Bankc

I use 30lb 832 on most of my BC reels. The only time it digs in is when I'm pulling a deep crankbait, like around 20+ feet deep. I don't have a lot of weeds in my lakes, so I'm not ripping through them often. That might play a part in It. I also spool it on really tightly. But if it's not working for you, then it's not working for you. Everyone does stuff a little differently. I hate fluorocarbon for anything but a leader due to line memory. I don't know how anyone uses it, but it's quite popular. I wasted a lot of money on most all of the expensive FC lines thinking I just wasn't using the right stuff, but eventually just gave up on all of it, and am much happier for it.

The only time I really concern myself with "matching the hatch" is when I'm casting on schools of baitfish that are breaking the surface. Otherwise, I just throw things until something gets bit. I never know what they'll key in on that day until I try. So rather than spend too much time trying to think what they might want, I just start tossing stuff into the lake and let them tell me. I'm not a pro. Far from it, in fact. But I don't think it's possible to "know" what will work ahead of time. All you can do is make an educated guess, and use that guess as a starting point.

Honestly, about the only thing I wouldn't want to cast on a 5:1 reel is a buzzbait. A few other presentations would benefit from a higher speed reel, but I wouldn't call it a necessity.

I use the cheapest net you can find. The Five Finger Discount net. I never leave home without it. It's made from the five fingers on my left hand. Since I'm sitting almost level with the water, it's not hard to reach over and either lip them or slide my hand under their belly. I also like how it folds up neatly and doesn't get in the way when I'm not using it. Plus, it's easy to grab when you need it, because I always have it on hand.

Get a carabiner and attach the plug to the steering wheel when not in use. Get in the habit of always having the plug in the drain or on the steering wheel. If it's not in either spot, it better be in your hand as you're moving it from one place to another. That way, the worst you'll do is back the trailer into the water before realizing your mistake.

Nope. I've regretted it a few times, but mostly it's not worth the hassle. Most of the bodies of water around me are thick with trees and brush, so I try to avoid carrying things that'll grab the limbs I'm climbing through.

In that situation, a belly grab is best. I've also grabbed them on the back side, but you have to be careful of their dorsal fin. You kind of have to slide down from their head to push the fin down, and grab them firmly so they don't slide down, or they'll stick you with their spines. It works better with smaller fish. A belly grab is always recommended if you can't lip them, but I've found myself in situations where that wasn't possible and I was safely able to land the fish by the back. Grab them firmly and don't be frightened. You're more likely to hurt yourself and the fish if you don't act deliberately and with confidence. Don't break their bones, but don't let them slide around in your hand.

A spinning reel is probably a better option for you. They would cast the smaller cranks better. But if you really want to use a baitcaster, you'll probably be better off with something with a lighter spool, like Shimano's MGL or Daiwa's SV series. Or you can get an aftermarket lighter spool for whatever you choose. The downside to those is they often won't hold as much line. Though with smaller cranks and bass fishing, that's probably not an issue. With the heavier, deep divers, you may run into problems because you'll need to cast them really far to get them down to their listed depths. Same with trolling. You could get by with a regular spool on a baitcaster. They'd handle the heavier cranks fine. But you might find you don't get the distance you're looking for with 1/4oz. lures. It depends on how far you're wanting to cast. From a boat, it would probably be fine, but from the bank, it could be an issue. As for ratio, most people like a lower ratio. Something in the 5's or 6's. But since you're not casting deep divers, you probably could get by with any ratio. You just might have to slow down your retrieve a bit with the higher speed reels. It's all personal preference. I'd go with a Daiwa Tatula SV in 6.3:1 if I were you. But I'm partial to the Tatulas, and there are several other reels that would work just as well. There is no best, and everyone has their own personal preferences.

