GetFishorDieTryin

Havent tried Gosen yet?

Not sure about the Kayden, but I know the 13 MH MF OBs are on the softer side. What I would recommend is a 7'3 1/4-1oz or a slightly heavier recommended weight range. Depending what company that you go with it could be a H or a MH. If you go with MH ExF won't hurt, but if you go with a H I would stick with a F action.

I love fishing in rain. It's almost as good at weeding out the goobers as the winter cold. Some of the best fishing you're ever going to have will occur when you're getting rained on in terms of numbers and size. Those bigger educated fish that seem to be one step ahead at all times let their guard down and push shallow to feed. The caveat being it can't be a steady driving or torrential rain, the bite will shut off real fast as the water muddies, light to moderate rain is what you want. One thing that will helps is buying a set of quality rain gear. Youre still going to get wet eventually if it rains all day, but you have a few hours even in less ideal conditions.

Orochi Whipsnake is IMO the most complete finesse rod I've ever used. Its slightly heavier then some MLs, but the ergonomics and balance are so good you don't feel it at all. Build quality and materials used are outstanding. The power reminds me an older GW GLX Mag light I used to have, very fast responsive tip with considerable power in the lower end. The Victory 6'10 has a similar feel in the lower end, except for a glass tip which makes the feel very flat sensitivity wise. I had never had one in my hand until about a year ago and they just happened to be right next the SC LTBs. While the LTBs were nice, the whipsnake felt better in every way to me. All I can really recommend is that you find one so you can get it in your hands and go from there.

IME 13 is pretty good with their actions as far as ratings go. As long as you're not trying to throw something too light you wont get that broomstick feel, especially with a longer rod.

Ive always loved Reins, everything they make is quality and I favor the tapered slim DS shape weight over a non tapered shape, especially for free rigging. Ive got some Picasso and other brand weights in order from TW that I havent opened and I suspect they will perform just as well. One thing figured out with free rigs, is that a slightly heavier weight when compared to what you normally use on T rig will help, particularly when working small areas. If you combine a floating bait with a heavier weight it allows you to work that bait up and down the entire water column without moving the weight at all. A heavier weight will also break free of the bait faster and drop straight down.

Transition times can be hard, once the temp stabilizes the fishing will become more consistent. I wouldn't focus on deep water, over structure. Often baitfish, like shiners will stay in shallow flats close to bridges or pilings all winter. Concrete pilings/ bridges are places I invest a lot of time in. Generally the bite window is there you just have to figure out when it is.

The answer IMO is a Orochi whipsnake. In terms of versatility and build quality. its very impressive and surprisingly powerful. SC has changed their actions with the new SC 3/4+ material for the worse IME The Victory 6'10 feels great in hand, but what they did with the new SC material gave it a softer tip section. That softer tip kills any kind of light weight sensitivity to the point where you can hardly feel bottom composition dragging a 1/8 tungsten DS weight. In comparison I have rods 1/3 the price that will blow that ML Victory away sensitivity wise. The Victory line was rushed, but to overlook something like sensitivity on a DS rod is embarrassing. Ive relegated mine to a spybait and JB rod. If you do want to go with SC, I recommend staying with LE as they still have that classic SC XF ML action that made me a SC fan as kid.

Really a 200 isnt much heavier or bigger then a 150. The new Curado M look pretty nice, but IME Ive seen Tranx 200s throw heavy plugs, get dropped on jettys and still work with minimal maintenance.

I like a M F for smaller shallow cranks, especially squarebills.

Yeah, the sites that are based around LMB/SMB tourney fishing didn't stock too many trebles bigger then #6. The success of smaller JBs and now the BFS market, you will see a bunch of sites that never carried smaller trebles begin to do so. TW carries a bunch of them now. The only ones I mentioned that TW doesnt have are the Speahead Ryuki trebles.

Ichikawa Kamikiri short shank

Ichikawa Rick Clunn Kamikari lights in #8s work, you may even be able to go down to 6's. Ichikawa has light wire round bend that will work in a #8. Duo Spearhead Ryuki Treble #8 Hayabusa TBL 930s NRB #8

Hayabusas Brush Easy head has a really good keeper that works for every kind of plastic. I really like the Outkasts horizontal barbs and Dobyns alternating barn style keepers, but they're rare. My favorite keepers are the ones I put on hover stroll hooks and decoy magic heads, just a small loop of heavy mono tied onto the shank, similar to the Megabass Okashira except its mono instead of wire.

I just about went to all single hooks for striper and blue fish and have found they actually work better. Once that fish is buttoned, they don't come off and I can get the fish off and get back into the water so much faster. You do have to be really vigilant of the points and keep them needle sharp, being lazy will cost you fish for sure. When it comes to FW I don't use them nearly as much. I've tried them and had success on them, but there are certain baits, JBs are first to mind, that are going to work better with trebles, especially in cold water. To me the fish always comes first, but I don't damage to many fish. I crush my barbs to minimize damage and I might change a tail hook out to a single, so it has less chance to find and eye. The barbs on top quality JB style trebles are so small, that if you're counting on them to consistently keep fish pinned, you're kidding yourself. Smaller barbs offer less resistance on during penetration, just look at the evolution of flagship hooks over the years, they get smaller and smaller.

Ive found InvizX to be good as far as stretch goes, even in lighter tests, but a buddy of mine who fishes lots yak tourneys swears by Spro FC, called Goku or some Japanese sounding name. He likes to fish these big custom swimbaits in a certain lake that has standing timber and that's the line he likes to use because of its abrasion resistance is supposedly very high. Its not a costly line in comparison to others so I might try a spool next spring for my T rig/jig rod.

All of those well known Japanese dealers IME, pack a rod (reels as well) as good or better then companies over here.

Generally they're going to be close to some kind of cover or structure that has easy/fast access to shallow water(realative to avg depth) where the feed. Points, channel swings, ledges, bridges, are ideal. You just have to figure out when that bite window is, as it can be very short. Exposure to sun is another variable to the equation. Ideally you want to find a spot that has all 3 elements, shallow cover, in close proximity to deeper structure, that gets a decent amount of sun exposure. It can be tough to figure them out, but provided steady conditions the pattern is generally very consistent.

The only time when I'm really concerned about match the hatch is when I know the fish are keyed in on that bait and actively feeding and even then I'm more concerned with profile and relative size then matching the color dead on.

Duo 85sp, Rozante 77 and 63

Tranx 200 is about as good as you're going to get for a heavy FW/inshore BC reel. You can get a lot of #40 on there, close to, if not 100yds.

Small spinnerbaits, 3" grubs, slow float jbs in calmer water and smaller poppers and pencils.

Bass X for sure

Tell me about it. They had the absolute best site and ruined it.

I think it's an advantage. Since the eye is centered with the split ring the hook wants to stay tucked without favoring a side. At the very least I feel like the inline eye reduces some contact, which keeps them sharp a little longer. I wouldn't recommend swapping all of the standard eye trebles out for inlines.