247bassin

I know that they are not the exact same bait, but I prefer the shad magic swim baits from Lake Fork. I have caught several fish on the same soft plastic and never had it rip. They last a lot longer than the sebile in my opinion...

90% of the time I am fishing with black on the top. The only exception is frogs, I do use a lot of greens and whites with frogs...Not sure why, guess it is confidence.

Couldn't agree more with everybody else...NO

I would like to see some pictures of these when you get a chance...I love shakey head fishing and always looking for something that might make it more effective.

Wickyman, I know that is would make no sense to make a cranking reel with a flipping switch...Pinnacle1 said that there was going to be a new Tournament Class in the works, which made me think that there was going to be more than one reel being made. As for making one with a flipping switch, that would be wonderful. I am rrelly looking for a good reel for flipping and pitching. Right now I am using the Pinnacle Slyder reel, it is working just fine, but I am worried about how everything is going to be after I reel in a few fish that weigh 3lbs and then have 15lbs of grass, weeds, and timber wrapped around it. I am not worried too much, I would just really like a reel that is made for the job, that's all. Hope everything goes super smooth with the development of this new line and you guys can release them early!

I absolutely love soft plastic swimbaits. They catch a lot of fish, and with the 6 inch or bigger baits, you can catch very big fish. My favorite way to fish them is on a darter head jighead. I use them the most around open water, or on banks with rip rap or chunk rock. I have used the swimbait hooks, and they are ok, but as stated above, the hookup ratios are not as high as a crankbait. I think that you will be very pleased with them once you start throwing them. Good luck!

Very seldom will I fish anything over 10lbs mono on my crankbait rod. If I am fishing around a lot of cover, I may go to 12 or 14lbs, but 90% of the time I am using Trilene extra tough or something similar that is a bit more abrasion resistant.

I think it is all personal preference...I know guys that use at least $200 rods for all their fishing, but use the BPS Crankin' Stick because they say it is a hands down better rod than anything else out there. I have a BPS Crankin Stick and I love it, but I have felt some friends higher end crankbait rods, and I like theirs better, but money was an issue at the time. I too think that the biggest factor is weight, followed by sensitivity.

I have a couple Cotton Cordell Super Spots in a color almost exactly like that. I caught a few small fish out of a friends large pond the other day off of them. I like the color scheme quite a bit, but I won't know for sure how much until I really get out there after them next week.

Pinnacle1, Do you want to let us in on what these new reels are going to be like? What kind of materials are they going to be made of, what kind of bearing, how many are going to be in the line, about what are they going to cost? Any information would be great! I can't wait to see these things and fish with one. The cheaper reels you all make are so awesome, I can't wait to get my hands on a tournament series reel from you guys! Is there going to be one with a flippin' switch? That would be awesome!!!

I have several Pinnacles and I love them all. I have had a few problems with mine, but nothing extremely serious. The drag slipped a few times and they are loud when cast and reeled, but they are being cleaned as I type this in Delaware. I used mine mainly for stripers the last two years and have caught closed to a thousand fish with each reel. Most were smaller 2 and 3 pound stripers and hybrids, but have caught about 100-200 that were in the 10-15 pound range. I have put mine through all kinds of torment and they are still working for the most part. Oh, and the one that I have had the longest is a plastic framed reel, and it is awesome. For $25 you can't beat it, I guarantee you will like it. Don't expect Shimano quality, but they are great little reels.

I just finished reading a article in Aprils issue of FLW Bass Edition about throwing bluegill baits to bass on the nests. I was wondering if anyone made a good quality hard bodied swimbait that was cheap-er. I know that I am most likely asking for too much, but would like to have something in the $10 range. I am planning on buying some soft bluegill swimbaits too, any suggestions on either hard or soft baits?

I would say that right now my go to baits are a Luck E Strike Hollow Belly Swim bait, the other is a Shakey Head jig and a 5 or six inch finesse worm or a craw fish. My favorite worm is a Zoom finesse worm in watermelon red, as for the craw fish, I like a Zoom Speed Craw. Although those are my favorites now, I plan on using more techniques this year and I hope that I find a new go to bait/presentaion!

