waymont

844 is the greatest rod, get an 843 and you got almost everything covered.

Cabela's swim minnow is great! The tail moves with the slightest movement, and catches a ton of bass. Great on a swim jig, belly weighted hook, spinnerbait, chatter bait, , and an underspin. https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cabelas-fisherman-series-go-to-swim-minnow

I use a 735c for those baits, and it’s great

You got a bunch that don't suspend out of the box?

I bought two to check out this season, and I heard the hooks are pretty thin. What hooks are good replacements when the stock hooks wear out?

Perfect time to use square bills.

Disagree in this. They are all the same caliber, and the JDM Zillion is less expensive and less finicky when casting.

Explain

When someone asks about a trailer on a jig prop bait head.

3" (75mm) Keitech swing impact fat knockoff from AliExpress. Also the 3.5" (85mm) is my favorite MiniMax trailer.

I ordered some more already. Same thing happened yesterday. I got 5 on a swimjig, then they shut off. Put on an Okashira blade and got 3 more. What is it about this little jighead? They ignored my underspin!

I use it when tying braid directly to a hook/bait, it's very strong. I don't like it much with copoly/mono, definitely not with FC.

I just tried these the other day. It was all they would hit. That little blade seems to make a big difference. Water has been really muddy, and it seems the blade makes the difference.

704CB graphite version

Great line

I received my first crankbait rod, a Dobyns Champion graphite 704cb. First trip out I caught 5 bass using an old Rebel Wee R and Frittside 5. Took a minute to get used to the moderate fast action. I had my reel filled with braid to a 12lb FC leader, and was able to crawl through logs, branches, and rocks really well. The rod loads up great, pretty deep. I can't imagine using mono, and a deep bending rod. I feel like there would be no connection to the bait, and I'd lose all control over any fish over 3lbs really fast. I was mostly target casting, less than 40' casts. I know to each his/her own as far as line goes, but d**n I can't imagine mono/FC and a moderate fast action rod casting to cover. By the way I really love this rod, seems like it will be a great jerkbait and popper rod too. Not a bad day with the water still at 49 degrees.

If I am remembering correctly TW usually has a sale around now....Am I correct?

I’d get an 843 and an 844 and call it a day. Or two of each. You will be very happy

Old thread but just adding this as some info. The BOSS Dock Knocker head with your favorite skirt is the best skipping head I have come across. 1/2oz is my favorite, but 3/8 is also great. It's an excellent head around wood and laydowns. Not a great weed jig though.

I hard to not know, you say you don't like leaders in a bunch of videos. I'll take the leaders from these lines packs!

Thought you don't use braid to a leader?

I guess I go against the grain here. I don’t think you’re going to get a good hook set with mono/fc and a moderate rod at the end of your far cast. Your rig sounds good to me. First things I’d do is make sure all hooks are very sharp, and add a trailer hook.

Pit Boss 3" and 4" Z-Craw Jr. Yomamma All T rigged or on a Tokyo Rig. Also some other uses: Z-Craw on a buzzbait and jig trailer, Pit Boss Jig trailer, Yomamma jig trailer......sometimes weightless.

And catching bass!

As far as Maxima goes, I much prefer XL. Xl works great from 4-8lb test for me, exclusively on spinning rods.