Scott804

Bagley B-2 Squarebill was the ticket all year for me.

Deadly weapon from now till April.

I am in the market for a smaller crankbait rod and really enjoy my St Croix Tournament Glass 7'2M/M rod for cranking, so I figured maybe another glass rod would be good. However, I have done some looking and realized that there are very few options for anything below medium in any glass rod offered on Tackle Warehouse. Then, while looking at Zodias casting rod models, I noticed there is a 7ft medium light rod in the line up and decided to poke around online to see if there were any reviews for that specific model because it was kind of an oddball in the lineup and came up empty handed. Does anyone on here own this rod? Do you like it? Anyone else with recommendations on any other options for a Rapala Tiny 04 & Shad Rap focused rod would be appreciated.

Depends on when I am using it. One of my best days ever was with a dropshot that was being shook lightly nonstop. I almost exclusively fish it casting and retrieving. By far my favorite way to fish a dropshot though is with a paddletail swimbait slowly reeling, specifically a megabass hazedong shad. One of the best ways to imitate super tiny bait or just present a swimbait in a way they might not have seen.

Pretty good, considering the hand I was dealt. Fished a ridiculous amount of tournaments in the spring, did well in most of them. Had some good skill development too which was nice. Just wish I could've gotten out more, gas prices really stopped me from being able to fish as much as I normally do, had to go without prefishing most of the tournaments.

For Gaston, Bagley B-2, Bandit 200, & Spro Rkcrawler For Kerr, KVD 2.5 wakebait, Rapala DT6-14 Anything with a shad dot that has blue on it for the color

I used to throw bass flies with a 1/16 tungsten weight in front on a spinning rod. Worked pretty well.

I'd like to see this too - but the original reason they go in July/the summer up north (atleast in the case of BASS) is for fish mortality, because most of the southern end of the country is unviable for tournaments that time of year. To put an event up north in the spring or fall would probably seen as a wasted opportunity to have an event in a southern fishery in it's prime time.

Evergreen SB. Also, if you can find the silent Dog X Diamante, it is absolutely killer. For some reason the rattling one walks completely different than the silent one.

I would get the MGL 150. It is so good. I still like my 200k for heavier stuff, but the MGL is superior in many ways to the K in my opinion.

Cranking. I switched from a graphite rod to a glass rod and suddenly it all began making sense and I started making progress. Now I love to run down a bank winding a squarebill! I am hoping spinnerbaits are next on the list... I have caught fish on them, but I just really can't figure them out still. There are some things, like a lipless, that I can't figure out and have no desire to, but I want to love spinnerbaits and just cannot.

Outside of the fully rigged Tournament 133x, I would stray away. They have good deck space, but they don't make a pedal drive and they don't paddle great so you are basically forced to run a trolling motor if you want to make the most of the boat, in my opinion.

The bass will have a significantly harder time sucking in your bait if it has no trailer attached. It is the whole reason those tiny split tail grub spinnerbait trailers even exist, to give the suction something to grab onto that isn't just loose skirt. I don't think they always strike in this way personally, but it is certainly something to think about, you could be getting these types of strikes and not even know it.

Still looking to add a few things, but she is one heck of a boat as is! OT Sportsman 120 PDL

I have an Old Town Sportsman 120 PDL. Probably the greatest fishing investment I have ever made, to be honest. I can stand in it, fish on the move, battle wind/current with ease, instantly reverse with no hands available, and all of the rigging is incredibly intuitive. No drilling holes or voiding warranties or what have you. I would consider it worth every penny. Kayak tournaments are a blast too. It's not a bad idea to start small with a paddle kayak probably, but I just went ahead and swung big on the PDL and I do not regret it in the slightest. I have fished out of my brother's Ascend 12T and it is good and all but the OT is seriously like on another level as far as having stability you don't even have to think about and the layout feels incredibly well though out. I think you should probably decide whether you want to go small or go big first. Pedals can seriously be a gamechanger though. If you decide to go big then the question becomes motorized or not... I fished out of a friend's autopilot and it was cool but it definitely lacked some of the seamless movement of the PDL, it was very stop and go for me, but depending how you fish I could see it being the other way around. Being able to with move with my feet without having to fumble with a controller was paramount to me with how I fish. Maybe someday I will do a rudder mount or a bow mount trolling motor so I can have both, but it just feels a little silly to go with a trolling motor only for me, especially when your batteries could die or something and you would have to paddle an absolute behemoth like that. Not to mention stealth factor, but that is a whole different conversation. Physical condition also matters. I am young, in shape, and able to move around easily, if I wasn't I would probably be in an electric motor kayak. In the end it is all about finding the right boat for you. Every kayak is very different and there are a ridiculous amount of options out there. I have fished in friend's kayaks and thought "wow this is literally unbearable" despite them swearing by it (looking at you PA14), it is all personal preference in the end.

Jerkbait. As long as I can fish it without it getting fouled up, I always feel like I can get bit on it. Even in super low visibility conditions.

Purple always seems to get me. Cranks, jerkbaits, worms, craws, jigs. Doesn't matter. I like purple.

2x on this one. That glass can really sling a smaller plug.

For me shape is paramount. I was never a fan of full grip rods... until I felt my brother's fenwick HMG. The shape of the full cork grip on those rods is super comfortable to me. I have a lot of EVA rods and they don't bother me at all, so long as the shape of the grip is good.

Go regular for a standard size. The large is pretty darn big.

I have had some Queen Tackle Switch Blades sitting around for awhile and haven't gotten around to using them more than once or twice and I think the reason why is because I can never quite decide what jig to put them on. The times I did use them I would just rip the weedguard out of swimjig and put it on and usually it ran OK, but I am interested to see how other people use them. Swimjig? Football? Weedguard or no? Skirt colors? Any answer is appreciated.

Megabass Levante Shakeyhead, Daiwa Fuego 2500, 10-15lb hi-vis Daiwa J-Braid 8x with a leader of two wingspans of 7-10lb sunline sniper FC. Heavy enough that I can toss it into laydowns, light enough that I could dropshot on it if I needed to. Great rod.

Won a club tournament on that exact color fishing stumps in the rain. Some of the other colors for the KVDs look really cool and for whatever reason they seem to go on sale a lot. I have had some success with the chrome and the semi-translucent bluegill color too. Wakebaits are a fun topwater blowup because they really rarely miss it due to the shape/size. Most of the time the bait is fully in their mouth with both hooks, if they were big enough to engulf the whole thing, in my experience.

Expride and Zodias are both great. You should give the Megabass Levante a look too. Held one in store today. Insanely light, felt like holding air.

I really like the KVD 2.5 Wakebaits. Really good lures. Hard knocking sound as you retrieve. They fish well around grass too. I find them good when it feels like the bass want something that is easy to track and strike, like a buzzbait in the rain, but they have a totally different action than a buzzbait which gives them an interesting niche. I know a lot of guys who fish buzzbaits though, and I can't think of a single guy I know outside of myself that keeps a wakebait in their arsenal often besides myself, so there is something to be said about that. (At least locally) Setup : 7'2 M/M St Croix Legend Glass, Daiwa Tatula 100, 12lb Sunline Crank FC I cast out and reel with a steady retrieve with rod pointed upward to keep the bait on top and waking. You can dip your rod tip in the water situationally to get a little depth out of it, too.