Bantam1

I just talked to my buddy at TW. He said they had a digital hub issue and it has been resolved. They were aware but it took three days to fix the problem. He apologized and wanted to let you all know that they are back online with no problems. Have a Happy New Year!

I use the Crucial CRCS711H for 6" Hudds and the 8" Hudd ROF 12/16. I use the Crucial CRCS711XH for the 8" Hudd ROF 5. I like a softer tip for the heavier baits because I fish them deep. The soft tip allows them to engulf the bait and pretty much hook themself. The reason I use the XH for the ROF 5 is because you pretty much fish that bait with controlled slack in the line. When you get bit you need to sweep fast and get rid of the slack. The XH does a better job of that and my hook up ratio went way up. The 711H has just been the perfect rod for me with the 6" Hudds. It loads nice to cast and when you get bit I went through a lot of rods until I tried this one. Its now my favorite for the 6".

This is what I would use especially before or after the spawn in a little pond. http://www.316lurecompany.com/baits/babybass.html

Is the new attractant the same style gel? Did you ever get that aeresol figured out? I love the products and I use it A LOT!! Thanks for making a great product

A big pork chunk works pretty well for slowing the jig down.

I crank, topwater and spinnerbait with 10-12 mostly (sometimes 15) and I flip/pitch and T-Rig with 15-20. I use 25 for my bigger swimbaits. I only used 4 and 6 pound for my spinning reels. I pretty much only use this line on my baitcast reels now because I have switched to FC for light line now. What specs do you need? The bulk spools I have in my desk do not have diameter listed on the label. I know that the 12# I checked broke at 21 pounds So its plenty strong for the diameter. I would guess that they are average for the line class so .012" for 12# for example. I use 12-40 for my saltwater stuff. I can pull calico bass out of thick kelp with 15#. Thats a tough task on light line and this stuff works for that task

I have been fishing Ixzorline XXX since it came out. Since then everyone here in the office has switched over to it for saltwater use. I have fished it all over the country and cannot complain. I flip with it, fish saltwater with it and anything imagineable. It simply does not break easily and it has almost no memory. I think its the best Copolymer line on the market. P-Line is strong but its also thicker than normal line in the same line class. You can fish 8 instead of 10 for example. The memory sucks for sure... I just wish they made XXX in green like P-Line and Maxima :'(

I use it to add dots to my Hudd trout and when I made some bass patterns. It holds up very well and is easy to use.

I am not a member there but we use the lake for field testing at times. We donate products for the kids tournaments and other lake events in exchange for a few of us to fish there. I happen to be the one that manages that list of people that are approved to fish there. It sure is a great bass fishery. The fish in my avatar is from LMV.

Its located in a private community. You need to know someone that lives in there to get in. Its not really big fish water most of the time. Lots of 10-14" bass with a few in the 15-18" class. I just fish Lake Mission Viejo now instead.

I did not take offense to any of this. I just wanted to let you guys know why we do what we do and how prices are determined. I do take pride in our products and I believe in them 100%. I bleed Shimano and will for a long, long time. I know what our products are capable of and this is why I stand up for them so much. I was a little disappointed when i saw negative comments about the reel. I think its cool... There should be no play or a very minimal amount. I don't know how people even notice that when fishing. I never try to force the back play either which I think happens more than not. Its funny as it was never an issue or a complaint until the internet came to be so powerful : The prototype I used had zero play that I noticed. I have not used a production reel because I do not have one yet. I like my Cores too much to fish the "heavy" Chronarch D ;D

I understand what you are saying. We tried to get the cost down but we are just getting hammered by the Dollar to Yen exchange right now. We need to make our margains and so do the dealers. The Chronarch has always been more than the Curado. This current economy, rising cost of raw materials and a whole bunch of other things is making it tougher and tougher to have lower prices on products. Look at the price of cars compared to 10 or even 5 years ago! This is still a 100 size reel compared to the Curado. Its all metal frame and side plates. I agree that the Curado fits the bill in many aspects. The price is right too. The Chronarch is just another option in the line up. This is always the case with new products. Not everyone is going to be happy with what we offer. People are still ticked that we stopped making the Curado B. In a perfect world things would be different I suppose. I want a Calais 100A-MG and 6.2:1 gears. I'll never see one unfortunately. I wish we could build everything with every option available, we just can't. I wish we could allow special orders but that will never happen.

Well the CH50MG that everyone loves was built on the Curado 100B tooling. It was not "original" in design. The Core is the MG version of the Chronarch D. We built the Core first unfortunately. Maybe this took some of the new feeling away from the Chronarch for you. I understand that you wanted to see something new as far as design. This is an improvement over the Chronarch B. Its smaller and much lighter and very refined. Personally I like it and I was not happy about giving back by prototype after field testing :'( We have a bunch of new products coming next year. I think you will be excited at that time if the Chronarch D does not do it for you.

