Boomstick

I use a St. Croix Avid X 6'9' ML/XF for drop shots and neg rigs and it's a pretty sweet rod. The Mojo Bass is the same blank, so I imagine it would be pretty close.

Any 7'1" MH is the newer model. The old one had a 7'2" MH/R, a 6'10" MH/F and I think one more, but no 7'1" rod. As for buying the rod on walmart.com, I am not that familiar with Walmart's marketplace and their rules but I would imagine you are well protected. I once bought a rod from Amazon that arrived with the tip broken completely off -- and not even in the package, and I had no problems returning it and getting a replacement.

I have a BG 2000 size and that's actually a really great reel, especially for the price let alone the $40 I actually paid for it. Personally, I would go with 20# braid, which will be the happy medium between baits with smaller hooks and larger hooks and should cast nicely on the 2500 sized reel as well.

For brands and lines of rods, there's a few I own and would recommend. The Daiwa Tatula rods are fantastic, and I bought the 7' M/R glass rod last black Friday and it casts crankbaits a mile -- if you don't mind the extra weight of a glass rod, I would highly recommend that. I have rods in the St. Croix Avid X and Mojo Bass lines and also the Dobyns Sierra line, all of which I would recommend. Not all rods in this price range are even any good. If I tap the tips of my rods on something, I can feel it (even my glass rods), but I have walked into stores and gave the same tip test to some other rods and literally felt nothing.

I have used my glass M/MF cranking rod for jerkbaits without issue, but my #1 jerkbait rod is a St. Croix Mojo Bass topwater which is a 6'8" M/XF rod. The XF tip gives it a much better action and also transmits a bite on a twitch much better than rods with a more moderate tip, as when they hit it right as you're jerking it through the water it can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference between a bite and a weed or at times the action from the water.

This is a really comprehensive guide, so I would recommend committing the contents of this to memory. Myself, I use four styles of hooks. For a T-Rig, 90% of the time, I'm using a standard EWG hook. In heavy cover, I usually go to flippin' hooks, which hold the bait in place as it goes though all the thick cover. I may also occasionally use an offset wide bend hook in cover as well, but will usually use these hooks for wacky rigs if I'm not using a jighead. I will carry the above hooks in 2/0, 3/0 and 4/0 sizes. Finally, I use mosquito or drop shot hooks, which I usually carry in 2, 1 and 1/0 1 sizes. I will use size 2 hooks if I am fishing in a lake with only smallies, 1/0 if I'm specifically targeting largemouths and 1's if I have a decent chance at both. As for brands, Trokars when available are my first choice are they are the sharpest and if I can't get a Trokar I will go for Owners, which seem to be the hardest to bend. Gammys are also solid in both categories and also do fine.

I have 3 SV103s. They aren't the smallest or most compact, but the braking is phenomenal and I have no issues pitching with them, which may be because I have slightly larger hands than most people.

Seaguar Blue Label is my leader line of choice. That said, I have some spools of Berkley Trilene Flurocarbon which is my normal goto flurocarbon that no longer have enough line for a full spool, but have enough to use as a leader and that works just as well. I have no issues with break offs personally.

My typical use for a spinning reel for bass fishing is finesse presentations, where 12lb Sunline SX1 line is my line of choice. It's as thick as most 15lb braid and abrasion resistant for such a thin line. If you are using a M/F rod and fishing crankbaits, I would step up to 20lb line. For line under 30lbs, I like 4 strand braid - Daiwa J-Braid x4 or original Power Pro is a good choice if you don't want to spend the extra on the Sunline SX1. I use 4 strand braid for thinner line because it's more abrasion resistant which is a little more important with thinner line.. For 40lb and thicker line, I like Daiwa J-Braid x8, and 30lb can go either way depending on the application and what the lakes look like. But for lines 30lb and above, I'm usually using a baticaster.

Same, as picture here! This is an old picture, it's now pretty much as full as I can get it with rods with reels on them -- and I don't need anymore rods, although some of the more budget rods may eventually be upgraded.

