blckshirt98

The Owner Mosquito Pro Packs are a great value. My favorite DS hooks however are the Trokar hooks and would be my choice if I had to stick to one brand.

Can't do much about his earnings from tournaments and sponsors, but one thing I would like to see is having all of his big bass records removed from the books.

I miss the old St. Croix clearance section, they used to have some amazing deals pop up.

Aren't all those San Diego lakes also gin clear? Might help the OP trim down on color types he needs to pack.

I've found a handful of lures from the bank but the best thing I ever found was a Leatherman Wave multitool.

I nosehook my dropshot baits and pick my hook size depending on how much "meat" I'll be hooking through to make sure it doesn't impede the barb. I'd go at least a Size 2 for those rage craws.

I'm a bank fisherman and bring 1 rod with me most of the time - Phenix M1 MXS72M. Anything up to 1/2oz it can throw with no problem, and you can go to 3/4oz if you're attentive to your casting.

If it's a long distance destination trip where it'll probably be "the only time I'll fish this place", a guide for sure, even if it's just for a half-day. If you're spending the time and money to go to a destination lake to catch fish, might as well spend a few extra hundred bucks to maximize your odds of catching fish.

8lb fluoro is the absolute heaviest you should go with on a spinning reel, but even then it's dicey. I'm in the braid w. fluoro leader camp on my spinning reels (unless it's 2-4# test for trout reels) and it removes line twist as an issue when fishing.

Go with a Shimano Sedona and use the extra money on other things!

What kind of knot are you using? I used to use 6-7lb fluoro for my leader but had way too many breaks at a knot (dropshotting). I upped it to 8lb test which improved the break issue quite a bit, but would still have breaks when I had line burn at a knot (I'm lazy and will fish the rig anyways instead of re-tying). I settled on 10lb test and my breaking issues are almost non-existent unless I've been using a rig for quite a while without re-tying. The 10lb test seems to be threshole for forgiveness with line burn. Don't be afraid to use a heavier # fluoro leader, theoretically the line is invisible in the water. Andy Cuccia said at a seminar that he would bubba shot with 20lb fluoro leaders in the Delta, the fish don't care.

I use swivels and the Spro power swivels are the only ones I'll use. The size 10 35lb swivels are tiny and yo won't have to worry about them being a point of failure.

Natural color squarebill - throw it along the fringes of the shad school and fish it like a lost/injured shad that broke away from the school.

3.5"-5" kut tail is one of my go-to dropshot baits, Baby Bass is my color of choice. When Outlet Bait was clearing out the Kinami kut tails I stocked up on a lifetime supply, they always get bit.

Calero and most other Santa Clara reservoirs are post-spawn they were peaking on beds 3-4 weeks ago. Anderson I believe is just finishing up (water temps already in the 60's), Coyote might be the best bet.

Deep cranking, especially large deep crankbaits like a 10XD, and swimbaits you need to retrieve very slowly.

I'm a 100% shore guy and a 90% dropshot guy, and catching fish on a dropshot in less than a foot of water is a regular occurrence.

omfishingsinkers.com is legit and where I buy my tungsten. The only other place I'd consider buying tungsten would be in bulk from a vendor from alibaba, but I'll only cross that bridge if they ever ban lead here in CA.

The trade-off for spam-free is worth it.

Brand bashing like the OP described is just a sign of insecurity and LACK OF CONFIDENCE of the people doing the bashing.

Shimano is weird like that, they will not service JDM stuff out of their US centers, you have to send them to independent reel service people and hope they can source any parts you might need.

So you're saying you have a Ci4+ for sale... ?

I've ordered from KTP online a few times, always a positive experience and they have some great sales.

Good ol' Kalin's 4" or 5" single tail grub.

What kind of braid are you using? I've always used basic 4-strand PowerPro but then one day decided to try PowerPro Slick8. I got so many wind knots when casting Slick8 (not overspooled, used the same way as normal PowerPro) I got rid of it all and went back to regular braid. Really soft/supple braid seems to have a huge issue with wind knots, you might want to try a different brand of braid.