ironbjorn

12lb YZH or 12lb Big Game. The stuff is so strong and the break strength is well above its stated test that you do yourself a disservice fishing 15lb or higher.

I voted somewhere in between simply because sometimes the bite is on slack line.

I don't know, but I count Dottie and the Kurita bass because with Dottie, she was legitimately that fat regardless of the hook being slightly out of the mouth, and Kurita's fish was legitimately that fat regardless of live or artificial bait. I don't look for ways to not count their weight.

A soft plastic swimbait, fluke, lizard etc drug over the mats elicits epic strikes

You haven't memorized your card info? Maybe I should try to forget mine so I stop getting in trouble with the woman.

Senko, Jig, Squarebill, Lipless, Ned Rig In no particular order. That's all I'll ever truly need to feel like I'm equipped to catch bass.

Even a Black Max will sling a weightless 5" Senko. They're almost 1/2oz without the hook weight.

9 or even 8 + foot rods for a fish that's mostly targeted around some type of cover close to the bank can't make sense to me. Open water fishing with things like swimbaits or deep diving crankbaits have long rods specially made for them. A lot of big lake, open water smallmouth guys often use longer rods than largemouth anglers do, but the green fish is by far more targeted due to abundance and access across the country. There's just not much of a reason for huge rods for most bass fishing.

Using guides as a hook keeper is abuse.

Lol credit my kid. I play Call of Duty with him and he calls the kids who are trash and use LMGs "spray and pray". I guess it catches on for various aspects of life

The right rods for the right technique are not short. Swimbait rods are long. A lot of deep cranking rods are long. Big open water techniques. But that's not the majority of bass fishing. Bass like to be up in the BS and we have to get around it, advantage shorter rods. Bass fishing isn't cast and pray, it's targeted - advantage shorter rods.

I mostly only use Yo-Zuri Hybrid and Big Game. I respool every other trip because it's cheap and I'm OCD.

You've got to use a needle my man

I'm not exactly sure. I don't work on reels at all. His button did malfunction but also it stopped reeling and jammed a lot. I cleaned it but that changed nothing. I didn't bother to try to get it fixed. He went straight to a President spinning reel and no issues since.

Stradic Ci4?

As I've said before, I bought my (now 13 year old) son one before he learned to use spinning gear. Yes, it's heavy. At first it was amazing. Great casting, smooth, enough speed, didn't fall apart immediately. Half way through the season it took a crap on him like all spincast reels will do these days. I hope you have a better experience. Our experience was that it was a much better user experience than other spincast reels but didn't hold up any better and over time was a cumbersome brick.

Are you opposed to splitting the difference with copolymer?

That's a baaaaaaaaad combo for 150 bucks. Nice finds.

I would specifically choose the Sierra for its more MF action. Just fast enough for Texas Rigs and 3/8oz jigs and just slow enough for treble and moving baits. It's really fantastic. And with that tip you can get away with throwing 1/8-3/16 baits to as heavy as 1/2oz. The Lew's TP throws light baits amazingly well and can flat out chuck heavy baits too. At 7.5:1, the only thing you can't do is deep crank - but square bills are amazing on it. Some would choose a way more expensive rod, but my choice is based on the characteristics of the rod that is truly unique.

Dobyns Sierra 704C paired with a Lew's Tournament Pro in 7.5:1. It can almost do it all.

Alcohol DOES dehydrate you. Most of the effects of a hangover is in fact dehydration.

iirc Gary Dobyns got his start with Powell and similarly rates rods. I couldn't imagine what amount to a MH or a MH+ (the softer Falcon Heavy you're describing) being too light for 3/16 to 3/8 oz. To each their own.

Use an octopus circle hook and you'll never miss fish. They basically hook themselves and won't come unbuttoned. The problem with an insensitive rod and Senkos is gut hooks though. Shoot it happens enough with Senkos using high end rods due to the nature of how they so often eat the bait.

Wacky rigging a 5" Senko with a baitcaster is doable and honestly more of a pleasure than with spinning gear. Other finesse, like the Ned and drop shot, go with spinning; some people use finesse casting gear but it's expensive, niche, and way more of a hassle than it needs to be.