Aaron_H

At the bottom of the product page, DSG lists the brand as Lew's, which would make sense as they are big on the Mach branding. However, I don't see any lures listed on the Lew's website.

If I'm targeting bluegill/shellcrackers, there are a couple of preferred lures I use. Strike King/Mr. Crappie "Slab Slasher" jigheads 1/16oz or the Roadrunner 1/16oz or 1/8oz underspin. Both paired with either a Big Bite Baits grub (white/chart or black/chart) or the Mr. Crappie Shadpole CT (junebug/chart or pearl white).

Interesting, been using Big Game for many years with a handful of very recent spool purchases and no issues. Maxima Ultragreen is supposed to be very nice.

Love every time you mention these fish, Tom. What so many of us can only dream of.

Look up pictures of Liberace's outfits in his prime, he was very much into the "bling" and that's a pretty blinged out spinnerbait.

H2O Xpress Ultimate Jerk Shad in the Crackle color nabbed me my 10lb 9oz PB this prespawn.

Probably going to try the BasiX here soonish, I've heard great things for an affordable fluoro.

You hate to see it. Hopefully you're able to spring for a replacement soon. Also if it's only a month old and you have the receipt, Academy may be willing to replace it for you as their policy is like 60 or 90 days I believe. Stepping on it isn't a defect, but it's worth a shot. I've played with those Tac-40 rods a bit and they are sweet for the price tag.

Good to know it works for T-rigs! I enjoy a stiffer tip for the technique personally, but this is one of the things I love about our sport; there is no one-size-fits-all approach to a technique. Sounds like the OP will be good to go for what they want to use it for.

I don't have the Maverick 705CB (yet), but I have a Fury 705CB that should be identical action. It's definitely on the moderate side of moderate-fast (it's very spongy but not a wet noodle), and I think the rod works best with braid-to-leader (or a lower stretch fluoro). I use mine for lipless cranks, but chatterbaits and squarebills would be good to go on it as well. I personally wouldn't throw a T-rig on it but I don't see why you couldn't in a pinch.

I don't know about "better," but there are two I would throw out there: 1. The BPS Stik-O (I cannot tell the difference in action/fall rate between it and the senko when looking at underwater footage). 2. The H2O Xpress Ultimate Jerk Shad, which has caught my three largest bass of 2022 so far including my PB.

Absolutely, but I wasn't the one telling people they can't read.

I don't believe so, OP also mentions backlashes. He's saying that he doesn't believe that braid is more susceptible to backlashes than mono since it does not behave that way on a spinning reel for him. In this case, it should be read like this (parenthesis for clarification mine): "Seems I've heard more cons than pros on this (braid for crankbaits). One reason was less distance the other was if you get a backlash start cutting. Is there less distance with braid on crankbaits and is it any more susceptible to backlash than mono? I was thinking it wasn't (less distance or more susceptible to backlash) because braid works a lot better all around for me with spinning gear (ergo it should work better on casting gear also)."

Nice catches and welcome! The wacky rig is definitely a killer presentation.

Great report and oh boy what a great bass! Hopefully those DDs stick around a bit for you to get another shot.

The Luck-E-Strike 4" ring worm. When I first started picking up bass fishing, I couldn't buy a bite on any of the curlytail worms I was throwing. Took me almost two weeks, but that was the first lure I caught a bass on and continued to smash them on it. Likewise, the baby brush hog did wonders from the first time I threw it. Caught two PBs on it that first summer, including my first "big" bass that fueled my obsession with the species, 7lb 5oz (it's the bass in my profile pic).

Hopefully they come back to it once they're a little older and miss that time with their grandfather. I grew up with offshore boats and near-weekly fishing trips so I took it for granted most of the time as it was just my "normal." Fell out of love with fishing for many years before I got into bass fishing, now I try to fish with my father as much as I can.

Thank you for the answer, Glenn. I certainly agree that no line/tool is an end-all-be-all.

That's interesting. I have some ponds where the tilapia aren't super aggressive and are hard to catch, but can usually get them pitching a beaver-style bait into their beds. Traps seem to be my most productive lure for them when they're off beds and back to schooling, jerkbaits are also effective. I've been trying to get more big ones the last year or so. World record is currently 9lb 9oz out of Stuart, FL, my PB is 8lb 10oz and I know the pond holds bigger ones than that. Only managed one over 7lb last year, and biggest one so far this year was just over 5lb, but we'll see.

Great insight, Glenn, but is this really that unreasonable of a mindset? I see so much talk of anglers approaching their setups as a system where all parts must work in tandem and if you start by saying "I like the characteristics of this line and want to use it," then surely building a system around that would necessitate a different rod action than if you chose to use a line with very different characteristics? I would certainly not use the same rod to throw a lipless on mono as I use to throw them on braid-to-leader, for instance. Obviously not everyone will like the same line for a technique and therefore will build their system differently. This is a genuine question, I hope my tone is not coming off as abrasive. I am far from the most experienced angler so I absolutely could be missing something here (or just reading too far into it).

Really great options presented here, Rodman/Stick Marsh/Headwaters were my first thoughts. You can still catch some trophies in June (big girls gotta eat, too), but keep in mind they will be close to or at their lightest weight for the year. That lack of belly really hurts the weight, and a 25" fish that would go 10+ in prespawn might only go 8.5 in June. If your goal is a giant, I would plan a trip during prespawn 2023 if that's feasible for you. Otherwise, just hire a good guide on any of the aforementioned lakes, you can still get some truly awesome fish during the summer.

Probably around 95% or so I'm by myself. Sometimes my father or one of my brothers will get the itch to go with, and recently a buddy of mine has gotten hooked so I've been stopping by his local hole here and there to help him learn the ropes. I enjoy fishing with others, the friendly competition and company is nice, but I do enjoy setting my own pace when fishing alone.

No, but I do have to dispatch them as it is illegal to live release them in FL. The ponds I catch them out of are fed directly by drainage from the roads, and I don't trust the water quality enough to eat from. I don't personally care for tilapia, but if the water quality there was better I would at least fillet them for friends/family or something. I feel terrible wasting them but gotta abide by the law.

Threw the Whopper Plopper 90 around a bit this evening, forgot how much I dislike it compared to the 110. Had a big head wake come up behind it and thought I was about to get crushed by a decent bass.....SIKE! Turns out tilapia will eat a topwater, too. Ended up with 3 others on a 3/4 oz lipless, as well. I believe I'm up to 66 of these things for 2022.

That's awesome, congrats! Gotta be a good feeling to realize at the weigh in that you were the only ones who figured something out. Real zero to hero moment ?