ChrisAW

I can get a medium 7'6" at a good price right now that would be perfect for crank baits to replace the Uglystick I've been using for a while. I really like the feel of them, and they lookwell made, but that can't say anything for durability or actual build quality. Anyone have some experience with them?

I'm limited to whats in my store being it was giftcards. So it was a choice between a left hand BlackMax, or the right hand GSX since I could get it at the same price. If I had the money I would for sure go for a Revo S, but I can't. And I've always heard hooksets seem to be the biggest concern for a less expensive reel when fishing jigs. But like I said, I thumb the spool on the hookset, and I don't use any brakes in this situation. So short of needing a half decent drag just to reel in, I shouldn't really have any problems I think. I guess I can just go ahead and get the BlackMax, and if I happen to come across enough cash within the return period, I'll just exchange for the Revo S. Not like I'll be fishing for atleast a couple months, so there shouldn't be any problem with that.

Well I've never had a problem with inexpensive spinning reels, but I feel there's a bit more to bait casters and inexpensive reels have a hard time living up to the potential that higher-end models have. I'm just looking for some feedback from anyone who's had a Black Max and how it's functioned as a flip/pitch reel for them, like if anyone's stripped the gears or drag becomes less effective.

Well for one, I think they are discontinued, But I'm also having a hard time finding if we ever had a lefty version. Not entirely sure. I just thought I'd give righty a chance and see if I could get used to it so I wouldn't have to be chasing left hand reels But I just can't stand doing the cast/switch hands thing. So much easier for me to just start with lefty, so I'm really leaning to just exchanging it for a left hand BlackMax.

Well I got about $75 in gift cards for Christmas to my local Gander Mountain, and decided to buy a cheap reel for flipping and pitching, so I could use the Revo SX currently on my 7'6" rod for something it'd be better suited for, like on my Crankbait rod. So I was looking at the Abu BlackMax, and the Gander GSX Tournament. Now being that I work at Gander, I actually could get either at the same price with our store brand discount. So I actually bought the GSX before I left today, but the bad thing is that we only had right hand retrieve and I'm left handed, and I just can't get used to it. I thought maybe I'd just return it and go for the Black Max which we have in left hand currently. Now I'm probably going to catch crap here for even bothering with such inexpensive reels, but I'm not too worried about any of the features. I always thumb the spool on hook sets with my jig rod, and I never use it to cast except for maybe some shorter roll casts, so I doubt I'll have a problem with either so long as the gears don't strip. Like I said, I'm just basicly trying to free up my SX to use with crankbaits, since I feel like its smoother casting ability is being wasted on a flip/pitch rod.

The Gander Mountain I work at is still getting them in. Not sure if its straight from the manufacturer or from our warehouse, but I priced them and put them out on the floor.

Gander definitely had some good sales going on this past weekend, even though probably different for most all stores. I actually work at the Flint MI Gander, and other than some of the other old overstock, we actually had Rapala DT's on sale for the low-low price of 2.99 a piece! I'm guessing because they were Sureset ones that nobody likes, but I have no problem fishing with them and replacing hooks as I see fit. Being I was victim of a stolen tackle box, I pick through when I was finally off work and brought home 22 DT's in different depths, colors and styles. It's too bad that there were nearly no natural colored baits when I got to them, but oh well. I feel like a fisherman again now that I have most of my favorite patterns back.

I had the same problem with the lines on my Johnson 30 horse. Truth is this can happen with nearly any fuel line, just depends on the conditions they've been exposed to over the years.

Oh yeah, I know! Wasn't the first walleye I've ever caught but definitely the biggest so far.

I went out to do a little fishing yesterday for some bass. I've been fishing from shore since I had to sell my boat, and its been disappointing so far being that I don't know any real good places yet. But I did alright a few times out on the fishing pier and along the shoreline on Dickson Lake in the Seven Lakes park, so I went out there again. Tried some different baits up in the column, and on the bottom and only hooked a few short bass either way. So I figured I'd try a 10-14ft crankbait for a while, thinking they might be somewhere in the middle. To my surprise, I ended up hooking this guy. I thought I set the hook on a snag before I felt it fight. Started to work him in, and once he got close, I seen the color flash once, and thought I had a huge LM on. Then it flashed again and I seen how long it was, and started to think it was a nice pike. Then I finally seen the eyes and the mouth and all I could think was "No crap, a walleye?" Problem was I couldn't reach down and get him from the pier, so I had to drag him around the side which was a little nerve racking because he could take a quick run and wrap me around the dock posts if he so pleased. But I get him around, and start to pull him up by land so I could grab him. That moment, my 8# line snapped. Man, I never thought for a second I would ever throw my $300 combo and take a dive like I did. But as you can see, I still got him. I was able to snap this quick picture and weigh him, he came in at 10.2 pounds. Then he was let go, since I'm not much for keeping anything. I fished for a while hoping for more with no luck. But wow, I've never had more fun when I see that guy come to the top.

