J Francho

Sounds like a tall order, as I've often read that Tungsten powder and epoxy mixture has a specific gravity of less than 5 g/cc. Lead alloy is around 9 or 10. Steel is 7. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think this something you can improve on with home engineering?

None of those brands ever interested me. I'd rather have a hand laid hull than a chop gun boat.

Lucky Craft Flat Mini MR. Baits like jigs, texas rigs, swimbaits on jigheads or hooks, I use Cortland Toothy Critter when bass fishing. It's tieable wire. 20# usually does it - look in your shops fly section. Just attach it to your mainline with Alberto, and use whatever knot you like on your bait. Heavy fluoro leader can be a pain. I use it, but I make leaders with swivels and snaps using a crimp kit.

I usually put them on after I tie the jig on.

Is this a power fishing reel?

I caught this one on 8# line - doesn't mean I wasn't lucky. SO, my answer is, if your looking for trouble, it will probably find you.

Grooves where? Pictures?

They should make braid scissors out of pike teeth and zebes!

ITO is flimsy junk anyway, lol.

You sure it isn't the one throwing them? I use three different spinnerbaits, two are cheapos, and one is a hand made custom from Siebert. They all catch well and hold up. In other words, don't sell yourself short. I will say this, a certain spinnerbait with someone's three initials that retails for $8 are junk. The four I bought didn't last a day of smallie fishing on Oneida.

I might be one of the others, though the ones I tried out might have been the "A" or unlettered original. We didn't get along too well, but that was like 20 years ago, so maybe it was me.

Your hook will rust or dull before an epoxied brush guard falls out. We're still talking about $3 jigs, right? Jigs are probably the smallest part of my fishing budget per year, even though I use them more than most anything else. You'd be wiser to worry about rust, not the brush guard. Rust doesn't care how old a jig is.

Buy quality jigs, and it isn't a problem.

Yep, we got pushed off the lake in a tournament a couple years ago, but not after we'd put a few pounds in the livewell. This was what it was like inside the break walls near Buffalo. We did win that one, lol. So there goes the myth that smallies are smaller than largies. We beat the next best bag of harbor rat LMB by 5 lbs.

Super Spook, Sammy 115, broke-back Jitterbug, Cavitron Buzzbait, Rage Toad, and Ricos are my favorite topwaters. Hollow frogs too, but I always think of them as their own category.

Just 50 years ago, I'd have been dead of something that is pretty much reversible with regular treatment.

If you don't know about the sale by now, you're probably snowed in under a rock...

Of those two, fluoro. But I generally throw them on 10-12# CXX. For rocks, I like a moderate action rod. For weeds, fast works better for me.

I wish I still had it. I think my ex took it when she moved out. She made it for me.

Depends on your locale. $150k/year job in NYC is an $80K job in Rochester. Housing, food, utilities, and other staples are more expensive in NYC, but that bait costs the same. So, you don't spend your money on overpriced junk you don't need in NYC, and you can afford that $10 bait, easy. I buy cheap bread, and all I save is like 50 cents, lol. Is the cost of living in an area related to disposable income? I think in some cases it is.

Depends on the bait. If I get a good bait, and I lose it, then I want to be able to replace it, and get EXACTLY the same bait back.

Depends on the water. If it's a river, probably not a problem. If it's Erie, uh.....

The grooving issue was an improperly executed spiral wrap guide setup. Don't have a spiral wrap rod, you wont have to worry about grooving.

I catch more on 100s because I fish them more often. I generally catch better fish on the larger baits. I have a few 78s, but they're for perch and walleye. My most productive jerkbait is a JDM Flashminnow. 110 in MS Am. Shad: No hatin' on my warm hat!

I've actually had Pete's reels in my hands. They are pretty much in as good working condition as anyone's newer reels. They're worn on the outside, but they are smooth and solid as anything. I asked him about them, and he said he just hasn't had any reason to replace them.