catchnm

I spooled up a Citica 200E with this line a while back and still haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Plan on it being for jigs and tex-rigs mainly. My first braid experience was with the original Spiderwire when it first came out back in the late '80s. Didn't much care for it nor could I justify the high price vs. the real "need" for it at that time. I know there's been much technological refining to braided line since then. I've read that the smaller diameter braid is not recommended for baitcasters because of it cutting into itself so much. The Fireline Braid is supposed to be a round and not flat line which they say will all but eliminate that problem. I have it spooled up really tight to the spool with mono backing. Probably have about 50-60 yards on. Anyone want to offer any insight into this?

Bottom bouncing jigs, craws, worms lizards,....spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, traps, deep cranks.....frogs, chuggers, poppers....this rod length and action is good for pretty much any presentation or bait.

http://www.xcitebaits.com/get_xcited/index.php Shakey head...oh yea. Texas rig, c-rig. drop shot the chunk...... pretty impressive looking baits. Here's a video.

Weightless t-rigged, on a scrounger head, on a Swarming Hornet swim head, shakey head, donkey rig, and I've had success using the Magnum Fluke on a C-rig. Looks like I'll need to give that split-shot idea a try, sounds promising. Oh yea, and I use the tiny flukes on round jigheads for vertical crappie fishing over sunken trees. Also on a road runner head for casting and retrieving for crappie.

I'd go with Pinnacle. But only the six-pin braking models, but that's just a matter of preference for me. The Scion rivals any other magnesium reel and is usually a bit less expensive. I don't own a Scion but have handled one and they are sweeeeeet! Pinnacle makes reels for other companies as well. The Academy H20 Xpress reels I know, I think the older BPS PQ and Extreme reels were made by them also. The H20 Xpress Mettle reels are great reels at $50 a pop and once a year they run them half price, even better. I have three and fish them regularly. Yes sir......I'd say Pinnacle.

Caught a ton of fish on these back in the '90s. Been looking for some and have been hesitant in building up the jerkbaits until I found some. Just ordered 5 of these and a Pre-Rapala Chug Bug. T-Sticks @ 6.99 ea and 4.99 for the Bug. Got 15% off too. PM me if you want the site info.....it's from another forum. :-/

Excellent idea. I'm gonna give it a try. Thanks.

Try it on Tex-rig, 2/0 EWG hook with an un-pegged 1/8 oz. weight. Killer!

I have a St. Croix Premier that's a GREAT rod. Just got a Triumph in the same length and action for comparison. Anxious to try it out. The price ranges of the rods you listed have a pretty wide variance.....about $100.

Here's a link to a thread I started on the same subject. Excellent suggestions here. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1288997451

Been crappie fishing that way since the 1970's. Never thought about doing it for bass. Good idea.

I'm going to be Wacky Rigging, Shaky Head(ing), and fishing tubes more this year. Got a few swimbaits to wear out also.

x2 on the jig. Sometimes "old school" is the best. Jigs have been been catching quality fish consistently for years and years. As far as trailers.....I've used everything from pork to tubes to senkos. Most of my confidence in a trailer rests on a Rage Craw or Chunk at the moment though.

This BLUE hit my slab when I was casting for strippers a couple weeks ago. I guessed it at 50 lb. It's laying on 2x6's. After some careful cleaning, I got 8 quart bags of nice white meat.

Big ditto........I'm gonna try both the sticks and the tubes myself.

http://www.elgrandelures.com/hatchmatch.html I've been watching this company develop for a few years now and have owned and fished a few of their earlier baits. Caught one of my biggest bass ever on one of the old stick baits they used to make. Anyway looks like Jay has come into a nice place now. Really nice website and some awesome looking baits.....especially the Hatch Match Sticks!

....$3.99 a pair at Gander Mountain w/ free shipping if you order on line. http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=411828&pdesc=ReelGrip_Cast_Reel_Cover&aID=504T10&merchID=4006

I keep jigs of different head styles in my bag. Give them a try, they're priced right.

