JackstrawIII

You can certainly use that rod to fish a both senkos and crankbaits. Those rods naturally have a slower parabolic action, so I'd use something like 30 pound braid with a 12-15 pound leader of mono/fluoro/hybrid. Using braid as your main line will help with hooksets on single hook techniques (like the senko). If you were just using it for crankbaits, then 12 pound hybrid/mono/fluoro would work great.

My favorite rod to use for paddletails is a medium power fast action. If I was throwing over 5" baits, I'd move up to MH.

Lots of folks already hitting the big suspects (line abrasion and faulty knots), but I'll throw in my $.02. I'm not a pro fisherman by a longshot, but with that said, I haven't lost a fish due to line breakage in many, many years. I think part of the reason is that I fish a lot of lighter action rods than most people. I really like medium-light and medium spinning rods, and medium and medium heavy casting rods. I'm convinced that you don't need nearly as much hook setting power as most people think, and that using a lighter rod creates a wider "safety zone" against break-offs when fighting fish.

I fished with a charter captain up near Alex Bay last summer. We fished primarily for smallmouth (as you noted), but he did tell me about how he likes to target largemouth during his off time. He says he focuses on shallow, weedy bays and inlets. Is it like it used to be up there? Can't say.

Best way I've found to remove the "gamey" taste from the meat of game animals: Fish - soak in saltwater, then rinse in cold water before cooking Deer - soak the meat in saltwater mixed with a bit of white vinegar. This removes the blood from the meat, which is where the "gamey" taste comes from. The vinegar has the added benefit of breaking down tough tissues, leading to a noticeably softer chew.

Hey bassresource, I'm a longtime reader and this is my first post. Thanks for all the great info. I have a simple (I hope) question. I found a great deal on a couple unused 2 year old St. Croix BassX rods on FB marketplace. I'm a big fan of their Premier line of spinning rods and wanted to test their casting rods. In researching about these rods, I see they have a known issue with the reel seats breaking on the newer models, but since these are a bit older, I figured I'd take a chance. Here's the question, how can I test these rods to see if they're going to break before taking them out to fish and potentially losing any lures, reels, etc.? Is there a way to pre-test these rods? Or can I reinforce them somehow so they won't break even if they weren't originally made correctly? Thanks guys!