kingfisher85

this reply might be a bit too late but for lower priced reels look at the bps reels.. extreme or pro qualifier... ive got the extreme and am quite happy with it.

i also bought one that had both blades and skirt were orange and yellow.. pretty bright almost neonish.. as far as im concerned it turns the fish off more than anything.. probably wasted a bit of money on those but thought id try them out.. just another learning experience lol..

i bought a few spinnerbaits and grabbed a few different colours. ive got one with a skirt that has yellow, orange, and green and it seems to work the best.. i tried a couple that were like black and white, one has black red and white, while another in almost all red... i havnt got a single bite on any of these.. does anyone else have any luck with black and white or black and red or just all red??

for the sake of being curious i tied some trilene xl to my rapal mini 50 scale and gave a gradual tug, not a violent shock type of tug. test one the line broke at 6.88lbs, the second it broke at 13.00lbs.. any ideas why it would be breaking so low? the two lenghts of line were about two feet long.. its strange its breaking so low but even more strange that they broke at such different amounts...

im becoming more superstitious with the confidence will catch fish theory.. i just started and had bad luck (nothing over 1.5lbs) i went out with my new baitcaster and i was confident as all hell and i pulled in about 7 in the 4-6lb range. that day i went out there with the most confidence and the attitude of "im gonna slay the bass today" and it was the best day ive had yet... but logically speaking its probably because it was a cooler day with some rain here and there and some sun here and there while the rest of the times ive been out were probably just way too hot. although.... the one spinnerbait i had the most confidence in has brought me the most success.. probably coincidence... lol :

ive got a 6.4:1 and it does seem pretty good for everything although i think for spinner and buzzbaits i would like a 7.1 or so

well i figured out what i was doing wrong. i wasnt doing a wacky rig!! ahaha i tried that today for the first time and the fish seem alot more interested in it. as for normal jig setups i think im too impatient, i need to just slow it down a bit.

well ive tried throwing some light spinners and flatfish and i sure did get a few big backlashes. im guessing it was an amature move on my part for throwing lures that were probably 1/4 ounce and less on a MH rod.. anyways ive got a big time amature question. i read this "Just a side note here. This is were a lot of anglers go wrong, in learning how to use a baitcasting reel and rod. Not following the manufacturers ratings. They read so much on the forums about this and that baitcasting reel throwing super light lures and using super light lines. That they tend to forget that you have to use what has been suggested by the manufactures. They are the ones that know the gear that the angler is using and how to rate it. For example if your reel is rated at 14lb. test and you place 8lb. test on it, and, place it on a rod that is rated for max 10 - 17lb. test, then place a practice plug that is lighter than the lure rating on the rod. You basically have an out of tune system." anyways my extremely amature question is how do i know what lb test my reel is rated for???? it says 12lb/160yrd.. is that just a capacity rating or is that the rating the guy was talking about? i actually didnt know that reels really had a rating such as... say 14lb. i should be fine with 40lb (10lb diameter) line should i not? especially if i stay above 1/4 ounce since my rod is rated 1/4-3/4

awesome, thanks. is ther any point where ive gone too far? i mean obviously before the screw knob comes out lol..

so the more i practice casting the more i loosen off the spool tension. once i loosen it past a certain point though the spool gets some side to side play.. is that normal or should i tighten it back up so the spool doesnt not move from side to side?

buy a better rod that will give me more confidence in everything INCLUDING soft plastics eh.. sounds like the baitmonkey talking ahahah. kms399 i like that bit of advice there. the only problem is i outfish anyone i go with around here anyways. i havnt been fortunate enough to bass fish with anyone that i can learn from, although sometime soon i will be hitting the water with a guy whos well seasoned in the bass fishing so im sure i will learn alot.

if i remember right i think i read somewhere that mono loses some of its strength as well.. is that right?

ya ive never been much of the superstitious but im quickly becoming a believer ahah

right on, thanks alot guys. i didnt even think of searching for it at the time, i posted while in the middle of a conversation here with someone about our luck with soft plastics.. or lack of. anyways ya theres alot of useful information about it. thanks again.

most of my life ive flyfished and only this year i started fishing for bass, havnt fly fished for them but i bet it would be a blast to try to bring in a big bass on a fly rod.. one of these days ill get out there and do it.

i have used skitterpops, various types of rapala minnows/shad raps, spinnerbaits, 5 of diamonds and a couple other spoons, and even a little brass spinner and had luck with all but not once have i caught anything on soft plastics. ive tried everything from letting them sit on the bottom with the odd small twitch here and there to just reeling them in.. what is the deal? only thing i can think of is the fishermans tale of "have confidence in it and it will work" haha ive lost all confidence in soft plastics so maybe thats why they dont work for me. lol i really have no idea what im doing wrong.

i was out one day and it was a rainy day with a couple sunny breaks and i got quite a few nice largemouth.. it was actually the best day ive had so far..

X2 FireLine braid is by far the best braid i have ever used! Suffix and Pp can't even dream of touching it!!!!! I use the green for all my fishing. by saying dont get fireline get fireline braid are you meaning the "original fused"?? if so thats what i was going to get awhile ago before i got my baitcaster.

just for curiousity sake im wondering what the breaking strengths are for different types, brands, and tests of line. i saw a video and if i remember right i believe 15lb trilene 100% broke at around 23lbs... thats awesome. but like i said "if i remember right" it might have been a different type of line. anyways thanks in advance for any results.

for line im deffinately a berkley guy. trilene xl and xt are the lines ive always used and never had any complaints. tracerbraid has been added to the list as well.

i say give the fireline tracerbraid a try, alot of guys are really happy with it.

right now my bc setup is a bass pro reel and shakespeare rod but if i had to pick i think id say im a daiwa guy.. my whole life ive always had daiwa. with exception to penn trolling reels. ive got a cheap $30 daiwa spinning combo i bought (d shock) and ive had that rod d**n near bent in half a few times pushing its limits to see if it would break and nothing.. ive lost my temper pretty bad with snags and still stood up.. for $30 im quite happy with the durability of it. they have got good gear for everyone from beginner to pro.

thank you all for advice and information. the 8lb angler line i have is quite weak but im good with the drag and good at playing with the fish.. like i said before i wont know until i try it whether or not i like it.. i watched a clip called knot wars. they were using 15lb trilene and with the palomar and trilene knot the lines were breaking at 23lbs!! thats crazy.. anyways im going to try this braid and if i dont like it ive got a new roll of trilene xl 14lb that im going to use in its place.. ill still have a spinning rod with mono as my spare too for things that seem to work better with mono than braid.

well ive never used braid, only mono so today i bought some tracerbraid. i figured rather than seeing what everyone else preferes wont really let me know what i preferre. i will never know until i try it. we had a really bad thunderstorm so i didnt get to try it but i will post what i think of it when i get to try.

i too just got into the whole baitcast craze and i ordered a bass pro shops extreme... $79 and it seems to be just fine, ive got no complaints about it and its deffinately cheap enough. like i said i just started, my first time using it was last thursday and it works good, ive found it easy to use and as far as backlashing i havnt had any that i havnt been able to fix within 30 seconds. (knock on wood haha)