Boomstick

When it comes to clothing, I pretty much stick to Carhatt and Duluth shirts, nothing fancy, no printed tee's etc because they're always too short. I'm 6'3", so sometimes I can order a size up but when I wash it, it usually shirnks.

There are a lot of variables, but for the most part yes you can.

I would go with Medium power for sure, unless you're only throwing very small and light cranks. The Zodias line does tend to run a little heavy, but you can throw a crank all day on a MH/M as well, where I'm fairly sure the ML is still not quite a normal medium.

Wow.... buyer beware. I would be ticked! To my credit I guess I do a pretty good job of filtering out junk vendors as I've never had this happen. The one thing to note is if a deal looks too good to be true, usually it is.

Well the Striker is the 7cv or 7sv, and the EchoMap is the 73cv or 73sv last I checked. 72cv/72cv would be the EchoMap with no maps.

I guess I got a little confused why you posted that and thought you missed the question about the 73sv.

@Dave0408 had asked if the 73sv is worth the extra $300 over the 7sv. The 73sv would be the EchoMap, which adds LakeVu maps over the 7sv, which is a Striker which you'd have to map your own lake or download community maps.

I don't use Indiana blades nearly as much as I use willow blades, but I will use them far more often than Colorado blades. Since most water I fish is clear, Colorado blades are limited to cold water use but primarily and night fishing. Willow blades get the call most of the time, but for stained water or fishing them slower in colder water, I'll usually pull out an Indiana blade. For the most part, they put off flash and move some water so they're pretty versatile. We have largemouth and smallmouth bass in most lakes I fish.

The 73sv will add maps. If you generally fish one or two lakes, you can make your own and you can download community charts as well on the 7sv and that will be fine. It's up to you if that's worth it. If you fish many new lakes and larger lakes, the maps can be quite valuable. If you primarily fish the same smaller lake or two most the time, then perhaps it wouldn't be such a big deal. And it's actually kind of fun to go make your own maps if you go to a smaller lake, although it is time not fishing.

Nice fish!

I've never broken a rod at the handle like that, but I have broken a rod trying to pop a lure out of some rocks before and one of my kids broke one of my rods just lifting it out of some pretty spare and weak weeds before. Sometimes it doesn't take much. And hats off to Lews customer service for stepping up bigtime here.

Does a gummy worm count?

A lot of people killed it so far! I can't wait for mine to get sent - I know I didn't go nearly as far as some of you, but I did pretty decently this year.

1/2oz plus a small trailer will likely exceed 3/4oz as it is, and then you're going to have weeds to contend with. when trying to set the hook and pull fish out of the weeds before they go do figure 8s around every weed in there. You would likely want a heavy rod to throw a 1/2oz jig into heavy cover.

Thanks. I just ordered myself a copy.

Usually the rods labeled as a flipping rod are a bit longer and a bit more of a brookstick than other heavy rods which will still cast well (Mag Heavy for Dobyns). I had a Daiwa Tatula 7'1" H/F and that thing would cast a 3/8oz jig further than my medium heavy rods. The weight of the jig really only applies to the rod's ability to cast the jig (plus trailer) and how fast it will sink to the bottom. You can take a 3/8 or 1/2 arky head jig with a fairly stout hook and fish it on a MH rod with fluorocarbon in lighter cover and then put the same jig on a flipping stick with braid to throw into heavy cover.

The only two piece rods I have ever used were absolute entry level rods, so I haven't got a very good comparison

You know I forgot all about the two piece requirement. I don't think you'll find much better than the Mojo Bass in a two piece rod, and I wonder how the two piece affects the rod vs the one piece.

For the most part, when you get a bass on a moving bait such as a crankbait or a spinnerbait, you'll know. When bass hit a moving bait, the majority of a time it's followed by a fairly distinct tugging on the line. When fishing a soft plastic, you might get the same thump but a bite may be as much as feeling your bait stop. In short, if you aren't sure, set the hook. With experience, you'll start to learn what is and what isn't a bite, but one important thing to note is that with baits like soft plastics and jigs even the most experienced of us will be setting the hook in cases where we're just not sure. The traditional hooks for a wacky rig is something like these Owner All Purpose Worm Hooks. One way that I fish a wacky rig a lot though I learned from a video Glenn posted on this very site. Take a jig head that is appropriately weighted for the rod you're using, generally 1/8oz for medium and 1/4oz for a medium heavy and wacky rig your worm onto that. Something like the Strike King Squadron works pretty well. This way it will keep the soft plastic suspended off of the bottom so it can free flutter. The other way I often fish a wacky rig is on a drop shot.

I think you are right to start with a M/F spinning rod, it's sort of the do it all spinning rod for bass fishing or as close as you can get because let's be honest there's no such thing. As for models, you'll get a lot of options here but I'll throw out a few. First at $130 or so, St Croix Mojo Bass 7'1" M/F plastics rod is pretty good and for a little more you can get the Dobyns Sierra 703SF. For what it's worth, the next spinning rod I buy will be the Daiwa Tatula Elite 7'1" Brent Ehrler M/F but that runs a little more expensive, retailing for $280. Short of black friday specials which already passed, I can't find it for much cheaper.

The Intex were some of the cheaper ones I was looking at, so that was helpful. Most places we'd be using them would be fairly in small lakes with calm water and not a lot of rocks to worry about, or at least the places with rocks are avoidable.

That depends if you have muskies where you live

I'm not sure that I can help you, but I am curious what you are doing where you want a large hook.

Both can be fished in the same way and largely the same places. I usually prefer jigs if there is wood and T-Rigs if there is a lot of grass, as a T-Rig will pick up less grass than a jig. Other than that, use the T-Rig to find the fish and the jig to catch the big ones.

You answered your own question imo when you said you fish at one lake with trees around the shore (the 844 will be easier to cast)