HoosierHawgs

American Made is not the stamp of quality it used to be. The American made Ardents were junk, considering their price range. If you can give me a better value for my money by producing overseas, then so be it. That said there are companies (like Berkley) who produce a lot of products in the US that offer quality and value. So I do buy from them, but not because they have a USA sticker on them because words carry about the value of a haypenny. Quality of product is where the value is at. That's why a lot of us bt Japanese. In everything they produce, fishing stuff or not, the Japanese are known for their incredible attention to quality and detail. It is just a part of their culture, similar to how in their culture it is considered impolite to directly say no. Neither of those things are longer in our culture.

Length eats slack Power sets hooks

Randy Howell says he uses a red front hook so fish attack the head of the bait for a better hook up ratio. I don't know if that holds true or not either

When my dad grew up in Florida they called crappie speckled perch.

KVD L&L

"If you are afraid to get hung up, you are not meant to be a squarebill fisherman." -Rick Clunn. That bait will get hung up, but 9/10 times it will deflect off that log on a straight retrieve and cause a viscous strike. I used to be afraid to get hung up, but now I just shrug it off. Have fun, don't worry about losing a bait or two.

I like "Wait and Bleed" and "Before I'm Forget" when I'm lifting weights. When I'm on the road I listen to country, and when I'm at home or school its Gambino and Eazy

The Apex is on par with other reels in its range. Od personally go with Lew's or Daiwa

Never used one, but have heard lots of people attest to the Tatula as a bulletproof tank

What rod do you use for Squarebills?

Question, what's your opinion of the Abrasion resistance of this line? I've heard bad things because its so thin for the # test that its not very resistant and that they are having break offs.

I started with nylon and its the way to go for a beginner. If you're worried about Abrasion resistance try IronSilk. Little stretchy, so if you're worried about that then maybe Defier is worth a shot, its not cheap though

Where are you fishing? Its not big until at least 4+ and its not a trophy until 6+

I just think of jigs and Spinnerbait, and chatterbaits as a skirted bait category, but if you feel that way, then that's totally cool. To each his own. A jig is definitely a versatile bait, my pick would be the DB structure hi for its ability to go through more types of cover then other jigs, and serve double duty.

I believe he said hardbait...... At which point I would say lipless crankbait. If it's any bait then I'm gonna have to go spinnerbait.

Quality is a fish I would still have in my tourney livewell at the end of a good day on that particular body of water. Dink is a bass that's not a keeper or scoreable bass. Obviously this is different in different places but I'll go off the MLF rules and say 12"

Dinger Spinnerbait

Nice fish. As for the drag.. I usually tie my line to a tee and pull until my rod is fully loaded. I want my drag to slip there because something has too give. I'd rather it be my drag instead of my line popping, my rod busting, or ripping the hook from the fish.

I had the same thoughts here. But then I found them for an ok price at a local place so I picked them up and I'm not looking back.

Are you using tungsten?

Read "Day on the Lake" in bassmaster.

What about Sunline Defier or Defier Armilo. I'm not worried about cost, I'm more worried about a quality abrasion resistant line that handles well. The reason I'd rather go nylon over fluorocarbon is that I would hope there would be something abrasion resistant but better handling than fluorocarbon.

Thanks.

I like nylon line a lot for its suppleness and was looking for a very abrasion resistant mono for cranking. What is the most abrasion resistant nylon line in your opinion.

Well if you're paying for higher quality its worth every penny, every time. I can by 10 igloos and if they all break, I should've just bought the Yeti.