islandbass

It is my understanding, regardless of size, that all countdowns are supposed to sink at a rate of about 1 ft/sec. To your second question, that is not necessarily so. For example, there are 1/2 oz poppers on the market that will float, but yet a tiny size 5 countdown minnow will sink. I think we can rest assured that rapala did the math to ensure that. It shouldn't be too difficult to calculate if you have "x" volume of balsa for the body, then you will need "y" amount of lead to get the lure to sink at 1 ft/sec. 8-)

Don't know what's stopping you from getting that set up, just get it done. The curado is going to serve you very well. The only peeve I have when finessing with casting gear is the necessity of having to pull line off of the spool just to achieve a more vertical drop of the lure. It is minor but bothersome to a certain extent, when on spinning gear, this is not an issue and one thing I like about spinning gear. To each his own on line twist. I hardly ever have line twist issues with my spinning setups. The curado is more than capable to finesse fish and it handles 8# mono with great ease. Matter of fact I have at least one of my curados with 8# test most of the time. I have not yet had a chance to try 6# line on it however. Go get your new rig. I am sure it will meet bait monkey approval. ;D

Yup, lightly rinse the reels, but no water blasting. I will also take a look inside to make sure that there is no sand or seaweed or whatever inside. Shimano has a decent tutorial on its home page about doing light reel maintence on both casting and spinning reels that you might find useful. I also do it the same day. I won't wait. An ounce of prevention as the saying goes...

Some people use just enough mono to prevent the braid from slipping and others a certain percentage of mono to braid (eg, 50/50 70/30, etc.). I try to keep about 50 - 75 yards of the braid on top and the rest as mono underneath. My reasoning for this is that I want to make sure that my braid gets used up. Given that most filler spools are about 150 yards, this enables me to fill my spool 2 to 3 times. The ratio of braid to mono is entirely up to you. There is no right or wrong here. You just have to figure out what suits your needs.

Hello, everyone! I received an unexpected Christmas gift late last night. I entered a writing contest for a local rod maker, fetha Styx Rods, with the hope of winning a fishing rod for my dad. I checked their blog last night and learned that I came as close to winning as I could. It is a beautifully bitter sweet and equally exciting for me. The bitter sweet originates from wanting to win this rod for my dad and the excitement comes from having written a story that fetha Styx Rods deemed worthy to post on their blog. Many of you have already read about the story I sent them, but click on the link below to see the story I wrote. The piece is called, Time to Get Crankin' at the top of the page. http://fethastyxblog.com/ Merry Christmas to all of you and God bless the troops! -ib

Seattle Area for me and I am onboard at the lami forum. Are you the same F and P on local forums here? If we are all from here, maybe we ought to do some feeshin' as Raul would say. 8-)

Cool. Are you in western or eastern WA State?

I think Tackle Tour did a review on that exact model. On another note, your height for the most part should not be an issue for you at all. I am sure you will quickly become accustomed to it. Heck, I'm only 5'5" and I don't have any issues fishing with my 8'6" and 9'6" sticks. BTW, give a review on that rod asap! I have been eyeing that rod for the longest time. 8-)

Cool. I imagine it is steelhead worthy. I hope to catch my first steelhead soon.

The reel is definitely bass and trout worthy. I don't know long term putting it up against steelhead but I reckon this is only one way to find out. That size is ideal for drop shotting and finessing out the door.

Wow! This is exactly what I use. You'll get as much line twist as you would with a regular drop shot weight. In other words, I have used it without any problems. I started doing this because it was starting to get too costly for "real" drop shot weights. $3 for about 10 weights and I could get a pound of pencil lead for about the same price. There is no rocket science necessary to do the math. If line twist is a real issue for you, you can employ my solution... Finally, we have good reason to use a snap swivel! 1) Tie your hook to your line as you normally would. 2) Tie on the snap swivel to the end of your line. Since you mention steelhead fishing, I am going to assume that you have the pliers that flatten pencil lead thin enough to punch a hole in them with those same special pliers. 3) Cut your piece of pencil lead, flatten one end, and pole a hole through the flattened area. 4) Attach the lead to the snap and you're done. The greatest benefit I have learned using pencil lead is that I can adjust my weight to suit the conditions. I also place the hole close to the end so that I can "break off" the lead with a decent tug. Because I fish rip rap most of the time I drop shot, I usually get snagged and lose the lead well before line twist ever has a chance to be an issue. I also allow the line to "rest" after a few casts to relieve any twist too. I do not go out of my way to use a snap swivel. I tie direct for the reasons given. Pencil lead works great. Just get the right pliers. A local shop selling steelhead stuff should have those pliers and they can vary in price from about $7 to just under $20.

