J Francho

I probably have too, when unhooking with pliers. I just don't think it's been enough times for me to take the effort to change out the split rings on all 5,798 jerkbaits in my collection.

What does any of this have to do with KVD moving to Lew's? Who cares if one time some pro tried to deceive us? Magic tackle! Woweee! Must keep it a secret! As the pond turns....over.

I'm gonna catch heat for this, but I think I can actually feel a fish on the follow with a crank. Not always with bass, but definitely northern pike. They disturb the water around the bait, affecting it's action. I can feel this through the line and the graphite. It can't be in my head. Anyone else fish cranks that has had this experience?

I only use one popper, a Popmax in python, though most of the paint is worn off. For the past three years, it's accounted for most of my fish over all other baits.

I try to buy baits that come with good hooks. I HATE changing trebles. I HATE split rings and split ring pliers. I'll change them out if they feel dull. I rarely see issues with the split rings, unless a pike or something big mutilated them. I have a few sizes for backups. I buy Owner, Spro, even Eagle Claw Razor work well.

Interesting, never seen it myself on just bass. I've seen king salmon and northerns mangle stuff, though.

Not sure I care about data the author considered old and outdated in 2011. Not sure I care about the author's data in general. He talks about the "World's best" testing methods, and says we can't test the way he does, so we will get different results. If some brand's 50# braid performs as expected, does it matter what the box says?

So, keep bumping it up, Tom. Four score and a year ago, someone asked about fish finders. Then yesterday, a spammer bumped it up, and people kept responding. Spam has been removed. Valid posts have not.

I can't for the life of me figure what he's talking about or why it matters.

The All Purpose is one of my all time favorites, as is the Mat Daddy. You can see it in action here:

Has anyone really had a split ring fail? And I don't mean a rusty old one, but say split rings on a decent $5-10 bait?

Mann's

Flooger has a one year warranty. If it broke after 3 months, I'd take it back. A 1000 reel is fine for bass. I use one with 15# braid. When 4-6# line I prefer a 24500 size reel, since most have a better drag than the single washer 1000 size, and I need to protect the lighter line.

Very unique.

Well, it's one louder, right?

Here's a back of the boat trick for that: grab your spinning DS setup. Toss it slightly in front of where the boat is heading, but on the deep side, to not interfere with the shallow machine gunner. Leave the bail open. Let line peel out to where you be a little longer than a decent cast. Close the bail, and give it rip. You'd be surprised how many fish I've picked up from the back of the boat in that situation.

It's not a terrible plan, if they're on the feed. Otherwise you're hauling water and catching pickerel.

I would assume clockwise turns them up, but you should see the magnet ring go up or down, with the palm side plate off. What every action raises the magnet ring is turning up the brakes.

If your graph lights up with bait fish in that 20ish range, send a DS down in there, or a blade bate, or a jigging spoon. You might unlock that smallie bite.

Make long casts and fish a bit deeper than you're used to.

Yuuup!

Look for healthy, deeper weeds. It might be a little weird with all the rain we got, so check that mid lake point with the creek running in. Not sure how much rain they got south of the ROC.

Get used to standing and pitching. Learn to do a flip cast as well. These are useful when you drift past something close you missed. I've caught fish right under or next to the kayak this way. I think being close to the water and the action is an advantage. It feels more connected. There are so many other things that can spook fish, I don't think ripples bother them one bit. I use rods from 6-8 to 8' for pitching, and I also pitch with a spinning reel if needed. It's juts a casting technique for getting a bait to a spot quickly with little hassle. Get good at it and you'll be rewarded. Good luck.

We're done here. You're all acting like children, and contributing nothing to the OP's questions. Time to take a step back, it's FISHING. Geez.

I buy used here on the Flea Market all the time. Latest purchase was a JDM Zillion that picks up 41" per turn.