Bird

I'm mostly soft plastics in the summer but always have a spinnerbait tied on. They are still very effective in summer especially around wood and sparse grass. Spinnerbait = my all-time favorite bait.

Keitech

Smaller fish get flipped into the boat, reel hand stays put. Larger fish that require a net, no real formula. Pretty sure that I'm grabbing rod somewhere above the reel to draw the fish in.

Why not carry a thermocell ? Mosquitos despise them !

Was all over the state of Maine the last 3 weeks, bogs and clear lakes everywhere. Every time I drove past a bog I wondered if that was @ol'cricketybog. 😂 Oh, had no idea that Maine got that HOT 🥵

DS works well here in the clear water. Zoom lizard in the spring and robo worms/ zoom finesse otherwise. The key is to prevent slack line, gentle pressure keeping weight on bottom and bait moving above.

Soft swimbaits and lipless cranks. 🤮 It use to be chatterbaits but I found a new lake this year " stained water " and the bass hammer them.

Was dragging a spinnerbait through Lilly pads in 2 feet of water and thought I had a 10lb largemouth.

Lol, hello and welcome to the forum.

Had no problem with heavy rain when I was younger, not now. Overcast with light rain is ideal.

More expensive but I use nothing but VMC crossover rings. .003-.004 for finesse worms. .006 for Senkos. I posted back in the spring that I caught 13 bass on a single flickShake. As mentioned, you do have to pay attention with Bluegill and Crappie and not set the hook on a TAP TAP TAP. 😁

Since the water I mainly fish is gin clear, finesse is the way to go most of the time. I think smaller soft plastics on lighter tackle fished slow and in my case, a flouro leader is finesse fishing. I don't know if a 1/8 beetle spin or a small Jerkbait like a rip stop is considered finesse. Does increased movement eliminate a bait from being considered finesse. Idk

For cheap reel - Okuma Ceymar Cheap rod - Ugly stick Carbon...... about the best you can do for a little over $100

It's a Carolina rig and Wacky rig fused together. 😳 Honestly looks like an excessive amount of hardware...... never saw this before.

Leonid & friends are a Russian band and are fantastic. They do a lot of Chicago and Earth wind and fire and as iconic as those 2 bands were, Leonid doesn't disappoint.

Aerospace 303 and LA awesome are bought in bulk here, fantastic products.

Yes always use a flouro leader but I'm a braid user.

Flukes and wacky Senkos is all I skip on spinning but it's a game changer with low overhangs in the shade. I can't skip anything on a baitcaster.

I broke a $200 rod in early June on an exaggerated hook set 😁and had to replace that. BUT I really don't succumb to the Monkey 🐒. Buy tackle in bulk at once during the winter and that's it. I'm one of those that can walk around a Bass pro for an hour and not purchase anything........I have enough.

Most of the lakes I fish are clear to very clear with steep rocky banks with sparse timber....... nothing beats the flickShake. I also throw them on the edges of grass and cattails. Also only rig them 1 way and only 2 different colors. 1/16 VMC weedless wacky with .003-.004 VMC crossover rings. Green pumpkin candy and cola 4.8. Never worried about how the worm was oriented, it still does the jiggy.

I use a MH fast for flukes in grass or skipping docks. I can't skip with a baitcaster either. 15# PP to 8# flouro leader.

Yes, happy 4th 🎇 🇺🇸

Ha Ha it's gonna happen and may even happen again. 2 weeks ago I forgot to remove one of the rear straps and thought it was weird that the boat was trying to climb up on the dock as I was pulling forward. 🙄

I think the more expensive the bait and tackle the more fish you catch 😁

Something I do is shut the big motor off within a hundred yards of where I plan to fish and simply troll the rest of the way. I never shut off the fish finders but perhaps I should. 🤔