Goose52

Often extra-fast action - for those big thick single hooks. If other folks chime in, there could be quite a few different opinions on rod length, power, and action. At the end of the day, you've got to hit the target and be able to set the hook...

Depends on the weight of the spinnerbait...but generally, an intermediate length rod (for accuracy and most SB casts will tend to be shorter and to specific targets) and medium-heavy power to have the ability to set what is usually a pretty stout hook. Lighter spinnerbaits generally need less power, really heavy SBs (like Ledgebusters, et. al) might need more length and power. The classic baitcasting spinnerbait rod offered by many rod companies seems to be a 6'10" medium-heavy. Me, I have a 5'9" mh BC rod that works well for close-quarters SBs, up to a 7'6" mh BC with a 5.2 ratio reel for heavy SBs. Lighter SBs are tossed on a 7' m BC rod or more typically on a 6'8" mxf spinning rod. And, I have two 6'10" mh BC rods...but have never tossed a SB on them...

There's no easy way to crank a Mann's 30+...its just gonna take some work. You can pump the rod and use the reel to bring in slack line. If doing a straight retrieve, bracing the rod against something can take some of the pressure off your wrist and forearm. You say you're using a Curado "200E" - is it the E5, or E7?

Outstanding - thanks Gary !

Personally, I'd go with the Winch/Veritas combo - basically for the longer MH rod. You'll appreciate that rod if you spend much time tossing the deep divers... Other recommendations? The rig you selected sounds pretty good. I'll have to admit that I have 4 cranking rods but all are inexpensive combos. I picked up 4 different BPS Crankin' Sticks at various times when they were on sale for $59 (6'ml, 7'ml, 7'6"m, 7'6"mh). Three of them have BPS PQ reels, one has a (discontinued) BPS Pro-Lite reel. I don't spend a lot of time cranking, but I do like variety and have different uses for all 4 rods - so, I got a lot of capability for not much $$$...

Probably lots of ways - depending on the type of deck/floor you have, even a shoot-through might be possible. Another way would be to have a side-board or a dashboard with the sonar unit and a transducer arm mounted to it - one package (except power). That's what I have on my canoe. For power, all you need is a little 7 or 8AH battery - Cabelas and others have them.

That small tubing - you cut off a little piece and pierce the hook sideways through the tubing... I've personally had poor luck with the tubing anyway. I picked up this tip someplace - take a paper hole punch and punch out a bunch of discs from the plastic lid of a coffee container. Put the trailer hook on the bait and carefully (watch your fingers!) pierce the center of the disc with the spinnerbait hook and you're good to go!

My standard line on most of my BC reels is 10lb - I have it on ten reels with absolutely no problems. I have 8lb on three reels and 6lb on one reel - no line related problems with those either. This is all Yo-Zuri hybrid or nylon mono.

Z-Man Trailerz Chatterbait. 9.06 and 6.32 pound LMB. Works for me...

Been handloading for 35 years - that's why I have accurate scales...add curiosity and you end up weighing stuff...

Not sayin' that a 51E can't toss light weights - just a comment about spinnerbait weights. If you were tossing a bait with a "book" weight of 3/16oz, it actually probably weighs around 3/8oz, or perhaps more. The SB weight is basically for the size/weight of the head and perhaps the hook and arm, the blades are "extra." I've weighed 3/16oz Booyah SBs at 3/8oz and over for instance. Unless a bait is weighed on an accurate scale, one really doesn't know the actual weight - and SBs and other blade baits are usually the most out-of-whack with their book weights... Here's a chart I made-up a while back based on a bunch of spinnerbaits I had on hand - actual weights were rounded-off to the nearest 1/8oz on all examples other than the 1st one:

