Paul Roberts

I use MH rods too. Most of my cranking is shallow and around/thru cover. I need power to rip weeds, rigidity in the blank for sensitivity and strike detection, and for hook sets, which I often do with cranks being fished like jigs -wormed through cover.

I've been looking at that Echo. It looks well designed -big and wide.

Long rods with slower (parabolic) actions are best for distance. That said, I like faster actions (or at least power all the way out) for sensitivity and hook-setting. One can have a "slow" rod with power all the way out.

For flies, jigs, and lures, I've been using NYC brand (Target) at $0.99/ bottle for several years now. Seems to work fine. No yellowing, and wears pretty well. For rod-wraps I use rod-finish epoxies.

AJ, have you tried it? Does it hook well?

Bingo. That said, and going back to the OP: I find fat plugs fish through cover of any type better than thin ones, lipless esp. The more complex (branches, twigs and such) the less apt I am to throw a lipless.

Hah! I worked my way to artificials incrementally. Mine was a home-made grub/worm fly made from a rubber band and sewing thread wound onto a #6 Eagle Claw snelled hook, ca. 1971 (I know the date bc of the spanking new '71 Camaro in the background) :

I think the Cosmic Clock and other attempts at describing/picturing the annual cycle are valuable sources of information. It's information we anglers do not become aware of till we've been around the sun more than a few times. My hat is off to anyone who puts in the time and effort to figure things out and share them. The experienced anglers here did not each reinvent the wheel but gleaned enormous amounts of information and insight from other anglers, both in person, from books, and the internet. As I believe Tom is not-so-subtley suggesting in the above post, some things are more important than others -info that must be resolved before all the other questions come on-line. Tom, the graphics on your CC are quite beautiful. Who did the graphic work?

Would you guys describe how you fish lipless in wood? I'm paranoid around wood with a lipless.

Thanks for chiming in. So... in your opinion... After the caster, and technique applied, what's next on the list? Rod, reel, line?

I have a Lucky 13 too. My brother bought it over 40 years ago. Neither of us ever caught anything on it and it now adorns my family's Christmas tree every year (longer story). It should work, as a popper/chugger... under dark skies... with a good chop. Another challenge for this summer.

Heddon Cousin II. I have two, and never found a place for them -a "lipless" meant to be crawled on bottom.

I warehouse them in the original bags, then have plastic boxes made up for different rigging or bait types that go to the water with me. I may use zip-locks to keep colors separated. Most PVC-based soft plastics can leak or bleed chemicals (pthalates perhaps) that can flow through thin plastic baggies so I don't store long term in them. Not all baits have done this. I've not seen PVC bait dry up, but I have had ElazTech baits stiffen a bit after a number of years. Oddly, the ones stored in original bags in "the warehouse" have stayed supple while those in the "working bags" stiffened. Heat? Chemical reaction? I don't know. I've also taken to removing jig heads or weighted hooks from stored baits as the plastics can corrode lead over time. And oxidized lead leaves lead powder behind.

Those old round ABU's still make my heart throb. And...those Jelly Worms are still a GoTo for me. Hootie, you have quite an impressive collection!

I've generally caught fish on most things, and rarely blame the lures. It's either that I haven't given them a really fair shot (lotsa times even my GoTo's will fail) and/or I haven't applied them under the right conditions. Recognizing conditions and circumstances is a huge -maybe the biggest- part of fishing. That said, the Rapala Rattlin Rap is the only lipless I've not caught much on, and know it's (mostly) my fault. They just don't... appear to do much in terms of vibration and wiggle. So, I take them off and put on another lipless. They've now sat unused in "the warehouse" for quite some time, never making it to the water. Guess I should rectify that this spring. I'll consider it a challenge.

Standard for me is braid -used straight or with a leader of mono or FC. But, I use all three: mono, FC, and braid. I have extra spools for my spinning reels. My CB reels have mono; other casting reels have braid. -Braid has no stretch and is soft, light, and buoyant. It casts far and is very sensitive but only when under tension. Drawbacks are having wind blow it around, it digs into wood, frays around rock, and it tangles in terrestrial brush and branches -a hassle at times for skipping and bank-fishing. -Mono has some stretch and is buoyant, advantageous for CB's, topwaters, and shallow (and very slow) presentations. -FC is denser than the other two lines which provides strike detection on deeper presentations and also operates better in wind both above and on the water's surface. Again, braid is standard for me as I can use a mono or FC leader. But I also have dedicated spools for straight mono and FC.

Way over-kill, with toxicity issues to boot.

Interesting topic. I just returned from 2 years living in SE Asia, a place where one can watch "globalization" occurring at rapid pace: hunter-gatherers meeting the globally wealthy, and everybody in between; the vast majority on the outside of that wealth. A place where a Lamborghini could drive past tribal people at roadside hoping to sell snails, tethered lizards, and various forest goods. There are an awful lot of materially and culturally poor people there, having lost control of their lands and culture, the new generations trying to break into the "1st world". Then I walk into the picture with high tech fishing tackle, ready to catch-and-release -just for...fun. Holding a rig that could feed a family for 6 months just didn't feel right. And I all but packed my stuff away until I could return home. We are darn lucky that every day of our lives isn't consumed with the very basics of survival, or surrounded by it. Sportsfishing looks like an elite, even ridiculous, endeavor in that context.

Depends also whether you'll be fishing vegetation. Some power in the rod helps a lot there.

No worries. Go fish. Water temps change more slowly than air temps, and fish acclimate as well. Yes you can have some tough periods, but some really good ones too. GO!

Should be darn easy to make. Since they aren't cheap I'd probably go this route and see if I can make use of them.

"Indoor plumbing" -that's funny! LOL I really appreciate the creative out-of-the-box approach. It's not only fun but smart too. That said, I've come to appreciate all the creativity other anglers have brought to the game. Wow, there are so many good tools out there and I've tried to become at least familiar with as many as I have time and $ to put there. As to my own answer to the OP: Jigs. I believe they are something like 10,000 years old?

I can't tell. Don't know how to get at that either. I've done well with orange, chartreuse, white bellies. I've always appreciated white/pearl bellies, probably following the effectiveness of the original Rapala's. With the high clarity of many of my current waters, I've re-finished a number of cranks and topwaters to offer a better bluegill/prey-fish look, which has involved scraping the orange off some of those baits. I do use fluorescent colors under some circumstances.

What can one expect to pay for an older Fuego in NIB condition?

Might be true. I see that only 2 species of crayfish are listed for Long Island drainages: one is introduced, the other it is not known if native or introduced. Might be explained by the glacial retraction pattern that formed Long Island. Daniels, Robert A. 2004. Crayfishes, Shrimps and Crabs of New York's Inland Waters. New York State Biodiversity Clearinghouse, New York State Biodiversity Project and New York State Biodiversity Research Institute. http://www.nybiodiversity.org/