GetFishorDieTryin

I fished with an Essence all winter and didn't notice there was any metal on the locking nut. Theres an upper hood under the nut, so you dont have to wrap the top of the reel foot to protect it or anything. The only thing my finger contacts is the knurling which feels like it could be plastic. It didn't feel colder or warmer then any of my other rods this winter. The cork isn't the best looking on mine, but it feels much better then it looks. Initially I though the stripper guide was oversized. I had made a comment to @T-Billy that they definitely weren't micro or semi micro guides, but I was wrong. The style and size of the frame makes it look much bigger when it's just an average sized guide. I got the 7'3 MH for T rigs and jigs. It has a little more tip then I thought it would, which makes it a really versatile rod. Its sensitive enough to feel a feel a bass in 38° pick up a jig on completely slack line. There may be some rods that come close dollar for dollar. Honestly if you can get 1 for under 150$ it's a great deal IMO.

Bass hold onto to TRDs pretty well. They swallow them all the time. Elaztech absorbs and holds scent really well. Adding Pro Cure, Megastrike or your favorite scent into the bag of plastics should cause fish to hold on a little longer.

Go to wal mart and get a couple of those little pond magic booyah spinnerbaits in a color you have confidence in...I like white, or shad colors with a little grub as a trailer. Their small size just seems to get them bit far more then bigger ones. It takes very little wind or rain to distort the little profile of that bait even in clear water. Dont let the small size fool you into thinking they dont catch quality fish.

You could make it work with smaller/lighter baits and really light weights using thinner dia hooks. Even with braid setting setting the hook on a long cast or deep water could be tough. I think a M would be the way to go if your planning on using weights over 1/8 and or bigger worms.

Yes.

A couple of the 13 rods I use have SS Alps guides. The 7'1 M F Muse has seen 3 years of heavy use without any issues.

The lakes in my area are weedy and shallow which makes it tough to fish traps. 95% of the time I use them I'm yo yoing them in late winter early spring. Since I dont use them very often my experience with multiple brands is limited. My favorite is the TN60, they just seem to produce consistently. Excalibur made a trap that has a great shimmy. Unfortunately I dont think you can get them anymore. I really like Duos Apex Vibes as well. They're really thin almost like a blade bait and have a subtle sound.

After fishing small holes in the ice for what seemed like an eternity, I wanted nothing more then to wing a big heavy bait.

Keitech, Picasso, Beast Coast all make great tungsten jigs. I was bummed to see the original lead minima jigs go as I didn't know they were being replaced by a tungsten model, which I like. Check out Queen Tackle, they're a sleeper brand that makes good jigs at a good price and they go on sale often. All hand tied quality skirts and the skirt material is coffee scented. I just bought a bunch of their flipping jigs on sale @ $4 a jig.

Sure looks like a Gene Larew. Not just the tab tail but the ribbing on the belly is identical to that of the inch worm. If it is a GL I dont think it's being made anymore.

I've tried quite a few DS hooks and although there are several I really like if I could only have 1for nose hooking it would be the standard Gami Drop/split shot hook in size 1. Trokar has a really good DS hook as well. If you dont have a dedicated DS rod and could possibly be switching baits around I reccomend the Trokar Helix hooks. The ringed wire makes it so much easier to tie on. I like a size 4 for short thin baits in clear water and the #2 for slightly bigger baits. As for weights I generally use 1/8 or 3/16 at the heaviest. I'm partial to Swagger and Reins tungsten. IMO the closed ringed weight are superior to the clip style. The clip style weights often fly off when fish jump.

The micro is a good jig. I just wish TW carried the complete color line. Boss makes a skipping head with a similar shape, but angle of the hook is completely different.

I think all the 95s are silent. Silent JBs can make a huge difference on pressured or cold fish. I'm surprised Dicks had them, the store in my area had some MB baits at the grand opening. Once they all sold they never restocked.

Little swimbait on the lightest head you can throw. Awful hard to beat as far as numbers go and bigger fish have no issues eating them in cold water.

Although I like X raps, I think spending a couple more $ for Duo JBs is the way to go. I change the stock hooks on Rapalas and once you factor that into the cost your close to 14$.

Smaller beaver/creature baits have worked really well for me, especially this time of year.

In my case harvesting birds was never a true sign of success, it's actually a very small part of the process. What really matters is the experience of the pursuit. It's a really cool experience to be able to get a few dozen mallards or geese to cup up and land right in your face. The scenery can be really cool as well. Its neat to see a vast abyss of darkness slowly revealed inch by inch by the rising sun. All the while watching all of the animals go about their lives completely oblivious to your presence.

I thought they were made in Arizona so I wouldn't think they would be sitting in a container offshore. Wasnt there a thread about GYCB changing owners or something? I hope they dont discontinue them. I used to throw kut tails all the time. For whatever reason they stopped making the 5 3/4" which was my favorite size. I still have a couple bags left, but once they became difficult to replace I all but stopped using them.

Once that water gets in the mid 40s swimjigs can do some damage. There a good alternative to a SB or bladed jig in calm, bright conditions. The fish like to push into lilly roots or stumps on real shallow flats in good numbers in march. When I'm afraid snagging up my crankbait or what ever I may be using will spook the fish I'll fish a swimjig to find the lanes. As far as the a finesse swimjig goes, the best one I've found is the Chibi Swim jig by Greenfish Tackle. It's not very big out of the pack and you can trim the inner skirt out and shorten the outer to make it real small. A Chibi swim and a swimmin Fluke jr slightly cut down makes a super compact bait that gets bit. The hook is a lighter wire o'shaughnessy, the fish hook themselves most of the time.

Yep, that's pretty much what I do except I like a jig to have flare so I trim the outside layer on just about all of them.

Personally I'm very particular about trimming skirts, especially jigs. I like to trim them so that the skirt has depth and layers. It's not uncommon for me to spend 10 minutes or more on 1 jig if I have the time. Just about everyone I know cuts them a different way for different reasons. I'm curious how some of you guys go about it. Is anyone as meticulous as I am?

They use a matte finish on the V2 casting jigs. That way theres no paint to chip. The color is dark green pumpkin which is essentially brown with small black flake. I think the jig is actually the version 1 jig which has a painted head and I think the keeper may only have 1 barb and not 2 like version 2 I mentioned.

The SW Assasian jigheads have a super stout 3x short shank mustads. I use them for 3-4" flukes. They wont bend on FW bass.

I saw them pushing the new panfish and bassX rods pretty hard last summer especially in the case of the bassX. I didn't hear or see anything about the eyecon. I know they didn't discontinue the entire Avid line. They just put out a new Avid Surf. The new inshore mojos had me worried about the future of the inshore avids when they debuted. I could see them updating the Inshore Avid within the next couple years, the current design is from 2018. With all the breakage issues the Mojo Inshores are having SC is going to have a hard time selling them, much less replacing a far more successful and popular line like the Ins Avids.

They're great little boats.