Russ E

Not sure what you are calling a rod cover. I use rod sleeves/socks whenever I put my rods in the rod locker of my boat. It protects the eyelets from breaking when sliding in and out of the rod tubes. other than that I don't see a use for them.

I have taken a few beginners on my boat. one guy had never fished before that. the only bait they used was a ned rig. They caught fish everytime. first you have to learn what a bite feels like, and how to land the fish. Add different baits and techniques, once you are comfortable.

I use the project z in timber. I fan out the weed guard to get better hookups. straight out of the box I have missed a few fish.

My first experience with the duo realis rozante 77. was pretty short lived. I was casting a similar sized yozuri jerkbait with my medium action spinning setup. I was about 20 yards from shore casting toward bank, working down the rip rap. I decided to tie on a rozante and give it a try. My first cast landed in the trees at least 20 yards past the shoreline. With rip rap shoreline I did not want to beach the boat, so I broke off and tied on another one. This time I turned around and casted toward open water to get a feel for the bait. I was amazed how far it would fly on an average cast. The bait makes a distinct click when you cast it. That must be the after burners kicking in. it works fine on a spinning setup, but you can easily cast it with a baitcaster. Plus it flat out catches fish.

Especially for smallmouth. Plus it cast like a bullet.

It is all personal perspective. Diawa reels dominate my arsenal. With that out of the way, I think most brands make decent reels. With all of the options out there, if you make junk, it would be hard to stay in business. There are a couple companies that flood social media to overcome quality. I will not name any here. they are not the four you mentioned.

from my own experience, most cheaper combos are functional but not ideal. I don't see how this combo could be an upgrade from any other combo. I have a lews mach II combo I bought on sale a couple years ago. it rarely leaves the garage. One thing to keep in mind is a single magnetic braking system takes a trained thumb to cast consistently.

the dicks around here are for soccer moms. Not much left for outdoor gear.

If there is a lot of timber, the spinnerbait gets used more. Bladed jigs can be a pain with snags around wood. on weedy lakes I usually start with a bladed jig. On rocky, coverless lakes it depends on where I am. for some reason there are lakes around here, that bass will not hit a bladed jig and others where the spinnerbait will draw a blank. I think it is based on the forage base of each lake.

Use what catches fish. to me baits are just tools, don't care how I catch fish. if horizontal baits are producing, try swimming the jig. often times when I cant get bit on bladed jigs or crankbaits a swimjig saves the day.

i ordered a fish measuring board last november on ebay. it was shipped USPS. after a lot of back and forth with the seller and the post office, I received it january 27. That gives a whole new meaning to snail mail. With a Fed Ex and UPS hub nearby I do not ship anything USPS. They are only a shell of what they used to be.

I was skeptical until I tried them last summer. caught quite a few fish by jigging it along deep weed edges, including a couple 5 pound plus fish. Their tail thumps away when the bait is falling. That is when you get most of the bites. They are a lot more durable than people think. after a couple fish their eyes fall off, but that does not seem to affect the fish biting.

You can throw a weightless fluke on nearly any baitcaster. It just takes thumb control. If your thumb is not well trained a soft tipped rod makes it a lot easier. Although I own a couple vendettas, they would not be my first choice for that presentation. They have the action of a broomstick. My fluke combo has a tatula sv tw sitting on a 7 foot medium/fast st Croix mojo bass. The line is 14 pound sunline sniper. With this setup I can cast a weightless fluke a mile. Plus I can easily skip the fluke under docks and overhanging trees. Changing the hook diameter can also add a little weight and help in casting.

At least I am not the only one. I have hooked myself a lot more at home changing hooks on baits, than I have on the water actually fishing with them.

Sorry just noticed your reply. the battery for your electronics does not need to be a deep cycle. The bilge and fish finder will not take much power. On most bass boats, including mine, a standard starter battery runs all of the electronics and livewell, plus starts the outboard. The trolling motor runs off of different power. in my case it is 2 12 volt batteries hooked in series to create 24 volts. in your case one deep cycle for the trolling motor and a standard marine battery for the electronics should be fine. the reply you received stating you need 2 new batteries is not true, unless you hook them together. Whenever 2 batteries are connected together, whether in series for 24 volts or parallel for 12 volts they should be the same age. in your case that is irrelevant.

