NEbucketmouth19

Definitely gonna try and snag a TK.

Finally scooped one. Do they actually get down to 7ft?

Yup, I broke a Fury Spinning rod and upgraded to the Sierra, I forget what the cost was.

Gantarel to me is about triggering reaction bites. Not sure a slow dying action really aids that, but I might give it a try. It looks like snag city though with that hook placement.

Yea if you're patient you can worm them through some pretty thick stuff. I made a few bad casts when I got my first that I was sure wouod come back with 10lbs of salad but nope.

I strip mine straight to the frame every winter. Pure Acetone for cleaning bearings. Aircraft grade simple green for cleaning reel parts. I use a cheap ultrasonic for the bearings (I put them in small jars with the acetone). Lightweight oil for spool bearings, heavier oil for frame bearings and the levewind. Cals drag grease for gears and a LIGHT light light coating on the drag washers.

Spro King Daddy for the "big bait only" guys.

I love my Monka but like others said it can be a PITA to tune. But when it's in tune..it's lethal. Not a good choice for the wind though.

I started with a Monka 1piece and have had most of my luck on that. I've tried mixing in a battlewing when there's some chop on the water but I honestly haven't had much luck with it.

MDC. Just got a gill and crankdown perch. The Gill is nice almost reminds me of an in between of the G2 and wood shellcrackers. Perch cranks down well and has a nice action.

I use a tatula 200 HD on my 795 for up to 4oz and it does fine

Actually broken off, a hudd. I did manage to smash the lip off my brand new UFO on the first cast once though haha.

That and if you've got like a TK you can fish it like a jerkbait.

The only time I worry about it is if I'm casting to a target like a laydown I'll try and keep the cast low but even then I can't say for sure if it really matters it's just a confidence thing. I fish mostly on MA but maybe try switching it up and tossing some soft baits or glides if the wakes aren't getting attention. I usually can't go wrong with a Hudd 68 or Swaver this time of year.

Ugh I took a shower at the wroooooong time lol. The hunt continues for one of these. Does anyone know about how often he drops the rats? I know timing is random.

Last spring I tried fishing it around beaver and muskrat dens but never hooked into the giant I was hoping for. It's a fun bait to deflect off wood though.

Ascend FS10 with a few mods.

Too real.

My PB this year came our of a lake that occasionally gives up big fish bit it was where and when that shocked me. I got it on a rat in like 2 feet of water out of some extremely thick weeds in the middle of the summer. I kinda always thought the bigger ones stayed deep once the shallows heated up but I guess not always the case if they can effectively ambush in the shallow cover.

Not gonna lie dude....yes. Social media is what you make it. My Instagram account is just fishing. Nothing else. That's all I see on my feed.

Im glad Joe Biden is finally cracking down hard on the bait flipping market (joking). This sucks but I guess FF is the way to go now.

For a true suspend you're not talking much, maybe a 3/32 or 1/16th nail weight right in the chin by the gills is where I put it. But it will probably vary by bait, some might need more.

Yup. I have a few 0s I do this with. Can get an ROF1 which is nice for above weeds.

Definitely try one they're cool baits. I'd go with the baby possum. I had a good stretch last fall with the cranking version. It's a big bait for sure. I throw it on my 867 and it is right in the sweet spot of that rod. All my bites were with the crankdown. Once the weeds started dying off and they pulled to wood I had good success cranking deeper laydowns with it. Like @chefchris said the waking version will still crankdown but only like 2ft. Probably better for fishing over weedbeds. I don't think it has "too much" drag in the water if you're cranking it, but if you're fishing from a kayak or something it will tow you around a bit.

Like others said it's usually random drops. Only bait I've ever snagged was a Grenade Gill and I think he announced that one. I think I watched the lizards come up once really early in the morning but didn't get one.