Finessegenics

Throw me into that category as well. I never have, but I wish to someday.

Not sure if you meant Fat Impact or the skinnier “regular” impact. I don’t know of any that are similar to the regular swing impact. For the fat impact there are many knockoffs out there but if you’re looking for an identical profile then these are it: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/search-tackle.html?sort=no&start=0&count=30&searchtext=Eco+pro+tungsten+Shad+

Smallmouth : 4lbs 6oz No picture unfortunately since bass was out of season at the time. Caught her while walleye fishing in the spring and weighed her in the net very quickly and released her right away. When bass are out of season here, you must not intentionally target them and avoid keeping them out of water. I caught her on a 3” grub rigged on a 1/16 oz mushroom head. Largemouth: Weight Unknown No idea how much this thing weighed and I’m not even gonna try to estimate. Did not have my scale on me. All I know is it’s definitely my biggest as the other 5 (yes, 5) largemouth I caught this year we’re not even photo worthy. Caught this one fishing from shore in September. I was throwing a 3/8 Original Chatterbait in Carolina Craw with a homemade swimbait trailer.

While I own many different brand of swimbaits, for keitechs I only carry 3 colors. Some of these have already been mentioned: Ayu Great for imitating sunfish as well as yellow perch Gold Flash Minnow I use this when I’m fishing in an area with gobies. I usually do this by dragging bottom slowly. Pro Blue Red Pearl This one is very popular as it’s a basic silvery baitfish pattern.

I see what you're saying. Rapala crankbaits were popular and caught lots of fish before Ike was ever affiliated with them. Same thing with Berkley plastics. Those brands aren't synonymous with bass fishing for no reason. Lures with Ike's name attached to them perform well because they're already top-notch stuff.

I think you would be safe, unless the plano box itself begins to warp while stacked on top of or under another box. The plano boxes should not warp though, but I have heard of it happening with elaztech. I keep mine in their original packaging but I realize that is not a possibility for everyone. Here's a very informational post from a member getting a response directly from Z-Man concerning his question which is similar to yours.

Welcome!

I am aware. The Mojo and Avid have the same situation going. One made overseas, other made in US but same blank. Yet, the avid x feels better to me. Would you say the same about the Triumph and Premier?

First I must admit that I have never fished a triumph. But an employee at a local tackle shop summed up the triumph like this “It’s like wanting to buy a BMW and going with a 3 series”. Insinuating that you’re paying for the name on the rod but the rod itself being junk. Or he was trying to say people want to say they own a st Croix but then go out and buy the cheapest, worst one there is because they can’t afford a higher quality one, which usually means more $$$. Interpret that how you wish. Before anyone comes at me; they were his words, not mine. What’s ironic is St Croix actually offers good products in that price range (more on that below). Now, if you’re dead set on those two I’d go with the HMG, which I have fished. Good rod for the price and probably one of the best < 100$ rod. And this is coming from someone who currently has an all St Croix lineup ?. Others have mentioned the Mojo which is out of your budget. Within your price range, if you want to go with St Croix, I’d take a look at the Bass X. They make a 6’10 ML/XF. I picked up a 7/4 H casting model late in the fall and only fished it a few hours but I was impressed with it. The evidence all points to it being a considerably better rod than the Triumph. Best of luck with your purchase!

And while everyone is waking up, I am finally going to bed! Goodnight all and merry Christmas ?

Merry Christmas everyone!

That is a Carolina rig to me too. The whole point of the free rig is that there is no hardware blocking the sinker from sliding along the line. An unpegged Texas rig falls into that description but the free rig always involves a weight with an open ring like @MN Fisher already mentioned. These weights are ideal; skinny dropshot weight with no swivel and an open ring. Of course, a regular old bell sinker would work too. http://www.omfishingsinkers.com/Tungsten-sinker/Tungsten-skinny-Drop-shot-Weights-Unpainted-Round--free-shipping-if-your-order-is--40-or-more-Delivery-time-9-11days_p-80564.html

I kind of do that with the finesse trd. 1/32 oz nail weight with a size 2 EWG. So a texas rig/neko rig hybrid. I believe they call that the tiny child rig. It definitely would work with the larger TRD offerings too. I dont really throw the neko rig but I'm sure the zman baits are quite popular for neko because of the floating tails.

