smallfry

I've caught several LMB in the 6-7 lb range, but no digital pictures of any of them. PB smallie of 5.9 lbs can be seen in the crappy cell phone picture below:

Thanks, will give it a try.

I know, I know, probably sacriligeous to mess with one of his paint jobs. I just think the walleye bait is really missing the contrast of the bright white tips on the fins. These tips are very, very noticeable when an 'eye swims past in the water. For years I've tied flies to mimic small 'eyes, and I believe these are a prime visual cues for predators. I might just try dipping the tips of the fins in some liquid bleach and see if it does the trick.

I just placed an order for a 24v trolling motor. Last year I purchased a new AGM battery for my old 12v trolling motor, so it only has one season on it. Would it be a problem to use a new battery with the one year old battery? What about using two batteries of different size? I'm thinking both of these solutions would be less than perfect as the "lesser" or older battery will draw from the other bringing its performance down. My current battery is a size 30 and takes up all the space in my battery compartment, so I'll probably end up replacing it with two size 24 batteries anyways.

I've had success on all the above. I'll add a frenzy suspending firestick.

Don't know the guy in the picture, but in his defence there's absolutely nothing wrong with wearing socks and sandles while fishing... After you catch one fish he goes and tells the others "you have to check this guy out"... That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it...

I tend to agree with you, once I find the fish. Drop shotting a fluke has been a good producer too. But for searching I'd like a deeper diving option for when those smallies want something that suspends in a long profile, but don't want to come up off the bottom more than a foot or so.

Thanks for all the ideas guys. It is funny they advertise the deep x-raps as 6-13 ft. Rapalas website says 5-10 ft. I even threw mine on 8 lb braid and couldn't get it to bump bottom on a 7-8 ft rock pile. Maybe they include "trolling depths" in their ratings. I may have to hunt down one of those Super DD Squirrels. Anybody used this, claims to get 9-12 ft on 12 lb. line : http://www.***.com/descpageSPECTACHB-ZBZWD.html

I've tried line thinner than that Yozuri 6 lb (heck, its an 8 lb diameter line). Are you sure you aren't thinking about the Staysee, and not the Stacey King? It is advertised as 8-10 ft, but alas it gets about the same depth as the Deep X-rap with casting any reasonable strength line.

"Suspends perfectly at 5 to 7 feet deep. " -- I've already got baits that do that, . I'm looking for one that goes close to 10 ft. I've heard the Megabass Deep-X 200T gets down there, but I'm hoping for less expensive alternatives (although I'll spend it if I have to).

Anybody have a favorite jerkbait that gets 9-10 ft deep reliably? I tried the Deep X-rap and wasn't very impressed. I found it really only gets at most 6-7 ft deep even using a thin superline.

I'd characterize Ultracast or Invisibraid as about halfway between fireline and stren superbraid. More body than the stren, but a little less than the fireline. I've found it very similar to stren microfuse. and I've switched almost all my baitcasters over to either ultracast or mircrofuse. I still use fireline on almost all my spinning gear. A buddy of mine felt the same way you do about spiderline products, even loved stren superbraid just like you. He'd sworn to never use spider products again, but he used one of my set ups with Ultracast (ie. invisibraid) and now he loves the stuff. FYI, I've used the fireline crystal and can't tell a difference in performance from the smoke. Just a color difference.

I love fireline on spinning reels and also used it for 3 applications with cranks (both on spinning and baitcasting). Since cranks are mostly reaction baits I am not very concerned with visibility and because fireline has more body it will not tangle in the cranks hooks as much as a very soft braid would. 1 -- Ripping baits through weeds. Low stretch lines are simply the best way to do this. 2 -- Throwing very light cranks far. By using a superline I can cast much farther and easier than with a similar strength mono. 3 -- Maximizing depth -- Thinner line will allow baits to dive deeper Regarding pulling hooks out, I have a different take on that. Using a line with stretch means that the more line you have out the more stretch you'll have (with less sensitivity and other drawbacks). On the other hand, if the rod and drag are chosen/set to provide the needed "give" to prevent pulling hooks then one can still have the maximum sensitivity and thin diameter of a superline regardless of how far they cast.

Has anybody purchased a reconditioned trolling motor from Cabelas or another retailer? Mostly I'm just curious if others have had good results going this route. I was thinking about getting a reconditioned motore, but I can't find any stated warranty info on the cabelas website. It also seems that the markdown is not consistent, maybe the greater markdowns are indications of greater wear and tear.

I've used both the Fireline Crystal (spinning) and ultracast invisibraid (baitcast). I won't get into the other properties of the lines, some people like them and some don't. I do. Regarding the "clear"ness of the lines: Clear: No. Translucent: Yes, while spooling I can see the tape on the spool through quite a few layers of line. Less visible to the fish: Don't know. I think a lot depends on the background you expect to be fishing around and possibly if you expect the fish to be looking up or down based on your presentation. Around sand or concrete or other lighter backgrounds, maybe. Around dark vegetation I'd probably prefer smoke or moss green. Our water is very clear, so I still used a floro leader unless I was fishing a bait like a rattler for a reaction bite.