A few weeks ago they sent me a rod in a triangular box that arrived, broken down the middle. I bought a reel and spool of line with it, so that's probably why it didn't come in the tube. Looking at it, I thought for sure that the rod was broken. I don't know how it's possible, but somehow it seems to have survived just fine. I've fished it a couple of times now and no issues. They didn't pack it well and the carrier didn't treat it we'll, but all's well that ends well, I suppose.

White is probably the most versatile color. It might not be the best color in any given situation, but it's almost certainly never going to be the worst.

Spinnerbait. It's weedless, can work any part of the water column, and can be retrieved lighting fast or super slow. It might not often be the best choice, but it's the one choice I can think of that would work under just about any condition that I've found myself in.

The problem with the Cush-It rod floats is that they usually prevent you from using your rod holders. The rod floats that go in front of the grip still allow you to use your rod holders, but they mess with your balance and can get in the way of your line. Rod leashes are kind of a pain to use if you switch out rods often. These look like a good solution: https://www.savuroutdoors.com/ But I've never used one. So I can't comment on them. I've gotten to the point where I am just extra careful with my rods. I take them down if I'm going to be coming in under tree branches, and don't use the flush mounted rod holders anymore, as they seemed to cause more issues than they solve. 1.25" ID PVC pipes sticking straight up do a good job of keeping my rods secure without giving them much room to bounce around. It's harder to insert the rods into those narrow holders, but it's also harder for them to accidentally fall out. And when their in my hands, I just have to trust myself not to do stupid things.

30# for me. That's what most of my rods are spooled with. In stained water, you usually can get away with no leader. It's strong enough to rip through grass, assuming it's not super thick, and thick enough to not dig too deeply into your spool. It's thin enough to cast well. It's just a good all-around size. Though with braid, there's not much difference between 30# and 40#. So either would probably work just as well as the other, in reality. 10-20# would probably be better if you're talking about spinning reels. If you want to do both spinning and baitcasting with the same line, I'd probably go with 20-30#.

Yeah. As you approach the branch, a small limb will flex against your rod and get caught on a line guide. Then it will slowly slide it out as you continue your pass. But it doesn't drop your rod immediately into the water. Instead the branch bounces up and down, an action that slowly jiggles the rod free of it's grasp, and allows it to silently slip into the water. I've saw it happen once. I got lucky and caught it in the act and stopped it before I lost the rod. It scared me, but not enough to learn a lesson. The second time it happened to me, I lost one of my favorite reels. I didn't even know where to begin looking for it when I finally noticed it was gone, because there was never an indication to tell me when or where it may have happened. Moral of the story: rod leash.

I was raised to believe that you don't go fishing to catch fish. You go fishing to go fishing. And if you catch fish while you're out there, well..., even better!

Lots of things can make fishing less fun. But winds and lightning are about the only things that actually ruin the day for me. I've been caught in a few pop up storms in my lifetime that had me wondering if I was going to make it home. Luckily smartphone weather apps have come along and drastically decreased the rate of those incidents.

I have a MH/F BPS Pro Qualifier 2 rod. I use it primarily for pitching, jigging, and frogging in cover. But I've also used it for spinnerbaits, bottom contact stuff, blade baits, swim jigs... pretty much anything. It's a great all around rod, though I do find that at it doesn't cast so great at the lower end of it's rating. It is a bit heavier than a "true" MH, but not quite to the level of heavy. To be honest, I'd just stick with that unless you find yourself actually needing an even more heavy rod. A lighter MH/F might be worth a look. You can't discount their versatility. Though, you really need to figure out what you plan to fish often first, and then get a rod designed for that. You say you fish a lot of heavily pressured waters. A cranking stick with a moderate speed (in medium or medium heavy) can still be excellent, though you might look for silent crankbaits to combat some of the pressure. Or you might look for a ML/F spinning setup to throw ned rigs and wacky worms. They tend to work well in heavy pressure situations. It's best if you define your need first, and then make your purchase based on that need. Everyone's fishing requirements will be different, so everyone will have a different order of importance for rod selection. Me, I don't even own a heavy rod. I probably never will unless in get into throwing large swimbaits. That BPS PQ2 MH does everything I need from a heavy rod just fine, and covers double duty for some other MH applications, which is a real plus in my book. But for me, a good moderate action cranking stick is my second most used rod. You can throw just about anything with a treble hook on one, including blade baits, flutter spoons, jerkbaits, topwaters, etc.

