HawkeyeSmallie

Well, stating the obvious but it's from water. Are these lures you have used? Or lures you haven't even used yet? If it's a lure you have used, you need to maybe let them dry before you put away. If it's lures you haven't even used yet, it's been very humid and water may be collecting in your storage trays or whatever you use. Do you keep everything outside? After an outing check and see if things are dry. If not bring inside and open the lids up. If there's a bunch take them out and wipe things down. Me? I'm super anal and take everything inside. I've never had a problem with rust.

Yeah that's like full blown Rambo stuff right there!

That's crazy. I'd guess the chance of hooking and landing that was 1/10 and he did it.

Ned rigs normally are thrown on pretty light jig heads. Just me, but I throw those on spinning.

We just got another 3" or so last night. I've barely fished in the last 2 weeks. My coffee might have more clarity.

Dang those are some SOLID fish. How did they get so thick?!?! I was expecting you to be from California or something, not kidding. I don't know much about Maryland but apparently they grow big bass over there!

Oh dang, she's braver than me then!!!!! I HATE snakes. My wife insists she needs gloves to hold a fish. I like her to go with me so I might have to get some for her. Don't like the idea of using gloves though as it seems like they would take a bunch of their protective slime off. I always wet my hands if I have to grab a fish by the body. Disclaimer: I actually don't hate snakes, they actually fascinate me. But if they are close to me and try to bite my jugular vein I HATE THEM. I prefer the big slow kind.

Probably where I'm leaning. Not what my wife wants to hear though. I've kinda been going down the technique specific combo rabbit hole, why stop now. So that leaves the questions: What's a good rod for topwaters and What's a good rod for shallow cranks I'll have to do some searching on here.

And it's normally the most EXCITING hit as well!

Holy crap, I didn't think spouses touched fish. I'm currently in the "Can you get this weed off?" stage. LOL

I've had a couple bad backlashes on my last two outings. The first I was trying to bomb a crankbait out and the lure hit the water behind me right before I gave it the heave. Rats nest. Brand new tatsu. The other I was trying to bomb cast a swimjig out which is normally pretty easy. I'm not exactly sure what happened but it backlashed which sent my brand new swimjig into the abyss. I must have changed the tension knob and forgot, idk. I pretty much just throw the same swimjig on it. Nothing worse than a backlash as it pretty much makes that rod useless for the rest of your trip. And then when you get home, you spend a bunch of time fixing it or replacing the line.

I fish them the whole way back to my kayak. I think the pros hit the "good stuff" and then reel in quick because it's a numbers game for them. Time is money.

Or buy another rod and have two combos.

Well dang. I knew there wasn't going to be an "easy" answer but it looks like it's more complicated than I was hoping for. The main reason I was hoping to just have one rod is because I'm in a kayak and am limited on storage. Hopefully, in the next 12 months or so I'll have a boat and storage will not be an issue. I could always get a rod now that say works great for topwater that I still throw some shallow cranks with even though it might not be "ideal".

Nice, I bet that felt good!

Making a jig would be pretty cool. Next thing is CATCHING fish on them. That would be even MORE cool.

I love watching racoons. You can get pretty close to nature in a quiet kayak.

I'm embarrassed as I've never even heard of a chug bug, had to google it. Walking away with my head down and my tail between my legs.

Gotcha, thanks!

Feels like 102 right now and that will climb. That's not a dry 102 either. No bassin for me today. BTW, my wife be like:

Good question. I guess I don't know exactly what I want or like. I figure a rod around the 7 foot length would be decent for shorter more accurate casts since most will be tossed at banks. Under trees, around laydowns, etc. I have an older rod that I throw swim jigs on that is 6'6" which I'm really accurate with. Not sure about the power or action, that's why I'm hoping for some help from everyone here. Thanks

You can't type that all up and NOT mention the brand. LOL What brand are you talking about? Thanks

You are in a much bigger city than me, I'm about 5,000. There's better weather, better bass, better a lot of other things in other states. But I can't think of a better place to raise a family.