Mikeltee

0# test leader as in no leader. It robs you of performance and adds another breaking point. We use braid for a reason... it's tough as nails. Why turn your rig into a wet noodle by adding the lightest, clearest line you can maybe get away with all for the sake of fooling a bass that doesn't care what line is tied to that lure? If it makes you happy tie one on but if so, I suggest getting a cheap rod so that you wont have to hear that knot banging away on your guides. I assure you that you will still catch fish with whatever decision you make.

If you can work the frog with a short rod and it has the backbone to pull a whale out of the slop go for it. I would assume that a short rod with an adequate backbone will have a less chance at a good, fast tip but I don't understand do I know about short rods? If you are talking short as in 7'2" compared to 7'6" I wouldn't call that short and you probably arent going to notice much of a difference. I know that you dont want to hear about the DC735C but have you heard about the DC736C? Lmao That's what I use and it's one bad mofo. Accuracy with short casts is not my priority though. I call that pitching and flipping and the 736 can do that as well.

It really doesn't matter and leaders will hurt your performance. Bass could care less what that lure is tied to as long as you present it right. I bought a bunch of spider wire when it first came out. It's been sitting in my hot to cold to hot etc etc garage for a decade and all my reels are spooled with it. I cant tell you the last time I changed a spool of it on one of my reels except to try floro. It catches fish just like the high dollar gotta buy this braid guy's line. If it makes you feel better to have $40 of line on your reel and swap it out every week go for it. Your confidence level is what catches fish much more than what you present to them. Don't ever feel like you are missing out on something by buying a cheaper line because you aren't.

Get a moderate action at least 7' long. MH for 1/2oz and less. H for >1/2oz. You didn't state your budget. I like having good sensitivity so that I can feel what the lure is doing. I use a Dobyns Champion 765cb graphite. Its pretty much all purpose and can throw lipless, 3/8-1/2oz chatterbaits, and DD up to 22'. Glass works as well but has reduced sensitivity which is not ideal for me. Dobyns Champion 735cb glass is what a lot of people love for your intended purposes and is what Gary recommends. It is a glass composite but I would assume has enough sensitivity to feel what your lure is doing. I plan to get this rod in the distant future. I have a couple of NRXs on my list for now.

Two piece are excellent for throwing in the trunk and having a rod on deck at all times for those long lunch breaks. When I go fishing in my sedan I am reduced to bringing 2 kids and I have to worry about the one in the middle breaking my rods or getting stuck by the attached lures.

What did you go with OP? This post is 8 months old. I too have a AA Wrench and paired it with the CI4+. I love it for skipping!

I have done this many times with a whopper plopper. It happens when I try to beat my PB in distance calculated by how many turns of the crank I get. Sometimes I get bored when I am not catching and this is fun to me. It hasn't happened since I started using a Palomar knot. I am not sure if it was happening at the knot because I was never able to retrieve any of the $15 lures, but I assume so because it stopped happening once I learned to tie a proper knot.

+1 this is my favorite rod to fish. Its stupid sensitive. I mainly throw weightless 5" Senkos with it and a Tatula SV and I always knock them dead with this combo. The lightest of the Ned rigs also throw great on this combo. I wouldn't go lower than M MH. There is no need to. This will take the lightest presentations you have and make you wonder why people use spinning gear. Its not cheap, but well worth is. I think I paid around $450 for the combo. Much cheaper than my spinning setup I rarely use for these light weight techniques.

If you copy/paste the code you have to edit it and take out the space at the end.

Sharp hooks, a rod that loads properly with the weight of the bait, and learn to reel set. I would go M-MH/X-fast for trigs 3/8 and under which is what I use for all my plastics (neko, weightless, whacky). I barely snap the tip on a hookset and never lose fish. With a lighter powered rod, you also get supreme sensitivity at any price point... even an ugly stik. I don't agree with your heavy logic at all. I even have to drag them through thick grass now that its late summer and never have a problem. I highly recommend the Tatula Elite AGS Finesse which of course is what I use. Its rated 1/8 to 1oz but I never have gone anywhere near an oz. With your hand out of commission and paired with a Tatula SV, you could use this rod for all your spinning rod finesse techniques as well. I like it better than my spinning setup which was way more expensive. It also works great with 3/8 and less jigs.

I was offered one heck of a deal on here for one but I would have to have one in hand before I could commit to such a dramatic change in grip which is why the guy was selling it. Had I been around for the kickstarter I would have rolled the dice on a couple. That was an offer that couldn't be refused. That's too bad they cant meet demand. Sounds a little like the Exprides. At least Shimano hasn't promised anyone anything. At the place I have bought all my rods from, they have been taking pre-orders since April and shipments are due in a few weeks. I doubt they get enough to fill their pre-orders. I would love to get one some day.

