Hartwood71

I’m chomping at the bit. Too much ice. Looking like late March.

Don’t force choosing one. Try getting a lure retriever.

Alberto knot is a good knot. Easy, strong. Just don’t get lazy with wraps. Btw, I love the taper on the Dodd knot for moving through guides.

Great way to use some winter time

Welcome. Good choice to get back in the water.

Wacky

Two biggest PB’s on 5” Yum Dinger - one in NJ, other in Fla.

Welcome. Similar for me as well. I just joined a couple months ago. Very helpful community.

I’m not familiar with it but I wouldn’t upgrade yet. See it through. As a dedicated cranker, I’m confident it will fit the bill. Given Med and Mod action, you can olat with using braid to flouro or straight flouro to see what combo works best for whatever depth your targeting. I would spend money on new rod yet. Save the cash for some other toy. So much for proof reading....”olat” = play. And I would NOT spend......

Go ML, IMO. You’ll love it.

Jump on it. Good luck.

Good stuff. Thanks fellas.

Is it possible to acquire an authentic spare Metanium MGL spool?

Sounds like the perfect rig for napping in front of the tv.

I generally use a plastic bass boat or john boat with a trolling motor. It’s an old bass-tracker from the 1980’s. It’s actually amazing to see how little the designs have changed since then. I believe all the boats you listed, for fit in a truck bed (width). Bottom line is, i love it with a little trolling motor. I have a four door f-150 with a 5.5’ bed. I transport the boat with the gate down and ratchet straps locking it in. Very stable.

I have to admit, I was told for years about some silly plastic bait. People said it was great; a next-level finesse bait that bass just couldn’t resist. I bought a few packs, tried them out and had no luck. Tried again and again with no luck. Then they sat, for about five years, taking space up in my tackle box. I tried only a couple more times. Then one year, I watched my buddy crush me in a little challenge. After that, I found my stride and it’s hands down become my most productive confidence bait, helping me catch three of my four largest LMBs. The bait: Gary Yamamoto Senko Moral: Good advice needs a willing listener.

Does it come with a George Michael Series rod?

If I have a Metanium MGL 6.2:1 and I want to do a gear upgrade to brass, can I change it to an 8.5:1?

Choices

This should also creat a great opp to get previous generation Metaniums at very affordable levels as people make room for this generation.

Not yet. But I will. Ty.

6.5 in Palm Beach a County on Green&white senko, wacky. Cool to see all the different baits in this thread. Proves, lotta ways to skin a cat.

Oh, and on the Alberto vs FG: for LM bass fishing, go Alberto all day long. To me, no benefit to struggling with FG. 1-Alberto is very easy to tie. 2-Both knots smoothly flow through guides equally. 3- Alberto has 99.5% of the strength of an FG. Save the FG for serious tension associated with offshore fishing.

First off, i dig the honesty. Wacky couldn’t be easier and def doesn’t deserve too much thinking. With a sharp hook (5” senko, 3/0 ewg), my hookup ratio has gotta be 90%. I’m most often fishing in 2-10’ of wry clear water with braid and leader (I haven’t found the “stealth-factor” of mono or flouro has mattered much - if the fish wants it, they quickly take it on the fall (straight braid or leader). If they don’t take the fall, I rip it in about 20 feet for some crack at a reaction hit and then let it fall again. That’s it. If there’s no hit, I re-cast. The wacky hook and the o-ring (both of which I’m fine with) are marginal benefits. The main thing is identifying if the fish care at all about a finesse presentation. If yes, rock it all day. (This is where I like the o-ring as it just saves baits and cost - the o-ring doesn’t improve hook-up ratio or # of hits, IMO). If not, abandon and move on to another strategy; prob some reaction play. My three biggest largemouth have been on wacky (2 in NY, 1 in Fla). To me, Wacky is a pure finesse game which benefits from sensitive equipment. Making the choice to fish wacky in the first place is wayyyy more important step than deciding what hook and how you rig it.

Great post. Thanks. Informative. See if/how it translates to US. The weight trade off for the gear upgrade seems smart. I see another box showing up at my door - and another raised eyebrow from my wife.