padon

yes they are somewhat of a pain in the neck. but its way better than not having one.the biggest thing i can say as to keeping them reliable is try to stay on things. i mean keep an eye on things that are likely issues before they even become issues. like you said alot of the problems come from infrequent use. so use the time to keep up on maintenance. i dont drive expensive cars take lavish vacations live in a huge house etc. so if i need to spend some money to maintain my boat so be it.

yeah he didnt weigh a fish. i suck at this.lol

usually stand but if its been slow and im dropshotting or ned fishing ill sit.

yes strike king baits sink a little faster too.d shad sinks the fastest of any i have used though. sink rate is similar to a 5 inch senko.

i think the e6x is $199. for few more dollars a shimano zodias, st.croix victory, falcon expert.

they are ok. dont be fooled by the loomis name. you dont get to the real loomis experience til you get to the imx line.at the price point of the e6x their are better rods for the same or slightly more money. all just my opinion of course.

i would try and see if i could get them to eat a spinnerbait or bladed jig first.they may not. next i would try a regular jig and or a shakey head would be my next move

still work like they always did. and because less people fish them now they may work even better. if you just wanna catch fish put on a 3 inch green pumpkin or watermelon grub on a jighead an throw it around. it will catch just about anything.

zodias.

buy the yamamoto d shads. they are full of salt and fall faster than a fluke but dont lose action like the fluke does when you weight it. same darting dodging action but a better sink rate.

I have the same rod.does great throwing a rigs s wavers etc but will also thro a 4.8 kietech on a 3/8 head. really good rod for the money.

my top 3 are the same as yours. I took Schmitt because hes from near me nd cut his teeth on the tidal potomac . as good a shot as anybody i guess.

st croix will take care of it for you and the 6' 10" mlxf will make a very good drop shot and ned rod.

if you go to conowingo you should be fine as far as rocks etc. doesnt get real tricky til you get up well past peach bottom. as far as crowds with covid and the weather just getting nice you never know.

im holding out for a humminbird for the bow. only because i want to network it with the rear unit and with my ultrex.

idk. i have nothing against guys using forward facing, may even get it myself one day. but for me it just doesnt feel right.i mean i tell my son im taking him fishing so he doesnt stare at a screen all day , then we go to the lake and stare at a screen all day.

zodias 72 heavy or medium heavy.

you said you were thinking of adding a motor and o dont know which one or how much you want to spend but...if i couldnt have a boat i would buy a pro angler 14 and add a torqueedo on the stern. the torqueedo is designed for kayaks and the motor battery and throttle weigh 17 pounds total. i own one and they are impressive . they are not cheap. i use it on my atak stricktly for fishing rivers for upstream travel. i use my boat for lake fishing. with the hobie/ torqueedo combination the torqueedo would be your "outboard " and the pedals would be your "trolling motor". you could cover alot of water and do some seriuos fishing.

hobie pro angler is very stable. so are the big rig and titan.but remember stability comes at least partialy from width. and wider boats are harder to paddle or peddle.

i fish a bunch of legend tournament bass rods , i think i have 10. i like them a nd feel like the whole tip heavy thing is over blown. having said that in that price range i would take a hard look at the shimano zodias. i dont know exactly what type of rod your looking for but the casting models are nice.havent handled any spinning.friend of mine has a couple and after trying his last year i bought a 7"ft 5" heavy and i really like it. they run right around 200

centipede on a carolina rig can be awsome

the 3 inch minnows are deadly on a drop shot when the fish are pressured or in a bad mood.

thanks guys. sounds like they will be pretty good. I had no plan on buying them but when I saw they had a few packs in stock the bait monkey got me.

you are probably seeing coontail and milfoil in that region but not being there i cant tell. you could google and see if you get any responses that look like your grass. you really dont need to know the name of the grass just weather it holds fish or not. not all grass does and they prefer different kinds in different seasons. also places where 2 different kinds meet are usually productive.

so i know these things are killers on dropshot for smallmouth. i just bought 5 bags on line because thy are hard as heck to get. our lakes have both largemouth and smallmouth. drop shoting is a good tactic here in the summer but i dont know if i will be targeting smallmouth specificly. so my question is has anybody had much success with these on largemouth? i know they are kind of small but on a couple of our lakes that have clear deep water smaller baits work pretty well. what is your guys opinion on these if youve used them.