Aaron_H

Gotcha. Reason I asked is because the setup is a little different on a DC reel than you may be used to. For spool tension, it should be tightened just enough to eliminate side-to-side play in the spool, not with regards to the fall rate of the lure. Then set your brake dial on the side to w/e line you're using (2 for braid/mono, 3 for fluoro, 1 for least braking, and 4 for wind/max braking). If that doesn't get it right, then there's definitely something up with the reel, but as of right now it just sounds like the spool tension is too tight to let the DC work.

Is this your first DC reel? It sounds like your tension knob may be too tight.

I haven't tried the Hard Knocker version yet, but the One Knocker is a favorite for me, and has caught my biggest lipless fish to date (9lb 1oz). The Thunderhawk Sergeant comes in a 1/2 oz silent version, and I like it a lot when they're on that kind of bite. The 3/4 oz rattling version is killer as well.

Tried out a new pond today, got a recommendation from someone who has caught a handful of plus sized bass out of it. Did okay numbers, but no size. Main producers were spinnerbait, jerkbait, lipless, and some senko fish. I made a promise to throw the spinnerbait more often this year and try to get some nice fish on it. Did decent numbers on it today but nothing sizeable. I did get some excitement when a hefty fish slammed my jerkbait and had the rod doubled up ripping some drag, but turned out to be...... A 4lb tilapia. Still a good fight but very disappointing to see when I thought I had a quality bass on at first. My biggest bass of the night was right before dark, 2lb 10oz smoked the chatterbait right up against the bank. Had a bigger fish follow me in not long after but spooked off when she saw me. Just nice to get out there, between work and weather the fishing trips have been a little less numerous lately.

It was more to illustrate that spoken language is a living thing, what is common usage often changes over time. If it is common usage, it is not wrong, that is how language works. But it doesn't make @J Francho or you wrong either. This is also what I meant by regional dialect, one usage may be more or less common in a certain locale. But likewise, it's not a hill I'm willing to die on.

The 6'6" ML Fierce combo is rated 1/16-5/8 oz, that swimbait weighs 3.25 oz, over 5 times the max weight rating of your rod. You can usually exceed the rating a bit, especially with softer lob casts, but that sort of excess is a nonstarter on your current tackle. As others have said, there are better options for the money than LiveTarget, but it won't be any use without a setup that can handle it.

If you do a google search for double uni knot, and go to images, 19 of the first 21 results show a line to line connection, only 2 show it as a single uni with the line doubled. Not arguing with you, it could simply be a regional dialect issue, but I personally have only heard people refer to the knot in the OP as a double uni. @OP, you've already got great testimony that I can't improve on. I am a religious user of the knot for both freshwater and saltwater applications, no issues when properly tied.

Still a strugglebus for size this year, but finally (FINALLY) managed my first one over 3lb for 2023. Still no big bites as of yet. We've had some intense storms lately but not enough to get our water levels where they should be and it doesn't seem like the bass are pushed up shallow feeding like usual. Water temps low for the time of year, too, but not surprised with the rain/cold snap we got. This one was the first of the day, went 3lb 2oz. Now to find her momma (or grandmama preferably...)

Walked out back with the panfish setup to see if I could catch some of the bigger bluegill and shellcrackers behind the house. No dice, but did get one little bass that was a fun fight on the light line. 1/16 oz jighead with a junebug/chartreuse curlytail grub, had to bounce it on the bottom for about 10 mins before I finally got him to commit.

I'm not getting too down about it, sometimes you're on a hot streak and sometimes you're not. Disappointing but not the worst thing to happen, I'll get lucky again one of these days I'm sure. But thank you for the encouragement

Still struggling this year with size, and between work, weather, and things in my personal life, I think I missed my window for any true giants. Still plenty of time left in 2023 for some big ones, though. This has been about the consistent size of what I've been catching lately. This one yesterday slammed my Chatterbait but decided it fancied an ear piercing more than a meal, I guess.

My TW order. Only placed it because I needed more trebles and they were super cheap during the last sale. 4 packs of size 6 Mustad KVD short shank EWGs 2 packs of Gamakatsu Superline split rings (usually more expensive than the Owner HyperWires but sale had them cheaper) Owner oval split rings (can never have too many, at least until all hard baits come stock with them) 3/4 oz Thunderhawk Sergeant lipless to replace one that a toothy critter cut off a couple of weeks ago. If you like throwing a lipless and haven't tried this one out, get your hands on one asap. And rounding out my spinnerbait purchases with 3 Strike King compact spinnerbaits, one in white/silver, one in golden shiner, and one in mouse, which I think will be a great combo shad/baby bluegill imitation in my waters. This model is white/silver is what I caught my biggest spinnerbait fish on last year so I have good confidence in it already, and I love the compact frame in a 1/2oz size.

I can't escape them. I won't even throw a chatterbait in this pond anymore (even though I have caught some big bass in here on it) because the tilapia are murder on the Zako tails. They already nipped some of the skirt off that brand new spinnerbait. I hate them.

First spinnerbait bass of the year. Today was a dink fest but starting out that 2023 spinnerbait grind on an okay foot at least. First spinnerbait fish of the year, however, goes to my nemesis, the tilapia.

Made a promise to throw the spinnerbait more this year. Finally got the last Bass Pro giftcard FWC owed me for TrophyCatch and threw a handful of spinnerbaits in the cart. They sent me the wrong size Berkley, so they shipped out the correct one and let me keep the smaller one. Threw in a couple of the Halloween color Shadow Rap Shads since they were out of stock last couple of times I did a jerkbait order, and then also picked up some H2OX stickbaits in watermelon/red to try out. They're made by Big Bite Baits, which have a little different fall rate/action than I prefer so I don't anticipate them replacing my BPS Stik-Os, but still a solid offering. Have a few things on the way from TW that should hopefully be here this week, too.

The Shimano GLF 7'0" Medium should work well. It's rated as a fast action, but it's a composite blank, so should load well on the cast and it definitely has enough bend to handle the trebles. I've played with them quite a bit just never thrown them inshore, I would feel confident throwing those presentations on it. It was designed for inshore targeting reds and trout.

I'll throw in another vote to Shimano's 6'10 Medium blank, I've been using it for jerkbaits for a little over a year now and I've been extremely happy with it.

They're a very versatile presentation IMO. Can straight retrieve at any speed, sure, but can also yo-yo them, burn and pause, jig them off the bottom if you have no grass, and they can target any part of the water column.

Those plus sized smallies all singing Cash's The Man Comes Around "Hear the Thunder Goby comin'/When A-Jay comes around"

The whole "shows up better on Live Scope" marketing doesn't matter a lick to me, but it looks like it has good roll in the water and throws a lot of light. I also like that it comes in floating, suspending, and sinking varieties. Curious to see if anyone's tried it out yet.

Not yet, going to pick up a pack of their senkos and see how they do here soon. They picked a solid staple to start out with, senko, brush hog, trick worm, keitech-style swimbait. They all look good, if they got the salt content/fall rate right they'll definitely be winners for the price. I'll report back once I try them out.

Thank you, that's very kind of you! Some days I go out and catch a handful of dinks and question if I really know what I'm doing, it's definitely encouraging to hear something like that from another basshead.