Davis

Green Pumpkin black flake is my go to Fat Ika color.

I would go with the Shimano. I put a Pflueger President 7035 on mine because I didn't have the money last year to put on a "higher end" reel. But for a cheaper alternative it feels great on the rod and does a very good job. Something to consider. Can't go wrong with the Shimanos though. Learned that very quickly with there baitcasting lineup.

Congrats to you and your boy. That is a very nice fish. 8-)

Sucker has me thinking of a 50mg and a St Croix Legend to boot. Must.......be.......strong........ :-/

Thank you for your service. August is only a couple months. That probably seems like a long time over there though. Keep those family moments that you just had close to you during that time. God Bless.

That is exactly how my thinking was last year. If you can force yourself to use different baits go for it. Jigs were non existant and frankly I was getting tired of being skunked while fishing them. This year I went back to it until I stuck a fish. It happened......a lot. Broke out the spinnerbait a few times this year after only catching one fish last year on them. Threw a crankbait for the first time as well. Walking lures? I threw a Gunfish the other night and learned how to walk the dog. Results for May? Gone out half the time of last year but have increased in my numbers and definately the size of my bass. Haven't been skunked yet. Last year I was skunked at least five times in May. Lesson: Force yourself to fish other lures and you will be a happy man. Not to mention it's fun to learn new techniques. 8-) In closing...I use to be an all-plastics man that had a good amount of success. When I opened up my mind to other presentations my fishing skills increased by big amounts.

For the price and amount of line I would go with Berkley Big Game 12lb test. Works pretty good for me. Cabelas brand mono is actually pretty good as well. Don't think I have backlashed once with that mono. Both are cheap for a good amount of line.

Ding ding ding. Citicas can't be beat for the price IMO. I liked mine so much I bought two more. Very well made and cast great.

Have two waiting in my box for me to try on my next outing. ;D

My goodness.........this lure killed them last night for me. First time I have ever used a walking lure like this. Didn't take me long to get it down and I was smackin em. Also fished it like a popper. Very very versatile lure. In fact this year I'm having so much fun fishing a ton of different baits. Last year I was stuck in the senko craze and really didn't try anything else until late summer. Amazing at how much more productive I have been this year by opening up my whole aresanel of lures. Very fun. 8-)

Last night I was getting them to hit on a Manns Baby Minus 1 crankbait. Also had HUGE success on a Lucky Craft Gunfish. They didn't start hitting them though until the sun started to go down. Before that I couldn't buy a bite with them. What a difference a half hour made. Not sure about the southern states but up here in NY topwaters rule before the sun goes down and just when the sun is coming up.

Seriously maybe it's just me but I have had huge success with jigs pitched or flipped to the base of trees so far this year. Mainly 3/8 flippin jigs with a berkley beast for a trailer. Spinnerbaits have also been productive bounced off the sides the stumps as well.

3/8 ounce jigs from Karu and Eakins with a variety of plastic trailers. Robo Worm 7 1/2" ribbon tail worms. Fat Ikas in Green pumpkin Trick sticks Duper Flukes scooting across the surface But the jig has definately been my big fish producer so far this year. May was my best year as far as size and numbers go as well. For LM anyway. I haven't had too much time to go down to my "spot" yet for SM this year. Only been twice. But I can get to my LM spot in under three minutes so that helps with limited time.

Nice fish man. Can't imagine how great it must have felt for you to get out there. I have a bad day at work and fishing cures it all. So it must be 100x the great feeling that I have. Thank you so much for your service. Can't say that enough.

They all look the same to me ha ha ha.

Dang....nice muskie. 8-)

Welcome and enjoy the site! Plenty of info and knowledge here.

I can only speak for the Citca vs Revo S. Too me the Citica felt more "solid". The drag felt smoother, and access to the spool was much easier. Backlashes also were easier to avoid with the Citica IMO. So I sold my Revo S and bought two more Citicas.

I cut and re-tie for spinnerbaits, jigs, jerkbaits, and soft plastics. The only time I use a clip is when I'm fishing cranks. If I'm fishing a place that I can easily move around than I usually bring a rod rigged with a spinnerbait (so I don't have to cut and retie), a spinning rod rigged with a soft plastic, and another rod rigged with either a crank or a jig (depending on what place I'm fishing). When I'm creek fishing its pretty much all plastics so I bring only one setup.

1) 5" Trick Sticks from * (#1 bait easily) 2) Fat Ika in natural colors 3) 3/8 Jewel Eakins Flippin Jig with berkley beast 3" trailer 4) Hookerz tackle finesse tubes , Roadkill color 5) Roboworms in Bold Bluegill rigged weightless and twitched. So far these have been my main producers on ponds this year.

Just a couple weeks ago with my little smallie. Fun to catch though regardless of size.

Well that is something that will have to be corrected so practice practice practice. That was a hurdle I had to overcome as well when getting bites farther out. But if you want to get back into the grove maybe try wacky riggin some senkos with a circle hook. You don't really set the hook hard with these. Just let the rod load and reel. The fish basically hook themselves. Maybe start here?

I'm going to question the knot anyways. When tightening the knot do you wet it? Since Yo Zuri is a copolymer isn't it more susceptible to being affected by friction when tightening? Yes I always lubricate the knot before cinching it down. Anywhooo....going to fish some BPS 8 lb fluoro on this same setup with my spare spool. Also going to respool the Yozuri to see what happens.

I applied just a couple dabs of oil on all my Citicas that came in. You don't need a lot. So far I have used Cabelas 10 lb line and I really like it. The line is going to be mostly a preference thing IMO.

That's why I'm starting to think that I have a bad batch or something. It sure does come off the spool nice though and after spraying it with KVD there is almost zero memory. That's a plus!