Jmoney402

What sort of gear do you have now? Have you considered just upgrading one setup for now? Depending on what type of water you fish a nice finesse setup would go along ways for SM specifically IMO. If you were going to upgrade a spinning setup I would prioritize money on the rod over reel. If you decide to upgrade a baitcast combo the decision is tougher, i wouldn't suggest skimping on the reel personally. Again, its really contingent on what you are upgrading from currently. Nothing wrong with buying two combos in the range you specified but wanted to pit ot out there you may get more out of your money with one for now. Nevertheless i can recommend some gear i have experience with amd like alot. For spinning reels: Pflueger President, Okuma Ceymar, Daiwa Regal LT. For a baitcaster i recomend a Daiwa Tatula ($110 on ebay at checkout). Only rods i have experience with (besides super cheap) are St Croix. Mojo series is great, Bass Pro Carbonlite 2.0 series feel great when i have held them in store and now have 10 year warranty. Also may consider looking for used rods, great deals can be found and wear from usage is usually less of a concern.

Thank you for the input, 1. you reaffirmed something i already knew; big bass can be found shallow throughout the year. 2. I will definitely give the process you layed out a try more thoroughly and try and keep in mind the "post front" play. I guess most of my problem and frustration is just the application of what I am learning, yielding results and achieving consistency. This will be my second full season and a half season of fishing alot and putting effort into learning. I feel like I have learned alot about seasonal patterns and typical bass behavior but still am struggling applying everything to consistently find fish. My second year with a fish finder and still really struggle targeting offshore fish I see on the graph. It is especially frustrating this summer because I bought an ice transducer this past winter and was able to pick it up way quicker than open water fishing.

I know pitching is used alot for visible cover in the shallows. But what about visible brush piles along channels? Many of the small reservoirs in my metro area have creek channels 15-30ft deep with brush that comes to the surface. Wondering what the general opinion is on fishing this type of structure, "when" and "how" specifically. Would you just make quick pitches targeting branches that raise to the shallow water column? Or let your rig fall to the base and target the fish deeper? Is pitching somewhat obsolete in this scenario and opt for regular casting? If the question seems weird, basically I am having trouble off shore fishing. In the heat of July in the midwest, I keep seeing/reading "big fish are off shore and on ledges". Seems i can spend hours either deep cranking ledges/points or dragging jigs around and VERY rarely have ANY luck. Last two days i have went against the grain and just fished shallow and lit them up( although no big ones). Feel free to chime in with off topic advice, almost feel like I dont know what questions to ask at this point.

Owner Twistlock Hooks 1/0 - 4/0

I frequently use double tail grubs, rage menace grubs and others on ned heads. As far as what you want to call it, bass don't seem to mind.

That's what I was thinking, caught this one last day of April. And I'm in Nebraska! But im still "ready".?

Which line of st croix and what models? Which Megabass models? How do they compare in regards to power and taper?

Scatter Rap Crank, which is discontinued. Really cool random hunting action and the faster you reel the wider it darts out. It also came in the shad body profile, the "scatter rap shad", and came in "deep" versions.

You could use 6 EWG hooks, maybe 4. I usually put EWGs in the same size on my DTs and have no noticeable performance difference.

I own some 6th Sense Provoke jerkbaits (5 ft diver) and one Staysee 90 v2(deep dive) I have yet to use. I mainly fish smaller reservoirs and a couple ponds in my metro area, both from bank and boat. Also fish Okoboji chain a few times a year. The slots I am trying to fill for jerkbaits would be a shallower diver with a smaller profile for shallow ponds but also fishing clear water. And also just adding some deeper divers. I have mainly looked at more lucky crafts, but am hesitant because of price and not understanding the different models: pointer vs lighting pointer, pointer XD vs staysee, staysee vs staysee v2 vs v3. I have also looked at Rapalas but wish they had heavier options in smaller profile. Forage in lakes I fish is almost always bluegill and crappies, Okoboji has perch but also panfish.

St Croix LTB Spinning: •6'9" ML-XF Tatula LT2500 -6lb Mono Dropshot/Finesse •7'1" Tatula LT3000 -20lb Braid-12F Skipping/Wacky Rig St Croix LTB Casting: •7'1" M-F Tatula SV -12lb Fluro Shakeyhead/Jerkbait •7'1" MH-F Tatula 100 -15lb Fluro. Texas Rig/Jig •7'6" MH-MF *Tatula 150 -?????? Pitching *7'4" H-F ????????? - 50lb Braid. Frog/WhopperPlopper St Croix Legend Glass Casting: *7'2" M-M *Tatula Elite -12lb Mono Shallow Crank/Top Water •7'4" MH-M *Tatula Elite -12lb Fluro Deep Crank/Lipless Crank * = New this year ? =Undecided what I want to do between my 7'6" MH and 7'4" H, I have no reel for the H yet. My options are: 1. Get another Tatula 150, 20lb fluro on the MH. 2. Tatula Elite on the Heavy, 20F on MH. 3. Tatula Elite Pitch and Flip on MH 20lb F, Tatula 150 on Heavy. 4. Any of the above but put 30/40lb braid on the 7'6" MH, allowing me to fish weeds with swim jig/chatterbait and throw the whopper plopper on this rod. Would sacrifice abrasion resistance in wood and rocks.

