Jrob78

No shelf queens here either. I don't take all of mine on every trip but they are all in play.

I've always used a cutoff wheel in a Dremel. I wrap the section I want to cut with masking tape and draw a line around the tape where I want the cut to be.

Ok, my mistake. You're talking a .38 loaded with rat shot. I missed that in your initial post. Sorry about that, carry on. For the record, I agree with you.

Huh??

Those are awesome!

I do as well but we aren't learning baitcasters, the op is. I've also lost plenty of fish at the end of a long cast. Distance and the difficulties with fishing at distance should be the last thing you focus on.

Your ability to get a good hook set with a light t-rig at much more than 25 yds with 12 lb line is iffy at best. Don't worry so much about how far you're casting and concentrate on where you're casting.

I wouldn't worry about KVD, he's just fine. Everybody has a bad season every now and then. It's just amazing that he hasn't had many in his career. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he won one of the remaining tournaments this season and/or AOY.

It depends. If I'm casting or pitching to a specific area or object I will feed line so the bait falls on a slack line. If I'm fan casting or in really shallow water I don't worry about it.

oookay lol

That's basically what I use. How are you going to make a reference when everyone uses something different? Why not make a reference of what you use, who cares what a bunch of people on the internet use?

Megabass X-80 Prop Darter

There is no right answer or a reference for this. Everyone uses different line for different purposes. Figure out what YOU like and stick to that.

I tie a palomar or SDJ to a split ring. I suppose you could use a loop knot but I would use only a loop knot, no split ring or snap. Same goes for a snap, I would use only a snap, no split ring.

I wouldn't use either but I would think tungsten would be too hard to use as a split shot weight anyway.

The Z Craw has a much narrower body with large ribs running down each side. The Structure Bug has 2 "arms" and the Z doesn't. The main "craws" are pretty similar between the two. The Z is listed at 5" and the Bug at 4". I don't have any Bugs or I would take a comparison pic.

A couple of other guys I forgot to mention are Stacey King and Clark Wendlandt, I always pull for them to do well.

No, there is no need to pull your rods back out to back the drags off. You can leave them set all season and not worry about it. I always back mine off after every trip but it's mainly so I will remember to tighten them up before every trip. If it's something I always do, I am less likely to forget to tighten them, which could cost you a fish.

It's also what Jacob Wheeler won last years Bassfest on, in part at least. If the one pictured is one you made, nice job, it looks great!

Hold up, you said, "no soft baits, only hard," and then pick live bait (shiner) as one of your choices? Just when I thought these pick one threads couldn't get any dumber....

Check the sellers feedback. If it is good and he has lots of it, buy with confidence. I've bought a bunch of reels from ebay, new and used, US and Japan and have never had a problem.

There are a few different sellers on ebay who have them.

New Megabass wake bait, the iJack.

If I had $200 to spend on a reel I would be buying an Alphas SV.

Both are good reels. I prefer the Curado but It would be hard to say one is really better than the other.