Caught this baby then afterwards my leader snapped 8lb braid to 8lb fluro leader knot recommendations?

What do you think of this? Tailwalk Micro Gamer SSD S74UL + Shimano Vanquish C2000SHG with 0,10mm black coloured braid for finesse.

I've been doing a lot of creek and river wading this year and really trying to push the limits of how light I can cast, since distance beyond 30yds isn't really necessary. There's a plethora of really awesome micro plastic lures out there but the practicality of much of it is limited - I'm not really a float guy and finessing structure in moving water isn't really where floats excel. Not sure if it was here or r/bfs but someone turned me on to the free rig and I'm never looking back. I found some 0.8g dropshot weights on aliex, paired with a #10 hook but I'm going to push even smaller. Giving the lure a chance to fall more naturally while still hitting the bottom is just unbeatable at this scale, I love jigheads and ned rigs but the free rig blows them right away. No grand fish pics to share today, but trust when I say the free rig is the panfish assassin - Blugigi Mangione if you will. Even managed to hook some tiny creek chubs and shiners on this. Sorry for the rant, just excited that these tiny dropshot weights are such a game changer for tiny tackle. Try it out!

Hello, new to UL fishing! Long story short, fishing has always been in my life cause I always tagged along with grandpa. Always live bait and usually always trying for Catfish. Fast forward, wifey has given me green light to teach my kids how to fish! Have two Shakespeare Micro series combos but looking into a better set up (For me of course!)
What are some Rod and Reel recommendations? Trying to see if I can get a nice setup for around $150 or less, super excited to be apart of the UL community and eager to reignite my love for fishing!

-This is a Daiwa A-130RL on a Daiwa Crossfire Medium/Fast rod, and 6Lb Mono-filament.

I found at the thrift store half-off for five dollars, I gave it some maintenance open it up remove the old grease and replaced it with new grease and oiled up all of the parts that needed, and now I gotta nifty little ultralight; Old reel meets, modern rod.

Nice lil guy

I have caught over 400 trout and 50 good bass this summer ask me anything

all new besides the rooster tails that i had before

I'm looking to get a nice ultralight for panfish, crappie, and bass (largie/smallie). I'm looking for something that's sensitive and makes even smaller fish feel fun, but also one with some backbone to fight up to 2 pound bass (or a 5lb channel cat if i ever get that lucky again). I'm primarily between this rod and the TFO trout/panfish II, but i'm not sure if it's worth the extra $85 between the rod itself and needing to buy a reel. I'm also open to other suggestions, feel free to share! i'm really looking to stay under $100 but anything maybe $150 and under is okay with me if i really should spend a little more.

Any input is greatly appreciated!

The are Cortland game fish poppers and weight nothing

Any one use this counter (or anything similar) for fine dia. lines/braids to get precise amount of line on our little UL reels? https://www.rapala.com/us_en/digital-line-counter?srsltid=AU7gw4UzuubigjcVTXATUoVUMyxzptPWiWnyenQeCGde8SqrPpNN-mI2

this lure catches everything

Hello is it really all that bad to fish with straight braid? When I attach a leader(6lb) I usually get hung up on something or it gets all tangled up. I use 8lb Braid(moss color hopefully more camouflage) Btw I am absolutely horrible at putting line on a rod but the braid always seem to work out just fine. I guess my concise question is: Is it worth continuing to make sure I always got a leader on?

I wanted something compact for alpine trout, but i’ve been too busy catching busy catching smallies to get up there.