Bird

7' med is very versatile, good advice. I always struggle with adding a weak link to my braid " floro" but gin clear water requires it for slow working baits......i have several reels rigged 15#braid to 8# floro. Like said, if your dealing with stained water then run straight braid as 15# braid is 6# mono diameter I believe.

I agree, marked Brittle off my list years ago.....terrible fishery.

I fish quite a few lakes that have warning signs prohibiting the use of live bait due to the introduction of unwanted guests. As kids, we'd dump our bucket of mad toms in the lake and now you have a lake full of mud cats.

I can tell you my personal favorites.....doesn't qualify as best. 1. Nose hooked flukes/assassins 2. Roboworms....drop shot, weightless, texas. 3. White spinnerbait in double gold willow. 4. Top water hard plastic jerk baits.....very aggressive is key for me. 5. Ned rigged craws, mostly greens. At dawn I may start with buzzbaits/Spooks.

For me it's kinda like....do I buy a Ford, Chevy or Dodge truck. I have Lews, Pflueger , Shimano and even a Mitchell 300.....years of dependability. Oh and my bait casters are all Abu Garcia's. The ones I didn't mention I've experienced premature failures, all I'll say.

I've had luxury of fishing all over the US and my personal picks would be. 1. Southern California 2. Eastern Tennessee 3. Southern Alabama Sleeper state ..... south Carolina.

Hmmm come to think of it.....direct tie everything except inline spinners.

I use to work part time at a bait and tackle shop that eventually went out of business. The owner sold me everything at a deep discount. I ended up walking out of there with a large igloo cooler stuffed to the lid. No, I do not carry all my tackle on the boat. Lol

Never used a trailer on a buzz......spinnerbaits and chatters, always.

I use braid almost exclusively and do have front treble wrap but will trade that for casting, hook set and bait action. I've yet to experience any line dig in many years of use with braid.

I'm 58 and totally agree.

What I'm implying is can we actually have to much of the same in our arsenal. I fish several days per week and fumble around in the boat looking for that perfect bait, packages laying everywhere. Yes I've been fishing for a very long time and have thoroughly enjoyed this great hobby and have had great success but when I go through all this tackle, I realize something....much is the same. Spinnerbaits and chatterbaits Ned rigs and drop shots Buzz baits and spooks Flukes and assassins Creature baits and skirted jigs Zooms and Roboworms Frogs and poppers Are to many tackle choices counter productive or are we blessed with so so many options ? I get dizzy sometimes. Lol

We say grace and we say mam.......

Yep, God is great, beer is good and so are people.

Even if you don't pull everything together at once, it'll still come together by pulling on the end or line going to reel. I only ever use 2 knots....Palomar,Alberto and retie often.

I have the Jonny boats bass 100 with motor pod, check it out. My favorite boat to date for fishing smaller lakes like I do. Just throw it on back of truck and go fishing.

Because someone might throw a snakehead. Lol

I fish many lakes in WV and have seen that lake lower than it is now, the rains will come. I fish Stonewall and Tygart the most though.

Well the fact that your concerned says alot about you, which is good. I too hate to harm a game fish, love catching them. Just carry long needle nose next time.

Drop shot or Ned rig for slow times

I don't know, As kids we had great success with mad Tom's , crayfish and nightcrawlers but it's gonna fall short compared to today's artificial. Way to many repeat casts with artificial and reaction strikes you get with spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and buzzbaits. Artificial has come to far in mimicking live bait anyway.....there's drop shots, Ned rigs, flukes and a zillion soft plastics. In a tournament, artificial would prevail if that's what your asking.

I catch WAY more fish with artificial simply because I don't throw live bait.

Interesting responses and all very much respected. I fish quite often for hours apon hours and like to dabble with lines and techniques. There is one particular 68acre mountain lake that I fish several times a year that I exclusively used floro, lake is ridiculously clear. I'm going back in 2 weeks for 4 days and already have several reels rigged with 10lb floro and several rigged with 15lb PowerPro braid. I'm going rotate there usage with methods I've had success in the past to see for myself if there is any increase or decrease in strikes. 4 1/2" rainbow trout flukes nose hooked. 4 1/2" Roboworm drop shot nose hooked. I'll be throwing leaders and straight braid. I strayed from floro years back so looking for valid reasons to reunite or forever dismissed.

I still think if Brees isn't sidelined too long to avoid to many road playoff games then the Saints are as dangerous as any in the NFC.......Packers and Rams of course and I have Philly winning the east. Patriots, Ravens and Chiefs are the elite in the AFC......the highly regarded Browns looked absolutely terrible. This is what I see early on. Lol

Dolphins looking good........on the #1 draft pick.