softwateronly

I have 2 solid tip rods in bc and they both do very well with bottom contact. You probably know this, but want to put it out there for any other readers. The solid tip is actually slightly less sensitive in feel but much more sensitive in deflection. With tension on the line, the tip indicates way more than feel ever could, but in the end it’s more of a visual cue. This doesn’t prevent you from feeling it, rather it highlights the lightest of composition changes. scott

I spend 85% of my big lake smallie fishing from one rock! I need to diversify a bit when I cast 82 times at the same 6 fish. I hired Whitacre for a guided day in fall of 24, he does more than just fine with maxscent and z-man. You’re in good company. I’m really interested in the bellows as a jig trailer on these heavier jigs I’m using. It feels like a little float on a short but chunky profile with a single tail might be worth it. We can schedule a rock rendezvous if you wanna give one a shot. scott

Loaded up on both braid and leader, trying a spool of tatsu for the first time. Loaded up on ballhead jigs through various sales, trying some of those 6th sense tungsten 1/2-3/4oz 2/0 ballheads and bkk in 3/0 to keep bottom contact in 20+ fow with current. For that same water, got a few nishine 3/4oz football jig to try and a few packs of 2.8 bellows gill elastomer. I hope to grab another Alphas 800s and possibly another longer 2 piece ML-M salt rod to replace an MC rod that I destroyed late last fall through carelessness. scott

What type of cover and hook? Rock and open water would lean me toward light to medium wire hooks and toward the 7'2ML or 6'10M. Heavy wire hook fished in thick weeds I'd probably lean toward the 6'10MH to 7'2MH. I don't think any of the heavy powered exprides have the tip to throw 1/4oz jigs. scott

I throw a lot of rigs with pe .8, pe 1, and pe 1.5, and I agree with @PhishLI the diawa alphas sv tw 800s is perfect right out of the box for your weights and line. Absolutely sends them and is a very quality reel at a fair sub $200 price. The zillion is better imo but only when paired with a shallow spool, for me a roro x27, making the whole endeavor significantly more expensive. I have my 4th alphas in my digitaka cart right now to pair with a "lighter" Phenix MH, but the site went "under maintenance" earlier today. scott

Finesse jigs, 2.5" tubes, jig worms, karashi, neds, and jighead minnows do most of my work. But there's some small spoons, jigpara micro, kastmaster, little jack micro addict, and the bayruf seek 68s that are a blast for the open water schoolies I get post shad spawn, most are in the 2-7g range but even some of the heavier ones have such tiny hooks that BFS is much more appropriate. I definitely wanna play with pitching a micro d-bomb more this year, picked up some ryugi infini hobbit size 3 to give me a chance. scott

Swimjig and spro kgb chad shad are my nighttime faves. Man we need some warm rain to open up this ice!!!! scott

I haven't done it but feel like it would be no problem. I honestly haven't gotten a fish on an s-waver since 23, but also haven't thrown it all that much. The chop of the spro kgb has just been a better hard bait producer for me recently. The 702X would certainly be able to drive the hooks and I would guess lob it just fine. If you remember to bring it up after ice out, I can check. scott

I have a couple avids in the spinning line up, love them, but haven't gone back to St Croix since some 12-15 years ago. I have made a version of this migration to longer rods and then even a backswing to shorter rods. I really like shorter bottom contact rods when dealing with grass, I feel like I can have the utmost control when trying to work or shake free without having my bait jump too far. Longer rods are my preference for a lot of techniques; mostly winding, dragging and ripping, and balance is really important to me. Dobyns and Major Craft are companies that I can vouch for saying that you will get a rod at any length that will balance with any conventional reel. Shimano, Diawa, and Phenix are usually good, but sometimes work best with heavier reels when longer than 7'. Longer rods also give me the ability to reel and sweep set on those longer casts still giving me control while fighting the fish. I run 6'6 to 7'11 for all my rigs. scott Bottom contact; jigs, worms, free rigs, tubes etc: 6'6-7'10 rods Poop baits: 6'6-6'11 Deep crank: 7'7-7'9 Jerk bait: 6'9-6'11 Jighead minnows: 6'10-7'3 Swim jigs: 7'5-7'6 Frogs: 7'-7'3 Topwater: 6'9-7' Finesse swimbaits/underspins: 6'10-7'10 Large soft swimbaits: 7'6 Glides: 7'11 Chop Glides: 7' Spoons: 6'9-7'9 Hair Jigs: 7'3-7'10

