Rocky998

Yeah! I'm glad too! Loll. Without these people on here and some really really good advice from someone on YouTube, I wouldn't have even had the confidence in fishing winter water haha. Honestly kinda surprised that I managed to even get more than 3 in those 3 days there 😂😂

Thanks! 👊 It's so cold for the bass right now in NC I CANT WAIT for March lol

Caught a few more. Still small little guys

Here where I am in North Carolina, pre spawn is JUST trying to start... But we've been having some cold front coming through ever so often, messing up their schedule... But even in the cold I managed a few catches.

Oh those are both really good options!! I think I may try the shadtron someday! Thank you, Brian!!

Thanks!! I'm looking at getting one sometime down the line. I'll also check out the Shimano ones too! I know you said they're for cold water (which is great), but do they also work for spring/summer if I was to work it faster?

Are the megabass jerkbaits really what they are hyped up to be? Looking for solid preforming shallow jerkbaits

I might look into that rod! Thanks!! Yeah, I kinda figured that would be the case but I also figured it was worth a shot to try to find a rod that could handle both sides of the spectrum lol That makes sense. Thanks for the explanation! Yeah I could TRY to but I'm on a very very limited budget so it'll be a while lol. BUT I could try a different route. I have a baitcaster from a previous setup that still works. It's a Daiwa Lexa 100, but it's an older model. Here's the link to what it is: https://www.tackletour.com/reviewlexa100.html What if I get a rod rated for swimbaits and A-rigs and then use that baitcaster? I know that reel is a bit small, but it should work, right? Maybe put 40-50lb braid on it or something and then a 17-20lb mono leader? That's the one I was eyeing as well! I really liked the look of those specs. That and one of those Daiwa Saltwater rods... I forget which one Thank you for your input! I appreciate it! Thanks!! That looks like a cool rod! I've just never really heard of the brand so I'll have to do some research...

Thank you for the recommendation!! Sadly that rod won't work for me due to the length. I want to keep it under 7'4 for transportation reasons. But $20 would definitely be a sweet price lol. Thanks again!

So I was looking on TW to see if I could find any "all purpose" type rods that might work for me with the weights I want to use and found these that I put in the cart to save them for reference: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/workingorder.html?o_l=vCqE2WPTSrU~U_2K I found many rods with the lure weight ratings being: 1/4 - 1 1/2 oz 1/4 - 2 oz (this one is only the pre-order onex so I'm skeptical of performance, but that lure weight rating is literally perfect) 3/8 - 1 1/12 1/2 - 2 oz And I believe there is also one with the range of 1/2 - 3 oz on there too. All mostly being either fast action or extra fast. Basically every lure I use on my baitcaster is 3/8 oz or larger, although there are the very rare occasions I use something less than that. (Usually always a 1/4 oz if I go under and my rod and reel handle that amazingly) I want something where I'm able to still use all my 3/8 oz+ T-rigs, jigs, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, frogs, ploppers, and stuff. But I so badly want to use large (to me) 6" swimbaits and stuff that are around the 1.25 - 2 oz range! I don't plan on going above that really. I know it's not the BEST to get a rod to use for almost everything, but I'm trying to do it in the most careful way. I don't really use crankbaits on my baitcaster anyway, I usually leave those to my spinning rod. So I don't need to worry MUCH about this rod handling treble hook baits except for the whopper ploppers and jerkbaits. If you noticed, all those rods I found are under $200. There are a few at the $180 mark, but that's REALLY scratching the surface for me even. Ideally I want it to be under $150.

Ah ok. Not as common where I am

For real. I'd be chucking anything I could into that stuff, taking my time picking it apart.

Finally finding and looking at a review of 3 different soft body swimbaits (Bass Mafia, megabass, and Berkeley cull shad), I was able to see the "unweighted weights" of each swimbait. (These weights are only for the 6" baits) The bass mafia AND cullshad swimbait are both 1oz, while the megabass bait is 1¼ oz. So I'm thinking that I'll try the cullshad with a ¼ oz 6/0 owner hook so it comes out to be just above 1¼ oz which I'm praying my rod will be able to handle loll.

