BobP

Fluorocarbon leader material is tougher and much stiffer than regular fluoro line. If you fish around sharp rocks/shells it's a good choice but most of us don't use it in freshwater. Many guys use a superline as the mainline in C-rigs because of its sensitivity, casting distance (important), long distance hooking power, and the fact that the lure is at the end of a leader so it's still unobtrusive to the fish. I fish with 20 lb Fireline on my C-rig in a clear water lake and have not had any problems. I also haven't noticed much difference between copolymer and fluoro leaders on C-rigs. The leader is short enough that sensitivity is not a big issue either way and I'd rather use copolymer and not worry about knots in fluoro.

I like a 7' MH fast action rod, fast ratio reel, 20lb Fireline, a 12 lb mono leader, and a 3/4 oz weight. IMO, there's no reason to use a lighter weight because you want the rig to get to the bottom asap and stay there during the retrieve. Fast ratio reel because you pull the rig along the bottom with your rod, then take up the slack with the reel. I fish a C-rig in 10-25ft of water. Shallower, I use a Texas rigged plastic.

One problem with inexpensive spinning reels is that they are often built with extra shim washers, put in at the factory to get everything to fit together right and work smoothly. Often, the shim washers are not on the reel diagram you get with the reel and so you need to be very careful to document where every washer came from when you disassemble the reel or it won't go back together properly. Bottom line, I just throw some more lube in the case on cheap spinning reels. When it stops working altogether, trash it and buy another. It just doesn't make a lot of sense to spend $20 to get a $50 reel serviced if you get it back and it doesn't work much better than when you sent it in.

I think the Grigsby knot would be a standard Pitzen knot, only using a doubled line.

This one is ALMOST the same as a San Diego Jam knot, which is a very good fluorocarbon terminal knot. On the SDJ, you put the tag end through the loop near the hook after the wraps and then back through the loop under your thumb. Initially tighten the knot while it's still up on the standing line, then wet the line and pull it down to the hook. One good thing about the SDJ is that it neatly forms the wraps on the standing line and you can check for any abnormalities before you tighten it down. Whichever knot you choose that includes multiple wraps around the standing line to protect and support the line near the hook is good for braid and fluorocarbon lines. That includes the old standard fisherman's knot and others.

I upgrade to ABEC-7 spec spool bearings from the typical ABEC 3-5 factory bearings when I need bearings replaced. You can buy ABEC-7's for less than OEM replacements. I've also tried ceramic bearings. Is there a performance gain? Yes, but it's usually incremental, a modest tweak, not a revolution. There are guys who are perfectly happy to "hot rod" a $200 reel with $200 worth of after-market goodies. Will it catch more fish? No, but if it's a source of pleasure, no harm, no foul.

I disassemble the reel completely and soak the parts in soapy water, then use a toothbrush dipped in naphtha to remove any grease remaining. Lube where it needs it with the correct lubes, reassemble and you're done. Unless you feel competent to disassemble/reassemble the parts - send it to a reel service! They often charge extra if you send them a bag of parts you couldn't get back together!

The Luhr Jensen 3/4 oz Hot Lips Express will run 22 ft on a 100' cast with 10 lb mono in independent testing. Beware of depth claims (and misleading names) by crankbait companies! Most of us don't fish 3/4-1 oz crankbaits on 4 lb test line thrown with an 8'rod by a competition caster. I tend to believe Rapala claims on their DT series of crankbaits, including their DT-20. As far as anyone else's claims, "I'm from Missouri - PROVE IT".

Line diameter matters more than whether the line is mono or fluoro but fluoro will get a little deeper. For instance, in measured tests, a Mann's Plus 30 crankbait goes to 16.5 ft on 14 lb test mono (.014" dia), 18 ft deep on 12 lb (.013" dia), 19 ft on 10 lb mono (.012" dia), and 20 ft on 8 lb mono (.011" dia). A suspending deep diver will typically add a foot to the depth versus a floating version of the same model. I'd guess that fluoro might add another half foot.

The DLN has a fairly tight wobble, good for this time of year. My favorites for cold/cool water are flat sided baits with tight wobbles; in fact, they catch fish year round.

