Boomstick

I mix it around a lot but I do fish Cheshire Lake. I also sometimes fish Onota Lake, among others which I saw that you mentioned in an older post.

As for colors, usually the colors of the fish the bass are eating is a food bet. Try a few different colors if you aren't sure and see what they like best. As far as how to fish a certain bait, the videos both on this site and YouTube should help. You can watch how others fish the same bait.

You can get an ugly stik gx2 at Walmart and you're unlikely to snap that catching a larger fish than you were targeting. They also sell the Berkley Cherrywood (around $22) and Shock (around $40), both which are good for the price. Most of my rods are either rods that I got in a cheaper combo, or a cheaper rod. I have one Daiwa Tatula and for mid grade and higher, that's it. That said, breaking rods in a door isn't exactly a fault of the rod, and probably isn't covered under the warranty either. Like Stasher said, you might want to consider a two-piece rod if you're having issues breaking them in doors.

I've been buying mine on an as needed basis at the local Walmart for convenience but I they are either $5.69 or $6.29 there anyway depending on the color, so most bulk orders really aren't that much cheaper.

I know GrumpyOlPhartte is from Western MA (I found a prior post where he talks about fishing a lake I fish at too, so maybe roughly the same parts).

I find that earlier in the season and also in some shallower water locations, smaller spinnerbaits, a 3/16" or 1/4oz or even occasionally a 1/8oz tend too work pretty well, where 3/8" is your all-around summer spinnerbait for bass. I tend to buy the white/chartreuse for clearer weather and darker colors for muddier water or larger spinnerbaits that are fished deeper in the water. Not sure if this really makes a huge difference or not but I do find using the proper size for the location seems to make the most difference. I am also from W. MA too.

Exactly! My Walmarts don't sell 300 yards ofthe Spider Wire Stealth unfortunately, but 150 yards is cheap enough and I get the Daiwa J-Braid on Amazon for $17-22 depending on the day. Many EZ Braid spools on Amazon are actually more expensive than that, and it's braid, you don't have to replace it often.

Why stop at 3? Anyway if I was going to pick only three, I would say pick one from each category below and learn when and where to fish them. Texas Rig, Senko or Drop Shot Chatterbait, crankbait, spinnerbait, swim bait, swim jig or the like Pitching Jig or Frogs

Get him a crankbait or a topwater bait and teach him to cast, crank and keep it off the bottom. Best way to teach him imo

The Spiderwire Ultra is good stuff. I use that sometimes but I prefer the Daiwa J-Braid as it frays a little less. I've never tried the EZ braid, but I've only heard bad things about it so I've stayed away.

I am actually debating with myself if I should put fluorcarbon on my casting rod for spinnerbaits when I go to Canada and have a boat this week. I normally don't run fluoro since I don't own a boat and usually shore fish, but with the ability to fish deeper waters I can definitely see the benefit. On the other hand, it's probably not as big of a deal fishing cover on shore either.

Why not? At some point I will get a proper heavy bass setup myself so that wouldn't go to waste either. My plan is to target mostly bass and walleye, but if I see some heavy cover I'm throwing a large spinnerbait on my catfish rod and fishing it.

These are probably the overall favorite reel for catfish. They're also very common for muskies and other larger fish (plenty of use in saltwater). Probably a little overkill for bass though. I'd throw that on a Rippin' Lips Super Cat casting rod and take it catfishing with me.

I've heard of a lot of people using their catfish gear for muskies, since I'm in Canada (muskie territory) for a week this summer, I plan on trying that out for myself. Is it ideal? Certainly not. The reels a little slow but the rod will handle the proper heights. I just can't justify spending money on muskie gear when I could use it towards bass, catfish or trout rods that I can use regularly.

Do you ice fish? (I don't, I hate the cold). Cold weather will definitely make it worse. But Power Pro makes a 4 stand line, and an 8 strand line, the J-Braid I've been using is 8 strands, might be the difference. I think the 8 strand braid is also might be slightly thicker due to construction. Regardless, no harm in 40#

You won't have an issue with digging in with 30# if you aren't using crappy braid. Daiwa J-Braid 30# certainly has no issues. Although if you aren't sure if what you're buying is acceptable, heavier line is always a safer bet.

I have had a bass grab a swimbait that was moving and I never felt the bite, I just noticed my line suddenly felt heavy before. Usually you do feel the bass bites, but in one particular case, I cast across the shore a little too close to shore and started reeling it in to keep my line out of a bush and right then a smallie jumped on it. Also as previously mentioned, a lighter weight might help in such cases (unless you're fishing in cover where you need the heavier weight).

I picked up a Ranger 9930 because it's large enough for catfish and muskies and wasn't to expensive. I also usually shore fish, so most of the time I can just pull the fish out. The rubber frabil net I've seen at Walmart doesn't look like it's a horrible cheaper option for smaller fish, should be decent for bass. At least it's cheap enough if not. The only reason I didn't try it out is because I will be fishing with a boat in Canada for a week this summer where I can land muskies.