I had this little rambunctious LM hit a Maxrap this summer. He was only about 3 inches longer than my bait but he definitely tried to eat it. I about fling him out of the water on the hookset, poor guy never knew what hit him.

I'm almost sure, from watching his TV show and his internet videos, that I've watched him snap atleast 6 rods on hooksets. And that is the first one I've seen him break now that he's switched to Abu from Daiwa. I don't know what rods he was using during those days though. If you watch the 6th Going Ike video, at 2:35 into it, you can see a good reason why he snapped the rod. His hooksets are going from a 10-11 0'clock position to straight back behind him at 3 o'clock. And he does the same thing repeatedly.

Its true. If you even look at someone wrong these days you can be arrested for assault, let alone if you actually touch them.

I've had problems like this before. I usually just ignore it and move, not like I'm fishing for money or anything. But there was one time when I had been trolling slowly along a shoreline for about half an hour. I hear some guy come flying out of no where and stop 30 feet in front of me and started fishing. So I just moved about 150 yards down the shoreline and started fishing again. About 10 minutes later, he starts up his motor and blasts right up by me and stops right infront of me again. That started to get me a little agitated. I wasn't even catching anything big and he keeps cutting me off. So I decided to move again. I shot across to the other side of the lake. I started fishing and ended catching a 16"er within a few casts. Low and behold, here comes that dude again, cuts me off about 40 feet infront of me. That was it for me. I cranked the trolling motor to 5 and went around infront of him, and he had the nerve to ask me, "What the &?$@ man?" I just told him to quit cutting me off and started to fish again. So he starts casting out infront of my boat, effectively still cutting me off. So I grabbed my jig rod thats spolled with 50# braid and crossed his line. He started to reel in as fast as he could and as soon as I felt his line tugging mine, I set the hook as hard as I could and snapped his lure off his line. He just stood there glaring at me. I told him to go find his own d**n spot or he's going to keep losing lures. He started up his boat and ran back across to the other side of the lake.

Ahh, thats good to hear. I wasn't aware the S didn't use the clicker, so that makes me feel better about it. Thanks for the info!

Has anyone else tried taking the little clicker spring out? I personally don't like it, and I'd like to take it out, but I'm worried if I do that it could come loose and come off while I'm fishing. Curious if anyone else has taken the spring out and if its stayed in place.

I've had the same thoughts at times, yes. Last year I didn't get to go out a lot, and even when I did get to, I only caught maybe 20 bass all year, none even close to 2 pounds. I started taking my ultralite and just started hooking loads of bluegill instead. But believe me, keep at it and it'll be a worthwhile feeling when you finally haul in a pig. I skunked 4 times in a row the beginning of this season, and the 5 time I got to go out I pulled in a 3.5lber. I was absolutely shocked by it and I was so excited, I probably looked like a fat Mike Iaconelli. Then my year started to pick up, I ended up catch more than my fair share of fish above 2#'s, which I hear a lot of guys having trouble doing on the lake I was fishing. Just keep at it and you'll find them.

Just east Mott, the "flooded" spots. The pin must be showing up in different area's for different people, cause mine shows it right in the middle of that small grouping just off of Irish and south of Mt. Morris. But yeah, I know about the Mounds. I'm an avid offroader between trucks right now, I actually went out there for a little wheeling a few times and took my fishing rod, parked next to the water and sat on top of my truck for a little while ;D But another gentlemen PM'd me telling me about that area, he said it's about as good as shore fishing gets. I'm not expecting to pull any monsters out but it should still be fun.

Really? You're not screwin' with me are you? I didn't think there was anything near me that held Smallmouth. Edit: actually I take that back, I knew Holloway has Smallmouth, I just never got the chance to head out there.

