Boomstick

Actually, it depends on the quality of the scale and the precision of the measurement. It actually has little to nothing to do with the unit of measure. Logically, a scale made to weigh in single grams will be more accurate than a scale made to weigh single ounces due to their weight in difference, but a scale made to accurately weigh to the nearest thousandth of an ounce is going to be more accurate than a scale to weigh single gram. And with today's digital scales, you can usually weigh in grams or ounces with the press of a button -- and in the end of the day the scale will perform exactly the same. I feel your pain!

I'll go regardless. The way I see it, perhaps it is a tough bite, so when you finally land that fish, it's extra special As far as how to tell the pressure, I'm not really sure but I have developed symptoms of meniere's disease so if the pressure is high, so is the volume of the ringing in my ear.

I prefer slower speeds myself. 6.3:1 is the all around happy between fishing them slow and faster later in the year, so thus far that is what I use. Maybe one day I'll try a 5.5:1 gear ratio.

I recently purchased a 7'1" H/F Daiwa Tatula on Amazon for $110, that should do nicely!

Well hey I am 37 and if your PB is between 8-9 pounds, you already got me beat! And for what it's worth, I know from our past interactions on the forums that you are no novice. I will say this and this holds true for people of any age as well. I always assume a person is a complete idiot until they have proven otherwise. Like I said I am 37, and I still deal with people who belittle me to make up for their own insecurities. With many of them, you learn to deal with it (and usually keep these people at arm's length - no need for that sort of negativity in your life trust me). With others, such as family, it's harder and I still haven't learned to deal with it. At the end of the day though, you are responsible for yourself. You can articulate yourself quite well and you seem like you have a good head on your shoulders so don't spend too much time worrying about what other people think - that will lead you down a dark path.

I have used Fluoroclear and Yo Zuri Hybrid myself. I did not like Fluoroclear, it handled poorly and had some line management issues that ends up looking like severe line twist, but this was on a casting rod. Switched to Yo Zuri Hybrid and never had that problem again. As for fluorocarbon, I have no issues with knot strength. Yesterday I went to pull out a jerkbait that got wedged between two rocks and had to put my full body weight into it to try to break the knot just to get my line back and when I got it back, it looked like it didn't even break at the knot. This was on Berkley Trilene Fluorocarbon 15lb using a uni knot with 5 turns, if you want to give it a try.

With only 20lb braid? With 20lb braid, I can rather easily pull it out with my hands until I either get back when it's attached to, or the line breaks. Anyway to address the original question, you could add 65lb braid on a Dobyns 734C, but I wouldn't really getting the benefit of using heavy braid as that rod is really a stronger medium heavy rod than a heavy rod. If I really needed 65lb braid, I would go buy the 735C, the mag heavy rod. Using the 734C for those purposes, I would use 30lb or 40lb braid instead which will be more appropriate and cast further, be more invisible (for what it's worth) and keep the drag under 5lbs.

Thanks! I'll remember that if I ever need mine.

I can't help you as I did not have any issues with the line lay on mine. That said, I am surprised that you are having issues.

I would have guessed 6.2:1 on a 30 sized reel would have been closer to 38" per turn, but still 33" is around a 8:1 gear ratio for most casting reels, pretty quick! I have a Pflueger President in 35 size and it's aboutas fast as my Daiwa BG 2000 and not as fast as my Mitchell 300 Pro. The BG's spool is at least as wide despite being a smaller sized reel, which is better for hooksets and not losing line but also means it picks up line faster.

I have casting reels at two gear ratios, 6.3:1 for moving baits, and 7.3:1 for soft plastics, jigs, frogs and topwater. If all I owned was a single MH/F rod, it would be a tossup between 6.3:x and 7.3:1. I would have got a 8.1:1 for my jig and frog reel, but the 7.3:1 was $30 cheaper and I'm not convinced I'd necessarily prefer one over the other so I decided to save the $30.