MH vs H is gonna depend on the brand, I use St Croix LTB rods and was using a 7' H and found it to be too stiff for me because like you I dont usually fish super heavy stuff. I am looking at the LTB 7'5" MH extra fast tip. For frogging I want a rod with a soft tip to work the frog that transitions to backbone far up in the blank. I would recommend buying a rod you can get your hands on to test out the tip and backbone. EDIT: If you are going to use the rod for pitching as well the tip section is going to be more preference. Some people like pitching with a slower action while others want a faster tip.

Looks like we have very similar setups and mindset with what we throw. I have an UL with 4# that I throw panfish jigs and inlines as well, it's a fun setup. Just wish I could get into some good crappies. What part of MN you from and do you have decent crappie fishing close?

I own a Tatula SV TW that I throw weightless plastics on and love it. I also own a Tatula 100 I like alot, some lews tournament mb's that are ok but the tat 100 and sv's are better. I own a lews bb1 that I like a lot and would get that over the crush, it's at the same $160 price point and can be found cheaper. Casting wise the bb1 is maybe a bit better than a Tatula 100 but I like the feel of the daiwa a bit more due to it being low profile. I did a fair amount of research on the Tatula Elitex have one on the way and am excited to try in the spring

I have a legend tournament bass 7'6" MH-MF 40 Braid that I throw my swim jig on and really like it. Has great feel to it, snaps out of grass well, and solid hook sets with it I have the 7'4" MH-M Legend Glass that I throw 10 ft diving crankbaits and lipless crankbaits on but have never tried throwing jigs or chatter baits on. I have 12 fluro on my legend glass and would not throw swim jigs or chatterbaits on 12# F. In my opinion the st croix rods are too perfect for crankbaits and this keeps me from trying braid with them but I may be off base on that, or just preference.

I have only been bass fishing hard for 3-4 years. Have very little experience with different rod companies but will give it a go. 1. 12 Fluro. Shakeyhead and Jerkbaits 2. 14 Mono. Topwater Cranks 3. 12 Fluro. Shallow to 10ft+ Crankbaits 4. 15 Fluro. Paddletails, Spinnerbait,T Rig 5. 40B or 20F. Pitching, SwimJig in weeds 6. 40B Frog 7. 10 Fluro. Ned Rig 8. 8lb Fluro. Drop Shot 9. 20B to 15F leader. Skipping tubes and flukes This is based on my limited experience and waters I fish in the midwest. I just created a similar topic so I thought I'd play along.

Currently my arsenal is as follows: 1. 6'10 ML-XF St Croix LTB spinning 8Fluro -Drop Shot, Ned Rig 2. 7'1" M-F LTB spinning 20Braid 12/15F leader -Wacky Rig, Fluke, Skipping docks 3. 7'1" M-F LTB casting 12F -Shakeyhead, Jerkbait 4. 7'1" MH-F LTB casting 15F -Spinnerbait, Paddletail Swimbait, Jig, Texas Rig 5. 7'6" MH-MF LTB casting 40B -Pitching, Swim Jig/Chatterbait in grass, -Whopper Plopper 6. 7'5" MH-XF LTB casting 40B -Frog 7. 7'2" M-Mod St.C Legend Glass 14Mono -Squarebill, Top Water Cranks 8. 7'4" MH-Mod Legend Glass 12F -5ft-20ft Crankbaits, Lipless Cranks Looking for input on how I have chosen line for each rod and lure selection/rod. This will be a bit different then how I was doing things last year and just looking for second opinions. I do not yet own the LTB 7'5 MH-XF but plan on purchasing, last year I was using a LTB 7' H-F that IMO didn't have enough tip to it. The 7'2" Legend Glass is new this year and am debating 14 fluro vs 14 mono, mono would allow me to throw light topwater on this rod as well. For the 7'6" MH-MF, last year it had 20F but at the end I tried braid on it and really enjoyed fishing a swim jig in heavy weeds with this setup, but I pitch heavy cover with this setup and have never tried pitching with braid. I did not run braid to fluro on the medium spinning rod last year but am planning on it in order to dedicate this setup more for skipping docks with smaller lures such as 3.5" tube. Open to any and all suggestions, just need a bit of reassurance.