As far as I know, putting line on the reel is the only way to tell. Once I get a reel home I'll return it if it doesn't look right. However, unless you go to a very cheap reel or a non-major brand the chances are these items have been well addressed. A buddy from Europe told me many stores there have a display reel with line on it for this very reason. Even lay -- These days just about every reel I can think of uses a modified "s" slider, a wormshaft, or some sort of eliptical system to provide relatively even line lay. 7 or 8 years ago this wasn't the case. Well centered -- This is really just a matter of tolerances. All the major brands seem to have it down pretty well, especially in their reels over $50 or so. Some do provide extra "shim washers" for under the spool, but honestly I've never needed them. not too short for spool -- Again, it seems most of the major brands seem to have this down pretty well, especially in reels over $50 or so.

I've used the micro-fuse. Actually, I've switched over several of my baitcasters to it from stealth and plan to switch a few more. It isn't quite as limp as most other braids, but it doesn't have as much body as fireline. Never tried the sinking braid.

The quick answer to your question is that unless you are trying to win casting contests, yes you should be able to spool your superline on a 10, 100 or 1000 size spinning reel. I've fished 10 lb. and lighter superlines on these sizes of reels for many years. Now for my long answer: I wouldn't go to an UL because most of them don't have as finely tuned line winding (see below). The 1000 size reels won't cast quite as far as a larger reel with the same line, but it still casts well further than mono on the larger reel would. If max drag is important, that could be an issue as some reels in these smaller sizes don't hold their max drag throughout a long run (not usually a problem with bass, but inshore it can be). Isn't it funny how some companies say faster oscillation (ie. greater cross wrap) will result in less line dig, while others say a slower oscillation (shimano) results in better line manageability? In theory there's merit to both. A fast oscillation will cross lines at a greater angle, but will also leave more space between each wrap. A slow oscillation will pack the line more tightly, but at a smaller angle. Personally I've found only a small probably insignificant tradeoff between one having an occasional "dig" and the other an occasional "throwing a loop". Ive found what is critical is that the oscillation is even (very little or no hour glass shape), well centered and not too short for the spool (allowing lots of digging at the ends).

I once heard that "an expert is anybody who is 50 miles from where they live". So unless some of you live within 50 miles of me, you can consider me an expert.... Seriously though, most people don't have the time and resources to fish all or even most of the options available to them. The lucky few who do hopefully give the comparative background and why they prefer one product over another when offering advice. If they don't give the background, I assume they fall into the following: Another person may recommend product A because it is the only one he uses, has no problems, and he keeps using it. They've never, or at least not recently, used product B, C, or D. Such a person might not be the best person for advice on product A vs. B, but it does at least provide some valid confidence in product A. So, now for a feel good moment: "We're all special experts in our own way".... :

Abu will make custom reels for just about anybody willing to meet a minimum order quantity. I saw these on another board, but they weren't ever presented as "911 commemorative reels", they were simply "firefighter" and "police" reels. What I've read on the other forum is that they were the idea of some volunteer firefighters from Minn., one of whom also works for Pure Fishing. They have been selling the reels. The idea was to make a limited edition of reels that might hold a special place for those in the fire fighting community. As a limited edition somebody chose 911 as the limited number due to its significance to those in the community, but the purpose of the reels was apparently not to specifically commemorate those events. You can see their website here, nowhere do they refer to it as a "911 commemorative": http://zipscoot.tripod.com/

On spinning reels: Fireline On baitcast reels: Stren Microfuse

Nothing wrong with it, quite the opposite, I think it is possibly the best drag material out there. It is better than the old drag. It just hadn't been introduced on the Record series yet when I bought the 40. Now they all have it.

I have an RCN 40 that I use on one of my pitching rods that also occasionally gets used for casting over rock piles. It is narrow enough that I can palm it very easily and it casts great. Only negative is I got it before they started putting Carbon Matrix drag in this series. Also have a RCN 51 that I use for some small swimbaits and musky baits. Again, casts a mile and this one has the carbon matrix drag. Somebody listed a non-disengaging levelwind as a con. I consider that a pro. It reduces line drag/dig for more consistent casting and a smoother drag.

I can only think of one stick that can do it all... ....I believe it is made by Dupont....

Left side of brain: Yeah, as if it really needs to be so realistic. It isn't like the bass know how many rays are on their anal fin, much less sit there and count them. And the fish probably don't really care if the mouth opens, that's a feature for catching fishermen. Right side of brain: That thing is effin cool as shiznit... Left side of brain: You're right. I want one....