I've been using Berkley Trilene fluorocarbon these days (bogo free at Bass Pro every spring) and have not experienced this problem. I snagged a brand new jig on a branch and given up any hope of retrieving it and I had to wrap the line around my body and play tug-o-war with it to get it to break at the knot. The eye on the jig ultimately ended up breaking and came back with the knot still intact. Now, granted I am sure it was a defective jig, but the amount of force I put on that line was quite impressive! Should you try Trilene fc, the downside is that it's a stretchier fluorocarbon -- but the strength and knot strength is on par with mono with a 4-6 turn uni knot.

I use a Daiwa BG in 2000 size. The 1500 should be fine as well, but I like the slightly wider spool of the 2000, doesn't lose line loops at all.

I am facing the very same dilemma. I really do want a bass boat, which would be enough to fish with my kids and friends off of but with all of the medical bills I've been hit with, it might be a little difficult, where I can buy a rigged out fishing kayak for myself and a couple of cheaper ones for the boys and that's not too expensive. There's a couple of motorless lakes I could use the kayaks on that I could not use a bass boat on, but for the most part I'd be fishing many of the same lakes. I could burn some calories with kayaks as well, which is always a plus.

You can catch carp on corn, but even easier you can just throw bread on a hook and carp will hammer it, which is cheap but tends to only stay on your hook for so long. I would suggest trying some plum boilies on a 4/0 or 6/0 circle hook, they will catch both cats and carp! Dick's usually sells Magic Bait Mulberry (https://www.magicbait.com/products/carp-panfish/mulberry) which is about as good! You can also tie them onto the hook by threading them through some 6lb or lighter mono that is tied to the hook but if you wet them before casting and they stay on your hook decently enough where if you only cast it out once, you should be good. You can also get Berkley Gulp! Catfish Dough, the Blood usually works the best followed by the Shad; avoid the chicken. There are various other punch/stink baits you can use that are effective, but beware, they call them stink baits for a reason. If you emptied a spittoon into a bedpan that wasn't emptied in a week, mixed it with spoiled milk, poured it onto a shag carpet and let it sit all July, that would probably smell better than some of those. As for catfish, check your kitchen/bathroom cabinets. They will swallow nightcrawlers, live shad, cut shad, chicken liver (cure it so it stays on your hook -- and look up other tricks as well) spam, pickled herring or sardines (although that ultimately is a more expensive bait but you can get it at your local supermarket), french fries, ivory soap, hot dogs, mulberries and blackberries. Catfish are like goats and will eat about anything! One tip, try picking up Team Catfish's Dead Red Blood Spray and spray whatever you're fishing periodically to add scent. It doesn't smell too horrible but helps attract catfish. Also if you throw some chum in the water, it helps attract catfish, they're huge scent feeders. They will also hammer most bass lures if you get them at the right time, but it's a much less effective way to fish for them. Catfish tend to be much lazier than bass, and hang around in deeper water, so they're less lightly to chase on action alone. Here are some other catfish bait recipes: https://oldschoolfishingsecrets.com/catfish/catfishfishingbait.htm As far as locations, I know of two places in Massachusetts you can reliably catch channel catfish -- although there's often a few hanging around in odd lakes here and there. There is Metacomet lake in Belchertown MA, which all the shoreline is residentially owned so you need a boat to fish and then there is the CT River (I wouldn't eat anything I catch out of there for the record). Look up the Oxbow in the Northampton, MA area where people catch them from shore. They really like structure, much like smallies, and often tend to be in slightly deeper water as well. Look for a hill off the shoreline -- likely that hill extends beneath the water. And because catfish are such scent feeders, should you not get a bite in 20 minutes (at least in the morning or evening), try a different spot. The same is generally true for carp, they tend to reside in deeper waters as well and for the most part, if you see carp then that's probably a good spot for catfish as well. Although carp are also more likely to hang out in shallow crevices on the shallow side of the lake where if there's not quick access to deeper water, don't even bother trying to catch a catfish. Being from the western half of the state, I have to drive to the Connecticut River, the Hudson River or Great Sacandaga lake to catch catfish. There is a dam up in Rutland VT people catch some decent sized channels at which I plan to try one of these days -- plus I have a friend up there. But either way, it's a bit of a haul.

