Hook2Jaw

This man knows what I'm talking about.

I can rock a 5xd just fine on a Medium rated to ¾, phenomenal little crank.

13 Fishing Medium Fast action rods have been an absolute pleasure for me, I started with a 6'7" MF Fate Chrome. That rod now handles close topwater applications. I upgraded my jerkbait setup to a 6'7" MF Muse Black and a 7 3:1 Daiwa Tatula 100. Most of the spool is braid to keep it light, but then I keep a fresh topshot of 10-12# fluoro on it. The 13 rods have enough backbone to really snap the bait but load up well enough to absorb the fight on #6 hooks.

Berkley Dredger.

13 makes good stuff, their recent hard baits have all been pretty good lures and as for Googan, their baits are doing just fine too. Still, I'm happy to see the hate flow as well.

The hook size of a jig dictates the trailer size for me. My Z-Man Finesse Jigs get trailers in the 2.5" range, my BOSS Finesse flips rock a 2/0 and get 2.75-3.25" trailers, and my BOSS Flipping Jigs get trailers between 3.5 and 4 inches threaded on their 4/0 hooks.

I am very quick to pick up an egg beater if the fish aren't slapping moving baits. Congrats on the revelation!

I like the VMC Rugby head pretty good, but I head back to a ball head when I start getting out of hard bottom and into wood. I can't make any recommendations as far as a round-ball goes, as I use a screw lock for those.

And I vividly remember 10~ 5+ pounders on VMC Touch-Lok Snaps this year, but there's more than one way to skin this cat, so if someone doesn't like snaps tie knots. If you don't like knots tie a good one to a good snap. Use the connection you like.

Hog farming, sir. Awesome job!

I use a VMC Touch-Lok Snap for almost all of my hard baits except my topwaters, for those I use a loop knot barring frogs. I remove my split rings, most stock ones aren't quality anyway. Some exceptions on hardbaits; the 6th Sense Provoke 106 and Strike King KVD Deeps I throw are often inconsistent and may require keeping on or taking off the split ring or the addition of suspenstrips to hang out in the column as well as orient themselves nose down.

Just depth. Jackall Rerange 110s, 6th Sense Provoke 106s, and SK KVD Deeps pretty well all act the same and if they don't I get out the suspenstrips, nail polish them to match the belly, and start trimming them down until I've got a little bit of nosed down suspending action.

You'll enjoy longer casts and more sensitivity with braid, and most braid will stand up to about 150% of it's breaking strength. I think you're assuming you need stronger braid to stand up to the fish on your shakyhead setup, but I believe that to be far from the truth. Sure, your braid can contact cover during the retrieve of your bait or during a fight with a fish and fray, but most of the time your weakest link is your leader line. If you're using 8# leader, I see no reason why you couldn't drop down to 8# braid should your heart desire.

I like the Big Bite Baits BBJ, they hook fish and cost $3.49 for a six pack. They work great with 2.5-3" swimbaits.

I use a Daiwa Tatula XT 7' MLR paired with a Tatula Elite 6.3:1 spooled with Yo-Zuri Topknot 10#. I bought the rod for specifically throwing the Strike King 3XD, but it handles ⅛-¼ ounce Big Bite Baits BBJ finesse jigheads paired with 3" Z-Man Slim Swimz perfectly. I caught quite a few fish testing that jig and head out this year and lost none. I didn't use it often, but when I did it always scored me a fish. You might have different results.

I do. Like the poster above me, I don't kayak to be a minimalist, I kayak to get off the bank. I try to be as flexible as a boater in a smaller package and treat my kayak cockpit just like one would the front deck of a bassboat. Yes, it's an incredible workout. It'll take me about 15 minutes to unload and setup my boat for fishing and then about 15 more for me to break everything down at the end of the day. I'm buying a trailer to cut down on my exhaustion.

I'm much more of a lipped plug fisherman than a lipless, so these are the three colors that I've started transitioning to. I still have a lot of baits in ghost and reflective patterns, but when they're gone all I'll be stocking are shad, green, and red. Since I don't throw lipless except during the spring and fall, American Shad speaks to me. It's gold, silver, and it has a bold blue to it that seemingly works when it's bright, cloudy, or in stained water. If the fish seem to be on crayfish or it's that special spring time of year, red. American shad and red, I keep it simple but just a bit more complicated than you.

Shad colors on a shakyhead. Z-Man's The Deal in particular. I try to keep it simple, favoring green pumpkins, water melons, and black/blue variants. A buddy of mine proceeded to catch a 20+ pound sack, 101", in a tournament I fished this year with a Z-Man Fattyz in The Deal, and that worm in particular has probably caught 50% of my fish this year.

I'll have a jerkbait, lipless, dropshot and a jig tied on for the rest of the year. On days where they're biting I'll probably have a flatside crankbait and a 3XD/5XD on as well. That's about it for me this coming winter.

I feel like I used to be able to participate in threads like these, but this year I really simplified my fishing. I caught a few fish on a spinnerbait, a few on a chatterbait, and a few on a swimjig, but beyond that I really didn't vary what I threw. I did, however, fish the conditions with baits I'm confident in. Jerkbaits, crankbaits, and jigs handled the days where activity was heavy and the shakyhead and dropshot got me limits on days where my fish were more negative. Y'all ain't versatile, y'all confused.

Redfish are awesome.

I keep almost my entire collection of baits in a Yakattack Blackpak and three Plano KVD Speedbags full of plastics. I'd wager the Blackpak weighs 60 pounds and the plastics I carry weight about another 30 pounds. I never come close to using it all, but it's easier for me to just grab the stuff and go than constantly switching different baits into different boxes. My crate is filled from end to end with tackle sorted into individual 3600s and 3700s. My plastics are sorted in the speedbags. I always have seven rods with me, and it's the rods that are changed out from trip to trip. I think I have about 20 different setups that could make the cut on any given day.

Can't do it, I've gotta start with the jig! I do respect your love and mastery of the Texas rig.

I try to choose my plastics based on the conditions, clarity, and cover presented to me. Stable weather sees the most experimentation, and an incoming front will cause me to choose a more aggressive plastic. A cold front, like I dealt with today, will cause me to tone down my plastic choice. If I'm throwing a Texas rigged something or another, chances are I've tried dragging a jig first.

I barely carry more than two colors in baits I like, but of those baits I like my Jackall Reranges and Provoke 106s come in three different ones. A ghost, something blandly natural, and something bold. Try changing colors.