fishballer06

In addition to a jig, you can try a crankbait (if you can get one to run that deep), or you can trying a swinging rugby jig (Bifflehead) and try crawling that up the drop off.

This reel is supposed to be the replacement for the Symetre, and I believe it's a little more saltwater friendly. It's a Shimano, I'm sure it's great.

I'm in the same boat as you. I bought two Stradics last year in hopes of upping my spinning reel game, one of the new one's and one of the clearanced out white one's. The new style one has yet to even be mounted on a rod, and the older white one has been out a every time with me this year, but I've caught maybe 4-5 fish on it. While I certainly appreciate nice reels (my casting reel collection shows that), for my applications I just don't see a need to buy any super expensive spinning reels. The Stradics are very nice reels, but I really don't think I should have anything nicer than a Saros.

The closest I ever came to going out of the boat wasn't from standing. It was on the Allegheny River here in Pittsburgh. Myself, my father, and his friend were running up river to the dam to jig for walleye. We were in a Blazer 202 Pro, and there were a bunch of pleasure boats out running. They were in the seats, I was seated down in the bottom of the boat, holding our buckets of fatheads. We had a big 30' + open bow cabin boat buzz right beside us, throwing a wake probably 4' high. We turned into the wake to skip it (rather than get rolled). Whenever we hit that wake, it threw me out from the bottom deck out of the boat. I flew over top of my Dad and his friend in the seats. My only saving grace was that I grabbed a hold of the back deck seat. Had that not happened, I would have likely bounced off of the outboard and into the water. I had no life jacket on. It very easily could have killed me and I'm lucky to still be here today.

Being from Pittsburgh, I'm ashamed of this...

If I had to recommend 3 lures to learn/gain confidence in topwater fishing (along with my personal recommendation) : 1. Popper (Rapala Skitter Pop) 2. Buzzbait (Megastrike Cavitron) 3. Wake bait (Jitterbug, Rapala DT Fat 1 or Storm Arashi Wake)

PP, 832, Smackdown, Spiderwire, Fireline, they all bleed.

Those lures all look un-used! Nice find.

I tried throwing a chatterbait on the new Curado XG (8:1) and I kept having the bait come out of the water during retrieval. Depending on your style, it may or may not be for you. I generally reel pretty fast, and I prefer 5:1 and 6:1 for almost everything.

I'll be shocked if anyone recommends a Quantum on here...

They all do the same thing. I personally use all Rod Glove one's, but that's only because my tournament partner uses a different brand, and I don't want to get ours mixed up.

Wal Mart sells 6x6x6" boxes for around 60 cents a piece. Those and some packaging tape is all you need.

I walked out the door on Saturday with a LTB71MF for $139.

Get a 3/0 or 4/0 Owner or Gamkatsu screw lock swimbait hook with the keel weight on it. 1/8oz is usually enough. These sizes are perfect sized for 3.3 up to 4.8" Keitechs.

This is a no brainer. Keitech swing impact fat.

Bass fishing, I haven't noticed much of an effect with the moon phase. Walleye fishing, certain moon phases play a factor on how well I do. I fish in Canada for a week at a time, a few times a year, for the past ~20 years and the moon phase can certainly play a factor in the success of our week.

I have no experience with that model, but I own two of the model below. It works great for me for my casting reels. The only reel I have had trouble with so far has been my Stile with it's 102mm handle. http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=1729189&destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fproduct.jsp%3FproductId%3D1875406%26type%3Dproduct%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26searchPath%3D%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dberkley%2Bportable%2Bline%2Bspooling%2Bstation%26x%3D10%26y%3D6%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%252BProducts%26Ntt%3Dberkley%2Bportable%2Bline%2Bspooling%2Bstation

Abu Ike Series 7'4".

I've had success and failures with multiple different approaches to this. I've killed it, I've kept reeling at the same speed, and I've given it a little twitch to imitate it's wounded. All have worked and not worked for me in the past. In all honesty, it's a crap shoot. Try one and hope that it works. As others have said, largemouth are usually less likely to follow up bites than smallmouth and spots.

I'm a big fan of the Ike series and Veracity series (both use the same blank). They're very good rods for the money and I own two of each. I've tried the Veritas series and I'm not overly impressed with them, but they are a $100 rod, so I guess you can't expect a whole lot from them. I've heard mixed reviews from others on them. If you're debating between a SC Avid and a Veracity, I'd take the Avid.

Check out the Beretta Pico and Nano.

I have the 684CB Champion. I bought it for jerkbaits originally. It's now used for small squarebills. It is much too whippy for jerkbaits. Either get something with a fast action, or maybe try the 685CB.

Don't get the 40 size, it's way too big for your application. The 30 and 35 are what you need.

^In response to Mikes video (Youtuber who made that video). I love how people think that a 3 pound bass only pulls with 3 pounds of force. Fish have muscles, just like humans. Go put a 150 pound adult on a bench or in a squat rack, and I bet you a majority of them will put up more weight than what they weigh. The same theory goes for fish as well. I'd be willing to bet that a 4 or 5 pound bass would easily pull those rubber rings off, especially if you were using braided line with zero stretch. Sorry for the rant, I just can't stand a lot of the BS that I hear coming out of a lot of these young YouTube guys, especially 1rod1reel.

That's the one! It improves the action of all bottom contact baits.