MIbassyaker

I'm a little rusty on my California fishes, but... http://www.roughfish.com/sacramento-pikeminnow maybe?

Both have the 6.2:1 gear ratio at the size 30. Same spool size too. According to the Pflueger site, the Supreme has a 31.8 inches per turn while the size 30 President LE has 31 inches per turn: http://www.pfluegerfishing.com/pflueger-reels-spinning-reels/pflueger-president-limited-edition/1371884.html http://www.pfluegerfishing.com/pflueger-reels-spinning-reels/pflueger-supreme-spinning-reel/1347902.html So, retrieve rate is basically a wash. Weight is close too, 7.5 oz for the supreme, 7.7 for the President LE. Given they are the same price with the rebate, I'd go with the Supreme.

It would be a toss-up between a ned rig and a trickworm on an shakyhead (owner ultrahead finesse ballhead, specifically). weightless fluke, wacky-rigged stick worm, and buzzbait probably round out the top five.

Math FTW! Stay in school, kids.

The right color to buy is whichever one you think looks good. Doesn't matter the reason.

I've been following gear recommendations on the forums here for a few years (long before I started posting), and the Pflueger President is pretty clearly the most often recommended spinning reel at under $100. Shimano Sahara might be second. I haven't used the Sahara or Orra, but I own two pflueger presidents and a pflueger supreme, and they are terrific reels for the price. Agree with Allen Der, 35 is too big. 25 or 30 are better. I prefer a size 30 for versatility (bigger spool size and more IPT than the 25), and even the president in this size is not too heavy.

I still have $150 left on a TW gift card, bought during the 10% off sale, to spend on the Memorial day sale if I can only wait that long. It started as $200, and I was going to hold out for Black Friday next year for a maximum possible discount. That plan lasted 2 weeks. Now it's taking all my willpower to hold out for Memorial day for the rest of it.

Depends on whether I fish "the river" first or "the lake" first. River=tube, Lake=Shakyhead worm, as usual. But I'm going to hold off throwing those as long as I can stand it...one of my goals is to work on improving my jerkbait and jig fishing as much as possible this season, so I'm going to prioritize those whenever appropriate, and try to stick with them as long as I can stand it. We'll see.

I have some Powerbait Twitchtail minnows that I plan to try on mushroom head. People usually use them for dropshot, but I bet they would make a good ned rig body.

I'm ready for this. I go to BPS only rarely, but I'll make the trip this time. I "just happen" to be in need of a couple reel upgrades at the moment...

Quoted for truth. I only ever fish public spaces, and almost always end up picking up after other people.

Yeah, I got one from LTB too -- dive master 14. It's weird -- if my hands are sweaty and I hold it tight, I can get it to blink a blue light at me and make farting noises. It looks exactly like something that belongs in that "gimmick lures" thread. But, I haven't tried fishing with it and I'm not Randy Howell, so what do I know.

Just got their e-mail newsletter today, quote: "We sustained very little interior damage and virtually no product was damaged!"

In ponds: any time. One of the all-time great pond baits. Don't overlook the jointed version.

The current count is 13, mostly white, chartreuse, black and almost all double blade, colorado front, willow rear. The Bait Monkey disapproves, and believes I should diversify my holdings. However, in about half the places I fish, I don't use anything with a blade on it unless I feel like getting piked.

I would totally fish the fropwaterspinnercrank.

Isn't "all-time best" contrary to the whole idea of something being a gimmick? I've always been partial to the "Dance's Eel." I still have a 25+ year old original version taking up space in a tackle box. It always looks like it ought to catch fish, I've just never been able to get a fish to agree...

I think i've posted an answer to some version of this question about 4-5 times since last summer, and it might have been different each time! Current answer: 1. 3/8oz cavitron buzzbait, black blade, black skirt 2. KVD 1.5 squarebill, bluegill color 3. 5" green pumpkin GYCB Senko, for wacky and weightless t-rigs 4. 7" Black Berkley Power Worm, bullet weight and hooks for t-rigs 5. 6.5" Zoom trick worm, green pumpkin, for shakyhead, and mojo rigs. Just missing the cut this time: Ned rig, Pop-R, Rapala original floating minnow, flipping jig with rage craw trailer.

x2 on the Black/Black Cavitron...my new favorite after using it a lot this summer. But my long-standing traditional favorite is a chrome heddon torpedo (actually prefer the 1/4oz tiny torpedo)

#2 Mepps Aglia, Red and White blade, undressed.

I assume the Pro Qualifier usually goes on sale during the classic, is that right? What kind of markdown is typical?

That's pretty sweet -- a friend with a new outdoor store. For $25, no reason to not just get it and try it out for awhile. If it doesn't work out, keep it for frogs/jigs/punching/heavier stuff, and spend some time shopping around for something more appropriate.

I have been catching bass and other fish with crankbaits -shallow, deep, light, heavy, whatever --with spinning gear since I was a kid, with no obvious problems. In fact, I have never fished with a baitcaster, although I did buy my first three this winter. I've been messing around with them in ponds pre-freeze, and practice casting & pitching into the snow in the back yard post-freeze. One of the rods is a cranking rod, which I'm going to try to convert most of my cranking duties to. Maybe once I get back on the water this spring, I will "see the light" and decide everything other than "finesse" should always be thrown on a baitcaster. Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see. But suffice to say, If I've been doing it wrong all my life, the gods have not yet seen fit to let me know.

Chatterbait for me, but I haven't given them much of a chance (too many baits competing for my attention!) Before this summer, my nemesis was a Buzzbait -- always owned a few, but never so much as a blow-up, so I just ignored them most of the time. All it took was revisiting them with a little extra patience this last summer, and BAM! All of a sudden, I couldn't keep bass (and pike) off them, all the way until I hung things up for the season before the freeze. One even produced a new PB. I might not go anywhere anymore without a buzzbait tied on now. Here's hoping I can do the same with a Chatterbait/bladed jig in 2016.

The articles here are great, but I like browsing the forums more than anything else, and seeing questions, answers and tips from a wide variety of perspectives....there is a powerful "wisdom of the crowds" effect at the forums here that I don't see other places: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_of_the_crowd