J Francho

The only time anything remotely close to this ever happening to me was when a Northern ate (or tried to, anyway). The Northern got hooked on the same worm hook, though broke off near the boat. I have seen several smallmouth get into "frenzy" mode once one is hooked. They seem to be attacking the bait, not the hooked fish. I suppose its possible. I'll take the original report at face value, must have been something to realize what you had

It would be as bad as if I were beaten by you, a gay guy, a kid, an Italian, or anyone else. Now since I'm in the classic in your little dream world, I'm assuming my good buddy Kase is in it too. It would be far worse if he beat my by just one tenth of an ounce.

If you're just comparing those two reels? No infinite anti reverse is a deal breaker for me. Toss in Twist Buster Roller, and the choice is easy: Exceler. The Shimano Sahara would be on more equal footing with the Exceler, and that choice is a toss up.

Never heard of night fishing? :

Trout dough works too. I thought I included it on my list. One interesting tidbit: I normally use a small sized ball of dough - 5 to 8mm, but this past spring I couldn't get bit by anything during the height of the spring steel run. Fish were in the riffles and on the move to spawning grounds - not actively feeding. i switched to mixing two or three colors to make a marble size offering. Needless to say, I had 25 fish on the bank that day, and hooked countless others. this was the small, but legal (21" min. here) one I took home for dinner that night:

Why not just try a stinger hook (scroll down a bit). 5/0 treble seems like it would take away from the action?

Palomer, with these exceptions: Uni for big jigs Improved cinch for spinnerbaits For line to line, Uni to Uni. If the mainline is much smaller in diameter than the leader, I'll use a spider hitch knot to double the mainline.

I'm more apt to try a soft plastic from someone new to me, but I've been burnt on hard baits.

A little off tiopic, but... Gene, have you tried nose hooking your flukes with a 1/0 DS style hook? Not the best in weeds, but when you can get away with it, its a different action and easy hookups.

Yep. The G-Lock has even a wider gap than the standard Gammy EWG, while being shorter overall. The hook point is also slightly curved up, which I feel equates to a higher hookup percentage. The G-lock is the ultimate tube hook, and reminds me of the original EWG hook; the Eagle Claw 'High Performance' hook. Hmmm, I'd have thought that a hook with the point offset from eye would work better with a bait as wide as a tube. Shows what I know...tubes are generally an open water tool for me. I generally stick a Bite Me Big dude up the tube's butt. I'll have to try flipping a tube this year. Its been on my lst, but there are so many other things that work as well. Thanks

Use an Owner Wide Gap Plus.

Here is a nice swimbait for you:

There is probably about $500 worth of hooks in my hook box. I use them all. What soft plastics?

Most guys are using 25# line or better. How much of that you gonna fit on your Revo or Sol ------------------------ Bantam1, I'm a Daiwa guy, but I have my eye on a 301 for both swimbaits and some of those monster trout I sent you. A lot of guys on the rivers swear by them, many switching over from Calcutta Bs.

You can look at Gammy's website and see the difference: http://www.gamakatsu.com/catalog/worm.htm The G-Lock hooks have a more aggressive z-bend and not quite as wide a gap. The G-Locks also have the hook eye in perfect alignment with the hook point. Makes a difference when rigging up different plastics.

Moss Green CXX works most anywhere. I use clear fluorocarbon because, well, its fluorocarbon. I have green braid on a couple of rods, but I prefer yellow or red for the high vis factor - especially for presentations where line watching is an edge. Some think line watching is lazy, and that's fine, I'll keep doing what works. If you're worried about the fish seeing the line, then just use a back or dark green Sharpie to color the last two feet or so. The factory color wears off a bit anyway. I also like to color 1/2 the spool of braided line to aid in visibility, and make a breakup camo like pattern.

Rojas won that event, but Ike may have had the biggest single day. Many of the locals have said that they like to fish the release areas, even after small club tourneys. I guess they just can't find their own spots, LOL.

If that were the case, it wouldn't engage at all. Could also be a simple case of too much grease. It in fact may not affect the fishability of the reel as well.

I would prefer the leverage on the cast that round BC reel gives you. When getting into baits in the 3+ ounce range, it can be difficult to control the spool when loading the rod during the cast. Also, that Cardiff has a both a cast control knob and a far superior breaking system than that BPS Extreme. My preference would be for a 200 series reel though.

I think the heated debate in this thread is causing global warming.

Faced with a large expanse of pads and/or slop, and no ideas where the bass may be, I'll use a Scumfrog type bait as a search bait. Any misses, and I'll be right back in there with pegged t-rig creature to thoroughly work that area.

That's a possibility The_Nat, and I can see a preference for stretchy fluoro when cranking, where sensitivity is unnecessary, but not in other applications. My preference is for the "harder to handle" fluoros, since I generally use it on a BC, where loose coils and twist is not an issue. I'm much more likely to use braid with fluoro leader material (not reel fill) for spinning applications. Like I said, which fluoro and why you want to use it is based on application and preference. I think that has A LOT more to do with all the confusing, overlapping, and often contradictory advice as to which fluoro to use.

Exactly how can it be sensitive and stretchy in the same breath? Besides, I don't use FC for cranking.

That is useless!!!

Yep, and in fact will ruin them. I hate using a swivel in this application, as I feel it adds too much fuss to the rig, but if you want to use one, thread a plastic bead on the mainline before tying the swivel. This will prevent you from reeling the swivel through your guides.