blckshirt98

I've bent a ton of hooks, but I've never had one break on me. Granted I now use mostly Owner mosquitos for dropshotting, but the size 4 seems to be the cutoff point for bending hooks. From size 2 and larger it's much more difficult to get a bent hook (because your line will usually snap first).

Who the heck is clearing out KVD squarebills for $2.50 each?!

What size spinning reel? I use 8-10lb braid on 1000 size reels, 12-15 on 2500 size reels. Might have a 20lb spooled somewhere too.

He could probably get some line he finds on the shoreline and tie to a tree branch and beat me.

I like the super shallow squarebills like the KVD 1.0 when I see baitfish breaking surface!

Check out Reeb's Lures Bolt Throwers. They're made for saltwater so the smallest size is 1/2 oz, but they're built like tanks. The line tie is my favorite feature, where it's a closed design so the line stays put at the eye.

Also keep in mind what you're going to by tying on the end of the line when talking about balance. You might have a 2500 reel with 20lb braid perfectly balanced on a rod, but tie on a decent sized swimbait or 10" worm and suddenly it's off.

Dang, I wonder if that 2 for $100 is still valid if you call the retail store...crazy deal there.

Protip about Bass Pro Shops - buy electronic/physical/mobile gift cards online from gift card resale places. Bass Pro Shops are one of the retailers that get a hefty discount of roughly 17% off.

Just remember that unlike Ohio, Florida has an bunch of poisonous snakes, and alligators, so don't just start crusing random shorelines without knowing the area!

Saw that but those are $499 retail rods! That's still $299 each!

Just an FYI I'm a 100% shore fisherman that has been bass fishing for about the past 3 years, and fished a dropshot for about 90% of that time until this past summer when I tried to use the dropshot less and pick up different techniques. Is a heavy weight better to keep it on the bottom? -1/8 is typically what I always use. On light tackle spinning gear it's enough to get a far enough cast to where the fish are. 3/16 on windy or stronger current days. What's a good distance from the weight? - Depends on who you ask. One guy I know who does well in tournaments only has about 5 inches between the hook and weight. A local guide/former pro says you want the hook to weight distance at least 1.5 times the length of whatever bait you're using. I personally like to keep about a 10-12 inch distance from hook to weight, and if I'm not getting bites will shorten it down to 6-8 inches. Can I fish ANY soft plastics or should I stick with worms? - You can fish any soft plastic, just be sure that whatever you use, test the action in shallow water in front of you and see how it moves according to how you twitch your rod/line. Some baits will sit odd in the water, some will twitch a lot with just the current, some will spaz out unnaturally if you twitch too much. I've dropshotted worms from 3.5-8 inches, 2 inch crappie baits, craws, gobies, weird looking stuff. Anything will work, just be sure to check the action in the water first so it's being presented right. What size hook is appropriate? - I nose hook all of my dropshot baits and like to use smaller hooks. Size 4 hooks are my standard, I'll go up to a size 2 if I'm using a thicker bait, down to a size 6 if I'm going after bluegill/crappie. Aaron Martens likes to use larger 3/0 hooks but I also believe he rigs his stuff weedless. Have you had better luck weedless rigging the hook or simply hooking it in the head? - I nose hook everything because I think it provides the best action on the plastic, especially smaller sized ones. If it's weedy I'll still nosehook but instead of hooking it clean through will hook it "halfway" through before pointing the hook out at the nose, but stopping just before it exits the plastic so it's "weedless" Is there anything against rigging two hooks? - Haven't tried it but I think if the two hooks aren't facing the same way you could have one bait moving "backwards" or in a weird unnatural direction when you twitch the rod. I have tried using a shakeyhead/dropshot combo where I'll replace the dropshot weight with a lighter shakeyhead/plastic.

