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Snyder Kentucky reel. I like my current reels well enough in usage. I don't think I'd gain much by upgrading from my Daiwa Tatulas or other similar reels. Plus, I like that since they're not crazy expensive, I don't have to worry about losing or breaking them. But the Snyder Kentucky reel could be traded for a nice boat. And I could make good use of that.

One thing I forgot to mention is the longer handle. I like the higher than normal gear ratios for deep cranking, but the longer handle is key. It gives you more leverage, and allows you to rotate your hand in a larger circle. It doesn't have to be a super long handle. A lot of modern reels come with 100-110mm handles, and that's plenty long enough for me.

I'm glad to hear you're okay. I always wear my PFD, and I've never flipped my kayak. However, unless it's a huge, bulky Type 1, it's not designed to keep your head above water if you get knocked unconscious. Most of what we wear will be Type 3, which are really just designed to keep your body in a place where someone else can quickly retrieve it. So it's wise to always go with someone else. And be careful. A PFD isn't a license to take risks in bad waters. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I really wish they'd make professional anglers wear PFD's the whole time their in the boat, not just while the boat is moving. It would send a strong message to everyone that safety is important, and contrary to what some may believe, you can fish just fine with a PFD on. It would have saved Pete Lammons life at the FLW event at Sam Rayburn this year. And he wasn't the first.

You could try to snell the hook. Just make sure they have a welded or epoxied eye, because if there's a gap at the bottom of the eye, it can cut the line. Just feed the line through the top of the hook and then tie it to the shank. That way, when you set the hook, it'll force the hook upward a bit into the fish's mouth. I don't do this myself, as it makes it harder to rig plastics on the hook, but some others do.

If you like finesse fishing from the bank, I'd definitely look at spinning reels. You can throw lighter baits further, and use lighter line without as many issues. If, however, you're needing the higher gear ratios, increased drag, the ability to throw thicker line, or doing a lot of flipping and pitching, then the MGL series would be the way to go. Personally, I tend to lean more towards spinning gear for bank fishing and casting gear for fishing from a boat.

Buying in person is what I always try to do. With some brands and models, that's not always possible. But for something like a Heddon Spook, it shouldn't be too difficult to find locally. I have had so many issues with buying stuff online. If it's not a problem like this, it's often lost or destroyed in shipping. Sometimes it's shipped to the wrong address, which is a headache to prove. Not to mention them pulling the wrong order. It seems with anything I buy online, there's only about at 75% chance that everything goes smoothly. And these days, it rarely saves me money and certainly doesn't save me any time. Maybe I just have bad luck. Rods are the worst, due to their size. I'm about 50/50 for ordering rods online.

Find a schematic and check to make sure you have all of the parts in the right place and orientation.

It's just a difference on your hands. The lower the ratio, the faster you have to crank, but the less resistance there is against the handle. So in theory, a slower reel will be easier on your hands during a long day. Personally, I kind of like the 7:1 ratio reels for deep cranking. I can get the lure down to depth quicker, and I don't find that they wear me out. However, I work with my hands all day, so I tend to have stronger hands than most people.

All of my biggest bass were caught when I was a kid fishing a Zebco 33 rod and reel, or perhaps my Shimano B-100 Mag on that Zebco rod, which was my first baitcaster.

I use either Yo-Zuri hybrid or mono (both 10-12lb) for crankbaits. I find that the stretchier lines do better at not getting hung up as easily around wood. They give you that extra fraction of a second when you hang up one something to stop reeling and let it get itself over branches or stumps. Plus, they help keep the fish pinned on those tiny treble hooks. I tried fluoro and just did not like it. It doesn't cast as easily, especially in the wind. And when I'm throwing a crankbait, a lot of times I'm looking for long casts on windy days. Sometimes I'll use braided line for deep divers (20+ feet). But that's more because it allows me to get the crankbait deeper (much thinner line), and I'll usually have enough line out that the low stretch helps with hooksets. Otherwise, I try to stick to the mono or hybrid line.

Carbon drags wearing metal may be more of salt water issue, where big fish can make multiple long runs and it can take hours to bring a big fish in. In bass fishing, I don't think you'd put enough stress on the drag to see that happen for many decades, if ever. The bearing under the spool will help startup of the drag, as it'll lower the inertial requirements of the spool. It its effects would be pretty minor, even compared to a plastic bushing. You might of had an issue with something not lined up propearly or some other internal problem. I know I've had a reel that the drag would occasionally get loose and no matter how much I tightened it down, it would just spin with very little resistance. When that happened, I could back the drag fully off and re-engage it, and it would work. But when I backed the drag off for storage, there was always like a 10% chance it would start slipping again the next time I pulled it out and tightened down the drag. This was when it was fresh from the factory. After a while, I took it apart and cleaned it up and re-assembled it and it's worked great ever since. I wasn't able to find out what the issue was, as when I had it apart, everything looked fine. But there was definitely something not right with it.

There's no money in endorsing spots on public lands. But they can pay some bills endorsing baits.

Anything from 8-12lb. 8lb will get down a bit deeper if you need that. 12lb will help with hangups. Braid should go deeper if it's the same pound test, due to it being much thinner and having less resistance. Fluoro should go deeper if it's the same diameter, due to being smoother and heavier. So it'll sink and have less resistance.

