Michigander

Agreed, take prop off and inspect everything in there. I do this several times throughout the season because weeds and fishing line gets trapped in there.

A lot of gear, especially the less expensive stuff is targeted at people who only go fishing a few times a year and mostly in nice weather. When you're out there every week in the full spectrum of weather events, you need more reliability and longevity of your gear. When my buddy and I started making the switch from the first camp, our cheaper gear was literally falling apart in our hands because we were using it more and harder than it was designed for.

I stand corrected, just looked it up. LMB min is 22" SMB min is 21"

I don't believe there's a minimum as long as it's a keeper in Michigan. They seem to just take the biggest ones entered for the year.

Truth. There's some garbage components on some baits. Half the time I think they put the cheapest stuff on knowing that their clientele is just going to remove them anyway.

Ok, gotcha. That makes way more sense now!

Jerkbait bite events are killers. After my second tournament like that, I went out and bought new equipment. LoL Repetitive action injuries are a real threat to anglers. Having options other than pills and medical bills are nice to have.

I'm not quite sure what your chart is showing me, but I second the remote lakes as often being winners!

For chronic pain, I agree, but if I knew these stretches a few days ago, I would have had a much more comfortable week. ?

So I have been having some pain in my wrist for the last few days after a fishing trip last weekend. I found this video on YouTube and performed the stretches. I would say that my wrist pain is almost all gone now. What a relief! So if you've got some wrist pain, I would encourage you to give this a shot and see if it helps you.

How are the G2 grips?

And it seems their server crashed. LoL

When I annually deep clean my hobby room, I find all kinds of stuff. Often, it's just duplicates of tools that I've lost and rebought, but I also find cardboard boxes of whole projects that I got the materials for but never started and forgot about.

I think you will be happier with the 704c for what you're doing. There's a Dobyns discount code earlier in this thread if you don't already have it.

I have the MH SLX and enjoy it for flukes and paddle tails. I think it lacks backbone around vegetation and have not enjoyed throwing jigs on it. Would point you to the Fury for your application.

I have the flipping version of the Enigma Ippon bait caster. The reel feels ultra cheap and the fancy bearings make it loud. Initially I hated it but I can't deny that it does the deed without fail. Stays on my deck, but wouldn't buy a second. A rep tried to sell me on the spinning version at an expo. I passed after handling it.

After looking around again, I'm sure I could piece enough parts out, but at this point I would rather just move along to something that's going to be available in the long term.

Depends what you're using it for. Aluminum tends to be heavier but stronger.

What does "general purpose" mean to you? What kind of water do you fish? Do you like crisp rods?

I personally love tournament fishing. Started doing it four years ago and I've grown more as an angler in the last four years than I have in the previous 25 years of fishing. I love the preparation, practice, efficiency, time management, and competition. One of my favorite feelings in the world is when they call my boat's number for launch at the beginning of the event. It's not a cheap hobby though, but I'm grateful to have the means to do it.

Mo' power, mo' better.

That's an odd statement, but I guess it works. Copoly and Mono are both nylon lines but copoly is more of a cocktail. You usually get less stretch and better abrasion resistance. It also tends to be a sinking line compared to mono which is a bouyant line. Whether less stretch and decreased bouyancy is a benefit depends on your application.

Owner Hyperwire is all I use. If I'm going through the trouble of changing them out, I'm going with a solid upgrade.

I need to keep a tally next year, I'm curious how many I catch in a year. Also be curious to see what the keeper to non-keeper ratio is.

@Mbsquare Just got us to 70,000 users on here. I love round numbers! Happy Thanksgiving!