!/8 oz. weighted t-rigs are what I've thrown almost exclusively for the past three years now. I've used many rods and reels for this. I'm not in the financial bracket as some others here, so I'll just tell ya what I have used and what I am currently using. Started out with low end rods, Daiwa Team-V and All Star Classics. Both of these are $50 class rods. The All Stars more sensitive than the Daiwas. Using Citica D reels mainly and they were great for throwing the light weight rigs. Let me add here that out of all the reels that I've used for this technique the six-pin centrifugal braked reels work best. I purchased three of the Fenwick Techna AV rods last spring and WOW, what a difference. Set me on a path of acquiring more sensitive rods. I have found that there are some quite sensitive rods that can be had for $100 and under. St. Croix, Fenwick, All Star, and Falcon are four that make rods that are in this category for retail prices. Sales at the different sites and stores help a fellow to get more expensive rods at a decent price. Academy has a "rod blowout" a couple times a year and the more expensive rods are really marked down at this time. I now use the above mentioned Fenwicks in 6'6" med. action and med/hvy, recently went to 7' rods, and the favorite is one I bought used here at the classifieds forum. It's a 7' med/hvy St. Croix Premier, love it. Was tossing a 1/8 oz. weighted Rage Craw just last Wednesday on this with a Pflueger TrionLP narrow spool reel wound up with 10 lb. YoZuri Ultra Soft. Was even pitching this rig 5-10 yards into the brush piles and having no problems with "professional overruns". I also now use a 7' med. action moderate taper All Star Platinum, and here goes.....a 7' BPS Tourney Special med/hvy. All the BPS rods are a bit on the heavy side, but man do they detect a strike! The Johnny Morris series rival many of the rods that are far more expensive. I tried out a 7' med Kistler Carbon Steel and a Browing Midas 7' med action but found that they were just to limber. Bottom line.....I use med. to med/hvy action rods the most for 1/8 oz. tex-rigs. I have also found that 6'6" med. action tends to be a bit stiffer that a 7' med. action and works better for the lighter t-rigs. I use Shimano Citica 200E reels, Pflueger Trions, 1 CU200B Curado, and H20 Xpress Mettle reels. All have the six-pin braking and all are spooled with 10 lb. YoZuri Hybrid Ultra Soft. 12-15 lb. Trilene Big Game will help get you a slower fall rate when you need it though. Might not be what the others are recommending but for what I might pay for one rig I can have two this way. Not dissing anyone....Just my very humble two cents.

I don't know about other guys but I never could get the Slug-Go to work as a jerk bait. The action was too erratic and it had an upward movement that would cause it to jump and break the surface too much. Guess it would have been good for schooling fish like that. A lot of the striper guides here at Texoma still have their clients use them for that. I always threw it out and pretty much fished it like a tex-rigged worm. Let it sink to bottom, lift, twitch, twitch, sink. Sometimes I'd twitch it three or four times, then let it sink back down. On a donkey rig (double bait rig) I use them pretty much the same way but it's easier to get them to dance sub-surface at about 6-10 feet this way than it is using them rigged as a single.

Be careful with those "strippers". I hear they're all over down there in Florida but most aren't worth catching. ;D

In 1991 my lovely wife surprised me by booking a trip with a guide at Lake Fork. During the weeks leading up to the trip I spoke several times with the guide about baits and equipment. This was going to be on my birthday weekend, the second weekend in April. The guide kept telling to be sure and bring Slug-Gos and Chatterbaits if I brought nothing else. I had never heard of either. Never did find any of the Chatterbaits, which I know now was basically a slug-go with a rattle chamber and rattle added, but I did get a few bags of Slug-Gos. Didn't know anything about how to rig them or fish them, but off I went to Lake Fork with them in the box. When I arrived and met with the guide he rigged up a 6" Alewife colored one for me at the dock. The first place we went to was an area just west and south of the south dam. He said just throw it out, let it sink to bottom and then twitch and let it sink again. Do that all the way back to the boat, they'll hit it on the fall. On about the third cast I buried the hook into a nice solid 6 pound fish, biggest of the day.....sadly, I was dreaming of BIGGER. But all total I caught several nice ones on the bait that day and have had some in my box/bag ever since. The last time I threw a Slug-Go was on a donkey rig and landed a few good fish then too. Ought to throw them more I guess, I've got about 50 in assorted sizes and colors. I recently received a sampler pack of the 3" size from Lunker City when I ordered some Fin-S-Fish. They look awesome and would be great on a drop-shot rig. Slug-Gos are still made and are pretty hot baits still. Check them out at Lunker City's website.

The Supreme is a great reel. Has a faster gear ratio than the President, weighs less, runs smoother, I love my 8030MG. It handles 3-5 lb. bass with no problems. YoZuri Hybrid Ultra Soft 6lb., 12 lb. breaking strength....perfect setup on a 7' med. action Quantum rod.

Man you got that right. I don't think there's any plastic that I've tried on a shaky head that hasn't got bit. Right now senko style baits are working for me. Bottom shaking or swim shaking, either is working. I've also had great results using craw chunk trailers. Paca Chunk, Rage Chunk, Chigger Chunk, all produce.

;D Absolutely Shaner.....absolutely.