I have. Suprisingly, the Zinkerz have decent action. With the extreme buoyancy of the elaztech I expected the action to be crummy. But no, It has a slow fall and a slight wiggle. I can see it working well in shallow water, since it sinks so slow. I'll definitely give them another shot (didn't catch a fish on em) but for now i still prefer the senko and xzone center stick.

I gotta admit, that is clever of you!!! ???

It’s been rough for me already. It’s been about 5-6 weeks since I decided to end my season but it honestly feels like months. I’ve already reorganized all my plastics, hard baits, lines and just about anything you can name. Only thing I have left to do is clean my rods which doesn’t take long, and give my reels a good cleaning.

Yes it would be fine for jerkbaits. Most M spinning rods do very well at jerkbait fishing and it’s what I prefer to use for my jerkbaits. I owned that exact model of the HMX for a short period of time. It was a good rod; great sensitivity and feeling for the price. It was a bit stiffer than I expected from a M but in hindsight, seeing that the lure rating was up to 3/4 oz, that was to be expected. I especially liked the way the rod loaded up. Nice parabolic bend in the upper 1/3 of the rod but I wouldn’t say it had a “soft” tip. My only gripe was that it kinda had some durability issues. Yea, I’ll concede that I’m rough with my gear but the cork on the handle degraded incredibly fast and the cork split under little pressure when I was tightening another reel onto the reel seat. I’ve read some reviews and it seems like that was a problem other people have had. No worries though, it was probably just a dud. I’ve owned many Fenwick rods and they’ve all been good.

A 5” senko. Xzone true center stick is a very close second. Doesn’t get much better than that.

I wouldn’t know about that. If a fish is going to eat a moving bait, it’ll eat a moving bait. If were talking 4.5”-5” swimbaits then there’s nothing finesse about it. But to me, it seems like the keitech kicks easier on a slow retrieve whereas the pulse takes a little more speed to get it going. So if you’re planning on crawling your bait super slowly, I’d definitely opt with the Keitech.

The pulse has more of a body roll while the keitechs just have that super wide kick from the tail. The whole body of the pulse kind of rotates side to side with less tail kick. Of course, this is when it's rigged on a regular old jighead. I don't know how it would act as a swim jig trailer. I also wouldn't say one is better than other, just that you're getting two different actions both of which are good.

I feel like hard tackle boxes have become obsolete for bank anglers. It is so much easier to carry around a soft tackle bag which you can sling around your shoulder, leaving one of yours hands free. I actually prefer a backpack style for bank angling but that soft bag looks great.

Good reels. I definitely feel like it’s worth the jump in price from the regular president. They feel like two completely different reels. Much lighter and crisper compared to the president. I think a lot of that is due to the carbon handle. I actually bought mine as a rare “downgrade” after I broke my Supreme XT. Not disappointed one bit.

Of course. Why wouldn’t it work? Hard baits are effective but you can find a style of soft plastic for any situation, even for reaction bites. 80% of my fish come on soft plastics rigged various ways.

x2. I don't mind giving away info and have even given away baits before as long as the person approaches me politely and I'm able to judge that they're a responsible angler. I mean it's impossible to judge just by looking at someone but usually the people who get insanely close to me and don't even acknowledge that I'm there are the irresponsible anglers. Not even a "hi" or anything. That really irks me. When someone asks if they can get close, I almost always say yes, As for the OP's post which was more about copying rather than people not giving you your space: It does not bother me at all that someone decides to copy whatever bait I'm throwing. I really don't see the big deal. So what if they're throwing the same bait? It doesn't flatter me either.

I think it would be the perfect weightless plastic rod. Think t-rigged senkos, soft jerkbaits, weightless tubes. Other than that it’d be good for jigs with lighter wire hooks and shakeyheads too. If you like throwing a dropshot on a casting rod then sure, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.