Big Hands

Also remember that Fork is a slot limit lake, meaning that you must immediately release any fish that measures between 16" and 24". A sack of bass that measure less than 16" will be worth more in the tournament than all the 3 to 5 pounders you can possibly catch. IIRC, you may only be able to keep one fish over 24" if you happen to catch one. 2 lb to 2.8 pound fish will be needed to fill out a limit plus a >24" kicker if you can get one.

If it is a format where the co-angler's catch counts towards the pro's sack, then it would be likely that the pro will go out of their way to try to make you successful if they get the feeling you could contribute to their success. I don't know that any (or very many) major tournaments still utilize that format. If the pro feels you can help, they will put you to work. If they don't have much confidence in you and feel like it takes more work on their part than it's worth, then they'd prefer you just don't get in their way. However, I took it that he is going as a 'co-angler', meaning he would be fishing with anyone except his BIL (decided by a random draw), and that the co-angler's catch doesn't count toward anyone else's sack. The co-angler is only fishing against other co-anglers in their own separate tournament within the tournament. The co-angler doesn't know which pro's boat they will fish from until the night before they fish with them in the tournament. In this format, the pro doesn't really have any incentive to care if the co-angler catches fish, and may even prefer that they not fish in spots until the pro has finished casting to that target. Sloppy seconds so to speak. If the co-angler does as the pro asks, the pro will probably be more willing to 'share' whatever they see fit to share. Ideally, they would get together with the pro the night before to discuss what they'll be doing, what the expectations for the day will be regarding what is 'OK' and what is not. Probably the healthiest perspective to have would be that the co-angler's tournament success shouldn't really be their primary objective. The primary objective should be that the co-anglers are there to learn from the pros (while trying not to get on the pro's way since the pros are presumably there to earn a living). I don't think the co-anglers stand to make much even if they do 'win'. I always took it that part of their entry fees would go towards the pro purse and that would be justified because the co-angler gets to spend a day on the boat with a pro and see how they do what they do first hand. There's no way to know who you'd be fishing with and that means there's no way to know with certainty exactly what baits would be ideal. The BIL may or may not have any experience with that lake at that time of year either, and even he wouldn't know for sure what baits to have. If the BIL does have that experience, then I would also suggest going to them for advice. My $0.02

I'm a southern California guy that has lived in Los Angeles County my whole life, so if you're used to the fishing we do around here, it's going to be a completely different animal in many ways. But here are my takeaways from traveling to fish Lake Fork seven different times over the years, spending several days there each time. The thing about tournament fishing as a co-angler is that you just won't know ahead of time what the pro will want to do, so I would suggest being prepared for a number of different techniques. As much as I love fishing all the crazy stuff we don't normally use much here in SoCal, finesse is not to be ignored at fork (relatively speaking). That dropshot rod could very well come in very handy. If you can stop by the Lake Fork Tackle Factory (that is literally at Lake fork and not to be confused with Lake Fork Tackle) or Lake Fork Marina usually has them too, and pick up a handful of the 1/4 oz gold colored slab spoons that Joe Spaits makes, you will catch fish (all kinds) on them. If Joe's place is open, I recommend stopping in to have a chat with Joe and buy them directly from him. My biggest Fork (an 8.5 pounder) bass was caught on one with a spinning rod with 8 lb mono. You can cast them out and hop them back, or just jig them vertically. If you aren't having luck with other options and are fishing in 10' or deeper water, send one of those down, and you will get bit. Pro tip: Don't hop them too hard. If you haven't popped them too hard into the submerged timber, you can usually wiggle them around on semi-slack line and shake them loose. From your description, you have two spinning rods, one spinning reel (Stella), and one baitcaster (Metanium)? The Z-Bone description is the confusing one. You've already got that NRX dropshot setup, and that will work for dropshot and the slabs. I'm confused about the Z-bone; is that actually a casting rod? A MH casting rod (paired with the Metanium) is standard for lake fork fishing for many techniques you might encounter like texas rig, jigs, etc. Hard to go wrong with 17 to 20 lb monofilament for that rig. If you're going for four rigs, the next one I would want would be a crankbait setup, so a rod a moderate action for throwing stuff like lipless cranks (Rat-L-Trap, LV500), and regular crankbaits like squarebills or other medium depth cranks. The fourth rod is where things get tricky for me. Frogging has become super popular there and that is going to be a heavier, longer casting rod that is best suited for that. OTOH, it would suck not to have a jerkbait setup too, and that for me would be something 7' to 6'10" with a very fast action. If I simply had to choose, I thing I would make the fourth rig a jerkbait setup and use the MH casting rod for frogging (or make that second setup a Heavy action rod well over 7' and use it for frogging and t-rigs/carolina rigs/pitching jigs, which may not be ideal, but would work in a pinch for both techniques. Now, for the truly hard part, LOL: What baits to bring. Once you're at the lake, you're out in the country. There are several small tackle shops sprinkled around the lake, and Lake Fork Tackle is a bigger shop in Emory about 6 miles from the lake and that's about it. If a bait is hot, you may not find any in that area. Fishing as a co-angler could be tough. The guy up front could be an awesome partner that will be someone you can work with, or could be a toolsack that couldn't care less if you catch anything. There's probably a few things you could be prepared for that would still let you fish no matter what the situation. The crankbait rod with either a lipless or squarebill would be one of those setups. A baitcaster with something like a carolina rig or texas rig worm or creature bait would be another, and that spinning rod with the slab would be another. As a fisherman that's 'not from around there', the biggest adjustment I had to make was realizing that in many situations (not talking about the spinning rod with 8 lb mono here), you simply cannot let the fish take line. You have to bust them HARD and keep them coming or they will wrap you up in the timber and it will be hard (but not necessarily always impossible) to get them out. I know this is a ridiculously long post and I might be completely full of crap on all of the above, but there's one last thing. If you can find some way, ANY WAY, to go night fishing, get some dark colored 10" worms and go for it.

