GReb

I heard a guy at a local shop one day complaining about the K being heavy. The employee pointed out the Casitas weighed one ounce lighter. The guy threw his head back and said no way he was buying a plastic reel. I just walked away laughing at the irony.

I use 30lb braid for most applications. My muck rods where I’m pitching and frogging heavy cover have 50 lb braid.

I’d def go with the dobyns 4 power. The 704 or 734 depending on preference. Great all purpose rods. Anything in the 30-65lb braid range will be fine

I hate to hear that about the Colt series. Quality control at that price point is just hit and miss. Overall you are so much better off spending the extra money to get in the $100-120 range. Edit: I’ve actually heard really good things about the Colt blank. Just not components

My biggest complaint about the gen 3 Revo SX is the screw on the handle side that loosens the side plate. Mine consistently loosens up. It looks like they corrected this on the gen 4 by making it a screw with a driver head instead of a hand turn head

My basstrakk shows him ahead?

Been using them down here in Mississippi for a decade and they provide a nice layer of protection. Combine it with Off 40% deet and you are usually good Check our Spartan Mosquito for protection around your home. It just flat works https://spartanmosquito.com/

What’s the skinny on Milford? I’ve never even heard of it

Leggo

Square bills or deep divers? I prefer higher great ratios for square bills

Sometimes it helps to see it Faster actions get to the backbone quicker which helps drive big hooks. However faster actions also have less load which means the rod is quicker to flatten out. When this happens the line gets slack in it and fish are more likely to get off.

The Extreme was very good for the price if you caught them on sale. I still use one 6’6” MH quite often for spinnerbaits. It’s my “truck rod”. You know like the clunker smith and Wesson your not afraid to toss around in the glove box

Yep! Caught a 8.5 lb one day on a brush hog. Didn’t feel a thing. Just noticed my line move about a half inch to the left. Had I not been looking at the line in the water I’d have likely never known before he spit it out

Little spit does the trick too.

Someone on YouTube did a very in depth review and gave it a positive score. I don’t remember exactly who it was but it shouldn’t be hard to find.

Like every animal they are a creature of habit. They have certain feeding patterns. Matching that pattern as close as possible is the key to success. Presentation, color, size, etc. It can be very tough to do. That’s why reaction baits are so successful. You hedge all that by making them instinctively attack

You can power fish worms and jigs if you are fishing structure. Just hit your spots. Most of my bites come on the initial fall or within a few feet of it. If you are in open water I agree it can be brutal maintaining a slow pace. My only advice is to stay focused and create a mental picture of your bait in the water. It helps if you know where to anticipate the fish being though

Second the charter suggestion. It’s pretty feasible from what I remember

Have you discovered a pattern where the bigger fish are holding? Are they on the edges in isolated cover? Where pads and wood structures meet? Deep in the thick stuff? From my experience fishing pads the lures don’t matter much once you pinpoint the location.

Lews has some nice reels in that price range too. My only advice is to get as many in your hands as possible before buying. They all “fit” differently and everyone has their favorite feels. Go with a versatile gear ratio of 6.3 - 7.1

Same. I’ve had days where the rod left red marks and small bruises on my ribs lol

You can fish plastics on mod action rods. Not ideal but it’s certainly doable. Especially with lighter wire hooks. You want the MH falcon. It fishes more towards a M than MH. Bucco flex guide

6’6” MH mod-fast is the most versatile rod IMO. You can fish everything from top water to jigs. It’s compact enough to fit in most any vehicle.

Both Daiwa and Shimano have quality braking systems and are set and leave for the most part. I’m partial to centrifugal when it comes to casting cranks, spinnerbaits, etc. On the flip side I think the Tatila is the best flipping reel I’ve ever owned I’d say to learn on centrifugal. But if you are not patient and just want a reel that goes A to B, the magforce Daiwas are the ticket.

I throw shaky heads on a 6’8 M LTB casting rod. No complaints here. It’s pretty close to perfect to me.