P.A.L.

I use the FG knot and an 8 to 10 foot leader. The FG knot is the smoothest casting knot I've ever seen and I've never had one fail when tied correctly . (The failed knots failed while checking) The long leader lets me retie a lot before I need a new leader. I also use yellow braid so I can see my line jump when slack lining weightless plastics

Same here

I've never used the 664 but I do own the 703, 734, and the 735 and they all fish a little lighter than advertised. Meaning the heavy is more like a med heavy and the med heavy is more like a med. I fish with braid and a leader so it balances out. I'm assuming a 3 power on loomis is a med so this should be a little heavier like a med heavy.

Pull out about 25 to 50 yards of line and then put a layer of electrical tape on the spool. Reel the line back up and practice casting. This will significantly reduce how bad your bird nests are. Making the learning curve a little less frustrating.

You could load that pic into a few different programs and use known measurements to get a pretty accurate measurement. Draw a line corner to corner on the brim of that hat and use those measurements to to measure the fish. Assuming you still have the hat to get a measurement for comparison.

There is a video on this site that has an expert talking about bass and he explained the biggest reason we don't have hybrids is the species spawn under different conditions.

I just purchased a st croix bass x and absolutely love it. I would recommend it. Tackle warehouse has a 15% off sale going on until the 5th

Try owner mosquito hooks. Very little hook set needed and they stay on very well