Oh ok! Weird they don't specify that on the site I'm looking at... Sadly not on the site I'm shopping on, but I believe I've seen these in stores near me, so I'll look into them! Thank you! That's a good plan and setup! I was planning to use it near grass shallows and IN them (I'm a bank fisherman) in areas about 1-5 ft deep for pre spawn and spawn Maybe sometime in the future I'll have multiple baitcasting rod and reel combos, but for now I only have one with 3 spinning combos lol. That does look pretty cool! I'll look into it! Thank you so much for the suggestion! Either I do that or the prerigged 6" swimbait that comes in just under 1oz... Not as weedless, but the fins deflect some things from what I heard

That's not too bad! Definitely overloading, but only by a 1/4oz or so... I use 50lb braid with a 20lb mono leader connected with an FG knot. I'm pretty confident in setting the hook if I need to. Thank you for the tip on the reeling sweep set! I'm definitely going to keep that in mind! I'd like to, but it's about $20 just for one bait that looks like it has the possibility to snag. Im wanting to use this in grassy areas where the there is also sometimes wood structures. I thought the owner ewg hooks would be perfect for this. Thank you for the tips!! I usually always practice with new baits in view to know exactly what it looks like to better present it!! Helps a TON lol. That's a good idea! Thanks! I'm just not sure if the keitech 5.8 will really give me the profile I'm looking for I've seen those, but the bass mafia costs 12 something for just 1 unloaded bait whole I can get 2 magdrafts for 14 and rig them myself. Yeah, exactly. I already have a 4 ¼" EZ swimmer and a pack of 4" paddletail zakos. So I'm good on those type of baits for now. Lol Yeah I definitely don't want to bread my rod lol.

So I'm a budget fisherman and I'm very careful on where I spend my money. The most expensive thing I got was my baitcaster rod and reel and I can't really get a different specific setup which is why I tried getting an "all in one" setup. I'm really not sure if my rod can handle a large swimbait though. Currently I have a 7.1 gear ratio reel on a medium heavy rod with a lure weight recommendation of 3/8 - 1oz. I have easily casted down to 1/4oz on it which shows the range going down, but I'm not sure how much I can overload it really. I was planning to get a 2pk of the 6" Megabass Magdraft swimbaits (un-rigged) and pair it up with a size 6/0 owner beast twistlock hook (1/4 oz weight). How much would that weigh all together, apx.? And do you think my rod could handle it? I really want to use a larger swimbait and gain confidence with it without having to spend a lot on another rod and reel combo 😆

These were the biggest catches (apx 4lbs). First two photos are the same bass. these were my smaller bass catches. They fought HARD though! Gotta love em

Oh really? That's pretty cool to know!! This has been my first year of targeting fish species. I've always been intrigued by bass fishing so I've learned so many things with where bass go during different parts of the year and how to "match the hatch" as well as TONS of other stuff which has proven to be very effective. I have yet to really dive into the identifying of certain features on bass... For now I've just been looking at the size of the bass I catch loll. Might have to do some more research on this topic!

Took me a while this time to figure out what the bass were biting... Thankfully didn't get skunked!

Elite Evo field test and tested my FG knot! Both work flawlessly! also I think i caught my PB in that top photo! Love how they fight

Alright. Bottles instead of the lifting weight. Got it. And don't lift with the rod at and angle, just bring the whole rod up? Or am I not supposed be lifting the bag of the ground at all? Just setting the drag to a specific weight?

@WRB I tried doing the thing with the bag and the weight, but I think my rod will snap if I try lifting it off the floor...

Oh wow, thank you for replying! So out of the 3, you'd recommend the original fogy for the best action rather than the bubble blade, then? Or should I do the tremor for the best of two worlds? I'm looking to mostly use paddletails on the back for red drum and bass

I'm hoping to get some stuff from Siebert Outdoors, but I'm on a tight budget so I want to make sure that what I'm getting counts. I'm well assured it's all quality products, I'd just like to know the difference between some things. I see that on his site he only has one color option for the bubble blade but then he has other colors for the "normal" blades and Tremor blades. I always hear that the bubble blade is the best, but what about the Tremor bladed jig? I'm asking because I'm hoping I can have a gold-colored one for stained and muddy water fishing, as well as for red drum as they like the color gold and I feel like it would be a "new" presentation for them that they haven't seen. So what are the differences between these 3 blades exactly? (PS: I know I've recently been asking a lot of questions in here, so I apologize. I just want to so the best I can with the limited resources I've got)

Thanks man! Really appreciate it!! 👊