JustJames

A few years back, I only thrown Texas rig (weighted) only a handful of time, Dropshot alway get first priority. This year thing turn around if I don't throw Fluke then Texas rig would be my 2nd choice.

If you want specific jerk bait rod, you should look for MF where you have a lot more bend than F rod especially MH power. What size jerkbait are you throwing? I don't use MH unless jerkbait is 1/2oz or heavier. Last time I checked out Phenix Maxim MH/F rod, their rod line got pretty soft tip and might suit your need.

Dip it super fast, be careful with zinkerz which contain less plastic compare to other. I don't have problem with diezel or paddle shad with JJ but I melt TRD once when dip too long. if you are not sure you can use small paint brush instead of dipping the whole thing.

I think now you and get hooked on big swimbait deeper than that bass lol. Get ready to spend a lot of money, there is no turning back.

Check x-ship bearing, I'm not sure the one support pinion gear or the one support the shaft. I have talked to Shimano regarding this geary issue, and their response was those bearing need replacement frequently. Have you flush clean those bearing?

Just like that, huh?

I'm not sure if this rule applied, but I believe chumming is illegal in California.

Still can't find any big one. I caught like 4 small ones from everywhere, shallow weedy and deep 15-20' FOW. Three of them came from Ned rig and one from Fluke.

A lot of ppl recommended round reel for big swimbait mostly due to line capacity. Depends on how big the line (diameter) you want on your reel. If you want low profile reel, Look at Tranx 200 and 300, Daiwa Lexa300 or tatula HD. I use curado 200ipg for up to 2oz lure, other than that all round reel like Cardiff 200 and Daiwa Luna 253. I use mostly 12-17lb test mono line which pretty small compare to other.

Very good Paul

This ^^^ should be the very first thing for you to think about.

You stole my setup? Lol Finally I'm whole again, after been searching for this Crucial Dropshot rod to replace the one I broke. I hope I like it as much as my old rod (gen 2 vs gen1) despite it is being shorter and a little bit softer tip but same 1/8-3/8oz lure weight.

Congrat, super nice setup there.

This is a very good example. Let see Ndyakangler, how many subscribers? I'm sorry I'm not looking down on the guy, he might have a very good fishing ever channel but not making any money not even sponsored from Kayak company. Another one that I think every agree about being very great fishing channel " keeping it real fishing" How many subscribers he got, does he make any money? Let look at other side, I've seen lately two of lady fishing channel, one up north and another one fish mostly for Muskie, they got sponsored big time by Shimano and their channel just started not too long ago. Another one that I think also most agree to be wasted of time watching "APbassing" he got 600K subscribers. Think differently, set yourself apart, huh? Depends you wanna be great Youtuber or making money out of it.

Or follow the trend and be one of the googan squad lol.

I subscribed only a few Channels but always search others for specific techniques that I want to learn. Do you plan to make money of YouTube video or just for fun? To gain a lot of subscribers I guess you have to have more than just fishing, Good editing, Demographics, and contents, GF, Sister or anyone that look prettier than you lol. I think you could watch those popular Youtubers and adapt some that suit to you. Greg is just pure fun fishing on Kayak. Jon B get a lot of talent editing/creating video clip more like travel channel lol, not so technically. I like when he fish with Jig LFG is also good with fishing fun mix with good editing. Another channel that I like is 618 fishing. He just plain simple and very real. Those BFS guy should watch him for his enthusiastic of his tiny lure.

I've seen so much talk about Ned Rig lately, so I set my goal to catch one since I have not use this rig in year. As usual my setup Daiwa Alpha SV105 pair with Majorcraft Go Emotion 652L. I did prepare Zoom Super Fluke Jr. as my backup since I don't have confidence in Ned Rig as much and I'll be fishing on top of weed. End up for hour and a half i managed to catch 4, and typical of Ned Rid two were super tiny, one decent size and one a good 2.5lbers. Not bad for a rookie like myself, lol.

I'm not sure how bass in your lake like, fast moving, a lot of commotion or slow with subtle? I know that I success more with something slow, and subtle in my lake. I don't even throw a lot of WP these days. I agree with @Big Rickjust fish like old devil's horse. In fact I caught one on it a few day back, my first time using it. I just do short rip and pause. Today I got to try another new lure as well and caught two on this. It about the same as Devil' horse but with only small prop on the end. It is bagley spintail. I'm still trying to figure what the best way to fish this, but so far I have success with short tip and pause to make the lure dart under water.

Gotta vote for chatterbait too. In fact I plan to pick up my chatterbait setup soon if I ever stop fishing with those d**n Magnum Fluke lol. I just checked my last year caught and pretty much on chatterbait plus my PB @ 7.7lbs.

You can try wacky rig weight or no weight or send them to me lol. I'll definitely getting 4" one for wacky rig instead of Senko.

This's gonna be a very interesting comparison.

I hate to say it but curado 70 might not be your best reel for the job, but that dpends how familiar between you and the reel. Don't get me wrong the curado 70 is a nice reel and can cast a mile even light lure but for user friendlier I would op for magnetic reel especially those Daiwa with SV spool. For rod, it depends how light you wanna go for. Trick worm and Senko 4-5" are weight above 1/4oz so any M rod with 1/4oz lure weight should be able to cast those just fine. If smaller than that like finesse worm or any 4-6" worm you might have to go down to ML or any rod with 1/8oz lure weight. The softer the tip, the easier and further you can cast, but you loose somewhat ability to control fish and ability to apply good hookset. if you are not settle in bait caster, ML or M spinning setup would handle this type of application a lot easier.

Since we are on this subject. I just received the rod today from eBay. the package got damage in two places but the rod seem to have no sign of visual damage. What would you do?

Roboworm Ned Worm is pretty durable, I caught 4-5 small fish and still hold up. They are also heavier than TRD so it help casting distance and color selection is way better than Zman. Zman is also good and I still prefer those for Ned rigging, I keep them in original bag. If you don't like Zman, the Ned Worm might be good alternative, get a pack and try it. One guy here in my lake caught a nice 8lbers on Ned rig Toboworm Ned Worm.

driving a couple hour might not worth compare to shipping. You can compare cost to ship plus replacement fee, if it is still less than half of brand new rod, I would say go for it. You might contact Doynbs if you can ship just a short section to save shipping cost.