MassYak85

I'm definitely in the minority on this but I HATE spotlock in heavy wind, especially gusts. You'll get a gust of wind grab the side of the boat and by the time spotlock reacts it's yanking your bow back to the spot with some serious speed. I've been caught off guard a few times and it definitely tests your balance. While it's much more tedious, I find I can control the boat much better manually.

Yup! Although 20mph sustained is usually my limit.

Here in MA we have tooooons of small little ponds and lakes. You can effectively fish almost the whole place in a day if you want to. For me one of the biggest reasons I love fishing is the mystery of it. Every cast could be your next PB you just never know. Now, you fish some of these places enough...you kind of do know. Some places just have better fishing and bigger fish, some have more depth variation, more forage variation, more cover variation. I think if I was limited to only one or two of those kinds of lakes, yea it would get a bit old. There's some lakes I fish that I haven't heard of anything over 5lbs getting pulled out in many years. I still fish them but I go in with certain expectations. Other lakes have a reputation and I'm obviously not expecting to break my PB every trip there but just that slim chance in the back of my mind keeps the trip exciting. I love exploring new places and new spots for that mystery. On bigger lakes you get that variety within the lake itself sometimes so I don't think I would burn out on something like that.

I only own rods in the Champion XP series but the 744 is great for jigs. Would I flip heavy heavy cover with 1-2oz weights with it? No. But for 3/8 - 3/4 jigs and most T-rigs it's very good, has a nice tip section but plenty of backbone.

I retie after any big fish (let's call it 4-5lber+). I check my line after every pickerel, and after every snag. Otherwise I might retie mid day just for peace of mind.

Personally this is why I never run straight fluoro. I did it once and even the slightest kink created a weakspot waiting to break. Can't tell you how many times it would break like that in a random spot on a hookset. I believe it was Sunline Sniper I was using at the time. Blew through the 300yd spool in a season after multiple respools. Sure, my bad for backlashing. But if a single backlash ruins the spool of line to where I can no longer trust it, that's not a system I can trust.

If it gets scratched I really don't care but I try my best to keep them in the best shape possible. I use rod socks and reel covers.

I use braid to leader for most things. Usually about 6' of leader. I don't think line visibility is that big of an issue but it saves me money not constantly eating into my mainline every retie and the abrasion resistance is far better than braid.

Got out for a couple Father’s Day sessions with my dad. Yesterday afternoon was cloudy and a bit chilly. My dad has taken more interest in swim bait fishing so we went out dual wielding the Psycho Gills. He got 7 I got 3. All about the same size a bit over 2lbs. No big ones. Fished until it got dark. Went out again today and it felt a lot nicer with the sun. We targeted the edges of spawning areas that drop into deeper parts of the lake. I got 8 he got 5. A lot of them on a bluegill spinner bait. We got twin 3-3 largies, his on the spinnerbait and mine on a 10 inch power worm. I also hooked into what I believe was my PB pickerel at 26 inches. Solid day overall. Water temps flirting with 70 and all fish seemed to be that skinny spawned out build.

I felt like I needed to try every technique and fine tune everything exactly. Don't get me wrong there's a place for dialing in but you can also overwhelm yourself with options and think there's some "silver bullet" out there to find. If I had to start from complete scratch I would probably own like 80% less tackle than I currently do lol.

I'm a righty and pitch with my left for the same reason. I also usually cast with my left hand (well, left hand on the reel, right hand on the butt of the rod for leverage). For me it just comes down to one thing, my non-dominant hand is not as coordinated as my right, which makes reeling more difficult.

Never liked the keepers, they always seemed to move on me. I use a tiny spro power swivel and a 1oz weight if I do it, but most of my lakes are fairly shallow and weedy so I generally prefer a texas rig to keep things compact and moving through cover easier. Hard bottom I prefer a jig.

Yup. Not all costs will be immediately passed down. Supply and demand still exists and if people won't pay the price they won't pay the price. Unfortunately that could mean some products simply won't be made anymore as they won't be profitable if people don't want to pay the higher cost. In effect, that's kind of the point. Drive people to purchase US goods instead. Unfortunately for our sport, a LOT is made overseas that simply doesn't have a direct US alternative. We're a picky bunch that likes what we like, especially when it comes to baits. A "direct alternative" may not feel that way to us. For things like rods there are tons of awesome US rod makers. But things like Vision 110s that are THE standard for what they are, it's gonna suck.

Here in New England I consider 1-2lbers cookie cutter fish that I expect to catch almost every time out. Anything over 3lbs I try and weigh/measure quickly and consider a nice fish. Anything over 4lbs I take a picture of and consider a "big" fish, usually those fall in the 18-20" range. And anything over 5lbs is a "toad" in my book. 6lbs is usually a season highlight for me. 7 or 8lbs gets into "fish of a lifetime/unicorn" territory. 9-10 and guys probably won't believe you without a picture, but they do exist.

Braid to leader for spinnerbaits for me (40lb --> 16lb). I fish spinnerbaits mostly as search and reaction baits so for me that means moving fast and making lots of casts. I almost exclusively fish 3/8 and 1/2 oz. 7 speed reels work well for me. If I was making a dedicated setup I would consider an 8 speed even.

Hell yea dude! That's a tank. Love when the eyes are bulging like that.

I used to use it alongside the double Uni for leader knots and had way too many failures. For all my non-braid lure connection knots I use the san diego jam.

If I was to ever get a replica I would retire the lure and make it part of the display

Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia MY PB is actually from Virginia but I don't count southern or hybrid strain bass from a private lake against public water northern strain fish

Garmin makes very nice watches, been considering one for years but for hiking. But not exactly a financial priority for me right now lol.

Dicks isn't my favorite but they have sneaky good deals sometimes. If I didn't already have plentiful backups from other sales I'd jump on this.

Trokar hooks or any cutting point hooks. Yea they're sharp, but they tear and cut instead of penetrate, leaving much larger holes in the side of fishes mouths which for me leads to a LOT more fish coming off. The tips also roll super easy so they don't stay sharp long.

What I started doing for any picture/weigh worthy fish is I got a gripper leash like this: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Cal_Coast_Fishing_Donkey_Leash_Fish_Lanyard/descpage-CCFDL.html If it's a good one I net it, unhook it, and immediately put it back in the water attached to the leash while I get the scale and my phone ready. Makes for a much easier time on the fish but I still get to quickly document them.

I've got the Simms Challenger Jacket and some bibs I forget the name of. Rain gear is hard. Even high quality stuff will eventually soak through, especially if you're sitting in a puddle. Whatever you get it's good to invest in some of that tech wash stuff to maintain the effectiveness of your gear. Over time it will become less and less effective so giving it a refresh will prolong the life of your gear. But be realistic in what you're aiming at. The tournament guys have to fish no matter what, so you're talking driving rain for an entire day, that's some serious requirements for any gear. If you're just going out for a few hours and will stay home if it's truly bad out then you probably can get away with cheaper stuff.

Just wanna say this specific worm is in my top 5 all time baits. I love fishing these post spawn and through the summer. The 10" black specifically. Usually just a 1/4oz t-rig unpegged.