I have no idea about bass fishing on the James River, but I watch the catsandcarp youtube channel now and then and he catches some nice catfish on the James River, so if you get bored of bass fishing or just want to mix things up, try throwing some spam, boilies or chicken liver.

Way to go! You didn't let the bass win! Also, should you find a day where it's perfectly clear but a night storm is coming in, you can absolutely kill it. The ideal time is usually as those clouds are rolling in but before the rain begins, often when it drops 5 degrees and the bariometric pressure rapidly increases. Last night, I fished a spot which I only fished a couple of times earlier this year but figured would become prime night time fishing on topwater and perhaps a jerkbait as well, and proved my theory right. We didn't have very long before thunderstorms rolled in unfortunately but we each landed a fish and my friend kept getting bites on his senko and I lost a much larger one. I thought to mention this because it looks like some clouds were rolling in.

Try fishing larger baits. Instead of a soft plastic, try dragging a football head jig around the bottom. Also don't forget about swimbaits, chatterbaits, larger spinnerbaits (and colorado blades often catch larger fish), frogs and larger topwaters. Figure out what you get larger ones on, and where you get them. The larger ones may come shallow but will likely be in an area they can swim to a deeper spot without simply swimming down -- they like to follow the bottom to the deeper area. If you find a pattern, especially at feeding times vs mid day then you can probably figure out where those larger bass are going. With a pond that small, it shouldn't take you that long to figure that out.

Yeah, like what I was saying -- downsize and go with baits that mimic baitfish. Should it be bass feeding on these smaller baitfish, I would imagine you'd have success with the above (or a small soft plastic swimbait).

I would try a small plastic swimbait, something like a Creme Lures spoiler shad or a Storm Wildeye swim shad in a 2" or 3" length. I have birds nested casting them before and while my bait was sitting in the water had a bass swallow one up. They mimic these small baitfish and are highly effective in clear water. Also try a small 1/4oz popper. Sunrise and sundown should be your best times.

I do like my Tatula rods a lot and might be tempted to save a little money for some lures, but I'd take a good look at this zodias if I was looking for an all-purpose jig rod unless I live in an area with some extremely heavy cover.

I have two Daiwa Tatula glass rods, the MH/MF and M/MF. The M/MF is great for 1.5s in open water and casts them a mile and the MH/MF is great for fishing in grass, deep divers and larger cranks.

Sometimes I rig up a really light weight, and while that works for most areas where I'm fishing, I may come to a deeper section and it just takes forever to get down there. So if you're fishing on a boat and not staying in the same area and a a 1/16oz weight seems appropriate, try throwing on a 1/8oz weight instead. It won't really hurt you.

I use a ML/XF rod and 10-15lb braid, 6 or 8lb leader, usually 6. I run my leader around 10' and replace it once it gets down to about 6'. My preferred braid of choice is Sunline SX1, it's expensive, and also as thick as most 15lb line but I find it's extremely abrasion resistant for thin braid.

The Bass Mafia boxes are expensive, but they are very solid and will survive some abuse so you get what you pay for. Myself, I have three 3700s, terminal coffin and a 3700dd.

To me, I would narrow it down to the Tatula SV vs the Curado K (and might want to include the 70 in there as well). The Tatula SV has better braking and casts lighter lures better, and the Curado K will cast further. If you skip regularly, you can't beat the Tatula SV. Otherwise, choose what you prefer. My first Tatula SV cost $131 or $135 or something like that. It seems to depend on the time of year you buy it. They seem to discount reels less now than at other times during the year, I guess they figure anyone who is going to buy it now will be more likely to go out and buy it regardless of price.