Michigander

Rattles you say.... Like what kind?

Mine's a Tactical Elite as well. Love that rod.

Well, that should about do it for terminal tackle for the season.

They aren't magic, but the difference is staggering.

Not so far. I have Pac Bay Minima titaniums on a 7'5" Heavy and the PowerPro hasn't affected it.

Yeah, give it a shot! You stand to gain much more than you'll lose. For me, the prize money just adds a little spice, it's about the competition at the end of the day.

My tourney partner and I started local fishing tournaments with ultra basic equipment and still won a couple bucks. -21' Pontoon with 25HP motor -No trolling motor -Cheapie $75 sonar -1 Ugly Stik spinning rod a piece Nobody made fun of us, if anything, I am sure everyone was happy to have such obvious newbies paying into the pot, lol. We decided we loved tournaments and so began the investments into gear. Point is, for us it was really fun so we kept with it. You may find that you really like it too!

I was confused, I was referencing the previously smallest WP. Though I did get that smallie during October.

Rod socks in the rod locker, every time. I don't need bumps in the road smacking my graphite sticks together and putting stress fractures in them.

I don't throw a worm much anymore, might have to get back to my roots this season. However, I refer to the 7" Powerworm in Blue Fleck as "Old Faithful".

LoL I think that the Whopper Plopper is easily recognized by fish once they bite one or two.

On the flip side, under analyzing can leave you scratching your head. LoL. It's a fine line, surely. I would gladly trade countless trips getting skunked early on with mismatched gear for an overload of actual information to hedge my bets.

Nowadays, I use a Toadrunner for this type of presentation and I don't have to worry about getting hung up

They were hot lures at first. I think the fish got wise because I can't buy a bite on them anymore.

Yeah, smallmouth like them.

Dogfish!

At that price point, I don't think there's going to be a clear winner. The real question is who makes the reel that matches your rod. #MatchyMatchy

Can't help with the futzy part but the cost of the build doesn't have to astronomical, especially if you're shopping the sales. You can build a solid rod for less than $100. Around Black Friday, there were several nice builds I could have done for under $50 due to the sales.

You could get into building your own. ?

I have two, one is half that and the other is similar but spread over a larger area.

How about this, what don't you like about your current rod?

Got the PULS seat in the mailbox today. I did a quick test fit with the reel and my hand. I was expecting to have to hold it differently but my normal grip of two fingers in front of the trigger and two behind fit fine. Its certainly different than the Minima skeleton seats I have been building on, lol.

You're going to average four bags of baits per side, so about 8 per tray. Yeah, 8 is accurate. I've got other storage solutions for holding the full collection. This is just to quickly have the baits I'm throwing most of the time quickly accessible along with specialty terminal. For example, I have a toad box with my favorite toads and their toad hooks. Also have a tube box with their special hooks and weights. These worked so well last year that I'm expanding this concept. So I'll have a punchbox and a fluke box.

I like dark colors but I feel like I get less bites on pure black. Dark green/purple/blue though, quite good.