Guide it is. I found a guy that used to be on the national circuit. Hes only $500 a day and he has all the lures and gear and guides the Big O exclusively. His boat is freaking sweet as well. I appreciate you guys bringing me down to reality. Hopefully I will land a few nice ones. If you guys know of a better option such as a friend of yours or someone you have fished with please recommend. I like to look out for my own. Mike I will do that search as well.

The Slasher is my next rod however a lot of research has shown the dobyns champion 704cb seems to be widely accepted among all forums as "the jerkbait" rod.

I do believe its FREESHIP25. Go back a few pages to get 45% off by stacking codes. I received my 45% discount package yesterday

We are taking the kids to Disney in October for a couple days but staying a week in our families condo in Ft Lauderdale. I was considering getting a guided bass trip locally as I never caught a peacock bass, but they all use live bait and their galleries were filled with dinks. I didn't realize that the big O was only 90 minutes away. I can rent a 18' "bass" boat for a day for only $250 there. I am an experienced boater here in Indiana (owned speed boats and pontoons for 2 decades), but never been on a boat in Fl. Should I rent a boat or would it be better to just get a guide? The guides really aren't that expensive considering the trophies that swim there. The lake looks HUGE on google maps and it might be a little intimidating for a rookie on the lake especially without a fish finder. If I took the guided route, I would only need to bring the lures I wanted to fish and not have to worry about losing and/or breaking thousands worth of gear. We will be there in mid October. Your advice is appreciated.

There are some great people here for sure. I have a feeling the gifts you received were equipment that has been upgraded many times over until they landed on an NRX

This is true my friend but trust me you are a member of the 1%ers here. OP never bassed fished and wants to start out with 5 combos. You have 5 combos and probably have been catching bass for 40 years.

I'd like to know what you feel is better. You dont have to prove any points with me anyways. PM if you want to. Also the website you mentioned uses yen I believe. Is there a USD option at checkout? I could wait a few weeks for shipping for savings like that.

Travis don't go out and get 5 decent combos. Get 2 excellent end game combos. It will save you a ton of cash in the end and as a beginner, you don't need 5 combos. Get a M-MH finesse/light jigs/plastics/shallow cranks rod and then get a 4.5 power which is between MH and H for frogs/heavier jigs/slop/everything else thats too heavy for the other rod. Find what techniques you like and add on from there. I hate spinning gear. I went with the Tatula Elite AGS Finesse and fished all the techniques the guys do on spinning gear and loved it. Then I let peer pressure set in and dropped $600 on a spinning setup. I prefer the casting setup much better but I use the spinning just because I wasted so much money on it. If you go this route and decide next year that you don't like bass fishing as much as you thought you would you can easily recoup most of your money back by selling your high end gear. You pretty much will have to give away decent gear. Learn from my mistakes. I have a couple thousand of gear that no longer gets used because it has been upgraded. I won't sell it because I will get back 25% if I am lucky, but I also have 4 kids that can utilize it when the time comes.

It really doesn't matter. All lines are fantastic today. If you are having trouble with losing fish on treble hooks, get a more moderate action rod or switch to mono. Each line has its own sinking/floating properties as well if you are unable to tune the weight of the lure to the depth you want to fish. I spend way too much on gear for maximum sensitivity in all techniques so I use braid to not hinder that sensitivity. I don't even use a leader anymore. 50 years ago there was only mono and guys caught just as many fish as we do on our $1000 rigs with $30 of line.

I bet the fantasia is one of them. My buddy's buddy said it's more sensitive than my wife!

Just run straight braid or a leader just long enough to cast effectively and not enter the tip top. You won't be able to solve this issue. It will always hit your guides no matter what you tie. With some lines and knots, this can be minimized but it's still going to happen. I gave up on leaders as soon as I got a rod good enough to see that it makes a drastic change in the rods performance and casting a 3' leader outside the guides is just silly imo. If you are in ultra clear water just run flouro. If you are worried about diminished sensitivity in doing so, get a better rod.

I know they look awesome but ultimate sensitivity is needed for bottom contact so look no further than the NRX series. I am now deciding upon the 893 and 894. Yea they are ugly but the fish dont care. I tried to get a megabass many times and research and recommendations here always led me astray. I do want to get a Destroyer eventually though.

There is nothing wrong with the lews combos. A butt load are sold and I haven't seen any bad reviews. I too like the colors. Go for it.

Here we go again. This is fishing, not marine engineering. Set your drag initially so that when you tug medium hard it will pull. This will be enough to hook a fish. Once the fish is hooked, adjust your drag to how you like to play the fish. Leave it alone and your drag is set perfectly. If you hook a bigger fish, go back to step 2. This is the reason there is a HUGE star drag adjuster beside your fingers. So that you can adjust on the fly. If it was a predetermined number, there would be no adjustment. You would buy a reel and select a reel ratio and a fish species specific drag setting.