ALbasser

I know exactly how you feel :-[

I make my own jigs. My favorite for smallmouth is a black jig head with a single wire hook guard, black/brown or black/blue bear hair skirt. 80% of the time paired with a pork trailer. My favorite for largemouth is a black head with single wire hook guard, black/blue or green silicone skirt. Either no trailer, or a matching color soft plastic trailer.

I have a question. I fish a clear deep lake and almost always rocky points. How far away from the boat would you fish a jig? Not swimming it. I hop the jig down ledges, or bouncing the rocks back to the boat. In very deep water I will usually not make a very far cast because I can't feel what is going on with my lure. For smallmouth I normally use a brown and black bear hair jig with an Uncle Josh pork frog trailer.

I got a Shimano Sedona in the spring and have been using it exclusively this year for spinning. It is a great reel. For $60 I don't think it can be beat. I have heard the president is a great reels, but I cant tell you much because I have never used one.

I use mostly BPS brand rods and reels for crappie fishing. 4lb. trilene XL exclusively. BTW nice to see a fellow bluegrass picker. What instrument do ya play? I pick banjo and guitar myself.

Do you partial spool your main line on your reels? Reason I ask is I cannot understand an entire spool of line having enough wear to need replacement after one day of fishing. Not being judgemental, just trying to understand your process better. It would seem more economical to only replace half, or even less line if you did so after a single day.

I'm useless with gloves. Most of my co-workers wear gloves, but I just can't make anything work right unless I can feel it. I usually go with a few hot hands in my coat pocket.

OK you have my undivided attention. Where can this 12 jigs for $20 be had?

There was a fairly long thread in this section not too long ago. Like roadwarrior said, Costa's were undoubtedly favorite among most.

You could check out some house brands. At 15 I was using Ugly Sticks and BPS reels and happy as I could be.

You could try tying a swivel above your tube. I have noticed tubes can spin a lot under water when reeling in and might be the cause of some of your trouble. Or you could do like me and just use flouro as a leader and not a main line. That cut my on-boat profanity down considerably.

Never shot any out of the box, but I have heard they are very well made shells. I have reloaded several that were given to me once shot. They reload very good, several times, just take different components than what I was used to with my usual remington greens and sts shells.

I keep going back and forth to Cabela's website nearly clicking that button... but I keep forcing myself to close the page. I have a few Lews Speed sticks with Tennesse handles I use for smallmouth fishing. Nothing like jerking a small lip backwards with one of those ;D I found some big heat shrink to hold the reel on and it works great.

Before I make my final decision I will definately a few to try them out. What I am really looking for is something to carry in my truck or in the woods for personal defense/snake killer. I have .44 mag (SWEET gun) and .38 special revolver and love both of them. I don't own a .45 or an auto loader yet so that what I am looking for. Any suggestions besides what has already been mentioned in .45 ACP? I handled a Taurus PT145 and it was nice, but I'm not sure if I would like the dual action only.

I have a lot of Terminator because they go on sale all the time. With spinnerbaits I don't stress on brands too much. As long as it has a good hook and a good swivel I'm happy. Anything else can and will be changed as conditions change.