ZebcoZak

Alliteration....

i keep my jig fishing pretty simple. 3/8 pitch jig for flipping and pitching along the bank and 1/2 football for dragging flats and points wherwe water is a little deeper. seems to work for me.

I use 17lb Tatsu on my 70 and have never broken off. Literally never. Set your drag to 5 pounds, check your line every 25-30 pitches and dont worry about it. No bass up here in Ohio that has the ability to make the line capacity an issue either. If I somehow hooked into a 40 pound blue cat I would most likely get spooled but that would be my only concern. Slight disclaimer is that I have zero grass in my lake and no docks, so I am only fishing laydowns, stumps etc. I have intentionally laid into a fish as hard as I possibly can trying to break off and cant do it. That is saying something as I am a bit larger/stronger than your average bear. If I was fishing grass consistently I would not be using 17lb flouro. I would be spooling up 50lb braid or something like that.

The man makes the crocs. The crocs don't make the man.

Without a doubt for me it was Babe Winkleman. I was given the VHS series of his "Good Fishing" show when I was about 12 and I watched them all pretty much non stop for several years. To this day my brother and I will joke when we say good bye and act like we have a cup of coffee in our hand and say "hey, good fishin'"

My favorite rod of all time is a Fenwick Aetos 6'6" 2 piece medium fast spinning rod. I use it for everything from wading small streams to bass finesse in lakes and reservoirs, and I have actually even caught a couple Musky on it. There is no sensitivity loss from my perspective, and being able to put it in my truck so easily is just beyond convenient.

For a stick bait i almost never T-rig it. I know that it is possible and that it is a proven fish catcher, but for me a normal straight tail worm is my T-rig. Stick baits are 100% wacky rigged.

Plasma tail is one of my go to worms. I use the 4.5 for drop shot and small shaky heads in streams and creeks for small mouth. Larger version is incredible on a shaky head as well as t-rigged. I have uysed them as chatterbait/spinnerbait trailers before as well with good results.

i have the 6' 10" ML X-tra fast and I love it. can be used for all finesse techniques and also would be great for walleye. has plenty of backbone to handle anything I have fished for as long as it is paired with a good reel.

I toss 100% 1/2 oz football heads with a 7'1" MH X-fast Kistler Helium3. 15lb Tatsu flouro and a Pflueger Patriarch. Insanely sensative. I almost never throw them anywhere but points and flats where I want to drag them across bottom. I cast them a mile with this set up and drag them back feeling every pebble on the bottom. One of my favorite ways to catch them.

My go to travel rod is a Fenwick Aetos MODEL # AET66M-FS-2 6'6" medium fast 2 piece spinning. I toss this in my truck and it fishes all year with me. I can throw just about anything up to 1/2 ounce with it in all presntations and it is just killer. I paired it with a Pflueger Patriarch and 8lb tatsu. I have used it for drop shot and have also hooked a suprise 42" musky on a shakey head fishing a creek and it never has let me down.

I have a: 7' MH Fast for T-Rigs, Jigs and other bottom contact presentations 7' MH Moderate for treble hook lures like crank baits - also toss chatter baits and spinners from time to time on this. 6'10" ML Xtra Fast spinning rod for finesse like ned rig, drop shot, light shaky head, weightless senkos Rarely do I need anything other than this in my bass lakes... I don't spend a lot of money on my treble hook lures like crank baits because they are naturally less sensitive anyways due to the action. If you are going to spend the big bucks, use it for finesse and bottom contact rods. You need the sensitivity there much more than for cranks...

Ditto. Really just a dern good reel at any price. A steal at the price they list it.

I agree probabaly not quite as limber as a Senko - so not as good for a wacky style, but of course it would work just fine. I Texas rigged mine one time when I was tossing a shaky head into rip rap because I figured I would loose a bunch in the rocks. Ended up not losing any and the fish really liked the presentation.

I use 15lb 100% of the time, but I do not have any vegetation in my home lakes. Literally zero. I have absolutely hammered into a hookset several times with zero breakoffs. I even use it for my Musky rods most of the time and zero issues. If it can take the ferocity of a 45" Musky hitting a 2 oz bucktail followed by a massive hookset I am not worried about a Bass doing anything. If I was fishing weeds I would more inclined to upsize a bit. My brother fishes a lake in MI and sometimes you end up with 15lb of salad on your lure by the time you get to the fish. He uses 65lb braid most of the time.....

I only have 5 rods but rarely use more than 3 on any day at the lake. My lake has zero (literally) vegetation so everything is 15lb flouro for casting and 8lb flouro for spinning. Musky rod is 17lb mono. 7'1" medium heavy moderate casting for cranks jerks and other treble hook lures 7'1" medium heavy x-fast casting for heavier jigs spinners/chatters and t rigs (1/2 to 3/4) 7'0" medium heavy fast casting for lighter jigs spinners/chatters and t rigs (1/8 to 3/8) 6'10" medium light x-fast spining for drop shot shaky head and weightless senkos 7'6" heavy x-fast for Musky. Rod is rated up to 4oz so I use it for tossing the big baits

2/0 Gammy wide gap finesse

i will be using my refund to reimburse all of the spending I lost control of in the dead of winter. The bait monkey was a bit out of control this off season. I have enough plastics to fish every day for two years. Easily.

I have both and prefer the Elite Tech pretty substantially. Feels like a better quality build with the reel seat, and I like the split grip a lot. As far as sensativity, I don't notice much betwene these two, but there is a pretty good step up with the AETOS line. Very nice rods.

Granted, I do fish a shad lake, but I have used Chartreuse Shad in many lakes with no shad at all and knocked them out. There is almost a purple/blue iridescent color to it that none of the others have and it seems to make a difference. I accidentally discovered this as I bought a crankbait for my wife for no reason other than it was purple iridescent. I got her a pink colored crank as well. After weeks and weeks of her CONSISTENTLY out fishing me with that one stupid purple lure (she calls it her lucky lure now, and I have gone swimming for it before for the sake of my marriage) I began to search for a similar color, and the chartreuse shad in the KVD lineup is the closest. Now I have 5 of my own "lucky lures".

This post just makes me realize how much I hate central Ohio. Everything is still ice up here, and once they unthaw, a Bass of a lifetime is 5-6 pounds. Depressing. To address the actual question, I always like to T-rig a brush hog and toss that.

I am not as keen on dropping a ton of money on rods that aren't bottom contact presentations, so I went with a St. Croix BXC72MHM. I throw almost all of my teble hooked lures with it and it works for me. Really a nice for for 100 bucks.

Sufix Elite is all I have been using for several years with regard to mono. My wife (very inexperienced) was tossing a square bill when a 9 pound channel cat came out of nowhere and smashed it. The chaos that ensued during that fight left me mind boggled that the line didnt snap. Convinced me for life.

Haha. Yes I see what you are saying. He is an energetic fella, thats for sure.

Bassresource is by far the best educational channel in my opinion. I like Bassresource for technique videos and Tactical for gear videos more specifically. I actually fished with 1rod1reel here in Columbus a couple times before his channel exploded and he moved out of state so I like to keep up with him and see what he is up to. He isn't nearly as educational but since I know him it is nice to see him succeed. I have never met a more passionate fisherman than Mike. Incredibly skilled and more intense and focussed than anyone I have met on the water. There is a reason he usually outfishes the person he is with in his videos. The dude is legit.