I like and love my various exprides and see no need to get rid of them, but do agree with your sentiment. There's no discernible difference between the A/B models and the A goes back nearly 9 years. From the same era, though less options in length I find the MC Days better and they're half the price. scott

@FishTank you probably know, but GeoffreytheKing's pd chopper video from last april is all P5 Monstrous if you want to see it in action. scott

Certainly is. From a layman's perspective, fascinating and illuminating to watch materialism getting dismantled by the tools it helped create. scott

I don't know man, I try not to have regrets but not making the 2005 Whitesox parade is up there, and yes work got in the way. The 2010 Hawks ticker tape parade I went solo and had the happiest day drinking day ever. Supposedly 2 million were on the route, it was beautiful chaos. I still work today. scott

@Crow Horse certainly didn't expect to read a rupert sheldrake reference here this morning, but happy I did. scott

My iceout selection for LM's on a small inland lake will probably start with this; -1/2oz blade bait -3/16oz 2-3" mooch minnow -110jr+1 -75mm SF duel hardcore shad -3/8oz dht punisher w/ a smallie beaver -3/4oz duh spoon -3/8-1/2oz smeltinator underspin w/ a 2.5" mayor If the crankbait bite is on and I feel like they're willing to chase, I'll immediately add in and slow roll a 3/4oz dj cali swimjig w/ a r2s dwalker. I also favor the N end of my lake that is a dark mud bottom and target the steepest 1st breaks, casting past and working downhill. I expect to find them on that 6-10' break, but certainly have run into them up on the flats or still staging deeper off the 2nd breaks in 15-20' fow. scott

I'm hoping the weather over the next 7 days opens up some water, specifically 31st harbor. Other than visually checking, anyone know of ways to find that out? scott

@Glenn Well framed argument and rule addition; continuing to demonstrate why your site is the best. scott

Maybe next year I'll have a different answer. There's a solid tip MC Days 360 6'9MH being released this spring that has caught my eye. Seems like it would be a great alabama shake rod, big minnow rod, and medium cover dragging rod. I have the 6'6MH now, and it's quickly become my de facto favorite jig rod at a much lower price than the other flagship models in mainstream line ups. I have swam jigs with the 6'6 model, but haven't put that much time into it to give a definitive answer. Still not a seven footer, but that rod with a met will still send a jig as far as I want and have the tip to backbone to work it in heavy cover, the sensitivity to feel everything, and the mid section to keep them pinned when they jump. If the current 7' MH/F Poison Adrena is the middle child of the old 6'11M+/F and 7'2H/F I'd have that on my radar too. Good Luck! scott EDIT: For some reason I babbled on twice without fully reading your post. The CNQ 844 would be what I'd compare all others to.

I'm mostly an fg user now, but tied an alberto on all my rigs for over a decade and your breakage ratio doesn't reflect my experience at all. Breakage at the lure had to be upwards of 95%. I only left the alberto for the fg because it was as strong and a touch smaller. Something seems off for you to have a 50/50 ratio at the join and I'm not sure a longer leader will alleviate that. scott

I usually fish swim jigs with a paddle tail and like a longer rod for bomb casting deep weedlines. I use a DRX 755 and CNQ 904 mostly for this. If I'm pitching or target casting I prefer the Diawa Steez 7'2H Power Pitch. I have no idea if these are the best, but they're great enough at it that I don't question what I'm missing. My main weights are 1/2oz and up, though all 3 can easily handle 3/8oz jigs. scott

A often overlooked point by many who question long leader usage. To me it's second only to those pervasive mussels that shred braid in an instant. scott

I'm in the same boat as @A-Jay Quality mainline has served me well used as long leaders. Last year, 10lb sniper on open water medium to bfs rigs, 10lb shooter on those same rigs that I shore fish with, 16lb sniper on my jig rods, 10lb maxima ultragreen for topwater, and 20lb maxima ultragreen for big baits. This year I'm leaving sniper behind for better abrasion resistance with 10lb shooter and 15lb tatsu. Fortunately I never had breakage issues with sniper other than zebra mussels, but all the sniper I used last year was bought in or before 2024. scott

Looks like a big fish catcher to me. Somewhat similar profile/action that I get from the 5/8oz Uoze with a Gambler Big GZ, my best open water nighttime bait. Hope to hear some reports and see some pics when the ice finally leaves. scott

I don't know. Never threw a tiny klash or a bellows gill. My guess is that the tk would be good to great and the 3.8" bellows would be close to not effective. scott

If going by that, then I completely agree with you. scott