WRB-2.0

The most common lures are hollow body frog, solid body toad and weedless spoons that work the surface. If they work then go with weedless soft plastics. Tom

You can also take the rod to a local tackle shop that does rod guide repair, cost is usually less then $15 Tom

The only advantage FC has over Mono line is it heaver and sinks with less line drag coefficient drag going thru water. If using FC as a leader to braid you loose both knot strength and abrasion resistance compared to mono/ copoly line of equal dia., suggest considering Maxims Ultra Green for leader in lieu of FC. Tom

Amazon ships with return label, have the driver P/U the broken rod and have Amazon replace it or credit. In the States both Tackle Warehouse and American Legacy ship to Canada both have sales and ALF offers new customer discount. Tom

The Sting Ray worms were a tougher salt water plastisol having a larger wider spear tail, good worm. Blueberry color was translucent sky blue back in the 70’s good color nearly forgotten today and should work. Tom PS, caught a Otay lake record back in 1968 using a 7” Blueberry Jelly worm the record lasted 3 days!

You will not have an issue casting a 3/8 oz spinner bait it’s the blade size and shape that creates resistance retrieving the lure. The sale item is a single Colorado blade and suggest you pass on it! Are your reels the same mid 80’s vintage? Tom

Santone weedless finesse jig comes in 3/16 & 5/16 oz on sale @ TW, excellent swimming and great price. Tom

OP was looking for hard swimbaits. Tom

Rick Clunn St John’s River his last win was 98 lbs 14 oz on a spinnerbait in 2019 at age 78! Tom

I would consider a wake bait like rats for ponds and slow sink gizzard Shad 6”-7” 2 to 2 /12 oz. for Texas region. Tom

Finesse spinning for slit-slip shot rigs copoly Maximum UG 5# because it is small dia stronger higher abrasion resistance and helps float the soft plastic. Finesse spinning drop shot 7# Snoper FC or 5# UG, slight advantage with FC do to less line drag. Baitcasting jigs and worms 12# Tatsu FC, all other lures 11# mono Armilo. Senko weightless spinning 15# Spin5 braid w/10 # Sniper FC, reason easier strike detection seeing floating braid. Tom

What does the OP want to use the rod for? Crank baits, jigs??? Tom

You like KVD get a KVD signature rod. Tom

My Viper head jig is 7/16oz w/ Gamakatsu 5/0 hook tied w/bucktail, a real bass hair jig, not crappie jig! Tom

Your problem with the reel is the level wind worm gear is to slow letting the braid dig into small diameter braid. Suggest you upgrade the reel with a faster worm gear designed for the braid line you are using. Tom

Always enjoyed “tinkering” with my lures just because I could. Adding fine glitter for more sparkle or contrasting color dots or bars to hard lures, paint and dye to soft plastics. I definitely over use jigs it’s my favorite lure to use. My son when he pre teen often picked out a lure that I didn’t think would work and start catching bass, I learned to bite my tongue and let choose what he wanted. Tom

Sharpie pens are better for high lites in leu of solid black backs imo. Barlows sell s paint for soft plastics works good. i would’t over think darker black. Tom

Suggest you consider a swimbait rod with nominal lure weight rating near the lure weights you plan to use. Example; 1-4 oz would be 2 1/2 oz nominal lure weight. Also suggest a reel with line capacity 150 to 175 yards of 20 lb (.016 D ) line with ratio between 5.5-6.1. Lures multi joint slow sink that replicate the bait fish the bass are looking for where you fish. Irod Gen 3 swimbaits rods are $150 excellent at that price point. Tom

My 1st giant bass was 18.6 lbs caught at lake Casitas on a hair jig/pork trailer custom Lamiglas 6’10” MHF rod and Abu 4500C w/12# TrileneXT in 1981 The last 4, 17.4 from Casitas on hair jig and 17.4 and 17.6 new PB 19.3 Lamiglas 6’10” MHF w/ Daiwa HTiA103 reel, 10 & 12 lb BG line in 1990-1993 lake Castiac. Tom

You need fixture to drill a hole accurately into a jig hard imo. I use a Hitchhicker spring to attach a soft plastic finesse worm cut about 1 1/2”-2” long to insert the hook point into as a weed guard, works good. Tom

When I had my own boat always used the same routine to establish where to start. Often the marina held a good population of big bass and never left. Fishing alone I have a different mind set focusing big bass. Fishing with a partner catching bass is the goal and taking into consideration how my partner likes to fish makes a difference where and how to fish. By myself I am willing to saturate a known spot but with a partner more willing to run to several area to establish a pattern to catch numbers of bass, 2 different mind sets that affect where and how to fish. Tom

Never used auto pilot, spot lock 👍 Fell out of a BassCat years ago because the TM switch was on the side of the peddle with the motor turned sideways and accidentally stepped on the switch while fighting a bass, the boat went out from under me in the water I went. Fortunately Yhe boat owner was back seating and helped me into the boat, not easy task to get into a boat with wet heavy clothing. Learned a lesson to have a method to get into the by myself! Auto Pilots need fail safe off switch or some will drown. Tom

There are some similarities hunting the prime predators be it big musky or LMB. Both predators dominate the best areas but in limited experience with musky they are single fish that own one spot while bass tend to share a prime feeding area with other big bass. My musky fishing is isolated to lake of the Woods, Crow lake and Kiskatins ) height of land) in Ontario. My LMB experience is far broader coast to coast Mexico to Canada. Tom

Bruce will make whatever you want, contact blade Runner Lures. Tom

Haven’t done a lot of Smallmouth night fishing but a good friend who targeted record size smallies using single spin spinnerbaits similar to the one A-Jay has on his article page. For what it’s worth Skinny fished 8’ deep breaks with stumps or rock piles and was very successful. Good fishing🚣 Tom