J Francho

Put whatever you want on the jika rig, so long as the hook matches the bait.

You can always throttle down, but you can't make max and maxer.

I have a Avid AVC70MM. it'll throw 1/4 oz. peanut size cranks just fine, in fact, it excels at it. The rod itself reminds me of a casting rod built on a spinning blank. I have casted baits as large as DT16, and it's OK for that. Better to keep smaller. The LTB version should do exactly what you want it for.

Cool chalk outline, bro. Kidding - nice work, that's a pig.

Cruisers are elusive - something special about getting one to commit! Nice job.

Sorry Mike, I'm numbers guy, so I have to look at this more closely. The retrieve is a retrieve is a retrieve, regardless of IPT or gear ratio. If you can retrieve a bait at the proper speed with the reel, those specs are irrelevant. Now, if you mean the time it takes for reeling up the last few feet of line before making a subsequent cast, then let's look at that. Probably what, three or four cranks (6-10 feet of line) to do this. So, in theory you might save the time it takes to reel in 4-10" per cast. I'm not buying it at all. two guys fishing the same bait, both adept at casting, one using a 28 IPT reel, the other a 30 IPT reel, no one has an advantage, all "measurebaiting" aside. In fact, I'll go so far to say, that if I am using the slower, more comfortable reel for me, then I catch more fish, simply because I have confidence in my gear, and don't have to think about reeling in.

That is one of my favorites.

I've developed a dislike for 30+ IPT reels for spinnerbaiting. Sure, I could just slow down, but it doesn't jibe with me. Twenty-three other guys will come and post that you MUST use a fast reel to spinnerbait effectively. They're probably right too. It's just a preference thing. I have eight reels (I just had to count them out, LOL) that are 30+ IPT. I have even more that aren't. They all work for what I like them to work for. Fish your reels. Only after time on the water will develop a preference yourself. The cool thing, if you take care of your stuff, you get a good percentage of what you put into your gear back if decide it's not for you by selling online.

Almost all of my rods are perfect for what they do. If not, I buy another. How do you think I got so many?

LOL, they are downright stupid for firetiger, especially in perch waters. I don't buy anything in FT anymore, and laugh, calling them pike food.

I'm curious about getting excited for fishing post cold front conditions. Probably OPPOSITE ideal conditions.

Drop shot is the #1 tool on Erie for me. Keeps the snot and the gobies off your bait. You can use whatever plastic you like.

Got out Friday after work for a quick trip to the City Dump to see if waters had warmed any. Temps were up from two weeks before to 56-58° in the shallows. Perfect! So what did I do? Cranked deeper water, LOL. Caught a few usual dump fish in 8-12 FOW. Fish were congregated on a lip edge of a trench that leads to a creek channel. Here's a Friday Lent Fish: Unfortunately, Big Al didn't score any catches Friday, but he'd make up for it.... Sunday, and back to my little honey hole. Water temps dropped from 62° last weekend to 56-58°. No matter, bass and northerns were on the prowl. I threw a spinnerbait and a High Power Herring swimbait all day. Big Al tossed Senkos and wacky jig worms behind me. He's liking the new rod I picked out during the BPS reel trade, a Saint Croix Eyecon 6-3 M/XF. He's still getting used to the braid, but he has tons of confidence in heavy cover now. Maybe a little too much confidence. Here he is, like Babe Ruth, calling his shot: "There's got to be a big one there, behind all those submerged logs." Uh yeah, probably. Just remember, you get hung up in there, you're toast until we (I mean "I") finish fishing it. LMAO, one cast, and he's flipping this fish over all that cover: Atta Boy!!! Altogether, we caught 11 largemouth and hooked three pike, two of which were "quick release" boat side. The other took my $70 swimbait so deeply, we had to net him and perform surgery. Not a bad day at all. Another one of Al's catches: Walleye rods work for bass too.

Try a small plastic swimbait as a trailer. You don't necessarily HAVE to swim it.

Too low. I'd look at 45 lb. minimum. We used a transom mount 45 lb. for 12' and 14' semi vee row boats. Perfect, with enough oomf when it got windy.

I love the back of the boat for that very reason. Besides, I like to get any opportunity to fish with someone better than I to see the "whole package" in how they fish. Some of the best fisherman I know spent a lot of time honing their craft on the back deck.

LOL!!! Yeah, I trust moth balls and drier sheets when I store my boat in the winter to keep the vermin away. Not sure I could live with the stink in my vehicle. Even with my boat, I don't let the moth balls touch any part of it - hate the stink, and I think it's a fish repellent.

So, you have let a cat catch the bait to catch it? Isn't that just fishing? I think you're putting too much into it. Bass are much more primitive than a cat. Besides, my cat will come careening after me from two rooms away to me loudly smacking my thighs, and yelling his name while running from room to room. He's 27 lbs. of Siamese, so I guess big baits, and fast retrieves catch bigger kitties? I've noticed with bass (that you can visibly see behind your bait) that actually follow the bait as it is slowly worked - swimbaits, topwater spooks, or poppers - that it takes some sort of fast, fleeing motion to trigger a strike.

I use a relatively slow reel for spinnerbaits, 5.8:1 or about 24 IPT. I prefer it over my 7.1:1. 32 IPT Zillion.

I have that same concern, Sam. I generally keep my dogs kenneled for their "outdoor needs," But they do get to run in the back, and I'm constantly checking for dead rodents. The D-con does leave them in their last minutes looking for water, so any standing water is a like "resting place" for any treated vermin. How do you get their little legs apart?

D-con?

I need a full rear grip for cranking and swimbaits. Otherwise, could care less so long as the rod, reel, and bait feel "right" to me.

New 3M nano resin contains high NPK levels to properly nourish....lmao

I usually take mine out.

If you weigh an item, even of it's mass is unknown and you get a pound discrepancy between two scales, it doesn't take the bureau of weights and measures to figure out something is off.