Skeet22

Anyone using them?

I guess its one of those whatever works for you deals. I fished with a guide on Lake Fork and for two days we threw weightless wacky rigged finesse worms on MH rods with 17-20 # P-Line CX with Citicas/Curados and distance was decent. The rods definitely did not load but we were able to still put it out there. I guess its a balance between efficiency and reliability.

Over the last few weeks ive been getting emails from Kistler with some pretty sweet savings on various rods. Being that I have not really been looking to drop any cash right now I have been sadly ignoring the offers. Well today I finally bit, got $50 off an already low priced Carbon Steel rod. Picked up a 7' M to finesse baits for $59. I have two of these rods now and I can tell you they fish 3x better than a sub $60 rod.

Setting the hook on a noodle for rod is an art form in itslef but you got to have develop the correct hook setting technique, the correct bait rigging technique with the right size/width hook and the right drag setting. You don 't try to "cross their eyes" with a light powered rod you use the backbone of the rod and the fish 's weight to set the hook, when you detect the bite lift the rod as you reel in the slack quickly and maintain the pressure at all times using your rod as a lever, the more the fish pulls, the more it will hook itself. If you try to crosss their eyes the only thing that will happen is that the rod will absorb the shock and the ammount of energy applied to the hook point is reduced greatly because of the shock anrsobing proprties of the rod. Rigging the bait properly also helps, most anglers are used to hide the hook in the bait to maintain weedlessness, that works great when fishing with heavier gear, but that doesn 't work with lighter gear, why ? because you loose energy that instead of being directed to the hook point and penetrate the mouth is directed to drive the hook through the bait, To solve the problem your riggig should have the least ammount of plastic to go thrugh before it can exit the bait, T-exposing and skin hooking are your best friends for fishing with low powered gear. Hook width is very important, the wider gauge the less energy you 'll have to drive the hook through the bait and into the fish 's mouth, thinner wire hooks allow you to drive the hook with less energy and that energy is not lost so greatly, it 's easier to drive in a needle than it is to drive a nail. Light gear has not enough power to drive in a super line hook properly. Hook sharpness is of the outmost importance, razor sharp hooks all the time. Drag setting is important when fishing with light rods & light lines, you just can 't tighten the drag all the way down because the drag is there to protect both tools, rod and line, drag too tight ---Z the line breaks or the worst case scenario, the rod breaks. So how much drag you need ? depends on both, rod power and line test, but in general terms, how much drag ? as much as you need to make the rod bow and then the drag slips. If you want to learn how to fish with light gear I suggest you go panfishing, the best practice you can have is panfishing. Thanks Raul, very good info. I actually fish crappie quite often on a 5'6" ML 6# test using tiny tube jigs. I fish club tourneys monthly and it is not uncommon to catch a 4+# on occasions hence the reason I opt for the insurance of 10# on the MH rod. I fish the edges and in pockets of grass beds often and the thought of trying to work a fish out of grass with such light line and rod is what scares me. However I beleive from what I have absorbed from your advise I will try this. I have 7'M Okuma IM8 rod paired with a small framed Okuma Nemisis casting reel I will spool with 8# xps flouro and give it a whirl. I may even be able to use this set up for occasional deep cranking . Thanks for your help

Will the Chigger Craw out perform the Speed Craw in most situations? I've heard alot about the Chigger Craw it sems as of late. Is there a certain situation where one would perform better than the other?

Light baits won 't fly far and easily with 10 lbs test and a MH rod; 6 lb test and a ML-M rod is more likely. Light baits ( I 'm not speaking about a 5" senko that weights 3/8 oz, any decent baitcaster can cast that ) don 't have enough weight to load the rod, to load the rod you need a lighter powered rod, also 10 + lbs line is quite thick so the bait doesn 't have enough energy to pull it out from the reel and make the spool spin. Reduce the braking and the tension to allow the spool to spin more freely. Casting light stuff with bc gear even though the reel has a part in it is more about the proper line and the proper powered rod. I guess setting the hook should not be an issue with a M rod due to the small finesse hook correct? I have never use anything lighter than MH for worm fishing.

x2. Go with 8 or 10 lb line. You're defeating the purpose if you use anything heavier. With Pline you don't have to worry about much of anything. The 10 lb is very strong. The 10# is very strong indeed beacause it is comparable in diameter to 14-15# in most other brands.

10# P-Line CXX diameter is .014 8# P-Line CXX diameter is .012 12# xps flouro diameter is .012 Being that the xps is flouro one would think that this would be the best of the three for geting deep correct?

Hummdinger

Kistler 7'8" Magnesium H paired with a Revo S 65# Power Pro A Frog throwing machine!

It's not often I have the opportunity to deep crank so I do not want to invest in a set up just for this purpose. I have two set ups that I could possibly use for deep cranking. 1. 7' Medium Okuma Guide Select 6:4 Okuma reel spooled with 12# xps Flouro (current shallow crank rod) 2. 7' Kistler MH Carbon Steel 6:4 Revo Sx spooled with 17# xps flouro(current T-rigged plastics rod) I realize a slower reel would be preferred but is it required? The slowest reel I have are a couple of old 5:1 curados. Would I'd be better off using on of these reels for deep cranking?

I have a nice Spinning set up I keep in my rod box with light line but I alwas find myself throwing weightless trick worms/finesse worms on a 6'6" MH rod with a old reen Curado 201 spooled with 10# Yo Zuri. I know I could get a little more distance with the spinning set up but is there any other advantage i'm missing out on? I throw wacky rigged trick worms quite often and prefer not fooling with flipping a bail on a spining reel.I know its popular to use spinning reels for shaky head or finesse fishing in general, just trying to understand the real benefit in spining over casting I guess.

Dead On Arrival Not sure about freshwater lures but I was thinking about throwing a DOA shrimp the other day watching Bass chase grass shrimp all morning..

Anyone using it?

I have a couple bids going on Ebay and it looks like for an extra $50 I can pick up an STX over an SX. Is the STX much of a upgrade over the SX?

T-Rigged SK Game Hawg 1/8 sinker

Just placed an order!

The Spros are definitly softer and the hooks are super sharp. I threw a SPRO for two straight days on Toledo Bend this past weekend and squeezing them every few cast was no big deal. I have a Mad Maxx but its just too hard for my liking. Hook ups are few and far between as it is and I would imagine with the mad maxx hook ups would most likley decrease.

Without the weight it will probally look like a dying shad. With the weight it may look like a shad darting down to feed.

How many fish a wacky rigged fluke with a nail weight in the nose? Seems like it would put on a good presentation when falling. I may try this a little bit tomorrow.

Wacky rigged on a finesse hook with a nail weight opposite of the tail end. Same with the finesse worm.

Not the latest and greatest but it gets the job done.94 Skeeter

Another vote for Daiwa Exceler. One of my favorite reels and most used. I also have a Bionic Plus BPS reel that gets the job done for the money.

im in

Its seems that most people are expecting an "insurance policy" on their rods vs a "warranty"which is two totally different things. A 90 day warranty on a fishing rod seems reasonable to me as any factory defects should be identified by then. Anything outside of 90 days should be treated as an insurance claim. If I were in the rod buisness i would offer a insurance policy with a set fee at purchase depending on the price of the rod and a deductible to be applied at the time of the incident. There is no way i would offer a lifetime unlimited warranty on a fishing rod and be taking advantage of by hundreds or thousands of people who do not take care of there equipt. This would be benificial for people who spend $400/$500 on a fishing rod. For those that spend $100/$150 bucks on a rod it would probally make more sense to opt out of the insurance policy and make sure we take care of our equipt.