Boomstick

Since you have a MH/F rod, I would do something like the following: 3/8oz spinnerbait with a small colorado and large willow blade either white, white/chartreuse or sexy shad color. I like the War Eagles with the super sharp Trokar hooks personally. 3/8oz double colorado spinnerbait for darker days in white/chartreuse or sexy shad colors (brighter colors not white) A brown colored chatterbait and some flukes for a trailer 4/0 EWG hooks (I personally like the Trokars), 1/8oz weights and 5" senkos 2/0 EWG Hooks and soft plastic craws At least two 2.5 (or perhaps larger) sized crankbaits as smaller ones don't fish well on a MH/F rod (If strike kings, I'd go with a DB Craw or Chili Craw and a Yellow Perch for colors) A 3/8oz swim jig (I'd probably go with sexy shad or chart sexy shad for my first choice of color) and some NetBait Paca Craws for trailers Some football head jigs and grubs. A couple of jerkbaits - Rapala Original floaters work. I'd suggest a silver or live smelt and a shiner color) A 2 1/4" LiveTarget frog or two (Booyah Pad Crashers if you're short on money) -- much better than the Spros imo Some poppers. I usually use the Rebels but the Ima Finesse's you have should be fine. Might want to add a black and blue chatterbait and black spinnerbait with colorado blades for night fishing. Of course, I'm no KVD, but that's what you'll find in my arsenal. You could also try an extra deep box for more storage, or just get two if needed. You can rotate lures in and out should you only want to bring one depending on the time of year as well. Why not use both?

I'm a software engineer. We built a new system in a hurry and it obviously had a lot of bugs due to the timeframe it was rolled out.

I just ordered myself the cranking coffin. I won a $50 gift card to tacklewarehouse.com at work for a bug finding competition. Sounds like this should be a winner for all my cranking needs for a while.

I think I'm going with the Crankbait coffin so I can fit all of my cranks in it. Once my collection finally outgrows the crankbait coffin, I will try a 3700dd (double deep) for the shallow divers and the crankbait coffin for the deep divers. The regular isn't as deep so you can't fit as many crankbaits in it.

I probably would bring a smaller waterproof box with me on a kayak/canoe anyway. I have some waterproof boxes that I load up before each trip, works pretty well!

I have a crankbait box that stores two per slot. The smaller ones tend to refrain from tangling sometimes, but it's guaranteed with a medium or larger sized crankbait. At least it's only two but the problem is that I'd like to expand my arsenal.

Okay I wasn't sure if you meant smaller ones or all of them that way. Good tip, thanks! I'm sold. Going to buy the jerkbait and blade coffins as well.

Thanks! Are 1.5s and 2.5s easily accessible as well?

I haven't had any issues with my two St. Croix rods so I don't know about their customer support. That said, I am really surprised the rod snapped on you. I will say the 7' MH/MF Mojo Bass spinnerbait rod that I got for my son is extremely light and thin, thus it doesn't have a very stout tip so picking up large fish may be a problem, but we haven't had any issues yet. The other one is a 6'9" ML/XF, and I wouldn't try to pick up fish with it unless they're real small as it's a ML rod to begin with, but that's been fine so far as well (and that one isn't short on tip). Glass rods can pick up a lot more weight without breaking as they just flex, which makes rods like an Ugly Stik GX2 medium spinning rod able to lift around 20lbs before they break (watch the catfish and carp youtube channel as Luke attempts to break this same rod), but especially on graphite rods, I try to not pickup any fish above ~3lbs or less on a ML or lighter rod.

For a 1/2oz spinnerbait, you will want to go with a MH rod. M/F is good for 3/8oz and lighter spinnerbaits. Some prefer a MH/MF rod because the little extra play in the tip helps you not pull the bait out of the fish's mouth before they get it in their mouth, but MH/F will also work just fine. My favorite rod for spinnerbaits is a 7'2" Daiwa Tatula Glass MH/R (MF) rod. It has enough backbone to set the hook on a spinnerbait, but it has enough additional flex to fish a crankbait as well.

I would go with a M/F rod if you are looking for ned rigs and also larger weightless t-rigged soft plastics. The ned rig is ideal on a ML/F or ML/XF, but those lighter rods don't have the power for a hookset on larger soft plastics. A lot of people do use a M/F rod for finesse however. I would suggest braid to leader, that way you can run a 6lb leader for ned rigs and a 10-12lb leader for larger hooks.

I think it depends where I'm fishing. I know a lot of people have caught more fish on a chatterbait than any other, but up here in the northeast (at least at places I fish somewhat regularly), catching fish on a chatterbait is just one step from catching leprechauns in Ireland. At the closest lake to me with bass, I have caught a few bass but a ton of chain pickerel on a spinnerbait. On the next closest lake with fishing access Massachusetts, I don't believe I have ever caught anything on a spinnerbait. Crankbaits however are quite effective at both of these lakes. However at most of the lakes I've fished up in Vermont and some other lakes in Massachusetts, I have made a killing fishing with spinnerbaits, including my PB. There were a couple of days where I couldn't get a bite on anything until I decided to throw a spinnerbait, hoping the flash would attract them and finally got a fish.

