WRB-2.0

I always order over the phone that way you know the delivery date and if the order is split between East and West coast or on back order. TW has excellent Customer Service to track your order. Tom

Welcome to BR and returning to fishing. 10 year old* can learn quickly to cast a spinning rod combo, not a fan of the spin cast reels. Suggest starting your son with a 6’ Medium Fast rod size 1000 reel and 10lb Sunline Super natural mono line. Teach the boy to manually close the reel bail to prevent loops in the line. For you the same spinning combo with 2500 size reel, same line with 7’ MF rod. 5” Senko will catch bass everywhere. A tackle bag is preferred today. Staring simple with 1 lure for a year pays benefits later. Senko can be rigged weightless, weedless wacky booked, Nail weight (Neko rig) or Texas weedless rigged like the Crème worm and cut in half 2 1/2” and used for a Ned rig, Tom * my son was 10 and used the same spinning combo for decade's. Tom

My sons spinning rod combo w/Stradic reel was accidentally knock overboard. I snagged it after a few minutes in 30’ of water retrieving it, pulled the spool and shake any water out, installed the spool and it worked normally. When I got home took the side plate off and no evidence of water got inside! Still cleaned and grease gears and a few drops of oil , no issue. Bait casting reels I stop using it and clean it later. Tom

Being oldest guy on the lake I only share what is working with anglers I know or a dad with his kids just wanting to catch any fish, offer a few tips. Tom

The advantage of FC line is less drag going through the water vs equal diameter mono line. The drag creates a “feeling” of line stretching as the bow in the line tightens. FC is higher density (weighs more) than mono tends to sink on slack line Today’s braids are small diameter vs both FC and mono per lb test. Most braids are buoyant and float, a few specialty braids sink. Bass aren’t line shy but have very good eye sight. If the line affects how the lure or bait fish swim they may avoid striking. The down side of braid is its strength trying to recover snagged lures without damaging you rod or reel. Use a wooden dowel to wrap braid around to break off or pull out the lure BSF shallow spools solves braid line digging into it’s self on the spool plus you can use use smaller diameter braid a big plus. Tom PS, nice LMB👍 Welcome to BR😀

If you like FC for jerk baits and want the line to float near the treble hook top water lures simply add fly line dressing to 3’ of the line end of your line. Tom

Length X Length X Girth divided by 1200 = weight in pounds. The average LMB Girth is 75% of Length, girth is the difference regarding weight. * Length is measure mouth closed to end of tail for this formula. Girth is measured around widest area with dorsal fin down. We are discussing “big” bass not necessarily your PB or Giant bass. Based on the 75% girth 19” (4.28 lbs) is a better length for “big” bass then 18” (3.6 lbs). Tom

Haven’t bass fished in Alaska. Tom

3 blade aluminum Mariner was met for export market, mostly Canada. Look at the Mercury 6 inline cylinder 150 hp for recommended prop, SST would be a Lazer series. Tom

Fishing from the bank with a jig in chunks of concrete left over from construction is difficult due to rebar etc. If you choose a jig use a lighter weight 1/4 oz or less and don’t let it settle into the structure elements to reduce snagging. I suggest using a 4” or 5” Senko weedless, weightless, wacky rigged. Tom

Factory aluminum props may not have identification but should have serial number stamped into the prop. Prop repair shop has tools to measure the prop pitch, rake and cup. Suggest going to a SST prop. Tom

When B.A.S.S. had a “Lunker” club the minimum weight of 6 lbs to join and earn a sticker. This was back before Florida strain were not recognized and both Spotted and Smallmouth were lumped into the bass category, bass were bass! Tom

Don’t like braid to leader because of 2 knots. Haven’t flipped in decades and don’t own a flipping rod! Love to fish big swimbaits but no longer own any or the rod/reels…no boat! I fish hair jigs w/pork trailers and always will👍. Don’t have a bladed jig or whopper plopper, no need. I like to catch bass and use both finesse and power tackle every trip. Tom