Right now, you can get a Pflueger Supreme XT on Amazon for $120. I highly doubt you'll find a better reel even if you increase your budget notably. My oldest son has a Shimano Curado K, and I actually like the Supreme XT better! It's lighter, might reel a little smoother as well and casts further than any reel I own. I own a few Daiwa Tatula SVs as well and they are great, but they sacrifice casting distance for braking -- well worth it for 3/8oz and lighter lures or skipping but for heavier lures I'd take the Supreme XT. Alternatively you can get a Tatula CT or Shimano SLX for around $90 or so on ebay, and you can't go wrong there either.

I don't personally hate or dislike spinning gear. In fact, if I am fishing for trout, catfish or using live bait, it's pretty much all that I use for those presentations. But when it comes to bass fishing I just prefer using the baitcaster for the most part simply because I prefer to fish moving baits or topwater as long as the conditions allow I can catch them on those presentations and cast much quicker on a casting rod than a spinning rod. At the end of the day, it's just a more fun presentation. That said, my choice way to fish soft plastics in open water is either a ned rig or a dropshot. I have used a spinning rod for cranks and jerkbaits (especially in the colder weather) on a 5.8:1 reel. The thing to keep in mind with spinning gear is a 5:1 gear ratio usually takes in much more line than a 9:1 gear ratio baitcaster unless it's a small trout or finesse sized reel. Once you get to the 2500 or larger sizes, the spinning reels really take up line quickly. So that said, tha Lews Xfinity combo is about the right size reel, but you're going to have to remember to reel it very slowly! As far as spinnerbaits, swim jigs, chatterbaits, t-rigs, etc. I always use baitcasters for such presentations, but my girlfriend is baitcaster challenged and I'll probably find a MH/F or MH/MF spinning setup that she can use for these presentations.

I have a total of 5 casting rods and 4 spinning rods (one for trout, one for catfish, and two for bass). My kids add in another 3 casting rods and 6 spinning rods between the two of them, and my youngest son will be getting his own MH+/F rod for jigs and soft plastics for his birthday this year so he can fish in some cover too. My bass rods consist of a 7'1" H/F, 6'10" MH/F, 7'2" MH/MF, 7' M/MF, 6'8" M/XF and casting rods and 6'9" ML/XF and 7' M/F spinning rods, the latter of which my girlfriend uses far more than I do. Maybe I'll get her her own for her birthday since she is baitcaster challenged. Of the remaining rods, I rarely load them all into the truck. Assuming I am familiar with where I am fishing, I usually bring 2-3 of them based on the conditions I am fishing and what I expect to be fishing, and if I'm not sure, I may carry more. The only thing I'm really missing is a swimbait rod, and I don't have room in my truck so that will wait until I can buy a boat but aside from that I have most presentations covered nicely. The benefit of additional rods at this point would be so I can have multiple lures that require a similar style rod rigged up at the same time -- which is definitely going to wait until I get a boat.

You definitely want to remove heavily salted plastics as they do rust your hook, and much more so if kept in a box where it doesn't get to dry.