It sounds like you could use the lighter casting rod with moderate/fast action for crankbaits as long as it can throw them acceptable. While I have no experience with Dobyns rods, the Dobyns 734C looks like it should be an all around solid bass fishing rod with some backbone to it but if your primary focus is frogging, the 735C would be a better option.

I hear the Tatula SV is real good. I just got mine in the mail, but obviously haven't got a chance to try it out.

If one of your spinning rods is at least medium powered, you should be able to manage most of your bass fishing on it acceptably, and if the other is medium light, you're in luck. I would add something like 8-10lb mono on the lighter one, and 15lb braid on the heavier one (mono backing of course, you can find how to do this on youtube). Then I would say go increase your tackle box instead. But if you really like throwing frogs, I would say try to find a heavy bait casting combo and add 50# or 65# braid. I like throwing a variety of tackle myself, anything where I am constantly casting and reeling is largely preferred like a spinnerbait, swim jig, crankbait or frog. If you want a rod that can throw frogs and other things, try a MH fast action rod, around 7'. The Berkley Cherrywood is quite cheap and is actually a decent rod, add an Abu Garcia Black Max ($40-50) or Silver Max for around $10 more and you're good to go and spool that up with some 30# braid. Then use your spinning rods for light lures and soft plastics. There is actually a 10 part Beginner's Guide to Bass Fishing on youtube I would highly recommend for beginners to watch. As someone just getting into fishing this year myself, it really helped bring me up to speed in a hurry. Hope that helps!

Typically you want heavier line for frogs. On a lighter rod in open waters, 30# braid should do, but on a heavy rod, 50# or 65# braid. You would need to run a leader for worms. For live worms and soft plastics, 8-10lb mono is preferred but 12lb would be an acceptable median between other lures and worms. I would recommend Berkley Trilene Big Game as it's cheap and holds up well but the XT or original Stren will do but the XT breaks too easily for a mainline for bass and you will really notice the line being undersized in select applications. Might be worth adding a second rod with lighter line for lures. On my casting rod, I use 15-17lb mono, and on my spinning rod I have it loaded up with 12lb mono currently, but if I was using a spinning rod for everything, I would use 15# or 20# braid and run a leader, since it prevents line twists.

My personal opinion is that with a lure that is always being cast and retrieved, even a slow retrieve, braid with no leader is fine. Who knows, if I threw on a fluoro leader or used mono or fluro line, maybe it would be a lot better but I really doubt it will make a difference. On the other hand, you might benefit from using fluorocarbon as a leader or maybe your mainline in a sense as it sinks.

Do you know what you want to fish for lures? Buying rods for what you want to fish is usually a good idea. That G Loomis rod you found should also be a good all around bass rod. I actually have a Daiwa Tatula 6'10" MH fast action rod on the way with a Tatula SV reel as well as a Mitchell pro combo for more finesse techniques and lighter lures. It might make sense to buy a slightly cheaper rod (the Tatula would do, also the St. Croix Mojo bass is well under $200 and I like them a lot too), and with the other $90 you could grab a spinning combo -- I went with the Mitchell pro combo because the reel is great no idea about the rod but it wasn't much more than the reel alone. Then you're on your way to a solid bass setup. For trout, you will want a lighter rod and light line. My take on buying trout rods is that I spend my money on bass and catfish gear and grab a cheap spinning combo for trout and if a larger fish snags it and breaks it, no big deal I just buy another, since you typically spend less time casting and reeling when trout fishing. Alternatively, you could get a lighter spinning rod, say medium light that could do bass and trout, but you'd be compromising between a slightly heavier line for finesse fishing bass and a lighter line for trout. EDIT: I received the Tatula and Mitchell pro combo (7' medium version with the 300pro reel) today. I obviously haven't got to use them, but they both are very light and have a very nice feel and I think they will serve me rather well.

You seem to know what you want to fish, so I say go for it. If you don't mind a baitcaster, I wouldn't hesitate to get the Daiwa Tatula 7'4" heavy action frogging rod (model TAT741HFB). It did not take me long to learn to throw one myself, and I'm the type of person who I rather discoordinated and is at high risk of tripping over their own feet, so to speak. I picked up a 6'10" MH fast action Tatula with a Tatula SV reel, and a 7' medium Mitchell pro combo for more finesse techniques and lighter lures. I'm not honestly sure if I will like the rod on the Mitchell pro combo, but the Mitchell 300 pro is a great reel and the combo is only $20 more than the reel itself. It might be worth checking out as it could throw smaller buzzbaits and spoons just fine. I figure this setup should cover most of my bases. If I do any real serious frog fishing this year in heavy cover, I'm using my catfish rod, but the MH Tatula should be decent to throw frogs in open water too. But given that you know you want to throw frogs more often than not, I would say there is no reason you should compromise and get a MH rod with 20# braid, by all means get the heavy rod and put 50# or 65# braid on it. You know what you like to fish, and I assume also where you like to fish so get what suits you.