I have 7 BC rods with power ratings of light or medium-light. I use them for the baits you mentioned, plus lighter hard baits - mostly in the 1/4-3/8oz range. One rod I've tossed down to 1/6oz. I haven't really tried to toss 1/8oz or lighter, although I have a couple of combos that would do it I guess. I have these combos not so much to take the place of spinning gear...but because fighting fish on lighter power rods is more fun, for me, than winching them in on heavier tackle. As I mentioned on another recent thread, in the summer months when the bite slows down, and the fish caught tend to be smaller, I use the lighter power stuff as a "fish magnifier" - makes those 12" to 14" inch fish as much fun as larger fish on MH rods. I got a 5 pounder a few weeks ago on a 6' ML-F rod and it was a blast, got a 3.5 pounder in the canoe yesterday on the same rod - great fun. If you're going light, there's at least 4 factors that come into play - rod, spool-startup of the reel, line, and mass/aero of the bait. Not all "L" or "ML" rods are the same and I don't know how Villians go as far as what their actual power is compared to their rating. The MGX is a light reel - I guess the spool must be fairly light as well, but it is a full-size reel with significant spool capacity so I don't know about start-up effort on that spool. On line - I use 10lb on some of my ML combos, but when I'm really trying to toss light stuff, I go down to 8 or 6lb. Of the combos I have, the one with the best potential for going really light is probably the Phenix Recon 6'8" L with a Daiwa PX Type-R. I've only played with it a couple hours on the water and caught a few fish...but I haven't gone under 1/4oz with it yet. I need to see "how low I can go" on it one of these days...

I've been using the Netbait Tiny Paca Chunk on my 1/4oz Bitsy Flip...

Really, only you can answer that question. Some types of small watercraft (canoes, kayaks, bass raiders, float tubes, pontoons, inflatables, etc.) are perfect for some people. No one type of small watercraft is perfect for all people. In selecting whether you want to get a canoe or a kayak, you need to make a list of your needs, and then determine which craft is the better fit for you. Some of the factors to consider: Stabililty and standing capability (moving around, landing fish, another person or kids or dogs in the boat, standing to fish, etc.) Cargo/gear storage (how much stuff do you want to take) Inboard storage & handling (canoe) versus handling things in your lap or over the water (yak) Seating position (usually, but not always more upright seating in a canoe vs. legs-out in yak - have back problems?) Vessel weight (how much can you lift/transport) Transportability - to the water and possible portaging (do you have a truck, trailer, going to car-top, need to portage, etc.) Ease of paddling Will you want the capability to motor it? Manueverability Type of water (lakes, streams, white water, etc.) Number of people in the craft Stay mostly dry or don't mind getting a bit wet Length of voyage (couple hours or a couple days) Etc. Once you answer those questions based on your own capabilities and needs, you'll come closer to chosing either a canoe, a yak, or a hybrid. All are great watercraft in their own ways, you just have to find the best fit for YOU. I faced the same decision as you are tying to make now but I was open to all types of small watercraft from float tubes up to bass boats. The best solution for ME, was a heavily accessorized canoe. I only fish my local, small (1.5 to 201 acres), no-wake lakes. Some of these lakes don't have boat ramps. I needed something car-topable without a special rack, modular, very light weight, with as much capability as possible. I wanted stability so I could stand and fish all day, lots of inboard storage, motorized, and little to no maintenance. I didn't want to have to buy a truck or other tow vehicle, I didn't want to consume a garage bay or driveway space with a boat and trailer, didn't want high expense and high maintenance, and didn't want to use gasoline power. Taking everything into account, I ended up with a canoe, trolling motor, and outriggers for stability.

I like short rods (which I personally define as 6ft and under), I like long rods; all are tools and suited for different jobs. I do have two short pistol-gripped casting rods (5ft light and a 5 1/2ft medium) - never use 'em. Just can't get back into pistol grip rods. OTOH, I have some straight-gripped/trigger BC rods that I use all the time. I fish a lot of ponds with overhanging trees and brush and short rods are very handy. I've got a 6ft medium-light trigger rod that I've caught 96 bass on in the last 6 weeks. I've got another 6ft medium-light cranking rod that's great for light cranks. It never got much attention from anyone, but Shimano had a nifty short BC rod in the last Crucial series with the full cork grip - a 5'9" medium heavy - a great rod for all kinds of baits in close quarters. I've got an older 6ft medium with an Ambassadeur 5000 on it that gets dusted off and used from time to time. In spinning rods, I have a 3ft medium that is handy when hiking and I know I've got fishable water on the trail (it's also great for clearing spider webs across the trail... ). I've got a 5ft-4in five-piece pack rod that fits into a backpack and is always in the trunk of the car for those moments of opportunity. I've got a 5ft ultra-light and a 5 1/2ft light-power that see service from time to time. Short rods are great, I like 'em, but in the right time and place. I'm just as comfortable using a 7 1/2ft rod when the need arises...

