islandbass

Hello! I'm new myself and would like to extend the same warm welcome I received. The only thing I see wrong with your rigs is that the cranks are on the opposite side for me. ;D I just bought a Clarus but haven't had a chance to use it. How do you like yours and how would you rate its sensitivity on a scale from 1-10? Oh and backbone too from 1-10. Thanks! -ib

I was shocked to come across this myself just recently. I have that book and I'm still reading it.

Any rod in the 5 to 6' range is good. I would also have to say it probably isn't too early to get him started with a decent spinning or baitcast set up. I got my daughter a nice, cheap 6' Daiwa casting rod for $12 at Sportsman's Warehouse and another low end 5'6" South Bend casting rod that she could use with any of my baitcast reels. I also got her a Shakespeare 5'6" spinning rod and Daiwa 1500 size spinning reel ($9.99) She started with a Barbie (which she still uses on occassion) pole at 3, learned how to use a spinning reel at 5 and a baitcast reel at 6. Granted, she gets the occassional tangle (don't we all? ;D) but it is amazing at how fast kids can learn, especially with encouragement. One of her rods with my 301A Cardiff Here she is jigging with a right-handed Abu Garcia round reel and an 8'6" heavy action steelhead/salmon rod. Homemade leash designed to prevent accidental dropping of rig into the drink. The first words out of her mouth after the first cast she made with my 201 Curado BSF were, Papi! I like this reel. It is so much easier to use than the other one (the spinning reel) and it is more fun to use too. Easier? More fun? Now all I can say to that is this; That's my little girl! -ib

A heavier action rod with the slack line reeled up could make the difference, using braid with its near 0 stretch might also help you with your medium action rod. With my cheap, low end rapala spinning rod, I was fishing a fluke and when I got the bite (with 30# p-pro), the hook set I used was nothing more than a quick flick of my wirst. The bass was beautifully hook in the side of its mouth, nice and clean.

I think comparing the Curado BSF and the Curado D would be like comparing apples and oranges. They are only similar in name. The innards of the D are technically superior and an improvement over the BSF. HeGearing, Attached sideplate, Dartanium Drag, Lower reel foot and magnumlite spool are just a few of the goodies that increased the price to $199 but it also makes it a very sweet reel. Even the Citica D's innards blow away the Curado BSF and for a cheaper price to boot! If I am not mistaken the 100Ds are lighter that the 200BSF, weighing in at about 7.4 oz? Don't quote me on it but dang, the 201Ds are fat pigs! ;D I have both the D and BSF and love both but the Curado D (I have the 201D) is so sweet! Now this doesn't mean that I no longer like my BSF, because it is still an excellent reel. It just MHO that they are two different beasts for which a side by side comparison just isn't right. One of the neatest things I like about the D is that I was able to toss this small, homemade inline spinner without a single loop of backlash, and with a heavy action steelhead rod rated for 1/2 - 1 3/4 oz lures that has no business tossing something that light. I am willing to concede that the BSF probably could have done it too. Nonetheless, a testament to the excellence of both reels.

I took my daughter and godson to a small local lake for some trout fishing yesterday afternoon, despite the overcast conditions outside. We started the morning assembling a small trout class spinner where they got to choose the blade size, color, body shape, treble and color tubing. Both of them were very excited about making their own spinners and even more excited to go fishing. I told them that we would try some power bait first, then salmon eggs, and use the spinners last. The sun greeted us as it pierced through the gray clouds as we approached the shore. The wind was blowing pretty strong toward the shore and my gut said that the shoreline before was going to be a good spot with the wind blowing the water toward us. We placed our stuff on a picnic table. I propped up a chair for each of them and stuck a rod holder into the ground and proceeded to prep their rods. The kids were good to go and ready for action in a few short minutes. Now, I hardly ever fish for myself on these outings, because line tangles and reapplying lost bait keep me too busy to fish. I don't really mind however, and my thoughts were confirmed when My godson made a hard cast that hit the water hard enough to throw off the power bait dough. Bless my little girl! She is such a great little fisher-girl. I am so glad that she has the knack for fishing. She is a natural at fishing, unlike me. She stands up from the chair and says with calmly and collectively, Papi, I've got one, as she sets the hook. Not even 3 minutes from her first cast. My fingers were full of rainbow colored power bait and I pricked myself on my godson's bait hook trying to quickly get him started again and help her land the fish. I happened to slip right at the shore and luckily caught myself on her chair and avoided the muddy ground. Whew! It was your typical stocked trout, nothing to brag about, but nonetheless I was ecstatic, probably more than she! Just a proud dad I guess. I took this first fish as a good sign that it was going to be a great day. Little did I know I was going to be wrong. Shortly afterward, the clouds blotted out the sun and a light precipitation began. My godson said to me, Uncle, I think it's hailing. I told him, Nah, it can't be. We're well into spring so it shouldn't hail today. The drizzle changed to teeny tiny bits of sleet-sized hail, and then all of a sudden out of nowhere, a deluge of larger hail hit us. Luckily, lil' ol' islandbass usually plans for the worst. Fortunately, we had two big umbrellas to keep the hail at bay. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up and was blowing violently and despite the cover of the umbrellas, an occasional piece of made it through and pelted us good. Then, the wind blew the golf-sized umbrella from her hands as I moved to put the chairs right next to each other. The wind picked it up as if it were a sail and before I could react, my daughter rushed into the lake to grab the umbrella. While she did save the umbrella she did so at a depth that exceeded the height of her waterproof rubber boots. She was soaked from the knees down and her boots were filled with water. She started crying, saying she was very cold, and she wanted to go home immediately, but I told her it would be better to wait until the hail stopped. Although the hailstorm passed after what was probably 10 minutes, it must have felt like an eternity for my daughter. She felt miserably cold all the way back to the van. My godson was feeling pretty cold too, but he didn't want to leave until he caught a fish. He had three chances during the storm but he didn't connect. He was bummed out, but he understood that we had to go. We finally made it back to the van and I got them some hot cocoa to warm them up at a nearby Starbucks and treated them to McDonalds too. I'm still proud of them for being troopers out there. We're going to have to go back there when the weather improves. They want a second shot. I did get a chance to throw my drop shot rig out a couple times for some bass, but all I managed to get were those tiny planters (the stocked rainbows) nibbling at my worm trying to suck it down as a bass would. I didn't give them a chance to get hooked either. It was kind of neat seeing them move my line and yanking it away before they could reach the hook. Sorry that this is a bit long, but I thought this is a story worth telling about two little kids who braved the weather to do a little spring fishing. -ib

