LionHeart

A lot of people prefer somewhere in that length range of rod for bottom contact stuff. It would make pitching slightly more difficult to me but like I said, some prefer the longer length for pitching. I have a couple of setups with 30 pound braid, but I prefer 50 lb with a leader for nearly everything. I just find it easier to see the line with 50 lb and experience less line dig. Heck, I use bright yellow braid with a leader on both my bottom contact rods. Truth is, I feel like a lot of anglers(me too) may be getting slightly too tunnel visioned on specific rods for specific techniques. Of course properties of a rod will make it more favorable for some lures and techniques than others, but IMO there ain't a whole lot that a med-heavy fast rod can't do. I'd throw some 50 lb Power Pro and a 10 foot 15 lb test mono leader on that setup and use it for whatever you need it to do.

Makes no difference to me at all. One way or the other wouldn't even be considered if I were thinking about buying a rod.

I think it would be solid for bottom contact type stuff like jigs and Texas rigged plastics. The reel may be a little lower retrieve speed than I would prefer but plenty of people use a 6 speed for those techniques and like it. You could also totally use it for spinner baits and buzz baits. The Veritas is on the stouter side of medium heavy IMO, but a decent rod that can do a lot. What other techniques do you typically use?

I think 30 lb braid would be a great choice. I always prefer to use a leader. Somewhere between 6-10 feet but there isn't really a down side to going longer as far as I know. I'd probably go with 10 lb for the leader but you should be fine going up or down slightly in size if you wanted. To second what John said, a spinning rig wouldn't be a bad idea either. Always good to have one. Personally I'd still go with the 3 power bait casting rig, but it would be purely preference. There are times when a spinning rig is almost unavoidable.

I have come to prefer mono over flouro for leaders personally. Of course there are many brands of flouro that I haven't tried, but in my experience, I can get mono to hold a knot better, and the fact that it floats seems muted when you add a weighted lure to the end of it. I may give flouro another chance at some point, but for now, I just see no reason to. I'm pretty content with braid to mono for all my setups. I'll take braid occasionally wrapping around the tip of my rod over the line memory of flouro any day. Just my preference though.

I use 50 lb Power Pro with 20 lb mono for most things. I have been lengthening my leader on a few rods to 10-12 to make them last longer.

Honestly, that would be an excellent rod for those techniques. Nuff said. IMO this is a tough time of year to catch bass unless you can go deep and have electronics. If you are fishing from the bank, they can still be caught, but find somewhere with vegetation. I have been having more luck on the bank lately pulling them right out of the grass using Texas rigs. Line? I use braid to mono leader for literally everything and have no complaints. Hope this helps dude.

I just lay them in the cab (4 door truck), with the handles resting in passenger floor board and tips laying over the back of the seat. can still carry 4 people in reasonable comfort (more or less)

Saturday I got skunked after 5 hours in Texas heat. Try not to feel too bad ?

I use 6-8 foot mono leader and they last a very long time. I usually only re-tie 3 or 4 times per trip though.

Being able to feel a lure hit bottom ain't always easy, or even possible for that matter. If you are fishing somewhere with a soft bottom mixed in with whatever else, the best way I know is to watch what your line and spool are doing. This is one of the reasons I like using yellow braid to a leader on both of my bottom contact rods. It is impossible not to see. I also try to keep my spool tension knob as loose as possible so the weight of the lure keeps it turning as it falls. If the line twitches, or the spool stops early, I bring the line to semi slack and feel for a fish on the other end. I am continually surprised by how much vibration braid transmits even when It's fairly slack.

Closer to 3 than 2. Nothing to not be proud of though. A 3ish pound bass is a decent catch most places.

Don't give up. This defies logic, but the last few times I've been out, the afternoon bite has been better than the morning. I'm not talking about just before sundown, I'm talking about between 4-6 PM when I would expect things to be pretty tough. Maybe give your spot a try in the afternoon if your schedule allows. I have noticed that certain spots seem better depending on time of day.