Given your price point I would be all over that SLX combos. I have no direct experience with the SLX but with my experience with Shimano in general, I highly doubt you'll do much better for the price and that will let you buy a quality three rod setup. The Shock or even the Cherrywood are also great budget options if that falls through, but you still need a reel and a SLX and a Cherrywood rod will run about the same price! Last year, I carried primarily a 3 rod setup, which consisted of a MH/F rod for jigs, soft plastics and frogs, a MH/MF glass rod for pretty much all moving baits (a M/F or M/XF rod could also work pretty well here as that can fish weightless soft plastics but the MH/MF glass rod can fish a 1/2oz chatterbait or spinnerbait, which I wouldn't try on a M/F) and a ML/XF spinning rod for finesse tactics. It covered most baits pretty decently. I would recommend the following: St Croix Mojo Bass 6'10" ML/XF drop shot/finesse spinning rod - $130 virtually anywhere. I actually have the Avid X which has the same blank! It's virtually impossible to miss a bite on that. Daiwa BG, 1500 or 2000 size - $90-100 on amazon right now, but I got mine (2000) for $70 or $75. SLX combo, 7'2" medium rod with a 6.3:1 reel. Run 10-12lb mono or fluorocarbon and use this for cranks, jerkbaits and weightless plastics. SLX combo, 6'10" medium heavy rod with a 7.2:1 reel. Run 12-17lb mono (or 40lb braid if you throw frogs) and use this for jigs, weighted soft plastics, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits etc. The other thing I might suggest is going down to two rods initially, which would let you buy some higher end gear. You still can have 2 setups ready to go but would forgo the cranking rod for better quality gear. It has some advantages as well as you could focus on building your confidence lures and then you could add a cranking rod later. Since you said you plan on focusing on soft plastics, this seems to make sense and you can also fish jigs, bladed jigs and spinnerbaits as well -- and even larger cranks for later in the season. I would buy the same spinning setup then add a St Croix Mojo Bass 7'1' MH/F jig & bait rod - usually around $130. For casting reels, pick one: Daiwa Tatula SV 7.3:1 gear ratio - $167 from tricetackle on ebay (I've bought two from this seller without issue). This puts you a little over budget, but the SV is great for lighter lures and pitching and skipping as well as it's really tough to bird's best. Pflueger Supreme XT - $120 on amazon. This is a lesser known reel but I bought my youngest son one and it's great! Casts a mile, brakes well and it's very light! It casts further than the Tatula SV, but doesn't have the additional braking. I hope that helps.

This is actually the first time I got out this early when the water is this cold. Last year, the lakes were still frozen and once they thawed, the weather was consistently warmer and they got up into the mid-upper 40s right after thawing. But I am fairly confident that my problems is the design of the lakes I have tried so far -- which are not the best for shore access this time of year. Even so, I did find a slightly deeper spot I had access to yesterday and did manage to get a couple of rather weak bites, one fishing a colorado bladed spinnerbait as slow as I could and the other on a craw jig which is better than I did on Saturday or last week. In 2-3 weeks, we'll be pulling in bass like it's going out of style. My first trip of the year for the past two seasons has been at a small lake where once it gets to about 64 degrees or so they move to the other side of the lake which has no spots you can cast from shore due to low overhead tree branches. I never get big ones there, but they usually slam a spinnerbait, crankbait or topwater pretty nicely, cook up dinner and it's always a good time

I'm having the same problem, even fishing real slow. I think a lot of my problem is the lakes that I've tried so far all have shore access in very shallow areas and I imagine the fish are still in the deeper portion of the lake, which is the other half the lake which I don't have access to or is still frozen over. If you can get to the western side of New Albion Lake, it looks like you might be able to get them on a craw jig there which from the lake map looks better than anything I have access to.

A yellow catfish is another name for a flathead. I hear bullheads are tasty too but I've never really targeted them, but that's something I might try this year. Blackened catfish is incredibly delicious and easy. Coat it in cajun seasoning and blacken! The trick is to find some cajun seasoning that is not all salt -- I used to make my own but I found some from a hot sauce company called Heartbreaking Dawns that is perfect!

At the end of the day, delicious catfish is delicious catfish! The real question is blackened or fried?

I am honestly not sure. Aside from bullheads, we only have channel cats within a multiple hour drive from where I live. I hear from most big catfish anglers that the yellows are the tastiest, but never had the chance to fish from them. One of these years (at least if I don't end up buying a boat) I am going to take a vacation and go fish for some yellow.

Our best bet for eating fish is to go fish the atlantic for cod or haddock! However to me, nothing is better than catfish.

Guess what? Massachusetts doesn't either! I have to go to Vermont or New York to catch Walleye (which is not all that far from me). On a normal week, I normally only get 2 days due to work. Sometimes I will bring a 2 piece rod with me and fish after work too. However I will take three of my four weeks of vacation, go camp somewhere and fish everyday. It's great!

Welcome to the forums.

I received the reel on Friday and the rod today. My first impressions are much inline with the other newer Tatula rods in contrast to the older foam handle models, which is the tip is not quite as fast - although it's not a moderate fast by any means. So I'm getting the impression that it will be a great jig rod! I can't wait to try my chances at landing a 10 pounder!