Bass Rutten

I'll add my vote in on the 3rd gen Tat 100 as well as one of the best values, I picked up several shortly after they came out at under $120, I've since put hedgehog air bearings and tat elite spools in both of them and they are fantastic general purpose workhorses. Even with the upgrades I have well under $200 into each reel, and I'd buy a few more if I wasn't currently on a pure bfs trajectory. Then theres the alphas 800, currently at $156 at jls, it has got to top the list on value imo. I've got two already and contemplating another as they are just a great platform for bfs conversion.

I love the fat free fingerling, it hooked what was likely my pb, I also hate it as several seconds later it lost my pb, in one glorious high flying acrobatic somersaulting leap the roughly 7lb largemouth ejected it into the horizon and I swear it belly laughed and winked at me mid-air... I'll be back, gonna go cry a bit.

Any kind of interaction with a YouTube video, even down voting it, helps its algorithm. The best thing to do if you suspect AI content is nothing, just completely ignore it, no clicks, comments, or votes.

The only thing worse than the bait monkey are the delivery gorillas.

Yes, unnecessary. My St Croix med/fast (utility rod) handles 3/8 quite well, and on the rare occasion I use 1/2oz, my Kistler mh gets called into duty. If they were confidence baits I threw often then I'd for sure put together a dedicated outfit for them. Applies to both chatters and spinners.

I did my fair share of c-rigging in and around vegetation when I lived in Florida. I used braid to a rod length of copoly (12lb yzh) leader, with a cylidrical tungsten weight 12-15 inches from the lure held in place by 1, sometimes 2, bobber stops depending on weight, typically 1/4 or 3/8oz, occasionally using 1/2 oz in deeper water. Most hits seemed to come at the very end of the cast or not very far from where the bait entered the water.

Well I kept digging and figured it out. It is in fact a Roadrunner, it's the long discontinued Aaron Martens rollin' runner. Bummer that I can't get more, something about this design, perhaps the flat eye, does well in current. It fishes very snag free in a rocky stretch of river I fish.

Can anyone identify the manufacturer of this 1/4oz underspin? It's not on TW

Looks like it'd be great on a Carolina rig.

Suck it up buttercups, time to learn the FG knot!

@2earlye I'd play around with lure distance from the rod tip, lengthen the distance between tip and lure up until *just before you notice it begins to affect your release timing. It should smooth out startup jerkiness a bit especially with a fast action rod, avoiding straight overhead casting helps too.

Once you go electric you ain't going back!

Just picked up these two beauties... Never thought I’d buy an Abu Garcia rod let alone two 2-piece bait finesse ones, but various members posts convinced me. I wasn’t aware the 7'3" med-light model was a solid tip when I made the purchase (first one for me), and so far it feels great with cranks, swimbaits, and underspins from 1/8-3/8oz, which was my intent. Got it paired up with a bf tuned Alphas 800 and 6lb yo-zuri hybrid, straight up bombs wiggle warts, not too shabby with a #5 shad rap too. The second, and more intriguing one for my style of fishing, is the light power 6’9” version (tubular tip). Outstanding for smaller 3/16 and 1/4oz jerkbaits. I see this one also getting use for ned rigs, flickshake, and mid-strolling. Got it paired up with my SS Air TW and 6lb Invisx fluoro, but braid is likely in its future as the sensitivity is not bad, but not amazing either. This rod/reel combo weighs in at 7.7 ounces total, like a feather in hand, and well balanced to boot. Gratuitous pics...

What's even more baffling is my ss air lists 6lb capacity as 50yds, but the 8lb capacity as...umm 50yds

In '96ish I seen the first G3 tour with Satriani, Vai, and Johnson at the Aragon, amazing show and venue, and yeah the security was "loose", it was affectionately known as the Aragon Brawlroom.

👆 8.5, half point bonus for telecaster use. Today I learned the Black Crowes released an album last month...

Not silly at all, pretty cool actually, congrats!

Are you saying you insert the toothpick to through the eye of the hook to pin the knot/line to keep it in the same position on the line tie? If so how well does it actually work and stay in place?

Megabass Dog-X Diamante; one of my all time favorite walkers, killer finishes too. Pictured is Tennessee shad, clear gill, and deadly black shad. Truth be told I've done better in clear water with non translucent colors, especially ones with chrome in them. Evergreen black bone color slays too, very similar color to mb deadly black shad.

Been meaning to do this for so long, finally gonna do it. Just curious what size the rubber bands you use are, diameter? Silicone bands might last a lot longer, if they make them in the right size.

Wacky. Circa late 90’s, an older acquaintance took me and my buddy out on his boat, and at some point that day he showed us this far fetched “technique” called wacky rigging, with a sluggo no less. My feeble brain did not compute what I was seeing. Fast forward about 6-7 years and I read about this Japanese inchi wacky thing, a little different but similar in concept, what the heck let’s give it a shot, next thing you know I’m just tearing ‘em up left and right, it just clicked. I didn't struggle too much using it, the real struggle was in accepting this uhh wacky concept could be so effective. If only I had given it a chance those years earlier. It’s a staple for me to this day.

Sweet, just got a fat discount on a new zillion! #nojoke

I feel personally attacked, and you're turning my tatula dreams into nightmares! Kidding aside I love my 3rd gen tats, and outside of the steez ct they may have the best ergos (for my hands) of any reel I've owned or used, looks be da*ned. I also have tat elite spools for them turning them into bonafide bombing machines. I was lucky enough to pick them up about two years ago pre-tariff for less than $120 each. If I did not have these the X would be very intriguing.

SS Air TW, built on the steez ct frame. The Alphas 800 and 3rd gen tat 100 feels great in my hands as well.

If a rod can only do one thing well then it has no place in my quiver. Even my one "dedicated" rod (for dropshot) is not a typical one, and can do other things should the need arise.