Hate to hear that, but have definitely been there many times. The Senko wacky rig will certainly get hung up a lot in my experience. I find that technique best when fished painfully slow. Each cast takes about 3-5 minutes to retrieve. Oddly enough, many of my strikes have come when I'm just letting that silly, do-nothing rig sit on the bottom. I hear ya about the heat. Pretty tough here in Texas right now. Most of the bass I catch shallow are tucked up in the weeds. If I were you I'd Trig your Senko weightless or even use a 3/16 or so bullet weight, and target those areas. I have also been doing good with black trick worms, baby brush hogs, and zoom 6" lizards. Slooowly dragging, then pausing. Tried the G-locks for the first time this weekend and may be my new favorite Texas rig hook.

I have 3 MB's if that tells you anything. Can get it on EBay for $93 right now using coupon code "JUSTSAVE10". It's a no brainer.

You can throw a spinner bait and chatter bait on just about any rod that isn't super stout or super noodly. Anything in between comes down to pure preference. IMO 6'6" would be a great length.

I used the 9 ft. Model of the Lews for 10xd's for about a season. I would not recommend the 9 foot model. Don't get me wrong, it throws 10xd's great, but something I didn't consider is the longer the rod, the more exertion it places on your body while casting. After about 20 casts, I would be ready to put it down for a while. It also has pretty small micro guides toward the tip which made it tough to pass a braid to leader knot. Something else of note is that while it is advertised as med-heavy/ moderate, the rod is labeled as mod-fast. I called Lews about this and long story/short, it is a mod-fast. Not really a deal breaker, but something to know. I know it sounds like I'm bashing the rod but honestly it wasn't bad at all and I'd buy another one for cranking, just a shorter length. It was pretty light weight for a 9 ft fishing pole and the build quality was decent. I actually really liked the handle as well. For the price on the web site you listed, it'd be tough to go wrong. If I had 50 bucks laying around, I'd jump on one. For 10xd's though? Agggh, I have learned to hate that lure. Hope these ramblings were of some help.

Dude just do what I did if it looks like the company you purchased it from is not going to make it right. I sure as heck wouldn't spend 40 bucks to have it possibly happen again. Just checked and the stuff you want is "Flex Coat, " not Flexkote. It is a little watery but you definitely don't need a rod spinner or anything fancy to do this. Just prop the rod at an angle to let the epoxy dry. I would absolutely do this again, it turned out quite nicely. Now, I couldn't tell you which guides were bent if my life depended on it.

Had the same thing happen with a new rod that I ordered. The rod had 3 bent guides which had seperated from the epoxy and it was pretty obvious the it happened in shipping. The EBay seller was out of that particular rod so they credited me the cost of the rod and said to keep it. (Pretty sweet) IMO this defect would not likely cause any problems but if you are like me, just knowing it will drive you crazy. I took a small flat tip jeweler screw driver and very carefully removed the remaining epoxy from the gap forward of the guides (this is fairly easy to do, it came off in a big chunk for the most part). Then I simply applied some Flexkote line guide epoxy and let it dry for a couple of days. Rod looks like new and my OCD is at peace for now. I think the epoxy was roughly 15 bucks from mudhole.com.

Please be careful if you use pliers on the reel seat nut. They are usually plastic made in China.

Personally I don't care for a 5 speed reel, ever. At the end of a long cast, you really have to turn the reel handle to get the lure moving. I feel like something in the low 6's is perfect, even for magnum cranks. It's just a preference thing but I'd rather give up a bit of torque by having a faster reel than have to turn the reel handle a little faster with a lower speed reel.

It takes a fairly long cast to get a crankbait down to 20 feet. Even then, the amount of time it will spend at depth is limited. I'm guessing you were fishing from the bank but have no idea. Is it possible your lure made it to the bottom but the surface was silty? Sometimes It's not easy to tell when you have a soft bottom. BTW, I think a 6 speed reel is perfect for deep cranks, don't listen to the internet (unless It's me).

You can use BB1 for any techniques you like. I think a lot of people use it for crankbait and Swim bait because it gives pretty solid casting distance.

At least the tip of my thumb is always on the spool. The most pressure is applied at the beginning of the cast and I gradually lessen thumb pressure to not much more than just a tiny bit of my finger tip resting on the spool. This will allow you to really loosen your spool tension knob and turn your brakes down quite a bit.

Have been using mono leaders on all my setups since spring. I see no reason to change. Yes mono floats, but jigs sink.