Like slonezp mentioned above, I have lived in big cities most of my life (Miami and Los Angeles areas for over 50 years combined) and you lock you doors and don't leave your stuff laying around. Now that I live in the sticks, in a mostly trustworthy environment, I still keep my big-city ways. One of the ponds that I fish in my community has a public restroom nearby. I usually have two rods, and carry them through one set of doors, then into the bathroom with me. People look at me funny, but that's what ya gotta do.... Too bad about your gear - lesson learned the hard way. ALSO, I want to go on record in case I mention the combo in a future thread that it is a coincidence that I also have a Sol / St. Croix Premier (7'ml) combo that I owned prior to BC's loss......and I haven't been to any pawn shops in Virginia recently !

Great review A-Jay - thanks for taking the time to type it up - and pure poetry at that! Next time I get some mad money - now I'll have to decide between the "D" or getting another JDM Conquest. I do like the quick-access side-plate on the Conquest and sometimes have to go back and forth between 2 and 3 brakes, depending on bait. I think I would miss that access if I had the D. I do like the narrow spool and smaller diameter on the D though. I wonder if Shimano has any plans for a "100" size D-model Calcutta?

I have 6 BC rods rated as medium power, not counting cranking rods. A couple of these rods are my standard "go to" for most of my BC applications. One is used for lighter soft plastics, one is used mostly for light jigs, a couple are for lipless cranks; all of these can be used for topwater or lighter spinnerbaits. I have one MF that has a tip soft enough that it can double-up and can be used for single and treble hook applications - I mostly use this one in the canoe to save space. I'm probably atypical of most bass anglers. I fish open water nearly exclusively, I have to look hard to find any slop, I don't "frog" or pitch into heavy cover. As a result, while I have 5 BC rods rated as medium-heavy (and 1 heavy power) I rarely use them. In fact, during the summer months, when the bite slows down and the fish caught tend to be smaller, I go down to medium-light power (even light-power) BC rods - these act as "fish magnifiers" and gives a bit more fun catching the smaller fish. I got a nice 5-pounder last week that was a lot more fun on the ML rod than it would have been on a MH rod. A quick sort of the data base, deleting spinning rod fish and cranking BC rod fish, shows the following catch numbers so far this year by casting rod power: Fish / Rod Power Rating 8 - light-power 88 - medium-light power 317 - medium power 2 - medium-heavy power 0 - heavy power I normally have more fish on MH rods but haven't been fishing heavier jigs or soft-plastics, or heavy spinnerbaits much this year...

Yeah - me too. Not a popular concept nowadays but it makes sense. I wonder if some folks throw away buzzbaits and spinnerbaits when the hook gets dull?

Yup - many on the board have given the Lew's reels good reviews. The lockwork looks familiar...

As someone that used to have a blood lead level of 47 micrograms/deciliter (lead poisoning level), I would say that after handling lead, it's always a good idea to wash your hands before eating, drinking, smoking, or otherwise getting your hands near your mouth. Now, if you only handle a lead weight a couple times a day while tying up a Texas rig, you will probably die of old age before feeling any effects from lead poisoning. If you are sorting out a bunch of lead sinkers and have handled quite a few - for your health and safety you should be washing your hands. There is indeed the potential to transfer lead into your system while handling the solid form. The effects are minimal, but can be cumulative, depending on frequency of exposure. Handle enough lead, enough times, and you run the risk of gradually increasing your blood lead level.

Nylon mono - 4lb for ultralight spinning, 6lb for light-power spinning, some 8lb on medium-light baitcasting, some 10 or 12 pound for heavier topwater baitcasting, 14lb on 2 rigs and 17lb on another for heavier duty. I always used Stren original since the mid-1960s, but the past few years I've been using BPS Excel in the larger spools - it works well enough and is very economical. Reasons for using mono - folks above already just about summed it up - it floats, the stretch can be a good thing for some applications, it's economical, and a good answer was that it's not braid... I have to admit that I do use 20, 30, and 65lb braid on a few different combos, and right now have flouro on my worm rod,...but the vast majority of my combos have either 6lb or 10lb Yo-Zuri Hybrid.

I saw that combo sale the other day - a good price indeed. The PQ frequently goes on sale for $80, but the Carbonlite rod goes on sale somewhat less frequently. This is a chance for those interested to score both at their best sale prices.

As an adult - you couldn't pay me enough either. But as a young kid - I wasn't smart enough to know better. My dad would also point out that the Miccosukee kids swam in the canal too and they seemed to be OK (although I wonder if some of them came up missing from time to time!) This was all in the early- to mid-1960s - almost 50 years ago...