r83srock

Awesome! My dad and I have been fishing together my whole life. Have done bass clubs and opens together. We do Tuesday night fun tournaments, $10 to get in...we always get ice cream after. Those are my most favorite times. Him and i are doing the Ranger B Bee See rally in Missouri in mid October, can't wait! Your son will never forget the fishing memory's created at a young age and I'm sure it will stem into the future.

I like an arkie style in 1/4oz. Lately I've been using a jig head made by Gambler and been putting my own skirts on.

I fish as a Co Angler in Anglers Choice, as a team. I was using 8 rods and am down to 6, much more manageable and forces me to stick with the baits I know I need to grind out, such as a finesse worm or jig. Fish will hit that jig if it's in front of them. I also keep only 6 in my boat anytime I'm fishing out of mine. Pre fishing I load up on tackle and being 8-10 rods, or more, whether it's my boat or someone else's. by the time game day rolls around I'm down to 6 rods and a bag with 20lbs or less worth of tackle and "stuff". I know what I need on game day and nothing more. That being said I would pull #2 and #4 out, add another 7'mh f casting setup, and yes, a finesse spinning setup like a 6'8" m xf or 6'9" ml xf. That's just what I would do, otherwise not bad. I also want to add to what others have said. I don't just rig stuff up and that's it for the year. I spend countless hours going through by bag and rods. I keep rods at home that I only use for certain presentations such as jerk baits, I save that rod for jerks and maybe topwater in the fall for smallies, if they happen to be hitting jerkbaits mid summer I can get the job done on my square bill rod, no sweat. My terminal tackle, jigs, cranks, jerks, topwater all get sorted through before each event. I'm not going to carry 10 frogs on a body of water that doesn't have pads or slop, I might carry 4, in two different colors. I'm not going to carry deep diving cranks on a shallow body of water loaded with grass, I'll carry a few more rattle traps though. I'm not taking 1.5 oz grass jigs on a river system loaded with smallmouth, but I'm going to take 1/2-3/4oz football jigs, usually in two colors. You get the idea.

Well if anything a punching setup. I used to use heavy to extra heavy power, fast action rods for jig fishing in grass. I use braid and keeping fish buttoned was always a problem. I pretty much stick with a "strong" medium heavy now, problem solved. Any st. Croix mh is a good example of what a jig rod should be.

Abu Blackmax and Vendetta ran me a cool $120. So far so good, it certainly feels more upscale than the price.

Yes, flipping. Maybe small swim baits. What are the lure weight ratings?

Reel setting? I honestly have never tried that. But I will have to.

Sweet stick..and deal! They have a great feel to them, enjoy!

6'8" isn't all that short. 6'6" rods are my most used. Docks are a good choice. Any form of roll casting, pitching, etc. I have an old Kistler "Worm and jig brush buster" 6'8" heavy fast that I use for close quarter frogs, jigs, etc. Mine is 14 years old, guides are getting weak, but it still puts fish in the boat when I decide to put it to work.

Take your time and make the right choice for you. I suggest finding some friends that have different boats, ride and fish out of them if you can. Lots of great deals to be had. Always have the motor checked out, most will be out of warranty in that price range, so have the power head compression tested and run the outboard before buying. My dad bought a 88 Ranger 360V that is absolutely showroom, for $5500. It sat in a garage for 12 years, so it needed carb work, but we have been using it for two years now and it has been flawless, he did upgrade the electronics. The deals are out there.

I fish a lot of different baits like everyone else, but I feel like im more of a specialist in jigs and plastics. I think from a recreational standpoint specialist is the way to go.

I buy things like Trilene XL, no game, power pro, spinnerbaits, pop-rs, the occasional frog. I actually like the ewg super line eagle claw worm hooks. They come 12 in a pack for about $4. American made too. Other items include oil for the truck and boat, fishing hat after mine blows out of the boat, polarized sunglasses (Renegade IKE). I'm fishin on a budget what can I say.

Nice largemouth! I have been experimenting a bit with frogs this year. I found a KVD frog in the water and have caught a ton of fish on it. So now for me it's the SK KVD, several forms of the Scum Frog, and the padcrasher, which I agree, is an excellent choice.

I can't help you on the BB2. I have limited experience with the Lews super duty. It's not a bad reel it just didn't fit me. I don't have a late model curado, but have used some and I like them, you can expect quality with that reel. The SX is a solid reel, I've only ever owned the S. I hear some people have issues fine tuning them. Maybe they have a heavy spool, I don't know. 6.4:1 gear ratio is pretty darn versatile.

I would not dump my entire arsenal just to start over. I have had everything from lightning rods, to bps extremes, to St. Croix legend tournaments. Reels are a similar deal. I'm 29 now, started buying B series curados when I was working farm jobs at 14...I'm still using them. They are about all I use. I have D series citicas, one E citica and one E curado. The B's are still my favorite. I recently got a Abu black max for the heck of it, I like the value of it and feel, it casts as well as anything I've ever used, although I don't expect it to last as long as my greenies. BPS extremes, most pflugers, a majority, are a 5 year reel if you fish 100 plus day per year. There's no right or wrong and no best, that's subjective to the user and "needs". I used to have 14 rods in the locker of my Ranger, too much for my 18 footer. I now keep 6. I am down to about 8 reels total and I believe 21 rods, I only ever rig 6 at a time. I need to take some time and cull some rods, many of them are tired anyway. Just use what feels good, become efficient with it, and go fishing. I agree with prime time.

I've had both foam and cork. Have had a lot of full handle cork St. Croix rods. My latest rod is a Vendetta with a cutout in the foam handle for your palm, I'm liking it a lot, so I may be buying more at some point. I haven't found a difference in feel or sensitivity between foam and cork, but I do notice it from full handle to split grip. I am finding the less material on the handle the better, as long as the rod remains balanced.

I honestly can't offer much on that model. I would assume you would be wanting to use it for dropshotting, maybe small top water or jerkbaits. Years ago my dad sold abrasives and adhesive products to Berkley, before the pure fishing days. He had many of the series one and accuflex rods, many with a small split grip Eva style handle, long before that was "cool". Very good rods at their price point in those days, I still have them and they feel nice in hand, he uses mostly Avids now. I have a friend who uses a lot of the Berkley Shock rods for moving baits, I haven't heard him complain about them and he is strong in local competition. Try one and let us know.

I like those as well.

I never owned one, but I remember handling them, always wanted one. I remember them in high school, so 04-05 and I believe the Cara T7 line became the top dog in the line up. That was when the Cara was $140. I believe they used Shikari blanks.

I use a shimano curado/st croix avid 6'6" MH f and 30lb braid in cover, and a 7' m f st. Croix avid spinning rod, 10lb braid with 8lb co poly leader in open water.

A father son team I know is big on Falcon, they are nice and light in the hand, most models balance well, but they are a touch light on power, at least in the tip, not a problem if that's what you like. I'm a St. Croix guy naturally, being from WI. They run stiffer usually, except the newest run of sc3 mojo and avid x rods, which I feel are a bit softer than their past counterparts. I recently picked up the newest version of the Abu Garcia Vendetta 7' MH casting just as another utility rod...im currently using it for jigs and Texas rigged pit boss style baits, I'd be lying if I didn't say I like it a lot. Balances well, plenty of power, it's plenty sensitive in my hands, feels quite close to the last Veritas 2.0, which I never owned but have used. I feel like the action is more accurate than previous versions, for $80 I think it's worth it.