MIbassyaker

I vote for a size 30 on medium rod under 7', although it's mostly a matter of taste. There are some differences with line capacity, drag strength, retrieve rate (or line pick-up per turn of the reel), and weight, which are all greater with a size 35. You can compare them here: http://www.pfluegerfishing.com/pflueger-reels-spinning-reels/pflueger-president--xt-spinning-reel/1405300.html I don't worry too much about line capacity, as long as I'm using 8lb test or thereabouts. Max drag I also don't worry about here, as the 30 has more than enough (10lb). Retrieve rate of the 30 is already pretty good, at 31 inches per turn. Generally, I think that as long as the bigger reel isn't obviously very advantageous on those three things, I am going to want the lighter reel of the two. If I had a longer or heavier heavier rod, that's when I would consider the 35.

Ott, Ike, Dean, Powroznik, Lucas According to Basstrakk, Ehrler & Jordan Lee are once again punishing me for ignoring them... Why do I keep doing that??

high 50s in the morning over the last week. Keep in mind, these are mostly small eutrophic inland lakes.

Aaaaand the topwater season begins for me...a not-too-bad one on the LC gunfish:

That's what it looked like to me, and that's a relatively-warm lake. Would have been a bit of an early-bird, but not impossible.

got one Friday, 20", looking spawned-out:

Meanwhile, the black "basses" are all technically sunfish, while white perch are temperate basses. When I moved to Michigan, it took me a while to learn what a "dogfish" was...I was vaguely familiar with the name "bowfin", but didn't know much about them because I had never lived around them. Then I discovered it was the same thing as a "mudfish" and a "shoepick", which I had each heard somewhere before, but never made the connection.

Anything about 1/2oz, give or take a quarter.

Good one this morning -- 20", but kinda skinny (no scale on me). On a Green Pumpkin/Purple Siebert Fogy:

Spend some time browsing this thread: Most of the places I check for online deals on rods, reels, and lures are mentioned somewhere in that thread.

I like these Yo-Zuri's too -- a good in-betweener size. Another one that looks good and certainly feels castable (although I haven't tried it yet) is the 6th Sense Splashback.

Very underrated and perfect for you. Follow the rigging advice here: http://www.ragetail.com/news/rigging-info/ I just use it weightless but you could use a weighted hook. Just keep it going on top with the tail moving.

Similar slack-line snap, but smaller and more rhythmic with walkers, bigger and more erratic with pauses for the jerkbait.

I fish some lakes in the northern half of Barry County, and I like to float the Thornapple.

Well, after months of almost no time to fish (current bass count for the year: 1, from a brief gravel pit bank excursion in March), I finally got out on the kayak for two hours on Wed. Nothing going on shallow anywhere that I could find. Managed one 16" pike on a drop shot. Oh well. I'll get to try again next week.

They are great value for the price, and some of the designs are fairly unique. I have used the Pit Boss, Subwoofer, Devil Spear, The Jerk, Rocket Craw, Beat Shad and Juice Worm.

It may be more of an achievement to catch bass without a senko.

Not strictly new to me, but I'm hoping to improve at jerkbaits, swimjigs, and drop-shot.

I have the 7' mf Aetos in the previous generation and it is just perfect for shakyheads (also tubes, grubs, sliders, senkos, etc.). I don't know how it compares to an HMG specifically, but it is definitely stouter than any typical ml. The lower-end fenwick lines usually have higher max lure ratings than the comparable models in the higher-end lines.

Welp, got 3 inside the cut after all: Skeet (24), Christie (28), Evers(40). But then there's Biffle (76) and Kennedy (104). I should have known better than to keep gambling on Kennedy, but I thought Biffle had a great shot at this one. Anyhow, it should put me at 800-something.

I think Zoom sits right at the perfect balance of effective design, composition, and affordability. I tend to think of Zoom as the standard. Wanna charge me more than Zoom? Give me more bodies per price, or better designs, or better longevity, or better action, or something.

The pundit picks always sound good, but I've been following how well they predict outcomes and basically they don't. In fact, the overall ownership percentage from event to event outperforms the pundits.

Do you mean the "pundit" picks?

Christie, Edwin, Kennedy, Skeet, Biffle

Exactly. When I was 16, I would never have predicted either the places I have ended up living as an adult, or the number of times I have moved.