In your boat especially! Personally, I keep my lures really well organized.

...and in your feet I assume?

Thanks! I was largely concerned with the crankbait coffin being a little deep and potentially awkward with smaller cranks, but honestly I'd rather start there and once I need more storage, then pickup a 3700dd for shallow divers and organize them that way.

There are a couple privately owned sporting goods stores in the area. I also found a nice one in Poultney VT... smaller store, but was able to grab some soft plastics and a crankbait there.

It's starting to get too cold for me (chemo makes my hands go numb in the cold), but I did have a lot of success fishing cranks this year. Along with the dropshot (which I didn't get to fish a whole lot), crankbaits were a lure that I planned on fishing more of this year since my youngest son catches a ton of bass on a crankbait, and I sure did. I had great luck early and late in the season with a Norman Fat Boy -- it's wide wobble moves water almost like a spinnerbait, but I believe I caught even more fish on a River2Seas Ish Monrow Biggie Small which was quite effective for me all year round.

So now that my 2018 fishing season is likely over, I am looking at upgrading my tackle storage (and increasing the size a bit too). I currently use a tackle bag full of 3650 trays, and I have to rotate certain lures in and out of it. I was looking at getting the Bass Mafia Blade Coffin for spinnerbaits and jigs, the jerkbait coffin for jerkbaits and topwater but what I am not sure about is what I should do for crankbaits. I could get the Bass Mafia Cranking Coffin, but since I fish far more shallow divers than deep dirvers, would I be better off with the 3700DD, or getting the Cranking Coffin which would fit my deep divers as well? Thanks in advance.

I generally agree with this as well. Gear and tackle has improved a long way in recent years.

I did make it out Sunday but didn't catch anything -- it seems the bass moved out deeper. Without the oxaliplatin, my hands were fine. It was 55 most of the afternoon, and I lasted until it hit 47 and then I started having issues with my hands. Next weekend will be a high around 40, so I'm going to clean up all my fishing and camping gear for the season.

I haven't used the Palmer model, but I feel like it would offer me less control of the rod. Has anyone found this to be true?

I'm skeptical of reviews, especially professional reviews where money is involved because you know they're not going to trash the product they're reviewing. Has anyone seen a professional review that said "this bait is overpriced junk that broke after my first cast when it hit the water and never caught a fish!"? What I will get from a professional review is what the product has to offer and maybe figure out what sort of conditions I would use that in. As far if it's junk or not, I wouldn't trust a paid review for that. Instead, I prefer to talk to people and find out what they use and have success with instead. I also spend a lot of time following the BassResource Youtube channel because they tend to recommend what they use and have success with, clearly know what they're doing and usually try to recommend what they have success with all over the country (while they do often use other brands in their videos themselves). I picked up some lures they recommended and they all have produced rather well for me (although most of the rods and reels they use is out of my price range). I also try to have a variety of certain lures on hand. With some, say swim jigs I really need about 4, a light and a dark one in 3/8oz and 1/2oz. Maybe a black or black and blue one for night, then backups. For baits like crankbaits, I'll have a lot more. I want a few medium and deep drivers, but since shallow divers see the most use I will want one with a wide wobble for spring and fall, some with a less wide wobble for summer, perhaps a tighter wobble for the spring, and then the same in a 2.5 size. Certain cranks have a unique wobble as well that can be worth trying as well.

I have 2 Tatula SVs. One is arguably the smoothest reel I own, and the other always had a little click from the day it was new. So this year, I had some weed slime getting on the bar in the reel, took a qtip and cleaned it as best I could without taking much of the reel apart, then oiled the spool and the click is completely gone. It still has less tension when reeling than my other one, but that isn't really a problem.

First, bass eat bass. I've bought some baby bass colored lures simply because they look like a real fish. I doubt the bass is going to tell the difference between say a bass colored lure and a perch colored lure before they strike it. Here's a guy fishing for a larger bass with a smaller bass... And here's a bass trying to eat a bass almost its own size:

If I am getting short strikes, I will generally add a trailer. In perfectly open water, I may use a trailer hook but I find that the spinnerbait becomes less weedless with a trailer hook and hooks more weeds, so I adjust per situation. More often than not, once I get a bite on a spinnerbait I also get a fish, so I fish them without a trailer or trailer hook. I honestly focus more on matching the right blades and colors for the situation, usually a double willow or willow/colorado which seems to be the most effective in the clear water we have up here in the northeast (but I always carry some colorado blades for the cloudy days too!)