hawkoath

I'm not sure if I've ever jammed my rod into my ribs, but having a floatation device can definitely be useful in some of the places I've fished. While I"ve never lost a rod/reel I've seen it happen on people fishing on breakwaters and other places. The Leader Mate looks cool too. Anyone have any experience with those?

Greetings. A new member from the state of Washington here. I've been fishing ever since I was six years old and seriously fished (at least 50 days a year) for a few years after. A year and a half ago I got back into it after a hiatus and realized quite quickly that things have gotten quite a bit more technical since. I've spent quite a bit of time re-educating myself since then not to mention accumulating the gear. I hope I can learn a lot from this community and at the same time contribute to it.

Washington is more of a smallmouth state, though I have seen pictures of LMB that were caught in Eastern WA that might or might not have been over the state record. Your best bet would probably been East of the Cascades.

^

Phenix Maxim maybe? They had an interesting review on it recently on Tackletour and at $109-$129 it fits your price range.

I'm not sure if this is relevant to your situation, but for saltwater in some situations people around my area might add a premade squid skirt to to a single or triple hook by primarily super glueing it on.