Not gonna pretend to know why LMB seem to be more popular then SMB. And, it doesn't concern me either. If I was in a place where smallmouth was king, I would just dummy up and enjoy what I have. We have smallmouth in my home lake, but they came many years after the largemouth that were stocked when the lake was filled, likely because someone put them in there on the sly. They used to be almost unheard of, but now they are pretty common. I don't find that I can specifically target them. When I catch them, they just seem to be mixed in with the largemouth and eat the same baits. Pound for pound, they are harder fighters than their green cousins, and they're even grumpy while you're getting ready to release them. But, I don't think they grow anywhere even close to the size the largemouth do, or at least have in the past.

Pretty obvious that the Bait Monkey is the ultimate arbiter of this dilemma. And the Bait Monkey sez the formula for the correct number of rods/reels is: n + 1 n = the number of setups you currently own.

They're hungry. It looks like it might be food. If they are in a group, and they hesitate, they go hungry.

The day I caught my PB (12 lbs 13 oz), it was the only bite I got that day. In fact, the second biggest bass I ever caught (12 lbs 4 oz) was the only bite I got that day as well. Two days that I was one cast away from a skunk gave me the two biggest bass I have ever caught. I was a bad angler both of those days. . . . until I wasn't.

LOL, he's in southern California. There are very few lakes that are open for legal night fishing here. Almost none. The nanny state insists on closely supervising anyone that might be having fun here. ==================================== As for the OP, there are times when I do a lot of fishing with spinning gear, but I haven't fished with one here at Castaic in about 2 months. Lately, I haven't even bothered to bring spinning gear with me. If I was fishing from shore here, I would bring one of each pretty much year round. There are many techniques best suited for baitcasting gear here. Topwater, jerkbaits, carolina rigs, jigs, texas rig 'baits', crankbaits, larger spoons, swimbaits and spinnerbaits are some examples of techniques that mostly favor baitcasting gear, and they all work here, quite well at times. The fishing here is generally a little on the stingy side. As mentioned, they aren't usually rabid enough to eat the paint off of your boat, but fishing isn't horrible either most of the time. Right now, my biggest impediment to catching fish is the wind.

I ordered a Fuego LT2500S-XH from a fleabay seller in Croatia on a Friday around noon Pacific time, and it was on my doorstep shortly after noon on Monday. It did cost me $14.99 for their standard shipping, but I was pretty shocked that they could get it to me from 1/3 of the way around the world in that time frame. Consider that it had to be at least 8 PM on Friday evening when they received the order, and it's really impressive, at least to me it is.

Not sure you can legally fish with live bait (except for worms) that isn't caught from the water you're fishing AND that wasn't caught from that lake on the day that you're fishing. I would call those bait shops to make sure they are still selling them, and that they are legal to fish in those lakes. If so, and you have a way to keep them lively, they would probably be a good bait to throw.

I think that if you put a Tatula or Kage on there, you'll be very happy with it, and it will be lightweight and a great looking rig to boot. I see one of the asian sites has a Tatula LT 2000S-XH (shallow spool with high speed gearing), which I am a fan of. You could put plenty of 10 lb, 12 lb, or even 15 lb braid on there, but not so much as to be wasteful. That's probably the direction I would go for a rod like that.

