MassYak85

My favorite rod in my lineup is still my Tatula 7'2 MHR (the original Tatula rod lineup with the gold accents). It's somewhere between a moderate fast and a fast and it's just so versatile. I dread the day I have to replace it lol.

I run 40lb power pro to a 16lb leader for spinnerbaits and chatterbaits. Cranks I would drop to 12lb. Topwater I would just cut off the leader and run the braid straight. I fish around a lot of vegetation so I like 4 carrier braid but otherwise 8 carrier is probably going to be smoother and nicer to fish if you're using this for more cast and retrieve techniques.

A hefty sweep set. As far as missing bites and timing, I think it depends on the day. Sometimes perch and bluegill and baby bass will nip at the tails. If that's the case I usually feel a bunch of little ticks in a row followed by either nothing or a quick little aggressive pull as they swim off with the tail in their mouths. If it's happening a lot I will avoid setting the hook and let them drop it, but it usually takes a bit to key in on that because sometimes small and medium bass will feel similar if they're hitting it aggressively. Other days it's just one solid THUNK and then weight, those I hit them immediately. If they're more finicky sometimes it's just you feel weight or no weight at all. In those cases I reel down a bit to make sure something is actually there and then hit them. I'm not "waiting" but there's a bit more hesitation as I am reeling down. As soon as I "know" it's a fish I'm still hitting them.

These are my go to but yea they do have a bit of shine still.

The only time I really "deadstick" is when I'm fishing either topwater or worms/jigs. For topwaters, especially big swimbaits, I like to let the ripples fade out before I start my retrieve. I think the big splash can attract curious fish and they sit there staring at it until it makes just the slightest move. Too many times I've made a cast and then turned to grab something and that's when I got hit and wasn't ready to set the hook. For worms and jigs I actually don't like fishing them slow. I've caught fish stitching a worm but man is that mind numbing. But when I'm working a worm through a weed bed I like to feel when it pulls free of a dense patch and then let it sit in the opening for a bit before moving it again. Same with a jig. If I feel it hang up on the edge of cover or a rock I won't immediately pop it over I'll pull it up against it, let it sit, do it again, let it sit. And then hop it over. I wouldn't really consider any of that true deadsticking though. The only time I do true deadsticking is fishing trout imitation lures in calmer waters. Just letting an MS Slammer or Mattlures trout sit there and giving it the slightest twitch every now and then.

Yea I had it in mind for that as well. I would probably only use it for finesse exposed hook jigs like the 1/4oz Beast Coast Sniper. I don't think you're wrong for expecting a little more out of the rod. I haven't had the reel seat issue you're describing but I would find that very annoying. I probably would not purchase a different rod in the lineup going forward but for the niche I wanted filled it does a good job.

I have the same rod and use it for jerkbaits, smaller topwater etc. Agreed that it's really more of a medium, which is why I bought it since I felt like my other medium heavy rods were a bit too much for jerkbait fishing but didn't really want to drop the extra money on an expride. Now that you mention it, I was a bit disappointed when I first got it because the epoxy on the top guide had a sharp spot. Not a big deal I took some very fine grit sandpaper to it and it's been fine but would like to see some better QC at that price point. That said I have no regrets buying it. I paired it with a Daiwa Tatula SV 103 and it's a nice light combo.

10" Black Berkley Powerbait worms are usually tied on for me from post spawn until the grass starts to die back heavily in the Fall. They're my go-to bait to slow down and pick apart deeper vegetation and shallow weed flats in the warmer months. Basically anytime a jig starts to collect too much salad.

My dad got one of those gimmicky multi-jointed fish baits you see advertised sometimes and we were both pretty underwhelmed by it's action. It would only really swim at fast speeds. But he actually did pretty well with it and found a decent reaction bite if you let it sink and burned it off the bottom. Kind of along the same lines of sometimes you just have to vary how you're fishing something not always just change lures. He's usually the one to try a bunch of different lures on our outings where I usually sick more to basics and vary the retrieve or presentation a bit but sometimes he finds something unique like that where I probably would have changed lures immediately after the initial disappointment in how it was performing.

The one lure challenge is definitely interesting. I think we get in this mindset that certain lures are for very niche situations or we need a different lure to do something else. I think a lot of lures are more versatile than we give them credit for and sticking with one for the day can really open your eyes to that.

