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They both have their place. I find the Red Eye to be a little more aggressive, because they're a little faster and more likely to get hung on weeds and ripped free. They're very useful for ripping cranks around weeds.

8-)

Straight-shank worm hooks are meant to be Texas Rigged, thats why they have a barb of some sort on the hook shank up near the hook-eye. Using exposed hooks on most soft plastics is asking for trouble.

After buying and fishing some of the high-end lipless cranks last season, I don't think the differences between them are very significant, not like they are with the high end jerkbaits. I've had some of my best crankbait fishing on cheaper cranks with upgraded hooks like the Super Spot($2), Rattlin' Rapala($3-4), Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap($3-5), Red Eye Shad($2-5), and Xcaliber XR50($5 on sale).

http://www.gambler-lures.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=football&Search.x=0&Search.y=0

True. I rarely do, but I think braid is often the best bet for widely varied multi-purpose setups, like spinning setups for my guests who could go from fishing Senkos to spinnerbaits to lipless cranks to tubes to toads.

+1

I use braid on one of mine, too. Lighter braid on lighter spinning and casting rigs can be very useful for fishing light cranks around light weedcover. I think a lot of people may be overlooking this. If you compensate with a rod with plenty of give, like a M/M or ML/F, you will still have excellent hookup ratios with braided line crankbait fishing.

It only makes the noise when you have something on the other end of your line though... :-? Or from lures that create more than a little drag. The line will soften up and become more manageable, but some noise will remain.

You're missing out. Some of the worst backlashes I've had are from hitting objects on the fly, like dock posts and overhanging limbs. It happens if you're fishing aggressively.

That's one angry little fish.

Very nice looking fish.

The boat is cleaned, polished, waxed, and sealed, and..... waiting patiently. 5 more weeks to go 'til opener. :'(

Pretty lousy. I'll eat a few dinks over the coarse of the Summer, but look at that lunker in the foreground. Imagine eating that. I guessing it would be some of the nastiest tasting fish you're likely to find. You'd be better of with frozen cod from the grocery store.

Well put Roger Who would want a fake record? I don't get it personally. How much is really to gain, other than a few congrats, from being the owner of a state record bass?

I purchased a discontinued Kistler Mag from Simmons for cheap. Otherwise the pricing is nothing special. The seller Affordable Fishing is one thats worth checking out.

The St. Croix Premier and Avid moderate action rods make for nice rods for treble hooked lures. The medium power is quite light and is more suitable for small cranks and balsa poppers, so you might want to consider a medium heavy power, moderate action instead, depending on the weight of the lures you wish to throw with it.

Maybe a little more, but they certainly are harder to pick out of braided line. I should add, that when you are picking them out, a lot less damage is done to the line than with any other line.

Yep, Michael's has a few useful things.

+1. I own both and they're excellent reels at this price point, but the Curado is hard to beat at $145. I would go with that.

Most of my reels have be purchased on Ebay from Mom 'n Pop online retailers who list their items there, usually with the Buy It Now option. Ex: Curados for $145 shipped. I'd rather throw them a bone than give it to one of the behemoths. I would be wary of individuals with few sales or imperfect feedback, but there are plenty of retailers with good reps and plenty of sales who I would have no issues buying from again.

Try the 50/12 PP before switching. It performs better than the 20 or 30 lb on casting rigs.

I feel the Sufix line is an improvement over the Trilene XL and XT lines that I used for so long. Sufix Elite > Trilene XL Sufix Seige > Trilene XT The Elite is my favorite mono, and I often use it for moving baits that could benefit from a little stretch. I don't use abrasion resistant mono like XT or Seige anymore, instead I'll opt for fluoro or copoly.

Smaller profile jigs, worked slowly.

You gotta add spinnerbaits and lipless cranks to that list. Spinnerbaits for the weedlessness and lipless cranks for the versatility.