WRB-2.0

Hard to find a more universal frog rod then Irod IRG754F gen3 Fred’s Magic 7’5” HF, 3/8-2 oz.@$150. Tom

2024 the bass may not be old enough to spawn, 2025 they will spawn. Depending on survival rate 50 may be too many with unknown male to female bass ratio. Let’s say 50% survive, 25 1 year old or 12” bass require lots of food. Tom

St Croix Victory series is very light weight available in Canada. Tom

Are planning to buy plain jigs and paint the head and add various skirts or mold jigs using premium hooks and complete them? To tie skirts onto a jig a jig vice is needed. basically 3 types of jig skirts, silicone, living rubber and hair. Thousands of silicone skirt tabs with every color imaginable. Maybe a dozen living rubber skirts strips and hair choices. The most important component for bass jigs is the hook. The jig head design needs to go through structure and cover without snagging, 100’s of jig designs. Tom

I did find a place to purchase bass in California T-MO, don’t know if they have a SoCal location? Tom

Been off site for awhile, back now. We tend to think all bass are the same, they are not. LMB are engulfers not biters meaning they engulf prey by opening the big mouth pumping water through the gills sucking in the prey instantly then close their month trapping the prey and kill it by crunching down. Blink and you miss the Strike. Smallmouth are similar with smaller mouth and tend to bite some prey like crawdads before engulfing it. Different type of strikes. Spotted bass are in between LMB and Smallmouth and strike to hold the prey before engulfing it similar to Smallmouth. Depending on the lure vs bass size adjustments to hook sets may be needed. The old saying bass don’t have hands is true, but not all bass behave the same. The old saying hook sets are free, may not be free if setting into a tree limb for example. When I am casting horizontal and retrieving a lure the reel and rod sweep hook set works good for me. In fact this hook set works good nearly all the time. Exceptions are when the lure is close to vertical or less then about 45 degree downward angle, then take up any slack and rod set works for me. We all develop our own hook set technique that works for us. Hope we get lots of chances! Tom

EWG hook bend can cam over then the bass churches down and end sideways in the mouth. A hook sideways is OK if the bass turns away when you hook set, or gets pulled straight out when facing you. Tom

Look at Trophy SST 4 blade

Honda changed the 4 stroke OB engine using a lighter weight design that worked. Mercury and all others followed offering light weight 4 strokes ending the inline 6 cylinder Verado supercharged e give popularity. Verado is good reliable 4 stroke engine that is too heavy for most bass boats. Tom PS, the boat in the OP’s avatar also has a kicker OB adding more weight.

Straight shank worm hook the point is highest above the hook eye. Extra Wide Gape the hook point is even with the hook eye. Off set wide gap hook the the point may be above the hook eye or even. Why is this important? Your line is tied to the hook at the hook eye and you apply pulling force trying to move the hook point into the basses bass. If the hook point is even with the line tie you pull the hook out of the basses mouth on a straight pulling force, unless the hook is down into the bass throat. Straight shank results in higher hook penetration, off set with point above hook eye is 2nd, hooks like have lowest % of hooking bass, especially on a straight line pulling force ie; Carolina rigs. Tom

Fins braid doesn’t change color or fade. Tom

There is a difference between giving your life and giving your time. Veteran’s Day is set aside to give thanks to those who served our country. Memorial Day is for those gave their lives in service, there is a difference. What those soldiers in the bar may be saying to your son is they didn’t him, they served their country and he could do the same. Saying thank you for your service should be appreciated by all. Peace, Tom

The military isn’t “serving you” they are serving “their” country. Memorial Day is different then Veterans Day, a Memorial means giving thanks to those who gave their lives. Tom

Armilo has the unique properties of high strength, abrasion, low memory and small diameter. Armilo isn’t offered in test below 11 lbs or diameter below .011 or over 25 lbs/.016 diameter. Trilene XL 8 lb is .010 Dia, Big Game, XT and Suffix Advance 8 lb is .011 dia, SuperNatural is .009 dia. Armilo 11lb is .011 dia, same as most 8 lb mono. Tom

The vertical listing has been going on for me awhile now and it’s random very frustrating? Tom

Snaps or clips are used on diving crank baits for ease of lure change. Swivels are used as a C-rig component, added to Split rings on lures lure structure/flutter spoons to reduce line twist. Built in hard lure swivel hook hangers are fairly new to help reduce bass from shaking the lure, not sure it helps? Bass don’t spin when fighting, they shake their head to get rid of the lure hook. Swivel clips have very limited use in bass fishing and used on lures that spin when retrieved like inline spinners. If using a spinning reel adding a small Spro swivel to the Split ring helps to reduce line twist, not needed for bait casting reels. I used 2 Split rings on big swimbait hook hangers to reduce the bass shaking the hook loose on hard jointed lures. Tom

Sunline Super Natural 8# / .009D isn’t expensive $9 for 330yd spool and very low memory, good knot strength superior to XL imo. Tom

No neutral, pull start and hang on?

Smooth Drags sells what you need. Tom

I had a Pumpkin Seed hydro with Merc Super 10 Quick Silver Lower unit in 1955. Don’t know how fast it was but guess about 35-40 mph. Fun boat but tricky to turn. Tom

If you have a reel on the rod it takes up 2’ of line with each full handle turn faster then a long rod. Only hook set with the rod when the lure is nearly vertical with a straight lift. Learned to do this with 5’ pistol grip rod back in 50’s, more then 1 way to stick a bass. Tom

The late Dee Thomas always flipped sitting and Dave Gliebe stood pitching. Dee was shorter and stout, Dave was tall and thin. Dee started with 12’ rods until rule changes forced him to use 8’ rods with a reel. Dave used 8’ rods with a reel. Don’t believe physic makes a difference, sitting is less tiring vs standing let’s you see into the water better. Nearly 80 but prefer standing, easier for me to cast more accurately. I use Irod IRG754F (7’5”) rod for flipping, pitching, punching casting swim, wake, glides to 2 oz., not ideal but worked good. Tom

When the OP states flipping the longer the rod the better because you don’t cast using the reel, only the rod. Casting longer rod a short distance accurately pitching is far more accurate, basically flipping using the reel to let out additional line. Punching the shorter rod works good as you are making a cast higher off the water to punch the weight through cover. Shorter rod is far more accurate to cast and hit smaller targets. Choices! Tom

Not familiar with Asian Portal reels. Daiwa Tatula TTUSV70H vs Tatula 20 SVTW103H same reel? Tom

If your budget is around $10K there are lots of options. My last bass boat was a Triton TR 175 single console w/115 Merc Optima 2 cycle engine. Having owned several 19’ bass boat over the years, the TR 175 fit into my garage, primary reason to buy it. I was surprised with this entry level bass boats storage capacity and rod locker held 15 combos up to 8’ long. Speed wasn’t a consideration as our lakes all have 35 mph limit, this boat fully loaded with 2 passengers ran 50+ mph, up on plane quickly and handles white cap wind water with a smooth dry ride. You can 2004-2006 TR 175 around $9K-10K in good condition. Try to locate a boat that was garaged with engine run hours under 300, lower the better, have a mechanic check the engine. Plan on upgrading the TM to a model with spot lock and electronics in time. Good luck, Tom PS, avoid any boat used in salt water. Good