It's $18. I'm sure you've wasted more money on worse things.

The only LH reels I use are spinning reels, because they have their handles on backwards anyhow. I am super right handed. I could cut off my left hand and if it wasn't for the pain, I wouldn't even realize it until I went to tie my shoes. That being said, you can learn to do anything left handed that you do right handed, or vice-versa. It might take more time, and it likely will be frustrating at first, but it's something pretty much everyone can get through. I learned to pitch and flip left handed so I wouldn't have to switch hands with my right handed reels. That's harder than reeling, and it probably took me a week to get comfortable with it. I also learned to roll cast left handed to make casting to the other side of my kayak easier. I find it easier than casting backhanded with my dominant hand. One trick for learning new coordination skills, I've found, is to sleep on it. Practice an hour or so everyday, and then get a good nights sleep. I can practice something for eight hours and make minimal headway. Or I can practice something for one hour, get a good nights sleep, and somehow make huge leaps. There's just something about sleep that works wonders for learning coordination based skills. So don't try to learn it all in one day. Instead, give yourself a few weeks, and just devote a little bit of time to it every day, and you'll find that it really isn't all that difficult to learn, so long as you're consistent.

Let the fish tell you what they want. Just keep experimenting with speed until you get bit. Then, you'll have a idea of what kind of mood they're in. It will change from season to season, day to day, hour to hour, and lake to lake.

I would change that Medium/Fast to a Medium/Moderate or Medium/Moderate-Fast for topwaters and crankbaits. If you're going to limit yourself to just three rods, they don't need to all have the same taper. Also, I'm guessing you don't do much finesse or light baits? Because I'd rather have a ML/F than a H/F. I find that I can get by with my MH/F in most cases where a heavy rod would be more desirable. It just takes a bit more effort to horse the fish around. Though if you don't do much finesse fishing, or you throw a lot of big swimbaits and A-rigs, you're probably better off with the heavy.

It's not a Bass Pro brand, and your outside the normal return window. My guess is you'd have better luck with the warranty at this point, which you'll have to do through the manufacturer. Usually, the black color comes from dirt and contamination in the grease. Though it definitely sounds like something is wrong if a reel's grease has already turned black after six months. Did you drop it in a lake or store it somewhere where it might have gotten exposed to a lot of dust? Also, are you using braided line? And if so, did you tie on a backer? Sometimes braided line will spin on the spool when under pressure. You either have to wind the first several rotations under heavy pressure or add some kind of backing, like mono or electrical tape.

Grand lake gets super crowded during the summer, especially on the weekends, with party boats. It's got good fishing, is a beautiful lake, and checks off all of the boxes. But every time I've been there, it's been a absolute mess to navigate through with all of the drunk boaters. It's easily the most crowded lake I've ever been on. It's a large lake, and I certainly haven't explored all of it. So it might be different as you get further away from Tulsa. But my experiences with that lake left a bad impression on me. I'd recommend checking the average wind speed for any area you choose before you make your final decision. I'll fish in freezing weather, rain, and 100+ degree heat, but high winds ruin about half of the days out of the year for me.

4-5. I leave the topwater rod at home in the winter, or if I'm fishing only during mid-day. I could certainly get by with just one. Two of my rods are redundant (MH/F), but they're my most used and it keeps me from tying so many knots, by allowing me to switch back and forth between the two. Then there's my crankbait stick and finesse spinning rod. I've found that to be the best balance between simplicity and utility.

That's a good all around rod for lighter lures. Kind of the baby brother to the ubiquitous MH/F.