NVD20

When I feel a fish on my bait, especially flipping or with jigs, i tend to drop the rod or stop twitching it, to set the hook, multiple pros and anglers that catch em daily say thats the most effective way to get a reliable hook set, but as you all know losing some is just nature of the game.

Had to be figured out at some point!

Hello, your statement is completely false most anglers that fish the elite series, either started out with nothing and used a primary job too support them while they figured out if fishing was right for them. Swindle and my dad, KVD, are a good example.

Baby/rage craw in either blue craw or bama craw color depending on the time of year, I also use these texas rigged depending on the size of the fish Im catching.

Southwest

This just my opinion so take it with a grain of salt. Many anglers on the Elites are actually not that well of financially, although the people that do well consistently can pay their way more than new anglers or ones that don't do well often. I do know many Elite anglers and most are very down to earth guys that came up from humble beginnings, but with many colleges and high schools starting to get well-known fishing teams its going to start being alot harder for the average joe to enter the opens and be able to compete against anglers of similar skill. I fish on the Michigan Collegiate Bass Circuit and many of my competitors and friends fish out of hand me down boats fiberglass boats and most fish out of john boats and other aluminum boats. I, being a college angler in Michigan know many of my competitors now are like many that fish in the opens, but more and more are getting the latest and greatest things being able to outclass many anglers just because they can get to a spot first that they found using their superior fish finders. Although I have no room to talk, I definitely don't have the fastest or biggest boat on our tour, nor do i have the slowest. this year we had four events and one school in our series has fishing as a varsity sport and they get new wrapped ranger boats and trucks, gas, and all of that paid for plus their tuition, so they immediately have an advantage over other teams, but they dont get to keep any of their tournament winnings, it all goes to the school, which isnt much money in my league.