PourMyOwn

I use a Shimano Bantam Mag Plus 350 for big swimbaits. It cost me all of $19 on eBay. It lacks instant anti reverse and a thumb bar, but it is a heavy duty reel that can take the abuse.

I feel like all the newer truck beds are too tall. I went from a 2014 to a 1995 and bed accessibility is so much better on the older trucks. I'm not sure when this started, but it is difficult for those of us who use our trucks.

Give a mono leader a try. I switched over this spring and am very pleased.

I doubt it, the open pour seems like your best bet.

I would start by melting down a bunch of plastics you already have before buying any plastisol. You could turn a bunch of unwanted baits into those pit bosses pretty easily.

I have one, it really helped me tie the FG. However, my father showed me the Yucatán and I haven't looked back. It is much easier to tie so I don't bother with FG knots anymore.

If you do go to NY, get an EZ Pass for your vehicle. It could save you quite a bit of time around Buffalo. I've seen that line extend for over a mile in the cash lanes.

Proof that I'm a NH transplant/"flatlander", that stuff is vile.

For what it's worth Al Lindner's show speaks highly of them.

I love my Pro Qualifiers, love my first and second gen Johnny Morris. I'm one of the few here who doesn't like the Shimano SLX. All that said, if you are dropping that kind of money, buy the Shimano.

Is he new to baitcasters? If he is then I would hold off on the high end line until he gets the hang of it. I don't run leaders on my baitcasters, but I know some folks on here do. Finally, no need to worry about line capacity, that reel will be fine with whatever you choose.

I use both sizes and any of the natural colors and I don't really have a preference. I like 4 inch twin tail grubs or hula grubs as trailers.

What is the water temp? If my plug knocker doesn't work, it would have to be one of my out of production wiggle warts to make me consider it.

I pour for myself, a buddy or two, and my family- no desire to sell baits. Spend your money on a good injector. They're safer, nicer to use, and easy to sell if you stop pouring. Mine is a Basstackle and it's such a nice tool. One place you can save money is with yard sale microwaves. Five years later my two dollar microwave still hasn't died. There's so much more, but so little time. I agree that selling baits is futile, 90% of the guys selling use the same molds anyway. There's rarely anything that sets them apart.

I must have 5 or 6 pairs for that very reason!

Drugstore 0.75 reading glasses made a world of difference tying knots after I turned 40.

On my baitcasters I run mono (Copoly actually) until about mid June when the vegetation makes braid the better choice. Big Game is certainly the house wine at this establishment, and understandably so. I can't help with a braid recommendation, I just had some 20 lb Sufix break while undoing a wind knot on my spinning reel, and I'm looking for something better than Power pro too.

Canada craw

I do exactly what you do and I have had issues. Not enough to keep me from buying more TRDs, but it did stink to have a 6 dollar bag of plastics ruined.

Yes, but I try not to talk about baits I can only buy on Ebay.

I grew up fishing snap swivels, a brilliant way for my dad to not have to retie for a little kid.

Those are such a good bait, great tip on shallow brush. The CRR3 and 5 are also good baits, I don't think I've ever had a bad Rapala.

I love my MB, just a joy to use.

2" grubs on a jig head. I spent many days catching fish on the Connecticut river with a white grub. It caught a lot of different species, was easy to fish and cheap to lose.

The mandatory boaters ed class in NH (over 25hp) hasn't made a noticeable difference IMO. We are supposed to be 150 feet away from each other or it's a no wake zone. The instructor started walking and said "stop me when I've gone 150 feet." He barely made it 50 feet before the first person told him to stop. What they should do is get everyone in a 10 foot Jon boat and buzz them with a ski boat to show them what it's like. I almost fell out of my PT 175 last year when a skier came within 30 feet of me and another fisherman.