6, Thanks for your explanation. That really painted a great picture for me. Most of my wacky rig success comes off of the drop shot with the bait wacky hooked vs. nose hooked. Fish caught truly wacky rigged, ie, not on the drop shot, my catches have been far a few between. The next time I fish something wacky style, I am going to keep those thoughts in mind. 8-)

I tried Power Pro.It seemed to soak up some water and sink.. As you know, when wacky rigging, the like has to float.. Trying to stay away from the braids but hate mono. So will probably end up with Firewire.. You might have a slight disconnect with perception and actuality. Any absorbtion of water by mono is going to be practically nil at best and negligible at worst. No other lines outside of ppro or stealth or other braids is going to give you as close a feel to fusion as you are desiring. I suppose trying fireline couldn't hurt. 8-) I would like to know if you could elaborate on why the line has to float for wacky rigging. You've really piqued my curiosity so please explain. ;D If it has to do with better see the line on the surface, then mono or braid are your best bets.

Send me a piece for you and a piece for me, and I'd gladly carve you a flat sided crankbait. 8-)

I used to use fusion too before they ran out. Fireline might be a good option, but if color has to be the same, the spiderwire's stealth is your closest bet. You should get the same performance out of stealth as you do with fusion. They will be comparable. If you wish to venture away from Spiderwire, then its powerpro. Just telling you from personal experience. The plus of any of these lines over fusion is that you won't get the fuzzy/false fraying or shedding that fusion does for some reason.

Nice! Keep posting. I don't see how anyone could get tired. If they are, ebonically, they be jealous of yer skillz, fo sho'. ;D

Sammies and Spooks are awesome, but I am shocked that after these many posts the rapala skitter walk hasn't received any love. ;D

I would have to agree with the comments already given, but one thing I liked about Evo was its castibility. I thought it was better than than CX and shoot, most lines would beat CXX. Then again CXX is known for its amazing durability and not castibility. With Evo, I was able to cast to the other side of the river in 18 degree weather with less than about 3/8 oz weight and I bird's nested. I didn't realized my line hit the other side until I noticed my line dangling in the trees on the other side. The snow blinded me so I lost sight of the cast. The picture below is my curado D with 12# evo on it. Even with a rated rated to toss 3/8 - 1 3/4 oz lures, I was able to cast this little home made inline spinner that is less than 3/16 oz about 100 ft. pretty well. That is not too shabby when you factor in that my rod has no business casting something that light. I credit the line. If memory is a pet peeve of yours however, none of these P-line products will suit you. They have and quickly acquire memory up the ying yang. Fortunately it doesn't bother me too much as their traits far outweigh the memory tradeoff.

I hit the Green River in the hopes of battling a chum or anything that would bite. I arrived on the river (Metzler Park) at about 9:30 am. Given the cold teen temperatures we had for most of this week, I would have to say that the balmy 26-degree air temperature this morning was almost welcome. In reality, it was still brutally cold for my extremities, even with the proper attire. Strike one. My first few steps on the frozen trail was another sign that today might not be so good, especially with the recent reports of skunked outings. Yikes! Now, I had a partially frozen little stream to cross to get to the fishing hole. First observation was that the river was really low. It was low enough to see the rock bottom in the middle of the river without polarized glasses. It was also sufficiently shallow to safely reach the other side of the river, which two anglers did. I tied on a ¼ ounce lime green and purple marabou jig and attacked the pools known to hold fish. Nothing. Others there used corkies, jig and float, and even spoons. Regardless of the technique employed the results were the same. Zero Zip Nada The only action and movement was coming from the moving water or the removing of ice from the rod's guides or reel's line guides. It was at this point that the wise quote, The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, started to repeat in my head like a skipping record. Strike two. I left Metzler Park and headed to Soos Creek. There were three anglers working the spots. Nothing was caught or even hooked while I was there. I drifted my jig a few times before I realized my fishing liberties had expired. It was time to go. Strike three. I struck out and skunked out. There is no other way around it and the subfreezing conditions didn't make the results easier to accept. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. I'll just have to chalk up this outing as paying dues for future success or use this as a launching pad to try out for the Mariners in the Spring. Conditions 26 degrees F, Clear Skies, Clear and shallow water.

I have been wanting to do this myself with PVC pipes but admittedly, I don't want to invest in the time and effort. However, I have seen one very interesting solution that might work for you from a thread I started on a different forum. Just refer to the image in the last post. The person made a slot to accomodate the reel and his rod case is pretty slick IMHO. http://www.washingtonlakes.com/forum/yaf_postst8533_Rod-Preservation-During-Transport-in-Vehicle.aspx

Wow. I imagine it is.

Did you try holding their spinning rods yet? I realize it's subjective, but the feel of their spinning rods felt "heavy" to me and felt nothing like their casting rod counterparts. If I had to, I would also take the already given recommendation for drop shotting in terms to action and length.

That is one of the nicest BBass patterns I have ever seen, and I am not blowing smoke up your sit-down part. Great job! 8-)

I think you have workable schemes. Just focus on honing and fine tuning. Not sure how old you are and it really doesn't matter, but an airbrush is useful but not necessary. If you are indeed a teen or preteen, you can get by and obtain great results with water based acrylic paints and hand brushes. Keep at it.

Spinning or casting reel? A reel's gear ratio by itself can be misleading. Your post might get moved to the appropriate section (Fishing Rod, Reels, Lines, Leaders and Knots Forum) where it will probably receive more input from others.