Ozark_Basser

How old was the pond before they stocked it? Where I live, you can't not find a pond jammed packed full of small minnows. They are just hard to see. I ran a seine net through a little cow turd pond one time and it was LOADED with minnows. I'm sure Florida is no different, but I guess it just depends on the body of water.

What lake is it?

^^^^All those are good suggestions. One thing I would add is to fish tight to where the fish are holding. More often times than not, this will be the bank in ponds unless there is some sort of cover away from the bank they could use. I'd cast parallel to the banks. My first choice in muddy water is a chatterbait with a paddle tail trailer, but contrary to popular belief, soft plastics will work fine in muddy water as long as you fish them slower and tight to cover.

10# mono usually. Maybe not on the super heavy ones, but on the -15ft cranks its 10# mono.

I ordered the alps mvt toray reel seat for my build as well with semi micro guides. The graphite on your reel seat is from the same company who makes the graphite for k2 blanks, which is Toray. They are supposed to be some really crisp blanks and top of the line sensitive. Should be perfect for what you plan on using it for. K2's are some pretty blanks that would look good with a carbon fiber handle. Feel free to do a review when you get the rod with some pics ☺

GYB hula grub gets bit...a lot. Catches big ones too. My first handful of PB's came on a hula grub.

I hit the creek up yesterday. With all the snow melting the water was cold and stained. I was lucky to pull this ~2 lber out of a lay down with a jig.I'm going out tonight to see if I can pull one out of the local city lake.

Nice. I'm going out tonight to the local city lake to try my best at some night time cold water bass. Water temps in the mid 40's and dropping. I just hope I catch one nice bass.

He sent THEM the scales. I would like to see a comparison in age of bass the same size where I live. Now I just have to catch that many 7+ lbers this year haha. We'll see. Where did you ship the scale samples to? What address, if you don't mind me asking?

It's one of the boat ramp "mores," so to speak. "Spandex isn't for everyone." ...that is hilarious.

Crankbaits for me are not so bad as of late. Jigs on the other hand, I have a three drawer see through plastic tote completely lined up with jigs in each row.

Weren't they already in a bag with other elastec plastics to begin with?

I have an entire backpack full of soft plastics, not to mention one of the rod lockers on my boat has various bags of soft plastics covering the entire floor. The thing is I hardly throw soft plastics any more unless the bite is tough. The only soft plastics I throw anymore on a regular basis are reapers, twin tail trailers, beavers, and I just started throwing the Missile baits D-bomb.

As far as braids go, I started out with spiderwire and hated it. I thought about power pro, but when I went to feel of it at the store, it felt exactly the same so I said no to that as well. I bought some sunline FX2 and have stuck with round braids ever since. Smackdown is in the same category as FX2. Very little digging. I can recall it digging once, and it wasn't even that bad. Good color retention. It bleeds a little, but I never seem to mind it. Abrasion resistance is as good as it gets for braid. I throw it around rocks all day and pitch to some pretty heavy wood cover and never worry about it getting frayed. Castability is super good and its quiet due to its round profile.

Depends on technique. For casting/pitching jigs in moderate cover/bladed jigs/spinnerbaits/swimjigs/t-rigs, I've been throwing 50 # smackdown braided mainline with 16# sniper fluoro leader 6-8 ft. For finesse on spinning tackle, I step it way down to 20-30# braid with a 8-10# fluoro leader.

Try a nail weight on the tail end of a senko. It will also cast better.

I tend to buy Upton's the most. They come in a regular ole ziplock bag loaded with salt. These baits have pretty much no action, but they catch a lot of fish, especially smallmouth.

Braid and recoil guides is noisy. You can't get away from it. I tie my leaders too long sometimes and it goes into the spool. I never have a problem with it. If you tie an Albright or Alberto <<< better, you will be fine. I pretty much just use braid/fluoro leader for single hook baits. My advice is to get some high quality braid. I've been using Seaguar Smackdown for about six months. Love it.

Reapers are awesome baits, especially if the bites tough. I have only used the 5 and 6 inch ones. T rig, shakey head, and drop shot have all been effective.

Braid with fluoro leader all day for jigs.

Unpretentious isn't a word I'd try to associate with bass fishing

I agree with your logic behind letting the fish get the whole bait with a glass rod as opposed to a fast action graphite rod. Im all for it. Even if you reel set with a fast action rod you still get a ton of fish on the rear treble. What I don't get is why you are so enthusiastic about glass rods when there are graphite rods with the exact same taper with less weight and more sensitivity.

A rod with a moderate or moderate fast action is a good idea with treble hook baits in general. With square bills, you are target casting a lot, so a moderate fast action is a little easier to be accurate with than a moderate. Some manufacturers make fast action rods with a soft enough tip for treble hook baits. This is what I use, but with deeper cranks, I like that deep flex you get with a moderate action rod.

I would think any 60 degree jig hook would work fine. Perhaps a Mustad 32786BLN.

I use braid/fluoro leader for everything except crankbaits, spooks, frogs, and punching. Jerkbaits used to be straight fluoro but I've grown to like them with braid/fluoro leader.