Kicking myself, I had just recently bought a couple spoons but did not bring them. Will try this and a drop shot as well. Although I believe I did try a drop shot the previous time this happened to me. Forage is bluegill and crappie. The fish were just off bottom and hugged up against the cover(brush piles), as stated before, I am sure many of them were crappie. But I witnessed a guy close catch a bass and there were a large number of marks so I have a hard time believing it was all crappie and no bass. Thanks for responses

I do not know for sure they were bass, I saw Mr. Ranger Boat catch one about 200 yards away, also on the channel but there was another boat crappie fishing in between us. This was the only place I saw fish on side/down imaging all day, would assume it would be a mix of fish. The lake contains decent populations of LMB, crappie, bluegill and channel cats no white or yellow bass. It's only a 84 acre lake and we covered dang near entire shoreline/shallow areas and only landed one fish in about 6ft of water on ned rig.

Was marking a large number of fish on edge of creek channel in brush piles, on a 20ft transition to 12-15ft but couldn't catch a thing. Water temp was 42° today but I had this happen to me a couple other times this summer. Both were on smaller dam sites. During the summer, I tried T rig, chatterbait, deep crank, maybe others. Today I tried swim jig, 1/10oz ned rig, 1/4oz t rig curlytail worm, fluke, and slow rolled spinnerbait. I tried casting down wind and into wind, casting from a ways off and getting in closer to the cover. I don't really know what question to ask, just very frustrated. Part of me feels it may have just been the wrong part of day for this particular body of water but another part of me says those fish were catchable. Any tips/info appreciated( and maybe a hug). Today was probably last day out on the boat(live in nebraska) but I am always trying to learn and will carry over ideas for next year. EDIT. Sorry for posting in wrong subforum. My posting skills are about on par with my fishing skills, would move it if I knew how.

For what it's worth, after more reading I am going to look for deals on a Tatula Elite, or save up for one. It has aluminum frame and side plate, and a similar size to my other reels. Probably get the 8.1:1 and put 40 or 50 lb. Braid on it. Thanks for replies

I own the 7' Premier Crankbait MH and it is a good rod for top water and shallow crank. The handle is too short for any cranks over 10' IMO. I also own the 7'4" Legend Glass and it is much more comfortable throwing cranks 10'-15', and even throw DT20s on it and it is pretty comfortable for long durations. That being said, for next year I want to add the Legend Glass 7'2" M M, put 14lb Yozuri Hybrid on it, keep a squarebill tied on it but also use it for small top water. Then, use the 7'4" MH for mid cranks/Lipless with 12lb Fluro. Once I get the medium power I will get rid of the premier, because I then plan on throwing larger topwater on 7'6" MH-MF 40lb braid.

7'4" H-F 40-50lb Braid. Frog, pitching, Chatterbait in weeds 7' MH-F 15lb Fluro. Jigs, T Rig, Spinnerbaits, etc. 7' M-F 12lb Fluro Smaller plastics and jerkbaits 7' ML-F 15lb Braid to 8lb Fluro leader Drop shot, Ned rig, finesse 7'4" MH-M 12lb Fluro Mid/Deep Cranks, lipless cranks 7'2" M-M 14lb Mono Shallow Crank, Topwater If you are requesting two spinning rods because you already have two spinning reels, I would consider starting with 5 setups and save for a fifth baitcaster. No more than one spinning reel is really need for bass fishing in my opinion. Otherwise the medium and ML as spinning rods. I listed the medium moderate sixth because you can get by with one crank rod using a MH- moderate action for shallow to mid cranks. You could also swap the M-M out for another MH with a more moderate action for a braid MH. I like having 2 MH rods. One MH-F for open/cleaner water, one MH-MF with braid to fish swim Jig/Chatterbait through weeds.

GBR and tight lines! Glad you pointed out the magforce vs magforce z as I did not notice this. I love my tatula 100 and Tatula sv.I am not overly concerned with line capacity ,the main reason I was looking at this reel was the 22lbs of drag as insurance. Is that overkill?

The reel is designed for saltwater, but what I like about it is the 200 size, 22lb of drag, 7:1 or 8:1 gear ratio, and it has the Magforce braking system. I currently use 40lb braid, but plan on upping to 50lb for next year. The 300 sized reels seem like overkill to me capacity wise and I like that it weighs 8.1oz. I mainly frog over mats, but potentially could frog in heavier cover seldomly. Curious if anyone has experience with this reel, especially as frog reel or heavy freshwater reel. Also would appreciate other opinions in regards to other daiwa reels including Daiwa Lexa models, Tatula HD.