Junk Fisherman

YGK Sinking Braid 16 lb (same diameter as 832's 10 lb) Casts great, strong, sinks. The worst part about the line is it is hard to get and expensive.

Check your line often especially when fishing around rocks. It takes 30 seconds to retie a lure.

Cool. I bought $20 worth and some of the more expensive ones from TW. Now I just have to figure out how to rig them. I don't want to lose a $6 Prickly Pear after 1 fish.

Did they work?

I use exactly the same hooks as Ajay for dropshotting except for those 3/0s. (I think he just put those in there to see if we were paying attention!) I'm not 100% sure what you mean by the question. If you're doing something finesse with like a Flatworm, then I'm using a 7+'mL rod with a Gammy GT Finesse #1. For something bulkier I will use a #1 Owner/Mustad Mosquito. I don't fish a dropshot texas rigged in weeds with a spinning combo so I can't help you there.

What are you going to use the the 713sf for?

Keen sandals are all I wear when kayaking or when I know my feet will likely get wet.

There's a very good fisherman in my club that only uses spinning rigs. He frog fishes with a medium heavy 7' rod. It's not ideal but he shows that it can work.

Not sure what you're budget is but the Champion HP 742 is an extremely versatile rod and it's great for Neko, dropshots, shakey, wacky, and small swimbaits. I personally like a little bit lighter rod for Neds but a lot of people use the 742 for Neds. I've never used the XP 732 but I'd bet it would handle those presentations well. Someone else can guide you better on the baitcasting rods. You'll get a real nice rod for 35% off. Good luck.

Thanks Tank. If I go to upgrade my older 844, I'll definitely look into this.

The good news is that I already have a 844 GLX. I actually broke a Dobyns 735 that I used for those applications. I thought the 844 rod would be a little too light. Guess this is one way to whittle down my rods. Thanks.

lol- I know someone is going to say I need two different rods but I don't use these applications that much. Unless, my club votes in a place with a frog bite, I doubt I do any frog fishing all year. Anyways, what GLX do you prefer for 3/4 football head jigs, C-rigs, 1/2 to 3/4 wobble head jigs, and the occassional frog? Thanks for any advice.

Gamma Edge 6 lb. It has the thickness of 8 lb. I've gone through a lot of leader lines and this Gamma is the best I've used. It holds up to zebra mussels and the busted up concrete that I fish in Lake Michigan quite well.

I was fishing a week or so up north and I had a day that my best fish came on a white/pink Rage Swimmer 3.25" swimbait. It outproduced my standard Spark Shad in the Real color. I picked up the color just cause I wanted to give fish a different look at times. Surprised me.

Before I got my Basscat which has a security system, I used to put these under my cover over night outside of a hotel. For $20 and probably $10 in batteries, it gave me peace of mind to sleep through the night? https://www.harborfreight.com/wireless-security-alert-system-57937.html?hftm_sc=497&hftm_source=google&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=21901739444&campaignid=21901739444&utm_content=173216754711&adsetid=173216754711&product=57937&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21901739444&gbraid=0AAAAADAHb4fAy8ghm8tmD2ZcfUbfAbWng&gclid=CjwKCAjwxb7RBhA5EiwAQ-AAdN6hfWYtAtQb4NYrsTVE_tbMjBwVbKHDH1_c1ctnQ4wFlPqApKOq2RoCZLMQAvD_BwE

That's an awesome boat! I looked at that model very closely. Love the layout and that passenger rod storage.

No. 3'-5' is about what it covers. But it comes through brush great.

Largemouth 1) Topwater: Buzzbait, Rage Tail Shad, Sammy--> depends on the cover 2) Plastic: Chigger Craw, Baby Brush Hog, Super Hog, Beaver 3) Neko: Big TRD 4) Ned 5) Wacky Senko I'd have more than this but these would be my biggest players. I'd also have a bladed jig, swimjig, frog, shakeyhead, and a swimbait tied on--> so much depends on the cover. Good chance I'd have a C-rig on too. Smallmouth 1) Ned 2) Neko 3) Dropshot- I usually have 2 dropshot rigs ready in the summer. 4) Swimbait- 2 different ones 5) Spybait

Hybrid Hunter

If you are using a jig with a spinner (Okashira for example), make sure you don't get the glue around the blade. It will seize up.