Had an interesting situation over the 4th weekend. My dad and I were fishing a deeper area of the lake. He was getting some on a reaction bite and I was dropshotting. I set the hook and immediately snap off (pickerel 🙄). About 15 minutes later my day catches a 24" pickerel and guess what's hanging out of it's mouth. Greedy little things. At least I got my weight back.

I avoid lakes that have tournaments because most lakes I fish are small and when there are 20 boats it's quite crowded. I don't go for their sake, I don't go for mine. That said I think it's silly anyone would expect someone else to not go fishing so that they could.

I like 4 carrier for the reasons stated above when fishing around cover. As far as you losing the fish, braid is thin, 20lb is super thin. Even the smallest nick in 20lb will be a significant percentage of the diameter and reduce it's strength. I don't lock down my drag for anything other than frogging and punching. Everything else I leave a little bit of play. I run 40lb for most applications, 65lb for forgs and punching. I would never consider anything under 30lb on a baitcaster unless it's a BFS setup. 20lb is just way too light to be horsing fish around with. The shock absorption of braid is terrible, so on a hookset with locked down drag, a backlash, or a surging fish, that line is seeing significant force with no way to give, that's where you want your rod and drag to take some of that.

A lot of it comes down to how they're biting. I start with a search bait and dial it in from there. If they're knocking slack in my line and thumping it hard, I'm sticking with that until it stops working. If they're swiping at it or barely getting hooked, or very intermittent bites, maybe I switch colors, add a trailer, change bait size, to dial it in more. If I'm just flat out not getting ANY bites I switch tactics completely. Maybe go for more of a reaction bite or slow down and really fish areas I have confidence in or see other promising signs. My best days I usually end up with 2-3 rods/baits on the deck at the end of the day. My worst days are when the entire arsenal had to come out.

I’m seeing Megabass items going up in price too. I don’t mind finding domestic alternatives for some things but their SV-3 spinnerbait I consider irreplaceable in my arsenal alongside the 110. Used to be 11.99 or 12.99 pretty much everywhere. Tackle warehouse has them for 15 bucks now. Probably only a matter of time before the 110 goes up too, especially with the recent announcement of 25 percent tariffs on Japan.

I think of my 5 biggest bass, two were in the summer, two were in the fall, and only one was during the pre-spawn. Maybe I just suck at pre-spawn fishing 🤣

At that price I'd happily buy just the cube and thread them myself lol

We can all convince ourselves pickerel are still fun to catch until you lose multiple Vision 110s in the same day. Then you're cursing their existence. That said when they start getting over 2 feet I don't mind catching them haha

Ouch that hurts. I do the same thing with big ones to let them spend more time in the water. I have one of those really heavy duty clips though that lock on a metal ratchet. If a fish ever breaks free from that I think I just have to tip my hat. I've been fortunate to not dump many big ones over the years. The major breakoffs I've had were on Pike lakes so I can at least talk myself into what those were for my own peace of mind. The only one I know for sure was a bass that haunts me a bit was a 9" MS Slammer that I was just deadsticking off the end of a laydown. Very subtle bite it just slurped it down but it had been a while since it landed so I just lost focus. Set the hook too late so I'm fairly sure I just hooked the side of it's face. It took off for some deeper weeds and I didn't have the angle to keep it away. Once the line wrapped around the weeds it had the leverage to pull free and came off. No idea how big but it pulled freaking hard and this is with an 8' Heavy rod.

I wear sun gloves when it's really sunny and I'm gonna be out for a while. In the colder months I wear cheap fingerless fleece gloves for warmth.

How do they justify charging 11 bucks for 4 of these little things?

I'll take the pickerel as long as they're over 2' lol

With the heat rising and the pads filling in we're getting close to one of my other favorite techniques....punching! I've never actually been a huge fan of frog fishing. The blowups are always fun but the missed fish gets old fast. I find it difficult in the wind too cause the line gets blown into a big bow that then gets tangled between pads and makes any hookset that much worse. I'd rather go in a get them with the heavy weights.

The biggest benefit for me is the mapping abilities and the ability to see bottom composition changes on down and side imaging. Sometimes the lake map shows a point but that point isn't exactly what it showed, might have a gravel line extending past the actual contour changes, etc. I don't use any forward sonar or livescope. I can see their place but most of my fisheries I wouldn't use it.

I started out all straight braid, then tried straight fluoro for a bit (also 16lb sniper), and have settled on braid to leader to get the best of both worlds. Only exceptions are straight braid for my frog/fipping rod, and straight copoly on my big swimbait rods.