Hot n Tot

Casting: GLX MBR783 with Shimano Chronarch MG50 & 12# Yozuri Hybrid ultra soft Spinning: GLX SJR782 with Shimano Sustain 2500 with 6" Yozuri Hybrid ultra soft 5" senko & 4" senko...can I add worms? 3/8 oz spinnerbait with dual colorado or willowleaf blades Super Fluke #11 or 13 original Rapala floating minnow in silver/black #7 shad rap this leaves out the Horny toad, rat-l-trap, trick worm, zoom finesse worms......and many others, but you said only 5 lures......

I forgot to mention: I'm using a Curado 5.0:1 with my CBR783, unless I'm using a Rat-L-trap in which case I often prefer to crank faster and switch to a higher speed. I also use a Browning Aggrssor 7' medium action rod when I want longer casts.

You'll get plenty of recommendations on this. I'm using a Loomis CBR783 and it doubles as a topwater rod. Very forgiving and I don't lose many fish like I did when using a fast action rod. If I were using it for 'cranking only, I'd consider the same rod in 7' (CBR843), Hope this helps.

I have both the MBR783C Loomis rod that is rated 'medium-heavy' power, and a St. Croix Legend Elite rod EC66MF that is rated 'medium' power. These rods are rated for the same line sizes and lure weights, and if you compare them side by side they are very comparable. The St. Croix is a little stiffer due to the higher modulus graphite used. I'm betting if you compared the Legend Elite to a Loomis GLX rod you'd find they are very similar in action and power. I don't think either company rates their rods incorrectly, you just have to determine what lures weights and line diameters you intend using them for and picking the right rods within their respective product lines.

Well, I just hate to see people who are new to fishing develop bad habits and learn it the wrong way!

Avid, I notice that you are in Florida, where the fishing season is much longer than we get here in Michigan. We get about 4 months of good warm bass fishing weather here so we don't have time to get tired of it. I don't go out for bass when it's cold. But in the spring, before the water warms up for bass, we have Northern Pike in the shallows and also again in the fall the Pike bite picks up again. That keeps thing interesting and challenging.

Reels: Shimano Rods: St. Croix Soft Plastics: Zoom or Yamamoto Hard baits: Rapala Line: Berkely Hooks: Gamakatsu Boats: Lund

Using senkos as a search bait, hmmmm. Typically I think of using fast moving baits to search, and when fish are found start working slower presentatioins. Hey, whatever works for you.

no

for a long time I overfished the floating Rapala. I always had one tied on a spinning rig and it was my main technique, and now I rarely use them...funny how things change. This morning, the only ones I had in my boat were a jointed J-9 and a husky jerk! I was thinking about that when I started scoring with a finesse worm, and a 4" senko.

The Weakley bass was not the largest ever landed, regardless of it's size. When we talk about catching and landing bass, we are talking about coaxing a fish into taking our lures, not snagging them. Sorry, but I don't know how you snag a fishing with a single hook jig unless you try and do it intentionally. At first, I gave Weakley the benefit of the doubt, and considered it just bad luck that the fish was snagged, but when I think about the chances of foul hooking a fish on a jig....well, I've caught hundreds of bass, and the only ones that ended up hooked like that were caught on treble hooked baits like Rapalas and Crankbaits.

My most productive day was with the smoke color Senko

Yamamoto 5" senko Yamamoto grubs Zoom trick worm terminator or Strike King spinnerbaits, both willow & colorado blades Rapala F11 Rapala SR7 Shad Raps Heddon Tiny Torpedo Smithwick Rogue Smithwick Devil's Horse Heddon Pop-r

darn, it's so easy to sell you guys on new baits...magic baits....gotta love it!! ;D

Fishing was slow here, but Sunday evening I had a great outing. Several fish by slow rolling 1/2 oz tandem willowleaf spinnerbaits in deeper water, and around sundown several really nice fish by fishing senkos in a around 10-12' of water. Sunday night was one I'll remember for awhile!

So you basically just drop the bait below the boat, and do not cast it. correct?

Cfruel: My senkos were T-rigged & texposed. And I was slow rolling a tandem willowleaf spinnerbait, trying to get it as deep as practical. With all of the boat activity, I figured the fish would be deeper, especially with the lake temp. up to 85 degrees. Later around sundown, I was getting my bigger fish in somewhat shallower water. I know it's been slow, the last two times out the fishing I couldn't even catch dinks. It just goes to show, you gotta keep trying as the fishing changes from day to day. Good luck, and keep casting!

Sunday afternoon, went to the lake and almost changed my mind. Waverunners, pleasure boaters, skiers, tubers. They were sure churning up the lake. I couldn't tell you how many people came well within casting distance of me. Even so, I managed a few spinnerbait bass in about 17' of water. Water temp was 85 degrees as it's been hot here in Michigan. Toward evening, I started drifting senkos and was scoring on every cast. They were in about 12' of water, and this was an area I couldn't really fish with the pleasure boating activity a little while earlier. Around sundown I had my best bass fishing day ever! within 15 minutes I'd land 3 really nice fish, two being almost lunker size, well...lunker for me. I broke in my new 6' med Legend Elite spinning rod, boy is this thing nice for this type of fishing. Makes it even more enjoyable to fish with a rod like this.

Curados yes, Stradics definately not. Symetries are cheaper and much smoother and quieter

Spinning: Shimano Sustain 2500FD Casting: Recently I've been enjoying my Abu-Garcia TP3600C, and yes I have 4 Curados and a Castaic, and they are nice..but the Abu rocks!

A friend and I used to have casting contests in the yard. We would each pick a lure to bet and which ever one of us was the closest to the most targets won the lure. It was great practice and loads of fun. I still yard fish. I take the hooks off of old lure to keep them from hanging. I pick targets in the yard and cast to them. It has greatly improved my accuracy.

You guys should be at some of our local lakes during the spring crappie spawn. This past spring I witnessed a guy back his trailer into another guy's boat. The ramp was pretty full and the guy had left his boat sitting on the ramp while he went to park his truck. There isn't anywhere to pull your boat over to the side at this ramp, but the ramp is wide enough to launch 6 boats at one time so this is a common practice there. While this guy was parking his truck, the other guy came flying back down the ramp and ran all over the his boat. He had to see the other guys boat because lights on the front and rear of the boat were turned on. We could clearly see it from where we were sitting. He got out to see what he had hit then got back in his truck and left the ramp. He probably went to launch at another ramp that's close by so he wouldn't have to answer for his actions. The boat owner returned to find the side of his boat dented in. We told him what had happened, but the guy who did it was long gone. It was before daylight, and we were sitting in our boat a good ways from the ramp waiting for first light so we couldn't get the guys tag number. All of this happened because some guy was probably worried someone might get to his fishing hole before him.

I see that 4 of you are new to the site so welcome to you all.

I would also like to go to Cuba to fish for largemouths. However, it would be a hard decision to choice between Cuba or South American peacock bass.

I'm like Rebbasser & Sweetwater, my first Senko bass (and he was a really nice one) came while I was picking out a backlash. My largest bass came when I had one C-rigged and decided to reel in really fast to check my bait; a really big bass hit when I got my bait near the boat where I could see it. Two really nice fish on opposite techniques/retrieves...go figure.