I recently had to sell my boat after being out of work, needing to pay bills. But things have picked up a bit and I've been looking for places I could fish from shore, and it looks like I may have found the perfect spot inside a "local" recreational park. I quote it because its not very close to me, and it would stink to drive all the way out there for nothing. Click Here The spot I'm talking about should be marked, just change it to Birds eye view to get a good look. It looks like it would be a great place to fish from shore, lots of open areas that I could use to cover a lot of water. Whats the chances I could pull some bass out of there? I'm not sure how I could tell, so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks for the tips guys. I did try searching before and nothing was coming up, but I realized its set for less than a week old, so I changed that and was finally getting some info. Oh, and I didn't mean peg, I meant use a stopper or anything along those lines.

Well, I'm sad to say, someone stole my tackle box this last month. I've been waiting to see it pop up for sale somewhere but I dont think it's going to happen. About $1000 gone and I'm not going to be able to start over until I'm back working. But I do have some items left that were either in my pond hopping bag, that I just never got to use yet, or didn't have room for in my box. Basically the only bigger plastics I have left are some SK Shim-E Sticks in Smokey Shad, Black/Blue Flk Chigger Craws, and some Zoom Fat Alberts in Watermelon Seed and Cotton Candy. Ofcoarse I have some smaller things like grubs or 4" curly tail worms and stuff, but I have other presentations I'd use for those. Now, I'm not sure about how to really rig the C-rig for my application. Basicly, all the lakes around here are ridden with weeds, a few are sandy but thats about it. No real rocky lakes, atleast not the ones I normally fish. My rod is a 7'6" Vendetta with a 6.4 Revo SX, 40# braid and 10# flouro for leader. So how should I rig? I actually have some magnetic ready rigged ones that keep the bead separated from the weight so it can clack more (so it said), but I'm not fond of using them, they were just a .99 bargain bin impulse buy. I'd have no problem cutting the wire and just using the weight and beeds on my line. Otherwise I have some other random bullet weights and beeds I could use too. And then, do I use a stopper or not? I don't really think any of the lures I have float either, but I've only ever used the Shim-E's weightless, so I can't really bet sure. From what I've seen, thats the main part of this presentation. Well I guess what I'm getting at here is that I'm a complete C-Rig newb, and I only know that I fish it slow, slower, and slowest, and sweep to set the hook.

Went out again today and brought in 8 bass in 3 hours. Largest was 2.6 pounds, with 4 others following close behind, and the rest being dinks. And the smallest was the epitome of the word dink ;D This was the 2.6 pounder, the largest one of the other 4 above 2 pounds. And the ambitious little dink that I had to have a picture of ;D For some reason, the only bait that caught anything on my boat today was the Rapala Max Rap. Every time we got somewhere, I tried something different. Spinner baits, shallows cranks, flukes, senko's, jigs, tubes.. Nothing else got a bite. I always ended up picking up the Maxrap again, and got bit every time. Not even other jerk baits were working, my friend used multiple different jerk baits with the same sizes, patterns, and retrieves, and nothing got bit. Needless to say, he wasn't happy and decided he would not be taking any more pictures of my fish today, which is why I only have the two. ;D

I've been fishing a very pressured, very busy lake the last few weeks called Lobdell Lake in Genesee County MI. So far, I haven't done all that well. Been catching a lot of half pints mostly. The only bites I've been having were from slow presentations, so being that I just bought a Flappin Hog kit today, I decided to give them a try on a jig. And it seemed to be where the bite was. But today, even as extremely busy as it was, I ended up catching a nice one considering Michigans standards. He was almost 18"s, but I didn't have my scale, so I didn't get to weigh him. And a few other 14-16inch bass followed, all pretty lean compared to this one. Then, two casts later, I hook up to this big ol Dogfish. All using an 1/8oz Bitsy Bug in Blk/Blue with a GY Flappin Hog II, in Black w/Blue flake.

An eye ;D I've been trying jigs this year with alright luck. But so far, I've never even felt the bite. I've only been so lucky as to see every strike I've had since the lake I've been fishing is about as clear as it gets. But, I think that is where my problem lies. Because I'm seeing them come out from their cover to hit it, I'm not paying attention to the feel as much as I'm watching for them to inhale it.