WRB-2.0

There are more myths regarding WD-40 then almost any other product. WD-40 is a water displacing solvent that protects metal like hooks from rusting. WD-40 doesn’t contain any fish oil to the best of my knowledge and don’t advocate using it for a fish attractant. If it was harmful to the environment WD-40 would not be sold over the counter for general public use. Used for an anti-corrosion agent on fish hooks isn’t environmentally harmful unless you breath in a lot of the spray. WD-40 is no different then any other petroleum base product regarding the environment IMO. I used WD-40 on salt water tuna and Marlin lure hooks to prevent rust in salt water environment. Sharpened hooks without any rust issues. You can ‘t put away hooks wet, air dry then spray with WD-40 worked for decades. Tom

Cabelas back in the early 90’s used Fenwick Fish Eagle rods and weight wasn’t a consideration price point was. The guides were double foot with either carbide or ceramic rings. Minimum number of standard size guides were used back then and solid heavy reel seats. Suggest fixing what broken if the nostalgic factor is important otherwise look at sales for todays rods within your budget. Tom

Talk to whomever manages the lake. You are catching what bass size is in the lake making up the majority of the population. You want larger size bass drive 20 minutes to the other lake that has them. Tom

Put the reel in the Flea Market factor in shipping cost. Tom

San Diego Jam knot use the lure as a weight, more reliable knot with FC line IMO. Tom

Fresh water shouldn’t cause plated hooks to rust. What causes rust is something creating an electrolyte like salt or scent from soft plastics or acid from OB exhaust . Air circulation your friend to keep the hooks/lures clean and dry. WD-40 was invented to prevent rust by displacing water, use it. Tom PS, dryer sheets prevent rust.

You already know the answer to your question. Tom

Built my favorite crank bait rod using a Fenwick salt water popping rod blank in the 70’s. You make a rod building holder with scrap pieces of wood, easy to do and makes guide wrapping a lot simpler. 30 year old rods have served you well. Todays rods are a pleasure to fish with compared to 90’s era rods. Tom

Wilderness camp fire grilled fish…..yum! Tom

Ask your local DNR if they would electro shock survey the lake to know for sure the bass population. Tom

Roll cast works! Standing up in a kayak depends on the you and kayak. Dee Thomas the father of flipping used a 12’ rod sitting down! Tom

1. Longer rod gives a big advantage flip casting. 2. You don’t need the reel to flip cast It’s all line and rod. 3. You are more then likely pitching where the reel is used to let out additional 30’ of line that any decent casting reel can do. Look for a MH or H fast action jig and worm rod in whatever length you prefer. Megabass Perfect Pitch should work. Tom

^^^^this^^^^ Tom👍

Daiwa Tatula 200 7.3:1 has a high 32.2” IPT that will not change much after casting 40 yards. Tom

Start by reading Cadman’s post on this page Met DC cleaning. Suggest PM asking your ? IMO if you are good at casting non-DC reels the added cost may not be with it. DC reels modulate the spool speed slightly reducing casting distance under normal conditions. The rod used has more affect on casting into the wind. Tom

Suffix Tritanium Plus has been on the market over 20 years promoted as a salt water high abrasion resistance line and never caught on with fresh water anglers. Good copolymer line and not expensive the down side is it’s a high memory line difficult to cast in cold temperatures common with bass fishing. Used as a leader line should be good. Diameter and stiffness is more important then how visible it may appear. It’s hard today to find a better all around mono then Big Game. Tom

Without being familiar with the component the aluminum is more than likely clear anodized with scratches penetrating the coating. Polishing is only removing the anodized surface protecting the aluminum. Tom

My introduction to Fluorocarbon line was around 1990 at JD’s Tackle at Balboa Island Bisbees fuel dock. We were fueling Cuatro for a tuna/marlin trip to Baja. JD was excited about a new line that fish can’t see and sold us FC leader line. John claimed Blue Fin would eat 30 lb FC a very line shy tuna. JD was right we caught Blue Fin on fly lined mackerel that before would strike kite rigged mackerel. A few years later I was talking to the late Aaron Martens about FC and he turned me onto a distributor in Florida that sold 100 meter spools of Sunline Shooter FC that he was using for bass fishing. I bought 12 and 14lb Shooter a start of a love hate affair with FC line. Tom

How important is line? Consider line is the only item between you and the bass. Your rod, reel and lure are meaningless with out line, can’t catch fish without it. Most bass anglers use line that isn’t optimal for the lures they are using or the ecosystem they are fishing. There isn’t a fresh water bass on the planet that can break 30 lb test line. When I started bass fishing Dacron braid on casting reels was popular and 10 lb and 12 lb was very common. When mono line came out 17 lb about .017D became the go to for Ambassador 5000 reels back in the early 60’s. For whatever reason 17 lb mono stayed the default bass casting line for over 50 years or to this day. I stayed with 10lb and 12 lb when transitioning Dacron because it was about the same diameter and easier to cast. I believe staying with smaller diameter .012D gave me an advantage in casting distance, lure contact and strike detection over the past 50 years. Without all those advantages catching giant bass may not have occurred. Tom

Polar Bear hair was excellent before it became illegal to use. Tom

Glenn’s review was in 2019 or 5 years ago when the new brushless technology 1st came out. Don’t know what Glenn is running on his boat today? Every new bass boat I see today is running brushless TM’s with Lithium batteries. Ghost and Force very popular on boats out west. Garmin Force are easy to see with the coils under the head, Ghost is a smaller unit. If you have Lowrance electronics go with the Ghost. Tom

Yamamoto new 2 1/2” Hula grub would work good on a Ned jig. Tom

To be honest I haven’t kept up with all the IGFA regulations simply because no longer in pursuit of a world record bass anymore. Listening to the video posted the IGFA screwed this application from the beginning. The use of trap hooks is illegal for fresh water fish if the hooks are separated more then the specified distance and the dropper fly may have violated the rule? That should have been noted right away. Congratulations for catching a record fish too bad the angler was treated so poorly. Tom

If you are looking for a ML straight handle (trigger stick) rod your choices are very limited under 6’6” length. BSF rods are your best bet today. Spin cast rods with pistol style handle you have more choices for shorter length rods. Tom

School bass harassing a Threadfin Shad school causing them to ball up in lieu of a large cloud I use a structure spoon that flutters on the fall. Couple of casts with no strikes move on. If the bait ball is moving toward shallower structure that compresses the bait I move ahead of the bait and wait using that is where the larger bass are waiting to feed on the Shad. Spoon in the fall has been my most productive lure for bass feeding in Shad schools. Tail spinner is 2nd, underspin 3rd. Tom