fishballer06

Usually a Nurti-grain bar or granola bar in the morning. And then I bring Swedish Fish or those Trolli multicolored crawler worms to snack on throughout the day, because, you know, I'm still a kid at heart...

Glad I'm not the only one who gets this joke

The Pointer 78 is my go to jerkbait. I'm not sure what's going on that you're missing so many bites because I have very little issues.

If you like a bulkier rubber knob, check out the knobs on the new Curado K. They're much beefier than any previous rubber knob from Shimano.

The Lowrance Hook models are great units for the money. Buy the biggest screen you can afford.

Custom made and hand tied - Go with Seibert jigs. I really like their finesse and sniper jigs. Manufactured - Dirty Jigs is my favorite brand. The Scott Canterbury flipping, swim jig, and the Luke Claussen finesse are my favorites from them.

It catches smallmouth around here bigger than the text you used to ask this question!

832 and TCB are my favorites for spinning gear.

Quantum doesn't get much love in recent years like they did in the 80's and 90's, and I think it's because their quality went downhill for a little while. However, I have held and fished a few of Quantum's more recent reels, like the Smoke (original model, not the S3 that you mentioned) and the Tour MG (their flagship reel). While both reels were smooth during the reel, they both had their odd quirks and features that left me scratching my head some, and they certainly didn't feel nearly as refined as the similar offerings from Shimano and Daiwa in the same price range. The braking system on my Tour MG was a nightmare to access and I could never get it fully dialed in like I wanted. If you're a Lew's guy and you want to try something different, but that's familiar to you, I'd recommend going with an Abu Garcia Revo model. Lew's and Abu are both made in the same factory oversea's and are nearly identical in form factor and some of their parts are even interchangeable (from my understanding). I've fished the MGX, STX, and Rocket models from Abu and I found them a little nicer than the two Quantum reels I mentioned above. If it were me in your shoe's and my wife was buying me a reel (in the $150-200 range since you're mentioning the Smoke S3), I would likely go with the Shimano Curado K. My second choice would be the Daiwa Tatula SV. These two reels are highly regarded as the best reels out there in your price range.

This is very important. Some of the pressured ponds I fish require me to stand 15-20 yards from the waters edge. 9 times out of 10, if you can see the fish, they can see you.

It doesn't take much bend at all to fix an out of tune bait at all. More often than not you can't even tell that you bent it at all.

In the sub $80 category, you're probably not going to see much difference in terms of quality. So I would buy whatever length/power/action suits your needs and enjoy owning your new rod.

That's an easy one to remove. You're lucky! I always carry side cutters on me in case of the emergency that they're needed. I've never buried one past the barb on myself, but I did have to cut a frog out of my buddies scalp earlier this summer. We were both glad I had those cutters when it happened.

Sounds like you need to pick up some flowers and chocolate...

I've never understood why guys say they don't fight either. They might not make runs and jump out of the water like a bass, but the one's we catch of significant size (20"+) love to stay down and give a really good head thrash. Such a fun fish to catch.

Change location. Move to the wind blown shore or point. If no luck there, move to the next drop off from where you were fishing.

Something impossible to backlash? Any Shimano DC controlled reel.

The good ole' spinnerbait.

There are dozens of video's on YouTube about how to rig the Neko rig. The traditional way is to point the hook away from the weight, just like the picture BigTurtle shared. This helps the bait be a little more weedless, and it helps with hookups, since most fish will eat the bait from above and that puts the hook point facing the roof of their mouth.

If you were using Berkley Vanish, that was likely your problem.

I think you're going overkill with a 20lb. leader on 30lb. braid, but that's besides the point here... I would suggest switching braid types, using a rod with normal size guides, or you can try putting Crazy Glue over your leader knot. This will help it pass through guides easier and strengthen the knot a little better.

The good news is it's local to you and it's a small retention pond, so you know that fish isn't going to go anywhere. So keep fishing for her and good things are bound to happen eventually.

The VMC Neko hooks are great for more than just Neko rigging. They work well for traditional whacky rigging and dropshotting too. I've been throwing the Neko rig a ton this season, and I have also been researching what some of the pro's are using. So here's what I've found through trial and error. I personally have been using the size 1 the most. I generally fish mine on an SV105 with 12lb. FC on an IMX 803C. If I'm fishing with my other finesse setup, it's a PX Type R with 30lb. Braid and a 10-12lb. FC leader on an Avid 7' Medium powered rod, and for this setup, I'll step up to the 1/0 because it's a little heavier gauge wire and I don't want to have to worry about straightening out a hook using the no stretch braided line. I've heard Palaniuk and Feider both state that they like using the size 2 hook, however I believe they primarily throw the Neko on a spinning setup. I've heard Wheeler say he likes the size 1 and 2 Neko hook. So in short, I'd order the 2, 1, and 1/0 variations of this hook. Here's Feider talking about how he rigs it and fishes it.

Enjoy it. I'm glad my insight is helping others. I spent some more time on the water with my HG on Saturday pitching a 5/16oz Siebert Outdoors Sniper Finesse jig and it performed flawlessly.