Boomstick

I caught four bass in the past two days on a perch colored Pop X. Great lure and they walk very nicely as well. Often you can fish them with a real slow cadence, but I was getting hits when I fished them much faster or walked them the past couple of days. Two of them came by fishing them over weeds in 3-5 feet of water, and two in a shallower area with no weeds, and I lost a much larger bass in that area as well when I turned my head to see what my kid did.

I realize I'm a little late to comment on this one but I just picked up some Trout Magnet 2lb line to try in place of the normal 4lb Stren I've been using. The Trout Magnet 2lb line is .16mm vs Stren's 4lb's .20mm, so it's a little bit thinner line but still a bit thicker than Trilene XL's 2mm which is .13mm and a little too weak. I think they might suggest using 4lb line if it was Trilene XL.

Well like I said the 703C would be better for weightless or lightly weighted soft plastics and wacky rigs which is how I'd fish a trick worm, where the weighted soft plastics are better on the 704C. A t-rigged ol monster will work fine on either. Should you want to fish a wacky rig on the 704C, get a 1/4 or 3/8oz jig head and fish them on that, which will keep the weight at the bottom and will keep the soft plastic raised above the bottom so the ends can flap around freely. Glenn did a video covering that, but I can't seem to find that now.

Correction: Now this has your name all over it.

I actually emailed Dobyns and asked which rod they would recommend. They said you can fish a standard 1.5 sized crankbait on a 703C and it's better for weightless and lightly weighted soft plastics but will work for lighter and finesse hook jigs where the 704C will fish a 2.5 sized crankbait and is better for T-Rigs and 3/8oz and 1/2oz jigs and whatnot. Given this, I would wager you're good with a 3/8oz spinnerbait or chatterbait as long as the trailer is not too heavy, but the 704C is good for a 3/8oz or 1/2oz. I went with the 704C as it was for soft plastics. It's also a solid jig rod for lighter cover applications.

I've had a Daiwa BG for a couple seasons now. I highly doubt you'll find a better spinning reel for $100 or less, good drag, smooth as c an be, nice larger diameter spool that doesn't lose loops and they're known for their durability.

Welcome to the forums.

Welcome!

Welcome back! I see you're also from my neck of the woods!

Welcome back. And welcome to parenthood. It's hard to find time to get out and fish with two little ones -- although you'll probably have plenty of sleepless nights to converse with us here on BR I would imagine

I am going to say that in some situations it does not matter at all and in some situations, it matters a little bit. If the fish are chasing and biting hard, I don't think anyone of us is going to have a hard time detecting bites on a $20 Berkley Cherrywood rod, and as long as the rod and reel work as intended we can land those fish on cheaper gear. Where it might matter is fishing finicky fish that aren't hitting your baits hard, a more expensive rod will transmit bites better than a cheaper rod. As others have said there are a lot of solid options in the $130-150 price range, going much past that may yield marginally better results at a very high cost, but at that point I'm going to wager the fish count remains about the same. Likewise, if you have a poor reel that is difficult to skip or make certain casts with and spend time pulling out a birds nest, that's time where you could have potentially missed a fish. It depends on which Lexus. Some of the models are made on an entirely unique platform and offer handling and stability that is not offered from a Toyota. Some of the models are simply rebranded Toyotas with a Lexus badge on it at a much higher premium at the end of the day yet the owners still pass you in the breakdown lanes and refer to you as "peasant" or "common folk" because all you can afford is the same 1981 Buick Electra that you bought in 1985 and have driven ever since. A better reference may have been Lincoln, as at one point every single Lincoln model was just a Ford with a Lincoln badge, but I think they may have a few unique models now.

I have a waterproof 3650 box I will use to carry lures if I am bank fishing and walking.

Normally it would be a crankbait or spinnerbait this time of year, but so far I've caught more trout on a NED rig than bass on either. Tough fishing this year.

The only thing I would worry about is breaking or losing my rod if I was to hit a passing boat in such a way that it got caught on the boat but not in the motor so the line did not cut. It's generally fairly easy to avoid these scenarios by paying attention to your surroundings.

Sufix Siege is the best mono I have ever used. It's strong and abrasion resistant and it handles much better than other mono I have used, giving it a longer life.

While other than having a bail that doesn't give me enough room I think the Stradic Ci4+ is the better reel, the Patriach is lighter than the Stradic Ci4+ and without breaking it, I'm not exactly sure how the Patriarch didn't "feel" solid. I just picked up a Daiwa Ballistic LT on ebay for less than I could find a Tatula LT for. That would be a decent cheaper alternative to the Stradic Ci4+.

I can think of two scenarios where a long cast is especially beneficial. Shore fishing where you can't get to that deeper spot. Deep diving crankbaits. It takes a little bit of casting to get that crankbait down to its max depth. If it reaches it's max depth halfway to the boat then it's already on the way back up to the top, giving it very little time at that target depth.

Definitely not the right lure for bed fish. I would try a jig or a soft plastic of some sort. If all else fails, a small nose hooked drop shot is the way to go -- I say nose hooked because you can pretty much put it in their face and it should give them more of a sense of threat than nose hooked.

I've used braid, monofilament and fluorocarbon at times, but I prefer the latter two for moving baits, the difference being how deep I'm trying to get it. Use 12lb test works in clear water, 17lb in really weedy areas or 15 for your do everything spinnerbait line.

Most moving baits. For topwater, I prefer 7.3:1 so I can reel slowly and reel up slack. Although to be honest if I had only 6.3:1 reels, I'd be fine with that.

Most people usually say a MH/F casting rod with 12-15lb mono/fluoro or 30-40# braid is the single best all-around bassing setup, but I will argue that a M/F casting rod with 12lb mono/fluoro or 20-30# braid is every bit as good, it really depends what you like to fish. However the reason I would suggest a MH/F rod is that it is just more versatile as to where you can fish as it will allow you to fish in moderate cover.

For me, it's either use one, don't catch any fish on it and lose it and not replace it or lose one I caught a ton of fish on, replace it and never catch another fish on it again. So my theory is if I lose a lure that I fished for a while with no success, I need to replace that immediately because that's going to become a hot lure for me Note: I have not tested this theory yet.

I mean I think you'll be happy with that one. I think I was going to write I don't think you'll have any problems with it but got lost mid thought

I can't speak for the higher test line but I don't think you'll be happy with this one. With many braided line, you can frey the line pulling out a small tangle with your fingernail quite easily but I've never had that happen with the Sunline, which is the only lighter braid I can say that about.

Well most of the time I am happy if I can find a pattern and land a few dinks. Sometimes when the going is tough, I will bring out a drop shot or maybe a ned rig which not only helps target finicky bass but also has landed me several nice trout. Alternatively, if I know the lake, have a boat and I find some nice looking structure, I may try to target some large ones as well.