diego and other parts of socal