At that price point (about $33, right?), the Abu G Cardinal is going to be tough to beat. I use a 101a on my ul (it's a light action rod with an ultralight lure weight range) rig, and it is sweet. Just get the right reel size and I think you'll have a sweet set up.

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone!!! Raul, I can feel those forces all around me here and it's starting to feel like home. Come little pixy... come little pixy. After I buy one I will know for certain I will have crossed over to the dark side. ;D

I've never used a skitter prop, but I absolutely love the skitter pop. The frog and shad patterns have worked best for me. I also caught a bass the first time I tried the skitter walk so you might want to add that to the mix. As for the original floating rapala minnow, it has a special place in my heart, because I caught my first bass with one, a size 5 in the green minnow (not real name, but it has a dark green back with a white belly) color. I agree jdw174 that the skitter pop spits more than it chugs. In addition to making it spit, I like to use a downward movement of my rod (you're making the plastic nose dive into the water vs. dragging it along the water's surface) to get the lure to make a nice "plop" sound. It's hard for me to describe but it is a cool sound hear and one that seems to drive bass nutty.

Man, that's a bummer. If you have the lip that broke off, you might opt to glue it back with dev con 2-ton epoxy. If not, and you like to tinker, you can make a new bill out of lexan. Any catches you make with this repaired rapala would definitely taste sweeter. Good luck!

Despite my initial observations with red hooks after some of my exeperiments last season, the red hooks appeared to make a difference in hook ups on my crankbaits and topwater (treble based lures). However, I am not yet convinced because I think I need more trials. What I did was I placed on my treble lures a red treble for the belly and a silver or black treble in the rear. For my topwater catches, the bass nailed the lower belly treble which was red, every time except once. For my cranks, the results were similar. This still doesn't mean much because I didn't get to try it switching the trebles to see if that would make a difference and even if I did at a later time, the conditions would not have been the same. In addition, using red hooks for single hook lures (Ex: T-rigs) has resulted in fewer catches than I can catch on one hand. I am not yet convinced since I don't have enough data, anecdotal or otherwise to draw a better conclusion. However, I buy red hooks every once in a while because I like how they look. : Talk about catching fishermen! ;D Another thing I have observed, I think at least for gammies that colored hooks just might be ever so slightly less sharp than their non-colored dark or nickel counterparts. A buddy showed this to me with is thumb test the point (he managed to ***** himself too). The difference is very small, but noticeable even on the bare skin of a thumb. Bottomline? If you think that they work for you, then by all means continue to use them. -ib

What type of reel is it? I do know that with the Shimano Symetre, and this is what I love about it, I can add line to the spool directly as if it were a baitcaster. I was shocked to read that in the owner's manual. I would imagine that her more expensive sisters would also possess that trait and probably other reels from other manufacturers at that price point. I also use a big book like the yellow pages or my BPS catalog to aid in keeping tension on the line while spooling.

What a great dilema to have! Only because I have a crucial I would have to say get the Crucial, but perhaps you can compare the components of those rods in addition to actually holding the rods in your hand to see how each one feels. I know the crucial sports Fuji Alconite Guides, but I am not sure of the other two and that could be your starting point. Good luck!

Just want to say hello to everyone here and to say that I think that this is a great forum with some excellent information. I am relatively new to fishing in general with only 3 seasons under my belt so I know I still have a lot to learn. I am from the Pacific Northwest and while we have bass here, salmon and steelhead rule. I guess that is a good thing because that means there is more bass for me to catch. ;D I did register a while ago but have mostly lurked but I'm changing that right now. I hope to learn a lot but also to share and contribute where I can. Thanks! -islandbass