HookRz

Origional balsa 7's, an occasional 5. The color is nothing fancy the old basic silver and black. "Old Faithful" has one eye scraped off but I doubt it matters. Lol. Once I get them down I sort of twitch them along more than crank them. Nothing fancy.

Great classic lure. Mostly a cold water pre-spawn search bait in 6 to 8 feet of water for me. Once I find them I finesse them, then continue Shad Rappin' the mouths of spawning bays till I find the next group. BTW, I'm fishing northern natural lakes.

The simple answer is I strongly lean toward GLoomis casting rods and St. Croix spinning. A few crossovers (SC casting, Loomis spinning) and a couple other brands in the quiver. It wasn't a conscious decision but that's how it shook out when I look at the rods I've kept and use the most. And I prefer to buy American.

I use short leaders that don't pass through the guides. I've started using this knot late last season and so far it's proven to be just as tough and simpler to tie than my trusty Alberto. The Lefty Kreh knot. Takes less than ten seconds.

I like the GLoomis 802c XF for light baitcasting. For really light I pick up a spinning rod. No use fighting physics.

Personally I could see covering all those techniques with only three set-ups. But thats why the bait monkey and tournement tackle shills hate me.

A few years back I would thought this a no brainer...just upgrade to a newer Curado. But now now there are a of good reels out there. Daiwa, the top line Lewis, even the company we can't mention have good options. Daiwa in particular has great reels that make casting easier if your still learning, and in some situations like skipping make good casters better. I guess my answer isn't much help. Sorry. Lol!

Every pro is selling something. It's their job. It's why they dress in advertising. But I agree Casting tackle is best for skipping a 1/2 ounce jig on days that fish absolutely refuse to eat quarter ounce tube.

Just a thought. I know there is some casting reels are what real men use prejudice...but have you ever thought that maybe a spinning reel for that app might work pretty well? Guys like Guido Hibdon managed to get by. Then again they were all about catching fish more than selling high priced tackle.

Shimano spinning. No doubt. Shimano and Daiwa baitcasting.

Being good doesn't matter, getting better is the fun part.

Suffix Nano-Braid. Great stuff. I use it 6# test on down. Regular old PP for heavier.

Seaguar Blue. Most any flouro leader material is better than using castable fluorocarbon line.

The OP mentioned only rods. I would say yes. The crazy priced stuff may be slightly better, but the performance doesn't match the price. The in the late 70's, 80's, even 90's new rods were exponentially better than what we had in the 60's. Frankly the rod world became good enough for me with IMX and Avid. That said I own both GLX and Elite. Had an NRX but really didn't like it. The bait monkey takes no prisoners.

I'm thinking single rod vs rod four hour tournament death matches. Kinda like title races. Any high dollar rod owners in? My kids need money for school.

That's easy...Topwater!

I like it at 6# test and lower. Otherwise PP is good enough.

Because it would be silly to throw $50 Japanese baits on an $80 dollar rod? Which leads us to another question....

In my trunk I have a 7' St. Croix mlxf two pice Avid X and a Fenwick River Runner 6'9" light-fast, the latter for creek Smallmouth. But I'm sure there are hundreds of rods that will work.

Try the 6'6" Avid light fast. 3.5 tip but with decent backbone. Better yet build a custom on that blank with semi-micros. You won't be sorry.

I don't exactly "throw" them but a slightly larger than average 1/32nd oz ice jig tipped with a waxie catches a lot of bass. Bet I could catch one on a Ned. Maybe I'll try that. They always bite a Ned. Inch and a half tail section of a Zman finesse worm on a 1/32 oz gopher ought to do it.

Everything everything baitcasting other than Frogging. Incredible stuff. Low stretch, low memory. abrasion resistant. Breaks at near double the label claim. Think CXX without the slinky effect.

It's just the best all around monofilament line made. Any other questions? IMHO, naturally!

I use genuine floro leader material like seaguar blue. Much better abrasion resistance.

What's your favorite jig pitching set-up? Rod, reel, and line. Followed by.... Do any of those companies pay you or give you free stuff?