10 lb - 14 lb braid (YGK sinking braid) on all my spinning reels- 6 lb Gamma Edge leader line 30 lb braid- baitcasters- pitching plastics and jigs and powershotting 50 lb braid- baitcaster- frogs, C-rigs, football head jigs 15 lb fluorocarbon- pitching plastics, all around 15 lb P-Line Fluoroclear- bladed jigs, spinnerbaits 10 lb and 12 lb P-Line Fluoroclear- jerkbaits and crankbaits 15 lb Big Game- Topwater The YGK, Gamma Edge, P-Line Fluoroclear, and Big Game are lines I have been using for years and have a lot of confidence in. For the 15 fluorocarbon I'll use whatever is on sale as long as it's Berkley 100%, P-Line, or Seaguar Abraizix- I don't really notice a difference between any of these. For heavier braid I'll go either Powerpro, Suffix, or Daiwa. Once again, I've used several of these and they all seem about the same.

That's great advice about enjoying the good years. I read the book last year "Die with Nothing" and it talked about the number of people who save, save, save and never really enjoy themselves during their prime years and when they retired they were either too tired or in too poor of shape to do the things they always planned. I have kept that in mind and didn't want it to be me. I was always planning to get a high end bassboat when I approached retirement age but I asked myself- what am I waiting for? I had the money and I didn't like my old boat. Yeah, I took a big hit selling my old boat but I'm very happy with my boat now. I bought a Basscat Cougar. (I shamelessy include a picture.)

I love this topic because it involves things I am passionate about- bass fishing, boats, and personal finance. I think a lot of people buy too much boat too soon being financially irresponsible. I definitely don't think someone needs to save up and pay for a boat with cash 100%. There is a happy medium- used boat and a reasonable 3-5 year loan to get on the water. Then as we get older and earn more and save more, we can keep getting better and bigger and more expensive boats. I agree that we need to live life and enjoy it BUT we also need to plan and spend responsibly. Odds are we're all going to live into our 80s and beyond. Financing some 75K+ boat when you're in your 30s with kids and a mortgage and other debt puts you in a position of being one negative life event from being in a really bad position. Obviously, I am talking about middle and upper middle class fellas. I'm on my 5th boat. I had a used, cheap 14"er with a deck in my 20s and then moved to a deep V 17'er in my late 20s which I quickly changed to a tin 17' bassboat that I kept till I was 42. All these boats were used. My dad gave me interest-free loans and I paid them off quickly. Sure, I wanted something fancy but I resisted the urge and instead made investments and paid off my home. It wasn't until I was 42 that I bought a new boat. I was going to go used again but was lucky that my dad helped me out and gave me nearly half of the price of the boat. All this time I kept investing money that a lot of other guys were using to pay off boats. This past winter I splurged on the Basscat. Thankfully, my investments have done so well over the years that I was able to pay cash. Overall, I resisted the urge in my 30s and 40s to finance a new boat and instead paid off debt and invested which has left me in a great place in my 50s. Plus, I always had a boat and was always on the water. I spent a lot of time with my dad before he passed and I doubt my memories would be any better if we had been fishing out of a Ranger versus my 17' Lowe bassboat.

I love my 7'6 rods. Used to have a 7'9 Champion and was great as well. To answer your questions, the longer rods are definitely better at fighting and handling fish. I throw a lot of finesse and catch a good number of big catfish, carp, and lake trout on accident. Having that extra 6-8 inches really help with giving more leverage and I feel less strain on the rod. Plus, the longer rod helps a little with distance especially with the light stuff. And you'll get used to the extra length quickly. I do have a 5'9 spinning rod that I use for skipping docks and that feels like an ice fishing rod in comparision. And while it makes sense about the shorter blank being more sensitive, what about the fact that the line transmits to more rod since it's longer and has at least 1maybe 2 more guides? Wouldn't that help with sensitivity?

I have this rod in the Steez model and it is extremely versatile. I use it for pitching plastics and light jigs, stupid tubes, Senkos, Sleepers, free rigs, power shotting- basically anything lighter than a traditional jig. I know Daiwa lists this rod for spinnerbaits and vibrating minnows but I have other rods I use for those applications. Along with my 843GLX, it's just about my most versatile rod.