BrackishBassin

I know it technically doesn't count, but my go to 'worm' is a Zoom 6" lizard pumpkin/chartreuse. Catches everything in my local lake/ponds.

Senkos are my go to, can't catch a fish to save my life, lure. Rigged weightless or on a split shot rig. Works just about every time. If I can't catch them on a senko, I just assume they aren't around. Colors depend on water clarity. I've had lots of luck with the GY green/white in the 5" length. Went through a bag in a day between the bass and the pickerel.

I use a 7' ML Elite for both salt and freshwater and they're great rods, but I think Fish is right. There shouldn't be a significant difference in thickness between a 1 and 2 piece rod. However, there is a significant difference in thickness between the Elites and GX2s. The GX2s are significantly more 'stout'. I use them for my heavier saltwater stuff. I'd take pictures for you side by side, but the GX2 is a MH, so it's going to be thicker anyways.

If it wasn't exposed to water/sunlight, then it should be fine. If you're worried about it, just tie up a few knots and see what their breaking strength is. Then compare that to some 'fresh' line. If they're close, you're probably good to go.

I do use snaps when I'm doing saltwater stuff, but I'm trying to break the habit when it comes to freshwater. I've definitely seen a difference in action with certain baits I have when using a snap. Plus, it seems to be frowned upon by most of the freshwater guys that I talk to. You haven't had the same experience?

I use Power Pro for both my fresh and saltwater fishing. Never had an issue with it. Colors actually hold up pretty well too, which is unusual for braid. I don't use fluoro for my leaders because I'm a cheapskate and the waters here are too dirty for it to matter. I rarely even use a leader at all, tie straight to braid for most stuff. I will use leaders for things like drop shots (don't want to be cutting that much braid off every time I change out tactics) and jerkbaits (no slip loop knots make me nervous with braid, mono is much better for that type of thing imo).

I'm the type of person that likes to handle something before I buy it, so my experience with online retailers is limited. I use Amazon quite a bit because they have free and easy returns. I buy it and just drop it back in the mail if I don't like it. I don't have any experience with Tackle Warehouse...and maybe it's better that way. Hahaha! I figured as much, but I'm just not used to paying it. Really makes the pricing for some websites seem much less reasonable. I understand they have overhead and costs they have to cover, and I try to support local and smaller businesses when I can, but that's a heck of a price hike.

Nice! I'll check it out.

Amazon spoiled me completely. Hate paying for shipping anymore, but if it's standard, not much I can do about it. Thanks!

Anyone have a good experience ordering rods from online retailers? I usually go with Amazon (easy returns and free 2 day shipping), but they don't have what I'm looking for. I'd like to avoid paying an arm and a leg to ship the rod to me (was shocked by the prices at FFO and was all set to order a rod until I realized they'd tack an extra $20 for shipping), and I'd like to avoid dealing with returns due to crappy packaging. Thanks!

Brother in law got me a three month subscription to MTB Pro, wife got me some lures for my stocking (2 spinner baits and some drop shot worms), and my brother got me a Diawa Tatula CT. Going to to have to go rod hunting now and pick up a couple more trays for the stuff I'll be getting from MTB. I made out this year!

Oh, no chance I'm even going to attempt to hide purchases. That's just asking for trouble.

I use a backpack. Lures in one box, terminal tackle in another, and all my soft plastics in a gallon ziploc bag. Any used plastics can get tossed back in the ziploc bag along with any line I clip off. That's what I've worked out for myself so far. However, I'm looking at a decent walk most times I bank fish (at least a mile one way), so I need to keep everything compact.

My wife is trying to figure out how to block any and all fishing related sites on our home computer and my iPad. So, I'm not sure that tactic would work in my case. Words I heard from her this year, "I don't even know what a baitcaster is, so why do you keep asking me if you should go with Daiwa or Shimano. And don't they just make bike parts anyways?"

One thing I wouldn't do is use 40lb braid on a ML rod. You're one sharp tug away from buying yourself a new rod. Just my opinion though.

For a pond or something close to a parking lot, 3 is reasonable. For the lake I fish that has a trail that's 7 miles long around it, 2 is a stretch and I'd never attempt 3. If I went wading, I'd go with a single rod. Anytime I do shoreline stuff for saltwater, I only ever carry one rod. But it's significantly heavier gear and the rod is a heck of a lot longer that anything I use for freshwater. My tackle is also a lot heavier (an assortment of sinkers ranging from 1/2 to 6oz, spool of 40lb mono for leaders/rigs, etc.) so I need to lighten up somewhere.

Thanks everyone! I've definitely got some information to sift through and figure out a plan for the spring. Going to be hard to narrow it down to three lures/techniques with all the good suggestions, but I'll do my best. If I manage to get out this winter, I've decided to fish jigs exclusively to try and develop a better feel for them. Just going to have to leave the plastics at home so I'm not tempted to rig one up after an hour without a bite. They're definitely my confidence bait, but like I've said, I'd really like to develop some other techniques to fall back on.

Gotcha. The lake I'm talking about can be seen over my shoulder in my profile picture. Very little vegetation on top, but the bottom is thick.

I copied WRB's response to a Google Doc so I can refer to it as needed. Definitely informative. But I've been taking notes from all of the responses I've gotten in this thread. Everyone involved has been really helpful. I do know that the different types of plastic presentations are fished differently, but for some reason I don't tend to think of them as different lure choices. Guess that's something I'll have to change in my head and see if that helps. If there's open soft bottom, I've yet to find it in my pond. I'm sure there's some on the lake, just haven't found it yet. The trail around the lake is 7 miles long, so I've got a lot of bank to beat before I can say, with confidence, where it is. I do know of a submerged forest, but it's 3.5 miles from the parking area. I know I'll make it around there at some point, just need to find the time. There's also a dam at one end that's got rip rap on it. That's the other spot on my list to try out once I've got the grassy areas nailed down.

So, plastic, plastic, and plastics? I do throw a drop shot, but I guess I categorize that as a plastics presentation in my mind. I tend to lump Texas rigs, Carolina rigs, and drop shots together because they've all got a soft plastic.

Hey, you ever tried the FG knot? I use that as my leader knots. Learned it for saltwater and just continued using it when I went to fresh.

Thanks! I'm still trying to decide what to do about the line. I had mono on my baitcaster before I spooled it with the 50lb braid, but I get tired of tying on leaders all the time. Won't have that issue if I go straight mono. I also think that the 50lb braid is a bit of overkill considering the heaviest I use on my saltwater set ups is 30lb and the fish I'm targeting are significantly larger than any bass I'm going to come across. However, it does seem to be easier to manage than the mono was, and I have the other half of the spool left, so maybe I'll just put 50lb on the new baitcaster as well. Think I'll wait until I have the new set up in hand to make that decision though.

The Ned rig is another set up I'd like to try. Just need to get my hands on some of the mushroom jig heads. I tried with some saltwater jig heads I had but they were waaaaay too heavy. Every cast I pulled back an entire yard's worth of grass.

It's a 6 something, can't remember exactly.

I've got a Black Max I bought as a combo.