On a spinnerbait, probably not much of a difference. Especially if the water isn't ultra clear. While there are a lot of differences between these two lines, a spinnerbait isn't positioned to take advantage or disadvantage of these differences.

Has anybody used these new braids before? I just bought some ProMix. It was cheap enough. But haven't used it yet. I'll report more later what I think.

I have one of these rods. It's my least favorite. But it's also my most used rod and the one I've caught the most fish on.

That's my philosophy. I learned as a child to enjoy the act of fishing, not just catching fish. Part of the trick to having fun is to not set expectations and just live in the moment. Each body of water is different, and some are really tough. But even the toughest bodies of water can be cracked. They just take a lot more time to learn. And once you do crack it's code, you'll know how to fish other bodies of water like that one. Of course, you should definitely try out new bodies of water when you get the chance. You'll learn a lot more that way. Just treat each fishing trip with the expectation to learn, either what to do or what not to do. Don't go in expecting to catch fish. Becoming a better angler is more about growth than success.

You can cut down a lizard if you want to. I often cut off the heads. Sometimes I'll even cut them off to just below the shoulders, leaving just the belly, back legs, and tail.

Soldering is better, if you can do it properly. There are many that will argue for crimping, but the main reason for that is they don't know how to solder properly, and crimping properly is pretty straight forward and easy to do. So their bad soldering joints fail, and they blame the solder, rather than their soldering skills, or lack there of. Still, if you're not good with soldering, then crimping is fine. It's better to crimp than to use a poorly soldered connection.

All I use is a set of jewelers screwdrivers (phillips, flathead, torx), an adjustable wrench, and bent tweezers, as far as regular hand tools go. Beyond that, maybe a needle for dropping oil, a toothbrush for cleaning, an ultrasonic cleaner, toothpicks, and lots of paper towels. Plus the chemicals. I usually use the bent tweezers for removing c-clips, but you could get a specialized tool for that too. Oh, and a white towel to do it all on, and a tray with lots of compartments to keep all of the parts in order as I go. Plus a digital phone to take lots of pictures, if I'm working on something I haven't seen before (which I use more for clock and camera repair than reels).

I do not like neon colors or camo. Those always look like toys to me. They remind me of a spoiler on the back of a front wheel drive, 4 door sedan. Having said that, I don't really care about the looks when I go to buy a new rod or reel. If it's ugly, but it functions well and the price is right, that's all that matters.

I think it's highly lake dependent. Different waters will behave very differently. Also, while the air temperature is really high right now, the water temperature won't be as high as it will be in the late summer when it's this hot out. I normally would be fishing pretty deep in 100° weather. But right now, even though it's almost that hot out, I've been finding them in the shallows. Also, I fish a spinnerbait all summer long. When it's super hot out, I'll go bigger and deeper, but I'm still throwing a spinnerbait because it works for me. I don't mess with T-rigged worms and Carolina rigs very much in the heat of summer when going deep because the bass are too spread out and the visibility is poor down there, so they usually can't find anything that doesn't make a lot of commotion.

I'm far from the skill level needed to say that the gear I have is holding me back. So yeah, I'm content with what I have.

Bearings will wear out in just about anything. I can't tell you how many bearings I've had to replace in my lifetime. Hundreds if not thousands. Often times, things like washing machines, care engine alternators, A/C fan motors, you name it, fail and people just replace the whole unit when really, it just needs a cheap new bearing. They usually do that because it's kind of pain to pull the old bearing, locate a suitable replacement, order it, wait for shipping, and reseat the new bearing. So they'll usually replace the whole unit, because time is money, and it often costs more to do the work than to just replace the whole unit. But since I do most of my own repairs on just about everything I own, my time is free. So I'd much rather spend the few bucks on a new bearing than the hundreds of dollars to replace the larger part the bearing is attached to, if possible. Reel bearings are especially easy to work on. They usually don't require any special tools. I've had to replace several over the years. 2 years is a short lifespan, so I'd probably look to replace them with something with a bit higher quality. I expect to get about 10 years out of a good bearing in a fishing reel. Though, it might have been dirt that caused your issues. Soaking and compressed air isn't a great way to clean the internals of a bearing. You kind of need an ultrasonic cleaner for that. A trick I used before I had bought one was to take a palm sander and place it on the jar of acetone with a lid on it so the acetone can't splash out. Don't seal the lid completely, so some air can escape as the acetone evaporates in the heat. Then just set the palm sander to high, and let it run for about half an hour. It's not the same as an ultrasonic cleaner, but it does work a lot better than just a plain soak.

Solid things usually show up as bright and thin on sonar. Since the sonar waves bounce off it immediately and don't penetrate into it, solid surfaces tend to look very thin. Soft surfaces, like mud or vegetation, will appear much thicker, because some of the sonar waves will be reflected immediately, and some will penetrate a ways before eventually being reflected. They'll also usually be less bright, because you're not getting the bounce back from the full beam. Reading sonar takes a bit of skill. It's not like a normal camera that uses light to see. Sonar is using sound and as we all know, sound can penetrate through a lot more things than visible light. But you'll get the hang of it after a while.