Kidflex

Hook sets are free! I used to question fish or cover and sometimes have half ass hook sets which resulted in lost fish due to poor hook penetration. Now i swing for the fences. Some of my best hook sets have been in logs. Sometimes the lures comes flying back at me. But when I do hook a fish it's sticks.

I've had a home bar for quite some time and never really put much stock into it, housing the basics like vodka, tequila, a variety of whiskies and always have a bottle of blue label. This year I have been really getting into it and venturing off my norm and have been accumulating a small stock of decent scotches and other whiskies. I like hearing what other people enjoy and recommendations to maybe find "new to me" drinks I might have passed on otherwise. Right now I have macallan 18, glenmorangie signet/18 year xrare/nectar dor/companta, dalmore 18 & cigar malt, johnnie walker blue, belvenie 14 carribean cask, hibiki harmony, blantons, lagavulin 16. I mainly drink scotch and lean toward sherry cask flavors. Not a fan of the islay models, too "peaty" for me. I do enjoy a good bourbon from time to time. So what's in your collection and what are some bottles you recommend trying.

Good ol scum frog. 5/8 oz, Black in color. Has a better hook up ratio than other frogs imo. The downside of that is that it gets torn up easier because of the softer material, but it take a lot of fish to wreck it.

I don't have a stealth but I do have an emotion comet 11 angler and grand slam angler edition. They are decent kayaks for the money. Good starter brand.

A search on this forum would've saved you a lot of time, frustration and some money. Most here will agree SW ez braid sucks. The end

I agree $15 for asparagus is ridiculous!

With the amount of folks on here that like to use very high end gear I'm assuming you also like to have/use/consume the finer things that are offered to us. I am a fan of quality over quantity. I do enjoy and appreciate the efforts made by companies to make an excellent product but I'm also reasonable with my purchases. For instance, I like watches and my collection has been moving in the same direction as my fishing gear. Started off with citizen, bulova and seikos, then victorinox, tissot. Now going in the direction of Hamilton and longines but I think I'll stop in that range of watches and stay away from omega/Rolex etc. I guess with any hobby or collection your taste will eventually move you upward in that endeavor as your love for it increases. Bait monkey spirit lives in all things for sure! I'm not as indulgent as others or need to be. This isn't meant to be a bragging or **** size competition, just curious to see what others like to indulge in. here's a few of mine: steez/Loomis and the like. Johnny walker blue. tom ford colognes. Creed if all goes well with the split coming in. benchmade knives. taylor acoustics. ernie ball family reserve, mesa and Bogner amps. kobe beef.

Their not made to flutter like a senko. Just has an erratic movement when twiched and slowly falls at different angles. Think fluke like movement with a slender body style. Very good lure.

I have a cronos mh/f spinning rod and love it. Don't have the newer Tatulas but used plenty of the originals. I have zillions and steez rods. The cronos is every bit as good as the zillion. Plus that stradic fk will look killer on the cronos. Plus you can find the cronos for around $130

stick with what you got. You said occasional topwater. I wouldn't go through the trouble of switching to an inferior line to work a presentation that you hardly use. Worse case just work your rod tip up when working topwaters. It'll help with the line sinking and effecting your bait.

While your on I-20 in Louisiana, you can stop and fish caddo lake on the LA/TX border. Really good fishing. Beautiful scenery too. Prol the best you'll see on your journey.

Yozuri 3db popper. 3/8oz, A hair larger than the 1/4oz poppers(yellow magic and pop r) but considerably smaller than the 1/2 oz versions when the fish want a smaller popper. Cast great. Quality hooks. Really underrated popper imo

I like to repair my senkos and trick worms(even though I get 20 for $4). After a few(5-6) uses using mend-it, it becomes too soft for me. Those get tossed in the pile for wacky rigging with 2 O-rings. I do the opposite if I started using one as a wacky set up it almost always gets torn in half. Once that happens I mend it together and then use them rigging it weedless. I get a lot of mileage for these types of baits with mend it. For the chewed up areas where it's been texposed, try brushing mend it on top and push some of the little "flaps" in with a tooth pick.

That's a berkely jig. I bought a bunch of those on clearance at dicks sporting goods a year or so ago. They had a few different models with same head shape. Hank Parker football head jig. Ike's finesse jig. I believe the jay yelas jigs had a slightly different head.

I like using trick worms weightless Texas style with a 3/0 gama skipgap hook. Throw it out and let it sit for a while. Usually by the time I pick up the worm the line is moving and I set the hook. Other times I'll keep working it like a soft jerkbait

Trick worms, senkos, weightless or light keel weighted swimbaits(keitech, grasspig, cane thumper), sluggo, fluke.

Extra fast rods will have a lighter max rating due to the bend being closer to the tip. A fast action will start loading a little further down and a moderate bends toward the middle. the weak spot on most rods are where the bend starts(action). Loading up on an extra fast rod with heavy weights is not desirable as the top section takes most the weight instead of distributing down the blank. For the weights your throwing, I'd opt for the 7'4" H. I hate using 3/4oz with med/hvy rods (fast, xfast or moderate).

Trick worm weightless Texas rig or wacky senko. Both techniques do not require a lot of skill or patience. A few simple instructions and they'll be proficient at it rather quickly. I showed my gf both techniques and before long she was catching a lot of fish.

Have you tried the rage swimmer with different weights? Kinda like using swimbaits on swim jigs. Some sizes act differently on different weights. The keel weight might not be moving in harmony with the swimbaits tail. Closest paddletail to keitechs ive found are the ecopro swing shad. Amazing movement.

Big bite baits

I recently came across this pic and was wondering if this was legit. I googled to see if there was a new Texas bass record but nothing showed of this nature. Anyone else seen or heard about this? Fake news?

Im very impressed by the max 3D rods. They come alive on the water. Makes my high dollar rods seem a little less stellar. They are that good.

I have the 7'3"mh, 7'3"h, and 7'3" xh hammer rods. They are great rods and really sensitive. I started using them a couple years ago and was blown away with the sensitivity and lightness. I wouldn't say they are a power lighter. The parabolic action of these rods may feel a little light but they are appropriately rated in my opinion. The bend of the rods are similar to falcon rods and quantum exo and smoke rods. For the price there isn't a better rod. I use the medhvy for light swimbaits and swimjigs. The heavy is an amazing worm and buzzbait rod. the xhvy rod gets frog and jig action. All are paired with exo 100 reels that match up perfectly in color and make for some really light setups to fish with.

Owner wacky 2/0- some prefer a straight point vs the curved point but I rarely miss fish with these hooks and dont lose many when hooked.

I like the skip gaps. Great find at $1 a piece. I use the 3/0 for trick worms and 5/0 for super flukes.