MassYak85

I have the 30 and I don't see why I would ever need to go bigger for bass fishing. Not for the techniques I usually associate spinning reels with that is.

It can be done with smaller lines but like NHBull said you have to pay more attention to tightening it as you go or it will slip. I've done 10lb braid to 6lb leader before and it was fine. But the thing is the benefits of the FG aren't really as noticeable at those smaller diameters so I usually don't even bother.

True, but big fish wrapped around 1/2 inch lily pad stems don't move a whole lot either, at least not on the initial hookset. When I'm fishing from my kayak I will move more on the initial hookset sometimes, and in many cases have had to go to the fish not the other way around. That's a different situation though than if you are on the bank or a larger boat. And if you're only getting bites from 1 lbers that day then line stretch will be more negligible than a 10lber who requires much more force to move. But yea if OP can't stand braid then by all means he should fish what he will be comfortable with so he can at least gets bites. If he finds the hookup ratio poor he can reevaluate whether he wants to try braid again.

If I'm bored later I can actually give you an answer. I can throw my swimbait reel ( spooled with 20lb CXX) on my frog rod and tie it to a tree, swing away, and let you all know. But even a couple feet would be a significant enough amount of stretch to opt for braid IMO. Ideally if you wanted a fair test though you would measure the force needed to get a solid hookup with the fish, and then measure the elongation of the line when that amount of force is applied. But that will change with each fish, each frog, each hook.

No experience with the other two but that Veritas rod runs a little stiffer than you might expect from other rods with similar specs (from other companies). Can be good or bad depending what you want to do. Also the LFS speed spool was one of my first baitcasters as well and it's still going strong I think you'll be very happy with it.

I've settled on Alberto/Albright. Good combination of small size, strength, and ease of tying. I do still keep the FG knot in my figurative back pocket for when I am tying leaders at home before a trip or really need the extra thin knot (high diameter lines it starts to matter).

I'm probably in the minority here but I hate slick. I tried it and the weaves of the braid seemed to separate way too easily, to the point where it would separate simply when tying knots, and I had a hell of a time with wind knots that I don't experience with spectra. Many on here like it though and find that it is a great casting line.

If you're not normal then neither am I

I pretty much always use 15lb braid mainline on my spinning reels. I've also used 10 and 20 before and they were fine. For a leader I'll go as low as 6lb up to 12 or 15lb. 6 for dropshot, I'll go to the higher ones if I'm doing something like fishing worms around heavy cover. I have yellow braid on one of my spinning reels and green on the other. I definitely think it helps in seeing strikes. What are you planning on fishing with this setup? Judging by the line capacity it seems you have the 40 size reel, which has a pretty big spool. If you plan to spool that up with braid I would highly recommend using a significant amount of backing line or else you're gonna end up putting 300+ yards of braid on the spool, 3/4 of which will never see water.

Have you considered buying some lottery tickets if you're pulling NRX's up from the bottom of lakes?

Watching those ice fishing videos over the years really does put in perspective how slow and lazy they can get. And even more frustrating, will often show just how long they will just sit and stare at a bait.

Oh I see what you're saying. Then yes for OP I'd say either use straight fluoro or tie longer leaders. I usually opt for the second simply because I like the manageability of braid as a mainline more.

I certainly think there are benefits of braid mainline other than managing line twist.

For shakeyheads I use a 7'MHF spinning rod with 15lb braid to either a 8 or 12lb leader. I think the reason you might be breaking off is a combination of not retying enough and possiblyin combination with too hard of a hookset. I know when I used to fish wacky worms all day I wouldn't retie ever and I ended up breaking fish off eventually because of it. Learned my lesson from that.

Only place I could find that wasn't frozen was Quinsig. Tried from shore for about an hour and a half just south of the 290 bridge. Started with a jerkbait and then switched to a hudd 68. No bites on either, had to call it quits when this started happening...The itch was scratched though. I also drove by A1 and to my surprise there was about a half inch of ice on almost the entire pond. It was 90% open yesterday. .

Looks like the "600 lures in one" claim is just another way of them saying there are 600 combinations you can make from this mess of parts. Lol...a buzzbait blade? Really?

Well the dam side of A1 is almost all open. There's a little ice to the left of the ramp but theoretically I think it would be possible to launch tomorrow. I might at least try from shore for a little bit in the afternoon, and if I'm feeling adventurous might see if it's possible to launch my kayak. That's gonna be a big if though.

If it's the morning I pretty much always start out with some kind of topwater unless it's really cold. If that fails I'll move to some type of "search bait" like a swimjig, spinnerbiat, chatterbait and really work it around cover. Then from there I might slow down with a jig, wacky worm, drop shot.

This is why I don't shop at BPS or Cabelas much anymore. I'll pop in if they have a good sale but the majority of the specific stuff I want they don't carry. You'd think a Bass Pro Shops in Massachusetts....where lead is banned....wouldn't have a jig selection that is 95% lead. Stuff like that. Plus when TW has 5 dollar two day which ends up being cheaper than the gas I burn going to Bass Pro...it takes a lot to get me in the store. The only exception really is if I need to buy something like a tackle box and I need to see and feel if something will fit in it.

Lol it's like I'm reading my own thoughts. I've got a couple Lew's reels and was thinking I'd try a Diawa whenever my next reel is just for the sake of variety as well.

I know right? The best things I've got from walmart are that zebco line they sell dirt cheap that I use as backing line, and they one time had zoom flukes for a dollar a pack that I stocked up on. Other than that I never seem to find many deals there.

I see nothing wrong with them for moving baits. Like others have said they are tough as hell. I used to use an ultralight one for years. I just wouldn't rely on them for contact baits where you need to really feel the bite.

Any of you guys have experience with the affect of fronts when it gets this cold? I'm looking at Monday and it will be a few days into the cold front so maybe the fish will have adjusted, and it will be right before the Noreaster comes in Tuesday. Plus daytime temps are supposed to get into the mid/upper thirties so hopefully line wouldn't freeze. Of course this is assuming I can even find open water after the bitter cold this weekend. I'm getting a little desperate though.

Lakes near me are open but not for long. Single digits coming and snow. I might try to find somewhere open later in the week when it's warmer (if you consider 40 degrees warm). Might have to be a river though at this rate.

Definitely out of the box thinking but I'd be concerned with one of the dummy baits getting squashed down onto the hook when a fish grabs it and hurting the hookup ratio.