Boomstick

Came across this, thought you guys could relate.

I have a few Daiwa Tatulas (6'10" MH'F, glass 7' M/R, glass 7'2" MH/R), St. Croix Mojo Bass (topwater and spinnerbait) and a Dobyns Sierra 704C. The Dobyns is nice because it has a lot of tip to it. The Tatula 6'10" MH/F is the most sensitive of the bunch, and the Mojo Bass are the lightest. All of them are nice rods. I think it's more sensitive than the Sierra too.

Good point. Mono is very common for saltwater fishing for the same reason. Nice salmon. Also good call on the Sufix Siege line, I've had great luck with it both in handling and holding up.

InvizX is an all around good line. I'll be interested to hear your long term experience with it, especially as you're using it for a situation I'd probably go with AbrazX for instead. I have also never been a believer that you absolutely have to have a low or no stretch line, but I've never caught a 10 pounder either.

Too bad. That would have been an epic small world moment.

I like the idea of buying something decent you might get use out of, but if you want to get her a MH/F rod and already have a few MH/F rods then maybe you are better of getting something cheaper. If you want your typical MH/F rod, go with a Berkley Lightning Shock. If you want a rod that will cast most moving baits well, the Ugly Stik GX2 would be the way to go. You could probably even get away with a medium for most moving baits just fine as they have a decent amount of backbone to them. You can also get them in two pieces, so if she doesn't use it you can leave it in your trunk and fish after work.

Funny, I went to pick up my girlfriend from her mom's house on Saturday morning and on the way there, I stopped at Bass Pro Shops too, in fact I believe it would be the same one in Hooksett, NH. You weren't there with your son and ran into a guy buying pink power worms talking about how sometimes the weirdest color soft plastics can be effective who pointed out that they had a half off sale on Berkley Trilene Flurocarbon by chance? That would be ironic if that was you.

I have done the same on several occasions with no issues. More often for mono I will use Berkley Trilene XT or XL for leader as it comes in a nice flat spool that's easier to fit in the side compartment of my tackle bag, and that works fine as well.

Seaguar Blue is good line! That said, I don't always use leader line as my leaders, especially when it comes to finesse fishing when I'm more concerned about action and knot strength (leader line is often stiffer so knots are harder to tie down).

Little bit out of my price range but that's the exact kind of rod I was talking about

A MH/F rod with a line rating of 10-20lbs and a lure rating of 1/4oz to 1oz should be fine for up to a 1/2oz jig unless you're running a really heavy trailer on it or fishing in some serious cover. If I was buying a new rod just for jigs, I would look at something between MH and H like the Shimano Zodias 7'2 MH/F rod which is rated for 10-25lb line and 3/8 - 1oz lures, so basically it's a little stiffer than your typical MH rod but not quite a heavy (I've heard from many users always tell me it's about the perfect all-around jig rod as well). Daiwa makes a 7'6" MH Tatula rod that might do nicely too.

To me, you can use mono for anything you would use fluorocarbon for as well plus topwater, where you don't want to use fluorcarbon. I was reading tests that showed that mono stretches less than fluoro, the difference is that fluoro maintains its stretch where mono will eventually de-stretch, so ultimately flurocarbon will give a better hookset once "broken in", but that's largely irrelevant. I will use mono exclusively for poppers and other topwater lures with treble hooks, but mono is will suited for jerkbaits, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits, as the stretch in the proper test mono can help land fish in all of these lures, and the float in the line can help a spinnerbait run straight as well, although on a M/M rod the only spinnerbaits you'd likely ever use are really small ones. I would say you could use 8lb or 10lb mono as a leader as a safe bet for most things you're likely to throw on a M/M rod. I imagine the rod is rated for 6-12lbs, which means that will likely be the best performing line with that rod as it's in the middle.

I'm going to try to make this the most non-biased response that I can. Each has their advantages and disadvantages. If you are fishing topwater, there is no real choice you will want to use mono as fluro sinks and that will be problematic. If you go with fluorocarbon, may I suggest using the uni knot with 4 to 6 turns as that has worked well for me. Let's list off of the arguments for mono It's cheap It floats making it better for topwater. It has solid knot strength and works with most knots And for fluorocarbon: It sinks, will help achieve maximum depth of shallow and moderate diving lures and give a better action to worms and jigs. It's less visible (for whatever that is worth) It's arguably more abrasion resistant than mono after being soaked for an extended period of time, although I personally do not agree with this as Sufix Siege has been just as abrasion resistant as anything else) At the end of the day (for me) it really comes down to price and target depth of what I'm fishing. I used flurocarbon for moving baits all last year and braid to fluro leader for soft plastics and jigs, but was contemplating switching back to mono for moving baits as I fish from shore a lot and many of the locations are very shallow and with flurocarbon I often find I'm hitting the bottom too often in certain places, but in others it lets me get better depth. I'm not going to tell you you're wrong, I'm just going to suggest trying PowerPro Maxcuatro or Daiwa's J-Braid grand and seeing if that holds up better maybe it will save you some time of adding a leader (although I personally do use a leader if I know I'm going to be fishing soft plastics or jigs all day but if I switch from a frog I may not bother).