Sinking? Yes. FAST sinking? No. I'm using some 832 right now and like it. It has one Gore thread among its 7-8? threads, which makes it sink slowly.

I can't believe feeding bass wouldn't take a jigging spoon.

If it's aluminum, you might find a welder who specializes in aluminum.

It's a tradeoff - if you want max casting distance use a lower viscosity oil like Shimano oil but know that your spool bearings will throw off the oil faster and will need re-oiling more often. I think 20 hours of casting (not just fishing) is a decently long time between oil touch-ups. I use Yellow Rocket Fuel, which is a medium-low viscosity bearing oil. Quantum Hot Sauce tests better for low viscosity and low temperature performance but I just hate the red dye which migrates everywhere. Most reel oils change viscosity greatly as the ambient temperature goes very low or very high, which is maybe something to consider if you fish in extreme temps.

If you use fluorocarbon much, you realize there are significant differences among brands regarding stretch, density, sensitivity, knot strength, handling, etc. From a sensitivity perspective, which is why I use the stuff, it seems the basic choice is between dense and therefore more sensitive but stiffer fluoro versus more stretchy fluoro that is softer and easier to handle. In that respect fluoro is like copolymer brands that market an "XT" and an "XL" version. No fluoro can be all things to all people. And some of the copolymer and hybrid fluoro-nylon lines probably have equivalent stretch/strength/handling/abrasion resistance to some of the softer, "good handling" fluoros. You need to buy line based on your own criteria, understanding that there is no free lunch: it can't be softer, better casting and at the same time be more sensitive, denser, etc.

I catch bass as deep as 55' on 3/4 oz spoons. It's a vertical presentation that depends on your sonar. I also like the Cabelas Real Image spoon in glow white with a flashaboo or feathered treble but lately, I've been buying unpainted 3/4oz spoons from lurepartsonline.com that resemble the Cabelas model and painting them with Glonation acrylic white glow paint. I put on 3 thick coats of glow paint and topcoat them with moisture cured urethane for durability. Glow paint brightness depends on the number of glow particles it contains and doing them yourself, you can make a spoon that you can almost use as a night light. When it's dark down deep a glow spoon will wear'em out. I use the same spoons to fish for stripers, casting it into surface feeding schools.

Hunting is "something different" but it doesn't include just anything. Hunting crankbaits swim on the edge of instability but are not so unstable that they plane off to one side on a fast retrieve. They follow the general axis of the retrieve but occasionally flit off to either side for a few beats, then always return to the main retrieve axis. If they do it just to one side, that's not hunting - it just just bad tuning. Is hunting desirable? Yes, but it isn't necessarily the end-all of crankbait action. You can and should produce a similar effects by bouncing the crankbait off of every piece of cover it swims by. Nowadays, plastic bait manufacturers go to a lot of trouble to design and test crankbaits so they run reliably. Do they design hunting cranks? I'd say no, because to hunt, you have to build a crankbait on the edge of instability. Get it on the edge, it hunts. A tiny bit over the edge and it's uncontrollable and worthless. If you're manufacturing thousands of crankbaits, you don't want a significant percentage of them to be worthless. That's just bad business so manufacturers design cranks within the stability envelope to maximize the yield of reliable crankbaits. That suggests that you will find more hunting crankbaits among those from hand built custom wood crankbait builders who don't use modern factory techniques. Re old Wiggle Warts, it's easier to find one that's impossible to tune than one that runs well and hunts.

