Boomstick

I would say a black and blue trailer regardless of the accent is suitable for a black jig - you're giving it way too much thought if you ask me.

I use the Rage Bugs and Rage Craw and Rage Chunks as jig trailers lot, and Ned Bugs as trailers on small profile finesse jigs.

Yup, Glenn covered it. One thing I can't stress enough with both squarebills and spinnerbaits is if there's some kind of wood or rocks to deflect off of, that's only going to help you.

@Paul Roberts thanks! I saw those, and it's probably about all I would need to be honest but I wasn't sure if the cheaper ones might not hold up so well or have other issues.

Soft plastics are a huge percentage of my smallmouth fishing. I catch a few on jigs, swim jigs, spinnerbaits and crankbaits too, but I could manage with just soft plastics.

Yup, it came pretty close!

I don't know, all the various equipment they use to make the jet engine alone looks pretty pricey.

Now if you excuse me, I have some work to do on my kayak...

...and it was supposed to be 50 this weekend as of yesterday but unfortunately it's been downgraded to 42

Unless you absolutely cannot swing the extra $100, definitely go with the SV. The CV without sidevu is only 66% the fish finder the of the SV - I could argue even less. If you're fishing deep all the time, it may not matter much but let's be honest who does that? SideVu is great for locating brush piles and rocks along drop offs and other holding spots. Not only can you cover a lot more bottom faster, but the different view really gives you a lot better input in these cases.

I use braid to fluoro leader on my spinning rod but there is no reason why you can't use straight fluorocarbon.

Yeah, I wasn't worried about lack of backbone on the EMTF, more so lack of tip. Usually I like a little tip on a MH football jig rod, but MF if it's heavy.

On heavily fished water, downside your baits. Try a roboworm on a drop shot or a ned rig. If you fish a jig or T-Rig, fish it slower than you would normally in a less pressured lake. Also be sure to try lures and colors that other people don't use.

I did some research on the sort of lures I should be looking at and placed my order last night. Better than the tackle Gallagher-Claus... you know, Santa comes and brings you presents and Gallagher claus comes and smashes them

I went with a ML for drop shotting for smallies when I bought a higher end finesse rod, but if you have a M/F rod, that will work just fine as well.

I don't know... to be honest I don't really think too much about it.

The Daiwa Tatula Elite Ehrler 7'1" M/F spinning rod will be the next spinning rod I buy myself for what it's worth. But throwing anything near 1/2oz might be a bit to ask from that rod it's really for drop shots, ned rigs, shaky heads etc

I thought about using Masshole but decided against it because I'm right by the NY and VT border and spend more time fishing in Vermont than Massachusetts.

I don't think it's as much the casting as it is the profile and casting distance.

You'll hear a lot of different options when it comes to what's "best" but when I need a reel for around that price, I usually go with a Tatula CT. You can get them off of ebay for as low as $70 brand new depending on when you buy it. I've bought a few from Tricetackle2016 without a problem if you're worried about getting a bad seller.

The Tranx is more or less a saltwater Curado K. If you aren't fishing saltwater, I would think you could save a few bucks and go with the Curado K 200 and that should work well for you.

The Elite will definitely outcast the Tatula SV, no question. The older Zillion SV also outcasts the Tatula SV and the 2020 Zillion SV is supposed to cast even further, but I'm not sure how that will compare to a Tatula Elite in casting distance. While football jigs aren't the typical jig for skipping, they're also not lures that need the longest casts. I mean if you ever plan to skip anything on this reel, then it's basically decided the SV is the way to go. But for football jigs or any of the other lures you could throw on that rod really you'll be fine with any of the above options it's just a matter of preference.

Assuming that you are running the right line of course, I would still say that pairing the right reel with the right rod and what you are doing with it will make all the difference. It could be better balance, better size reel for the reel seat, better braking for the application or better casting distance.

Well, mine was taken from Army of Darkness as many of you may have guessed. Some years ago, I was playing a Counter strike source zombie mod and I had HLSS setup to play various sound clips from Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness and people usually got a kick out of it, so I started using the nickname Boomstick as well, and it was my gaming tag so it carries over whenever I need a user name. I'm surprised you didn't use Frank/0 to be honest. We all get it

I just picked up some 20lb for my Steez SV. I have heard it compares to Tatsu and Shooter and I got it for $22 so I figure I'll give it a shot. No idea what the stretch is like.