If the fish finder and trolling motor are on the same battery, you may get a lot of interference. Especially with an older motor. Plus if it is not a deep cycle battery, chances are the battery will not last long if you are fighting wind with the trolling motor. Generally it is best to have a dedicated deep cycle trolling motor battery and another for everything else.

I have shot a few 10mm 1911's . a Rock Island, a colt delta elite, and a sig. all decent guns. the delta elite is probably my favorite of the 3. I have also fired a glock 20. it wasn't bad but too big for me to hold comfortably. My current 10mm is a springfield xdm 5.5 . It is hands down my favorite 10mm. It fits my hand. Holds 15 rounds. very mild recoil, even with the heaviest 10mm rounds. It has one of the best triggers I have ever used on a striker fired gun. Even with the 5.5 barrel it is fairly light in a holster. It is my carry sidearm in the woods. All of this from a guy who generally does not like plastic guns.

got rid of cable a year and a half ago. I have Youtube tv, but debating getting rid of it because the price keeps going up. 1.5 years ago it was $59.99 with the Starz package. That same package now cost $80.00. I originally bought Youtube tv for the DVR. I have 4k firesticks. With that there are a lot of free streaming services. Plus a few low cost services. I currently have: HBOMAX. it comes with my At&T Phone package. Firestick has an app Netflix I think it cost $9.99 a month Hulu It cost around $11.00 a month. Prime video. it comes with an amazon prime account IMDB. free Tubi Free Crackle free Pluto tv free Xumo tv free Youtube . firestick has an app to watch it from tv. plus I have power booster antennas on all tv's. There are 40 local channels available. even with all of the different streaming services, I still pay around $100.00 less than my cable would cost.

Shooter is their version of abras x. Assassin is a cheaper line that is supposed to be more abrasion resistant because of the p ion process. Whatever that is. From my own experience it seems to Nick easily and gets rough if fishing around cover.

sniper has a smaller diameter and in my own experience lasts longer. I tried assassin a couple times, it does not have the abrasion resistance of sniper. Like @ajay I prefer invisx for jerkbaits. There is a little more stretch, which I prefer for treble hooks.

I was there wednesday. They told me March 15 this year.

I originally bought the 705cb to throw rapala dt4 and dt6 crankbaits. It was a little too heavy to load properly with those baits, so I tried it with a chatterbait.. It was actually a 3/8 ounce jackhammer, with a razor shadz trailer. One thing to remember is a 3/8 ounce chatterbait weighs quite a bit more with most trailers. It has plenty of backbone to rip a bait from weeds I have also had no problems getting a hookset. To date 6.5 pounds is the largest bass I have caught with that combo. The mod fast action works well for keeping a big fish pinned, if they decide to jump. It also loads very well when casting. There are a lot of opinions on the best actions for chatterbaits. for me a medium heavy mod/ fast fits the bill. If you already have the rod, give it a try.

That may be true for young unpressured fish. There have been many times I missed a bite and as soon as I felt the fish it spit the bait. Around here it happens a lot with jigs if you are not paying attention.

Everyone has their own preference. Neither is wrong. I personally use fluoro on all rods that see slack or semi slack line presentations. I was on an all braid kick a few years back. It seemed I had a lot more fish spit the bait before I got a hookset. My thoughts were I had bites that went undetected. When I picked up line the fish felt me and spit the bait.

More than likely the meium/heavy is a typo. That rating often does not mean much, because every manufacturer has, their own interpretation. Dobyns run lighter than a lot of other Dobyns designates the rod power and length in the part number. A 735 is 7 foot 3inches long with a 5 power rating. The champion and Sierra you mentioned have the same power. The only difference is the champion is probably more responsive and sensitive, because it is a higher end rod