The Curado E does have bearings in the handle knobs. The Natural- The reel was going to be black and white like a Storm Trooper from Star Wars. The sample looked...well not that great so it changed. I was excitied about the black and white until I saw it. The finished product looks much better. Fletchero- We have always used similar tooling and common parts. making everything different is just a pain. We already have a ton of parts and making space for 1000 more in not easy. Production is tougher, everything becomes more difficult. Using the same parts and similar tooling makes for easier production and quicker fill rates. I am not trying to make you guys buy the reel but I want you to understand why we do what we do. Look at car companies. Toyota and Lexus for example use similar tooling for their chassis. Same parts, same engines, etc. GM is even worse for that. Generic Motors uses all the same stuff for all the vehicles. Its easier to produce and increases production. The price increase...well you can thank the weak dollar compared to the Yen. I'm pretty sure this is why a competitor of ours is raising their prices too.

Graphite and crabon went up and Fuji likes to raise their prices 10-15% a year it seems :-? Our rods went up this year because of this too.

Here in So-Cal we do not get the same winter conditions as the rest of the world. Cold water for us might be low 50's with exception to the higher elevation lakes. I fish 1/8, 1/4 or big heavy jigs like 3/4 ounce with 10-12 pound FC. I fish them slow and on structure mostly. Many bites are just the lightest "tick" or they just hammer it. Very rarely do I get bit on the sink in the colder months. I like to match the bottom with my jig colors too. Dark bottom = dark colored jig. I stay away from green colors during this period as well. Blacks, browns, blues and purples are all good colors for cold water. I like twin tail grub trailers or chunk type trailers this time of year. The twin tails for dirty water and chunk for clearer water. I like to fish ledges and hard bottom spots with the jig mostly. Any kind of hard bottom/rocky point or rocky high spot is a good thing to focus on as well. Many times there will be more than one fish holding on the structure. I fish it very thoroughly from many different angles before I leave the area. Many times these spots will be better once the sun has been up for an hour or two. Even the slightest bit of light can help warm up those spots where the fish will move to.

I have used both extensively along with some other brands. Fresh off the spool Sufix is hands down better. I feel that it casts nicer and stacks on the spool a little better. I use nothing lighter than 50# because I tend to break it. Broken in Power Pro is good stuff for sure and I have never had any failures with it excluding line lighter than 50. I guess YMMV when it comes to line. Everyone will have an opinion as to what is the best. Either way they are both good quality lines. In my findings braided line will cut easier than mono around rocks. Its great for heavy vegetation and some timber for abrasion. I love the way it cuts kelp in the ocean too

1/4 ounce Speed Traps, Bomber 1/2 ounce Fat Free Shad and Norman DLN are my favorites along with some hard to find Japanese cranks that are no longer in production :'(

I was prefishing for one of our work tournaments that we used to do. I went out with my buddy and I had an area that I knew they were hitting and following my swimbait. I had the timing down to the minute as to when they would be there. My first cast I have one around 11ish grab the tail as I was about to lift the bait out of the water to cast again :'( I was mad I missed it to say the least. I then charged to spot B before the window closed. First cast thunk, miss, thunk miss again! Thunk and she was on! Went 10-11 on my scale. Sweet!! My first 10+ of 2007. Next cast I see the line jump on the sink. Reel down and sweep into it and another one is on! This one went 10-10! I put my rod down and we left. I did not want to ruin my bite even though I already had. The next day I threw another big bait. First cast was an 8 even. I put it down and went home. My luck was just right I guess. Come tournament day the weather changed and no swimbait eaters were there. We finished 2nd with a 6-13 for our big fish. Came on the d-shot go figure... I ended up losing that lucky swimbait a month later after catching a few more fish on it. Now I can't get bit on my backups that swim the same and look the same. Something about that bait...

Flip the reeds with plastic baits.

My 3 best smallmouth. These were caught in Oregon over the past few years. I wish we had more smallies here in So Cal 4-2 caught in the Willamete(sp?) River 4-4 caught in the Columbia River 4-4 also in the Columbia on the same day

This time of year is always tough there for some reason. D-shot does work, but usually they are smaller fish. If the waterfall is off then it can make for a tough bite in that structure. The structure on the dam where the grass meets the asphault can be good too. It drops pretty quick there and fish use it as a staging area. The senko I always used was the 4" Smoke w/ black and silver flake. Fish it weightless T-rig on 8#. Make LONG casts to get out where the fish are holding. The old launch ramp across the water from the waterfall can be good with the jig too. I would skip the res. and hit the golf course ponds by the other gate on the opposite end of the main gate. Those ponds always bite and year round topwater with poppers. Fish them s-l-o-w and you will catch them. Flip the tules too with plastics. Its been a while since I have fished there. I know the ponds have some decent fish and the biggest I have caught was at the res. She went 8 1/2 and I caught her on a 12" black Berkley Power Worm. I used 8# fluorocarbon and a nail weight instead of a cone weight. Shake it in that deep grass and watch for the line to jump

Are you fishing the reservoir or the golf course ponds there? They like senkos and top water too. I catch fish on topwater all year long at the ponds and senko fish all year long at both the ponds and reservoir. If you are fishing where I think you are then go to where the waterfall comes in. There is a lot of structure way out there like cement and big tires. There are a few bruch piles too. Those fish will eat almost any jig you throw because they hardly see them. I would throw something brown or black. Anything dark colored this time of year. Don't be afraid to throw cranks either.

They will be in that freshly flooded stuff now I bet. Throw a jig

Paint it like a trout and I'll throw it