Boomstick

The smaller BG models were designed with the idea of freshwater and the larger ones for saltwater (or larger fish like catfish). I got a BG 2000 size over the winter for finesse fishing. I think I paid $40 or $45 after all my amazon gift cards and rewards points. Feels like a very solid reel and it has a nice larger diameter spool as well.

I would say make sure you are spooling your braid correctly, and I am wondering why you are using 20lb braid on a 1000 sized reel, not 10lb. Anyway there is no chance I would put anything larger than 6lb mono on that reel. If you want to use 20lb mono, go get a 5000 - 6500 sized reel.

I think that is probably going to be one of your best options for an all around cranking sticks. Good love imo. The Dobyns 704c should be a good option for jigs and spinnerbaits.

I think barometric pressure has more to do with it to be honest. Like if it's cloudy because rain is incoming, the bass will be active.

The MH/MF mojo spinnerbait rod is going to be for fishing shallow squarebills around cover and stumps and whatnot. The fast rebound will help in this case. If you are looking for an all-around moving bait stick, it's not a bad choice but for a pure cranking stick I would probably go with the MH/M.

I find fishing natural lakes in Vermont that on cloudy day in the middle of summer, they're still more likely to chase. In milder weather, not as much unless it's about to rain.

Definitely not a bad reel. I like the Tatula SV a lot and it's certainly a better value seeing that I can get them from $135 - 155 on ebay, or if budget is a concern, the Tatula CT but better yet a Pflueger Supreme XT which I got mine for around $110 and it's roughly on par with the Curado K and just as smooth. Either way you go, you're getting a good reel.

I just got a Daiwa BG 2000 and a St Croix Avid X 6'9" ML/XF

Reminds me of a local gag sign someone posted around town where I live...

I think you could teach him to use a spinning reel at 7...

I have used 6.3:1 in the past, now I have a 7.1:1 but I plan on going 8.1:1 when I buy a dedicated frog rod just so I can crank in line fast. Other than that, it doesn't really matter. You're going to cast the frog out there, move it a little and let it sit or walk it back slow which doesn't require a fast reel.

I use a 6.3:1 for cranks and fish mostly shallow depth baits. I find sometimes you want to fish them a little faster, or want to pause then pull them in after hitting a stump and sometimes you want to just crank them in so you can cast out again, so the slightly faster ratio is welcome here. If you exclusively fish deep divers, go with a 5:1 to 5.5:1.

I usually switch to a spinnerbait in grassy areas because the grass doesn't cover the square bill like it does in the grass. Anyway, in your case you can definitely try the stop and go approach. Or look for an area with stumps and docks to bang them off of causing a deflection.

I try to find a pattern by junk fishing. Often, it's reading conditions and figuring out what to throw and adjusting from there.

The rod new2BC4Bass suggested was the medium regular Tatula, which should be a good choice. So would the glass Tatula.

I have a portable spooling station, but I gather it's not the best way to prevent line twist on spinning reels still as it feeds it straight, so I've always done it like Ivo from Thundermist lures in the video a couple comments up, and rarely had any issues, other than catching the spool on some brands of line.

I have tried tape too. After a bit of tweaking, sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. My saving grace here is that it's braid, which is less susceptible to line twist but if it was mono or fluoro, I can honestly say I wouldn't be buying that brand again!

So I could use my line spooler with the line coming off the bottom? I wasn't sure I could do that but that's nice to know

So you put the line through at the top so it's pulled tight and missed the divots?

It's my new life goal to set the Vermont state record for largest smallmouth, which would put me close to the boards record if it's not broken. Someday...

If it's just senkos, 12lbs is great. I usually run 15-20lb line or 30-4lb braid on the rod I fish soft plastics with as I fish other things like jigs on the same rod. Fluorocarbon is preferred for it's sink, but if you don't like fluorocarbon feel free to use monofilament or copolymer lie.

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this even but it is line related so I'll place it here. Why do manufacturers put divots on both sides of line spools? Obviously, one on the bottom side is a line holder but what's the point besides to annoy people loading the line onto spinning reels? Like with 12lb line, the manufacturer has to know people are loading it onto a spinning reel. I just loaded up a spool of SX-1 onto my brand new Daiwa BG 2000 that I bought for finesse fishing this year, and because of the divot the spool flopped around like a fish on the ground, where the mono I used for backing had no issues at all. Does this annoy anybody else? Does anybody have any useful tricks? Should I just use my line spooler and spool it on straight (like a casting reel)?

I have thought I may suffer from sleep apnea for a very long time now, but I don't really know. Maybe it's just my cat. I have recently lost almost 100lb and no longer snore at night so there's that. Now it seems that I am just ready for bed when my alarm goes off.

How about the young players who stepped up beyond expectations for them this year?

I got my son a Mojo Spinnerbait (MH/MF) rod and I use a Daiwa Tatula glass which is 7'2" MH/MF. They're good for cranks in weeds and around stumps when you want a fast rebound. However if you a cranking rod better geared towards open water and don't like whippy rods, try a M/MH or even M/F instead. Dobyns ratings run up, so their MH/MF cranking rods should be around a M/MH rod, which would give it a more parabolic bend without being too whippy.