Shimano Exsence 3000 or Stradic FL, Daiwa Certate, Tatula, or Kage. Put some green line on it and call it a day. JMHO.

I wrapped my first several rods just using a heavy book like an encyclopedia (open the book about half way and run the thread through and close the book on the thread) to tension the thread. Freshwater rods generally use much thinner thread, so it is going to be a little more tedious to work with, but it's not terribly difficult to do. Remember to file down the end on the guide foot so it makes a smooth transition from the rod onto the guide foot.

The first several bass I caught on plastic worms back in the early 80's were caught with tiny 2.5" IIRC black Mister Twister Phenom worms on a c-rig dragged behind a rental boat in 20' of water. They were only about 1/8" thick and I had to use a tiny hook. Ever since that time, the vast majority of the bass I have caught have been caught on some sort of plastic worm rig. Probably more than all other artificial lures combined.

I have both as well, and I feel the same way. I did find my SV TW (not the 2020 model, but the previous version) on sale for $129 about a month and a half ago. I actually paid more for my Tatula 100 than I did for the SV TW.

In case he's still looking for places to fish (LOL), I would suggest Lake Lahontan, which is about 40 miles east of Carson City near Silver Springs. Tons of white bass and some largemouth back when I used to camp there a long time ago. A few trout too. No telling what the fishery is like today as it get drawn down quite low some years and this may have impacted the fishery.

Your best chance to do that (if you're not a pro) would be to get to know some of the local lure makers in your area. If they see that you would be a trusted, knowledgeable, articulate and skilled ally, they might want your help. Honestly, I think most "R&D" is borrowed from other companies

Nice spots!

This is not only fishing related, but carries over to just about all that could reside in a garage. Having the mindset that if you don't keep something, that you may never be able to have one again, can keep you head high in clutter that you're very unlikely to ever feel the need to use, let alone actually using it. If you feel that way about some things, it's easy to feel that way about everything. As a person that has more than once rented a 40 yard bin to clean out my 3 car garage, I suggest selling them or passing them along to someone that will use them sooner rather later if ever. Last year, I put up a notice on a local FB page that I wanted to give away about a half dozen old mediocre quality spinning rods and a few reels. A local guy said he knew of a family that would greatly appreciate them. He picked them up and days later I got a message from the kid's mother thanking me for allowing her kids to have some gear that they might not have been able to otherwise afford and how much they already enjoyed using it. That meant way more to me than seeing them collect dust in my garage or whatever I could have made selling it. I have another group of rods and reels I'm getting ready to do the same with.

As good as the other worms on my list are, and the other two in the pic are legendary in my neck of the tumbleweeds, that has been my #1 worm of all time. I caught my first ten plus on that worm too, but shhhhhh. Don't tell anyone.

Wow! They were killer! I think I still have some and I'm going to give them a whirl.

That's the one! I found this pic, and that is definitely it. Flutter Craft 3" Screamer I think it was called? The cinnamon with blue and black flake model was my favorite, but if they were out of those, the cinnamon with black flake would suffice. I think they made a 4" Screamer with a much smaller curl tail on it that was ok too.

I spent many summer vacations at Lake Lahontan, just east of Carson City. Obvious bass fishing opportunities in that area are not exactly plentiful. I have seen largemouth caught at Lahontan, but the white bass are far more prevalent there. And, the largemouth in that area are not likely to be tackle busters. I think I would look for something like a medium/fast action spinning rod in the 7' length range. I'd look into a Daiwa Revros LT2500 reel mounted to a Daiwa Tatula XT (TXT701MFS) spinning rod. Is that the only good choice for that money? Nope, but it's a specific recommendation within your budget range that would serve you well if you're really lost on what to get.

In no particular order: Berkley 10" Curly Tail Black Power Worm (for night fishing) Roboworm 4" Paddle Tail Crayfish/Black/Crayfish (pictured below) Jackall 4.8" Flick Shake Pumpkin Pepper Twin T's Curly Tail Pumpkin Pepper w/Green Flake (pictured below) Mystery Worm "X" (pictured below), but my favorite version also has blue flake in it I'm betting (and hoping) that @WRB (or anyone else familiar with them) can remember the name of the brown worm in the picture. I used to buy them by the bag of one hundred at Action Tackle down in Mission Hills.

Wow! I've never seen a sloth in sprint mode before ;~)