When you say “bass” what specie are you referring to; Largemouth, Smallmouth or Spotted bass? The original In-Fishernan magazine solved this issue by dividing the States into 5 regions and based their “Lunker bass” award accordingly. Using length in lieu of weight changes the dynamic and method of measurement comes into play. The tournament Bump Board that measures bass mouth closed up against the Bump to end of tail in 1/4” increments is today’s standard method. I would think a bass 18” plus would be generally accepted nearly everywhere except California, Florida and Texas you add 2” as a big LMB. Tom

For bass the Kastmaster is a good jigging spoon along with Hopkins Shorty both have been catching bass for decades. White chicken feathered treble hook works! Tom

Most onboard chargers are mounted near the top inside the transom surface. Mounting up high prevents the charger from flooding and is close to the batteries mounted in the stern storage area. Tom

I have in the past described how these giant bass fight. The belief that big fat trout feed FLMB are lazy fish is a misconception. Trout are fast swimming fish and not an easy meal to chase down as prey. The bass have learn to hunt in packs to increase success by pushing the trout against structure or the surface making easier to trap the trout. I believe this activity keeps these giants in good physical condition. I caught my PB 5 best using hair just jigs with pork rind trailers replicating crawdads. A jig is small and I use 10lb to 12 mono line, lighter weight then the bass weigh. Using big swimbaits with heavy rods and line is a different situation where you can over power the big bass. The giant bass I caught were in deep rocky structure with sparse cover mostly wood from old trees or brush. Little or no aquatic growth during pre spawn period. It’s more of an open water fight keeping these from getting into whatever it can. Everyone of those 5 bass jumped a body length out of the water or hard shake on the surface, no wallowing just running pulling drag. The 19.3 lb bass was hooked after casting over 100’ ate the jig on the fall. After hook setting this bass immediately jump and thought it was maybe a DD size, hard to judge. This bass decided to run straight at my boat then under it and out the opposite side another 100’ or so before fight hard against the rod pressure, probably looking for something to get into to escape. I won the battle and was surprised how big the bass was at 1st sighting near the boat. Most giant bass take off after hook setting and either jump or hard shake right away then bull dog diving deeper trying to get into something, if they do you lose. Tom

The old fish stringer with metal clips opened attacked to a cord with 1# lead weight attached to the bottom clip works good to retrieve rods over board. Tom

Water clarity and depth of light has more to do with color choices. Every lake has a “hot” color for a period of time for reasons known only to the bass! It’s up to us to figure out what that specific color is. Bass use all their senses to find and catch prey to eat that are camouflaged to survive. My suggestion is start a color you have confidence using. You also talk to a local mom and pop tackle store to determine what color soft plastic sells best. Depth is the 1st ? To solve. Tom

Look at Greg Hackney video on his subject posted by Glenn. ROF is affected by the bulk of the trailer plus the jig weight. Warmer water post spawn to early summer increase jig weight and reduce trailer bulk with added movements. Tom

Synthetic oil has a wider viscosity temperature range and should be good at 10w-30w blend and wouldn’t be concerned using it at normal operating rpm range. Tom

What does your owners manual suggest you use? Synthetic oil is usually cleaner and should be preferred. Tom

Berkley Mice Tails on a Crappie jig is popular for trout. Tom

My suggestion is simple….put it away for another few years then donate it to youth fishing club. The value it may have is memories, you don’t need the rod for that. Putting time and money to modify the rod maybe a fun project. I held onto my old tackle for decades before selling or giving it away and don’t miss it! Tom

Forgot about Crappie as pelagic fish, the left image looks like a Crappie school neither school has any predators in the screen shot that I can determine. The right side screen shot on the left margin is worth spending some time on and may have bass. Northern strain LMB behave differently that FLMB and tend to stay nearer to structure/cover. The baitfish are not in a tight ball indicating no predators harassing them. Tom