All epoxies tend to yellow over time, some just do it very slowly. Epoxy used for topcoating crankbaits falls into 3 generic types. The first type is slow cure epoxy glue, like Devcon Two Ton. Epoxies in this category are usually advertised as forming a bond in 30 minutes. This is NOT quick cure 5 minute epoxy, which uses a different hardener, sets up too fast to brush on, cures so fast it will not level out, and turns an ugly brown quickly under UV light. The second type of epoxy is formulated for use on rod guide thread, such as Flexcoat. This type contains some solvent to penetrate thread and some brands offer UV additives to protect against yellowing (at higher cost). The 3rd type of epoxy is called "table top" or decoupage epoxy. An example is Envirotex Lite, aka ETEX. It contains solvent and is designed as a pour-on finish for bar tops and for decoupage projects. The easiest type to use is 30 minute epoxy like Devcon Two Ton. All epoxies have to be rotated while curing until they are hard enough not to sag. Devcon reaches that state faster than the others, within an hour. Rod guide epoxies take longer, perhaps as long as 2 hours. Table top epoxies take even longer, perhaps 3-4 hours. All of the epoxies cure hard within 24 hours. Devcon is the thickest epoxy, makes a thicker film and is always a one-coat topcoat. Rod guide epoxies are similar. Table top epoxies are so thin that multiple coats are usually required to get a uniform shiny coating. The key to a good epoxy finish is measuring the resin/hardener accurately and mixing it very well. If it says mix for 2 minutes - DO IT! Badly mixed or measured epoxy will not cure hard or will yellow more quickly. If you're using a 30 minute glue epoxy, you have about 2 1/2 minutes before it gets too thick to brush on the lure - so mix only what you can apply in that time frame. The brush times for rod guide and table top epoxies are double and triple that.

There are lots of ways to build crankbaits, including balsa crankbaits. The classic way to build balsa is "thru-wiring" the line tie, belly and tail hook hangers; that is, splitting the crankbait , laying a wire form in the bait for all the above, and gluing the bait together with epoxy. A couple of tips: after you cut out the basic profile of the bait, use a compass to run a center line all around from nose to tail. The line will show you exactly where the ballast goes and serves as a template for splitting the bait to insert the thru-wire. It also gives you a reference line to help you keep the bait symmetrical while you shape and round it. Symmetry and getting all the hardware centered is the critical thing about making a crankbait. Cut the lip slot immediately after the basic profile is cut, while the bait is still "square", so you know it will be straight. Use a 30 minute cure epoxy to undercoat the raw wood, then paint the bait and topcoat it with the same epoxy. Devcon Two Ton epoxy is popular for this but there are other brands too. I use 5 min epoxy to glue the halves together after inserting the thru-wire. It's easier and faster than 30 minute epoxy - but you can't use quick cure epoxy for finishing the bait because it will not level out and it will turn brown when exposed to UV light. Most home built crankbaits use polycarbonate lips (aka Lexan). You can buy sheets of polycarbonate and cut your own or you can order pre-cut lips from sources like Janns Netcraft or lurepartsonline.com. A great source for detailed info on various crankbait building techniques is tackleunderground,com, a site dedicated to lure building. Take a look at some of the tutorials for step-by-step recommendations and use the search feature on the Hardbaits forum to research specific questions you may have. Enjoy!

Gulp - keep the bait moving and you're bass fishing; pause it too long and you're catfishing.

You'll probably need to heat the eye with a torch and open it while hot, then reheat and plunge in water after it's closed to re-temper it. Some hooks are easier to bend - the old brown Mustad hooks can be bent beause they don't have much tempering. Some like Gamakatsu have lots of temper and will break rather than bend.

I keep mine in their bags but if I used a Plano box it would eliminate having the baits deform as they sit in the bag, which is a big deal.

I like the Shimano Crucial CRS-DX68M for $150. It's rated for 1/8 to 3/8 oz baits, has a soft flexible fast 18" tip section transitioning to M power down the blank. Alconite guides, split grip. I use mine mostly for dropshots, for which it is designed per the "DX" spec, plus for shaky heads and will throw anything down to 1/8 oz very well and is quite sensitive. When I want to throw Shadraps on 8 lb line it works great. Shimano also sells the Compre line of rods for around $100 but I don't think they have the same "softer tip to M power action" design as the Crucial dropshot rods. The CRS-DX rods were recommended by a couple of noted dropshot pros a couple of years ago. I hate spinning rods but love this one.

Yes, you might want to try some saltwater fluorocarbon leader material. It won't handle worth a darn on any reel but it's much tougher, denser than any fluoro line and so it's good for leaders.

I bought one on a year ago. The bail trip was always hard to activate and recently it stopped working altogether and the rotor would not turn freely. Sent it back to Lew's for repair and the 1 yr warranty was exactly one day past, so I have to pay the freight on getting it fixed. Would I buy another? No. I like the idea of a big spool on an otherwise regular sized reel, but this one just isn't up to snuff ..... also found out that their supplier had been dropped in favor of another source. This has not been a good user experience.