I have a Carhartt Maybe rainjacket that's surprisingly warm and wasn't too expensive, and I can add layers underneath. The downside about this over getting a lighter one is that I really could use a lighter rainjacket in the summer.

Hey guys, I was going through my tackle and I realized the one thing I do not have is a 3/8oz lighter colored colorado bladed spinnerbait for springtime fishing. With the lakes thawing out pretty soon, I should get on top of that! I have some darker, nighttime colored colorado bladed spinnerbaits and some 1/2oz ones as well, but I do better with a 3/8oz size in several lakes early in the year. I do not mind if it's a single blade, dual colorado blade or large colorado and smaller indiana blade as long as its 3/8oz and lighter in color. I was thinking of trying a Revenge (smaller blade) and wither a Santone or War Eagle Wake spinnerbait (which both have a larger main blade) but I thought I'd ask what has worked for you guys in colder weather and clearer water (of course I have plenty of dual willow bladed spinnerbaits as well I can also try).

A kayak seems generally faster and more maneuverable and thus easier to row than a canoe. Plus you can get them decked out for fishing out of as well.

Better is subjective. Braid is better for fishing frogs than flurocarbon or mono. Fluorcarbon is good for getting extra depth on shallow diving lures etc. As far as lines, braid is generally the same cross brand more than other lines from my experience. Occasionally some are unique (PowerPro MaxCuatro for example which is thinner but supposedly stronger). I usually go with Daiwa J-Braid x8 because it's quiet through the guides and does not fray easily and I can find it in any Dick's Sporting Goods and it's not overly expensive. This year, I will try the J-Braid grand and see if it's worth the extra money or not. On the flipside, I've had some 8 strand Spiderwire line that frayed way too easily. For monofilament, there is Berkley Big Game which is by far the most cost efficient option. Then there are thinner lines like Trilene XL and thicker and more abrasion resistant lines with better handling than Big Game like Trilene XT or Sufix Siege (which comes at a cost). Sufix Siege is generally my favorite for casting gear, but honestly Trilene XT is pretty close too. Most brands have their offering of each style of line. For fluorocarbon, rule #1 is there is Berkley Vanish then there is everything else for the most part. Some lines are more abrasion resistant, and some lines have better knot strength than others. For example I've been using Berkley trilene flurocarbon for moving baits which is great in knot strength and sheer strength but my experience is it's not quite as abrasion resistant as AbrazX, making it a perfect choice for what I'm using it for. InvisX, AbrazX and Tatsu are all fine lines as well, and if you're on a budget (and mono is out of the question) Red Label is not a bad option either.

Last season, I used a MH/MF glass (composite) rod for all of my moving baits, although a rod that stiff as far as crankbaits goes it's a better action for fishing square bills in grass or around stumps, or deep divers where you can use that extra power to pull them out from the extra depth but I made sure to use lines with stretch (not braid). It also makes a great spinnerbait and bladed jig rod. This year, I picked up a M/MF glass rod for crankbaits which I will run with 12lb fluro, and I'll run 15lb fluro on the MH/MF. As far as being glass or graphite, if the power and action of the rod are right then it shouldn't matter if it's graphite or glass. Glass is a little heavier and in most cases does not transmit vibrations as much as graphite although my son has a MH/MF graphite rod and I find my MH/MF rod does mute vibrations but I'm able to notice some more minor things I can't on his graphite rod at the same time, it's hard to explain. Glass is also heavier, but it doesn't bother me personally.

Imagine catching this...

If you want to come to the northeast, we have some good smallmouth fishin'. Lake Eerie inbetween New York and Canada is known to have some great smallies as is Lake Champlain between New York and Vermont. Then there are many great smaller lakes in Vermont you could try -- Lake St. Catherine and Lake Bomoseen would be at the top of my list (and are a short drive apart), and Seymour Lake, Lake Salem or either Echo Lake should also be good.

So if I understand this right, you got out there before the temperature dropped? In that case, you probably did everything right. The one other thing I may have tried is hopping a jig off of the bottom if I wasn't getting them on moving baits.

*facepalm* I feel stupid now. On that, I used a mod. fast rod for crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, swim jigs and chatterbaits last year, with no issues at all (other than losing the biggest fish of my life but I blame hitting my kid in the face on the hookset for that one). I have enough backbone I could probably throw braid on it and fish a frog or soft plastics just fine as well, especially if I keep my hooks sharp.

I have also had discussions with people that M/F is just as versatile as as MH/F, it's all about preference.

I use 12lbs for the added security of knowing I have the extra strength to pull out a fish in grass and since I don't own a boat, I can sacrifice the additional depth.

That's rough, but at least you now know before anything serious happened from it too. In many cases, type 1 diabetes can be controlled by proper insulin and people can go on to live normal lives. And remember while diet isn't going to fix or fend off type 1 diabetes, but certainly would help not make things worse as well.