Ok can anyone explain the crankbait tuning in the right way to turn the eye with pliers? I see YouTube vids and they say to turn it this way or that, but they do it so slightly you don't even see how it's done. I know if it runs right you bend it left, and vice versa, but how do you "turn" the eye"? 1) Is it like a rudder where you hold the pliers parallel to the ground and move it left and right on a horizontal plane? 2) Is it like a see-saw where you hold the pliers facing downwards perpendicular to the ground and move it left and right towards the ground? 3) Is it where you just grab the eye on the opposite side of where it comes out of the lure and you "twist" the handle clockwise/counter-clockwise?

I have a few baits that have produced well and I make sure I always have those available for use. But, variety is the spice of life and even if I had 5 magic lures that would catch me 90% of my fish, it feels good to throw something different and new and catch a fish on it, even if it isn't as productive. I always buy new lures to try out, even though they may not catch any fish or be tough to get a bass to bite on. Downside is that you end up with a bunch of stuff that you store and never use. One thing that crossed my mind to figure out what works and doesn't work for me - if I took all of my plastics/hardbaits and dumped them into one giant pile on the floor, if I were only allowed to keep 100 items, what items would make that list.

I'm a total homer for the Phenix S-Glass Crankbait rods!

If you don't need to feel/handle the gear before you buy, just wait a month for Tackle Warehouse to have their Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale. As for your rod and reel selection I would maybe stick to 1-2 brands on a reel, preferably just 1 if you find a brand you like. As for rods I don't know of Seeker making any freshwater models (inshore/surf maybe?) and Shimano has kind of gone downhill for me since they changed their warranty to one year and no longer over the counter. They kept the lifetime warranty with GLoomis, and Megabass/St. Croix are top notch. Maybe also take a look at Phenix for rods as well.

Hmmm, not sure if I'd use this on a dropshot myself since I like to cast out and then just let my dropshot bait sit there with just a slight twitch of the line every so often. The spinner wouldn't see much action the way I fish it, but if you do a slow reel in, it might work!

Never heard of this, do you have a link to the product?

The Villian is listed as a MH and might be too stout for lighter finesse presentations, the Verdict would be the better option between the two. If you're considering the BPS rod, look into the St. Croix Rage spinning rods which are marked down 40% ($89 flat, plus free shipping and a free hat) they have a 6'10" M/XF and a 7'1" M/F model still available that would work well for an all around spinning outfit. For a reel I'd go with one of the Pflueger spinning reels. I use Shimano myself but I've felt the Plueger's in-store and they feel great, and all the comments people post here on the Pluegers have been very positive.

I'm not sure about Florida but out here in Calfornia the baits that do the best are - 1) 2" Gulp Camo Sandworms - affectionately nicknamed "crack". Carolina Rig. 2) Soft shelled(molting) sandcrabs, dug up from the sand for free. Carolina Rig. 3) Motor oil/red flake (and variant) 1.5-2" grubs. Carolina Rig. 4) 3" Big Hammers On a swimbait head. 5) Classic casting irons - Kastmasters and Krocodiles. 6) Luckycraft Flashminnow From your list I'd use the Johnson' spoon first for sure. The popper might work (any fish out there that hits topwater?) too. The squarebill crank I'd avoid because the currents might make it swim really weird.

Phenix M1 7'2" M/XF is my do-it-all spinning rod. If I could go back and buy my spinning rods all over again I'd buy one of those and pass on the half dozen Shimano rods I bought.

I use a 7'2" Phenix M1 M/XF as my primary "all around" spinning rod. Everything you mentioned in your original post I've thrown on it. I find Shimano rods fairly stiff for their ratings (i.e. I have a M rated Scimitar and that thing is more like a MH) I only use spinning gear for smaller sized crankbaits (roughly the KVD 1.5 squarebills and smaller). it's out of your budget for a combo but I'd start with a M/XF in whatever brand you're looking at.

No life vest bro!??!

I don't use snap swivels, but I use the Bill Norman Speed Clips, on pretty much everything that isn't a spinnerbait/buzzbait.

Luckycraft LV 500 - Ghost Bluegill Yamamoto 3.5" Kut Tail - Watermelon Gold Flake Strike King KVD 1.5 Squarebill - Natural Shad D&M Piranha Jig - Sexy Shad CL8 Bait Mighty Mouse - Brown