padon

i use 15 pound braid to an 8 pound leader ,, sometimes 6. gamakatsu drop shot hook.1/4 or 3/8 weight. i rarely fish vertical, our fish get fished hard and unless they are 30 feet deep or so they dont like it.my biggest advise though , as ajay and some others said use a longer leader. because of the line angle you need a longer leader to keep the bait off bottom. second use a bouyant bait like zman or others,xzone slammer is pretty bouyant too. thet will help keep the bait up.

i use both zodias and expride rods. run all shimano reels.its up to you of course , the dc is nice but if you dont have any problem with backlash i would get a curado k or mgl. save a few bucks on the reel. then you could upgrade to the expride.now dont get me wrong the zodias is a great rod. in my opinion the best $200 rod on the market. the expride for 60 or 70 dollars more fishes like a 350 or 400 dollar rod.th 7'2" medium heavy is a pretty universal rod. jigs texas rigs chatterbaits spinnerbaits etc. that would be my recommendation on model. zodias would be the same.

line choice can affect that decision too. if your braid to leader the 4 power may be just fine. fluoro you may want to step up to the 5

ive been fishing primarily the same 4 lakes for 30 years. i fish others too but these 4 are the main ones,they are not huge lakes and theres a core group of guys who fish them. we all know each other and we all know the areas that usually produce at different times. lately with the aid of maooing and better sonar than weve ever had ive been trying to locate subtle things in areas that arent commonly fished by the group. found a few so far and still looking . its made it more exciting and im confident as i keep looking im gonna eventually find a few gems.

as far as the lipless it depends on water temp and mood of the fish. most of my lakes have grass. as the temp gets around 50 the fish will ease up into coves and pockets near where they are gonna spawn. The old dead grass will be there but new grass will be starting, youll see the little green shoots on your hooks. sometimes the fish will eat the bait slow reeled over the grass. Other times you will have to yoyo and rip it out of the grass and let it fall. i dont usually fish square bills that early as our fish will usually be in 8-10 feet. A flatsided crank like a shad rap or frittside will catch them though.

for me thats a large part of it. i want the action right for the lure or technique that im employing . I want the rod to be relatativley light because to me that help with the sensitivity i want the right line and a reel that functions properly. if those criteria are met i dont care what the rod costs. if it is $100 but feels right ill buy it.if its $600 i wont because i know i can find what i need for less than that.

i would fish the 3 power with fluoro. and yes blade baits can be a nightmare in grass but if the grass is short you can rip them out of it and the 5 power with faster tip would help with that.

they are pretty much the same action etc. sometimes the bass just seem to like the smaller bait. probably depends on the size of bait they are used to feeding on.

i think another part of it is just what you enjoy and like to spend your money on. i dont wear designer clothes drive expensive cars (well my truck was expensive but it was used and they are all expensive now) live in the fanciest house or fish out of the fanciest boat. but i do enjoy the feel of a more expensive rod and reel. so thats what i use. doesnt mean i catch any more fish i just enjoy them. i wont buy the true high end stuff because i just cant bring myself to pay that much.

i use a medium for some worm fishing not alot. i use my expride 610 medium casting rod to fish 1/8 texas rigs with a 5 or 6 inch worm in shallow water in spring. any other time im going to a medium heavy and 3/16 to 1/4 . i also use my7ft medium spinning expride to fish 3/32 and 1/8 shakey heads. dont have ant problems in these scenarios.as the thickness of the worms and the bullet weight goes up so does the power of the rod. now im not fishing heavy cover in those situations either. i mean laydowns or grass or rock but nothing super heavy.

most of my rods are in the 200 -300 dollar range.there are nice rods for less than that and good rods for twice that.but in that range im getting a rod that feels good in my hands is light reasonably sensitive and i can afford to have alot of them so i have different rods to fish different techniques. reels are easy for me i buy stradics and curados. not because they ere any better than any others at the relative price but because ive been using them so long that i know what im getting for my money and im used to them.look at most of the big time pros, they dont have a boat full of $600 rods. guys that can catch them can do it with decent equipment the dont need ultra high end stuff to catch them.

as far as prep i have a couple reels that need a complete strip and lube. stocking up on some old faithful baits while i can get them, and of course theres some new goodies to try. biggest aquisition will be an ultrex. its on order anybodys guess when it will show up.

ive heard some interviews with the guys that designed the binsky. they emphasize not over working the bait. let it go to bottom ,pick it up gently dont rip it. as soon as you feel it vibrate 4 or 5 times let it go back to bottom. many fish will come to the vibration and actually pick it off the bottom. you wouldnt think they would i mean its metal. but ive been trying it and it does work.

jerkbaits, bladebaits, lipless, flat sided cranks, ned rig.

seriously thinking about a move to somewhere near charleston. beach for my wife bass lakes for me and tidal water shallow saltwater for when it gets blazing hot in the summer and bass are pouting.

i tried one on at my local tackle store. i liked the material etc . it was kind of hard to get on and off though. it also felt pretty restrictive around the neck. those are personal things though. then i saw they had the same thing with a zipper. i bought that and i like it so far. its not very insulated but thats ok i layer under it and it keeps me warm. if its really nasty i put the hood up and the face shield on.

i think you covered every rod i own.

i had thet problem when i started using flouro. dont use an imptoved clich with flouro. a properly tied palomar should be no problem. my favorite is the san diego jam and i wet the line. ive straightened heavy jig hooks on 14lb sniper.

yes the texas tackle pliers have been the best ive found. not saying their arent better ones but theyre the best ive tried.

put that baby on a slider head and light line and swim it around grass, rocks logs , whatever. caught tons that way in pressured clear water. like the ned rig before the ned rig. camo was my favorite color.

i just bought some of those to use in kietechs that i want to fish in deep weeds. they rig up great but i wont be able to tell you how they work til april.

yeah you gotta just buy what you like. if youve been happy with lews then keep using them. unless you just wanna try a shimano. i always buy shimano. stradic spinning curado casting.no particular reason ive just been using them for years . i know what im getting when i buy them. ive got some reels that are 20 years old and still work fine although not as ice as the newer ones of course.

yeah those 2 little humps with the hard bottom like like some sort of road bed leading to thet little building.

nasci is a nice reel i own a couple. i also have 6 stradics. to me they are the best reel there is . you can spend more but i dont think you really need to. now thats jusst my opinion . doesnt mean im right. but i will say until 2 years ago i had stradics the old white ones from around 2001. and when i finally upgraded them the were all still working.

the problem we had that year i cant remember if it was 16 17 idk, anyway the high water lasted for months. it wasnt like a couple big rains then it subsided. it started raining in early june and rained liike crazy for 2 months or so. like 2 to 4 inches of rain 3 or 4 times a week, just crazy.