I use a BPS Graphite Series 7' Medium Heavy. It is far from perfect, but it does serve it's purpose. I will upgrade in a few months though.

I usually use the BPS and Owner darter heads. I use the Bass Pro mainly for grubs and hollow body swim baits. Another way I like to fish grubs in thick cover is on a Shakey Head jig with the screw in type of keeper on the head. I fish these "texas-rigged". However, very seldom do I fish a grub that is smaller than 3", mostly the 5" grubs from Bass Pro or Mister Twister.

i must be weird, but I like it though. I use it for my flipping rod, it works great for me.

Sorry...I guess brake cleaner and carburetor cleaner was a stupid idea. I was just hoping I could be helpful, guess not I hope you find out what it was so it don't happen again to anything else he owns. The ice melter is a good idea...like ammonia nitrate? I have a friend that uses that on his driveway. Is that stuff corrosive? Hope that isn't another stupid idea guys, I swear I am just trying to be helpful!

I bought a Extreme to put on my BPS Crankin Stick. I love it. I have never used any of the Shimano reels, but the Extreme is awesome. It casts very smooth and very long, it reels even smoother. If money is tight, nothing is wrong with that reel at all.

Well, whenever I used a spinning reel for cranks or spinners or any type of constant moving lure, I have had trouble with them twirling. Same way with swim baits and the such. I have said that to some of my friends and they say I was stupid too, but I have talked to other people that have had the same problem. Maybe it is just me and some of the other people I have talked to! Maybe it was my crappy gear? It has happened to me a lot!

I am not sure about the Pointer, but I use my back up crank bait rod for jerk baits. It is a Berkley Amp 7' medium rod with a Pflueger Purist reel. The line depends on the water and how deep I am fishing the jerk bait. I also use my crank bait rod, a BPS Crankin' Stick with a BPS Extreme reel. For really small jerkbaits, I will use a Abu Garcia Cardinal 7' medium spinning reel. That reel is what I use for drop shots and shakey heads. I have 8lbs Trilene Extra Tough line on it.

Well first off, I would use a bait caster for cranks if you can, otherwise, the spinning gear will keep the crank or spinner baits twirling. If you feel more comfortable with spinning gear, I would put a barrel swivel on the bait to keep it from twirling while retrieving. Now, with that said... I would get a medium rod with a fast action tip. Something that is very soft in the tip, that way when a bass engulfs the bait, the rod will give so you don't jerk it out of its mouth. I know that BPS has a Crankin' Stick that is out of this world great!!!! I would recommend that, but I do not know if they make a spinning Crankin stick. I would also recommend a 7' rod, that will help you make longer casts. Hope this helps.

You mean like the stuff commonly used to clean reels? Nope, that wouldn't do this.

I have a Quantum Bill Dance Combo that was cheap. It was like $60 for the combo (I think). I would say that it is in the top of their cheap reels, and I put my equipment through he!! and mine still works fine. If the fish are hitting good and my line breaks, I have been known to throw my rods and reels down on rocks and pick another up. The Quantum does not even have a nick in it. I would say something like battery acid or the such got on it and did that. Maybe even some kind of caustic cleaner like carb cleaner or break cleaner got on it. I would have him check out everything that his reels were laying next to and see if there is anything that is leaking. I don't know though...just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the response Pinnacle1. I have found a guy on another forum that does super tuning on reels and says that he can make my Solene and my Platinum Plus like new again. Thanks for the help. I appreciate it...

I have a great 100+ acre farm pond in Kentucky that offers great numbers and great numbers of big fish. I mainly fish a few spots throughout the whole year, where water drains in from other lakes in the area. The first big fish we caught was on a white grub on a spinner. It was a little over 6lbs. After that, I only fished spinners, year round, and have caught fish hovering a bit over 10lbs. I have tried big baits, and other types of spinners, cranks, soft plastics, everything I have in my tackle box. The best numbers and the biggest fish come from a white grub on a jig head and a spinner attached. This year I am going to try to get numbers of big fish in big lakes. I am fishing several tournaments this year and want to do as good as I can...So numbers of big fish is what I am after this year.