WRB-2.0

When I had a boat carries a wide variety of lures numbering in hundreds and 15 to 18 rod combos Today I am a minimalist keeping my hard baits in 1 Plano box; Wooden Sammy wooden BucknBrawl Rover 128 for strippers. 2 ea LC Pointer 98 jerk baits Buzz bait Spinner bait 4 each crank baits medium divers 4 each Structure spoons Soft plastics, Senko’s, Roboworms, Flick Shaky 4.8, 3 1/2” Reapers, Screamers (4” ribbon tails), Hula grubs, Keitech swimmers, nymph creatures. Box of jigs and 2 sizes of pork trailers. Box of terminal tackle, hooks, weights, clips, beads, line & line treatment, attractant, pliers and cutters. 4 to 5 rod combo, 2 bait casting, 2-3 spinning finesse. Thats it! Tom

Our local bass lakes are within 30 to 70 miles from my home are Lake Sherwood private, Westlake private are about 15 miles, lake Castiac, lake Casitas and lake Piru public are about 40 miles, lake Cachuma and Pyramid is 70 miles. All these lake are 2500 to 100 acres in size, average around 2000 acres. DVL is over 100 miles away and San Diego lakes over 150 miles. NorCal has several large lakes, Clear Lake and the Delta, SoCal boarder with AZ is lake Havasu a large lake, about 250 miles to Havasu and over 400 miles to NorCal lakes. Today without a boat my bass fishing is invite only to the local lakes. Tom

Congratulations on a dream day👍. Swimbait fish? Tom

It’s been my experience every rod builder has their own definition of both power and action, no standard exist. MickD has been pointing out a different system that more objective but still lacks a base line. Looking at a rod at a 45 degree angle upwards butt at the bottom tip at the top then adding force to pull down the tip the rod starts to bend downwards. If the 1st 20% of the rod length bends before the rest of the rod length starts to bend it’s called extra fast. If the same rod starts it’s bending at 25% of the length it’s a fast action. Bending at 50% is moderate. 100% it’s parabolic. Logical but worthless imo. If the extra fast tip is a noodle with little power it deadens the hook set until that rod bends into the power rating. What made the NRX different from rods prior to it’s introduction was the action wasn’t defined by how the tip bent under light force it bends more moderate yet applies force like a traditional fast action rod. The result is a rod that cast like a moderate action yet had feed back like a extra fast rod. In other words it was a game changer. The bass rod industry was set on heels scrambles to catch up. power shouldn’t be that difficult to standardize. Power is the dead weight a rod can left before bottoming out at full bending. My power rating comes from original Fenwick rating for bass bait casting rods: 1 lb = 1 power or Light 2 lbs = 2 power or ML 3 lbs = 3 power or M 4 lbs = 4 power or MH 5 lbs = 5 power or H 6 lbs = 6 power or XH Tom

We don’t have a lot of public bass fishing small lakes within a few miles where you are located. The Long Beach Federal Breakwall is 7 miles long and fishable inside is safer with a kayak or the outside near the ends. The wall is basically a free standing dam made of rip rap rocks about 300’ wide at the bottom in 45’ of water with 30 to 45 degree tapering upwards. Take a look at this weeks BR home page article showing a bright red/orange chatterbait, perfect for the Breakwall’s calico and sand bass. Another choice would be lime green for fishing anywhere along out coast bays and marina’s. The Qween Mary rip rap wall Long Beach harbor is another good Calico and Sand Bass spot. Fresh water Bass fishing you need to travel 1 to 2 hours, take a look at Western Outdoor News weekly fishing paper that list nearly every lake in SoCal for bass fishing reports. Lake Castiac afterbay (Lagoon) would be my 1st choice kayak fishing. Welcome to BR! Tom

It is a twin haul (Cat) design that looks very well engineered. Can’t tell how maneuverable the kayak is? Tom

Watch Big Mouth Forever video By Glen Lau engulfing treble hook crank baits without detection....amazing! Tom

The old saying practice makes perfect is somewhat true if you have the natural ability to develop perfection, not everyone gets a trophy. When I was a gymnasts practicing routines until they became automatic was essential because the stress very intense as the judges are watching every movement for flaws and the audience, your teammates and competition are focused on you. A good routine happens when you are out of body watching yourself glide through the routine. When racing we called this out of body experience the red haze but in racing that can be fatal. Same feeling with different results. Staying focused isn’t essential when fishing because fish have a way of hooking themselves, especially with moving lures or live bait. But....staying focused is very helpful when using bottom contact bass lures like jigs and worm imo. Tom

🍻🥇Congratulations and well deserved👍 Tom

I have both the Victory 7’MF & 7’3” MXF rods, both are good finesse bass rods. Now SC offers the 6’10” MXF and that rod should be very good. The original 6’10” MLXF rods tip was a noodle and difficult to get a hook set up using nose rigged with Owner Mosquito or Gamakatsu size 1 hook using Finesse worms. The bass simply jump off because no hook penetration. My hook set with finesse worms is firm lift and reel, rarely loose a bass. Changed the rod to MXF for drop shot and works perfect. Tom

I had the this Victory rod and wouldn’t suggest for bass fishing. Tom

Take it down again and this time assemble it following schematic exactly. Tom

I talk a lot about strike detection and intuitive hook setting. Unless the bass hooks itself, and they do more often then we admit, strike detection is critical and separates the average angler from the those who catch bass consistently. I am a line feeler for decades and that helps me to detect strikes day or night it’s the same feeling. The level that some us have and others don’t is the feeling called intuition when something tells you set the hook, you just know. It’s hard to stay focused with distractions on or off the water, your mind drifts away from the moment of the strike and you often miss that fish. Intuition is something you are borne with. Tom

Bass feeding on school Shad a structure or line through tail spin* are hard to beat for catching numbers of bass. Tom * Wing Ding / Rinky Dink

The easiest way to locate bait schools is looking for birds that feed on the bait.Birds have amazing ability to find bait fish. Tom

Generally speaking when new BR member joins they will post their PB, it doesn’t mean they caught it recently. Mine last was caught 1993 it’s now 2023 that is30 years ago! Tom

Everything works in 50+ degree water, just need to find what depth the bass are in and put the lures in front of them. Typically LMB I’ll be around schools of baitfish or looking for crawdads. Don’t know what you have for tackle or lures?? Tom

Any decent 100 size bait casting reel today will cast 1/8 oz so 1/4 oz is well within it’s performance. Tom

The longer casting distance is the more difficult getting a good hook set is. Deep diving crank requires a longer cast to achieve diving depth to run in the strike zone. I often am forced to make casts 120’ to 150’ to reach bass without spooking them, not ideal but a necessity. Tom

You can’t go wrong with Irod swimbait Gen 111 rods and Matt Newman is only a phone call away. I also like Gary Dobyns swimbait rod in the Champion series, heavier overall weight but out of your price point. Tom

My advice is call ALX rods Alex he is honest and makes custom rods. Tom

Shimano SLXMGL 70 is a sweet reel. Daiwa Tatula SV 70 is a good reel, smooth and quite but....narrow spool! Tom

Shimano Cardiff 300 is good choice vs the CA imo. Tom

Leader depends on where the bass are located, usually about 30” to 36” and rocky points and structure, whatever depth but I stay above 40’. Tom

The obvious thing is the reel sits higher on the seat and this requires the 1st guide needs to be a little further forward and higher frame as does the 2nd guide after that no difference needed. Tom