Whets Lines

As an ambush predator, bass will strike from below. If you have determined the fish are indeed suspended, you can choose a weighted bait which drops or runs to a depth anywhere above the fish. I wouldn't worry as much about finding the right depth as much as I'd worry about getting a good action with the bait which would be attractive to the fish below. Try different approaches and vary your retrieve speed until you get bit. Or, you could just rig up a senko and drop it in on the fish. Its fluttering fall has enticed many a bass. Whets 8-)

Hi Josh, If you are happy with your St. Croix and your spinning setup, I'd suggest staying with the brand. When it comes to bang for the buck, the St. Croix Avid line would be my suggestion in rod. I would buy a 7' medium or medium-heavy rod with a fast action. It will work better with the plastics and spinnerbaits, but not so much so with the crankbaits. However, you can make it work by being patient. The Curado is an excellent reel which you can find great deals online. When choosing whether to get a left or right-hand reel, that should be strictly up to you. Personally, I started with spinning reels using my left-hand and using my strong hand (right) for holding the rod. This works for me. Instead of thinking about which hand to reel with, decide which hand to fight the fish with. If you watch pretty much all the pros, they do use right-hand bait casting reels and left-hand spinning reels. Personally, I think this is because there were so few left-hand baitcasters when they started fishing. With all the options now, I believe more and more right handers like me are using left-hand reels. It makes no sense to me to cast and then switch hands. This is just one man's opinion though. In short, my suggests would be Avid paired with a Curado 201E7 and Sufix Performance Braid. Hope this helps. Whets 8-)

I have not used the Samurai braid. From all accounts, it is one heck of a braided line. However, I have used both Power Pro and Sufix Performance Braid. I would recommend the Sufix over the Power Pro. As you go up in size, there are more strands to the braid which make the line more round. Both are very strong, but when I cast and reel, the Sufix feels and performs better for me. It is a few more dollars than the Power Pro but still half the price of Samurai. If you are new to fishing, I might suggest you hold off on buying two spools of line (braid and fluorocarbon). Start with the braid and work the baits you mentioned. If you feel you are missing bites because fish can see the line, then move on to adding the leader. If you decide to go with the leader, I suggest the uni knot for line-to-line knots. See here for a diagram. http://www.fish4fun.com/Joining2Lines.htm I'm not much of a finesse fisherman; I don't have the patience for it. I also don't know half of everything there is to know about catching bass. But for me, I think the use of a fluorocarbon leader lends itself to finesse fishing and if you are more into power fishing where you attract reaction strikes, the braid will work just fine for you. Hope this helps. Whets 8-)

I can't really recall what age I was when I first started fishing. I know it had to be when I was 8 or 9. I grew up in a small town in Illinois named after the muddy river skirting the north end of the village. My uncle would take me camping with him and his friends down by the river. He'd get up early to check his lines and I'd stay behind with a great family friend named Betty. She was a homely woman with leather-tanned skin, a grandmotherly toothless grin, and wrinkles on wrinkles. I would spend the hazy morning hours with her. She'd fill a thermos lid with some heavily sweetened coffee and go about teaching me the patience of bank fishing on a dingy river. We'd always fish below a broken old dam. Long after my youthful patience waned, she'd still be there, sitting in her lawn chair, holding her old fiberglass rod with line between her fingers. She'd catch a lot of carp and catfish. I spent a lot of time casting. Those were the good ol' days. She's long since passed, but her lessons still ring in my fishing consciousness. I'm 38 now and only enjoying my 2nd season of bass fishing. It is great to be an adult and still having that feeling of discovering something this great for the first time. I'll occasionally do some walleye fishing in a local river, but my heart lies with the wily largemouth. So, since I've been fishing since I can remember, I've just recently discovered the lure of bass fishing (pun intended). If you are reading this, you know what I mean. Whets 8-)

What is the trade up program? Apparently this is something that I have missed, but am rethinking my priorities.Hahahahaha Oh yea, if you don't know about this, you are indeed missing out. http://www.stcroixrods.com/category/service_and_warranty Basically, you can trade in one rod (let's say Avid) for a in the next category up (LTB or higher). You get credit for your rod towards the purchase of the new one. It's very cool. If you are anywhere close to the factory, I suggest just stopping in and taking care of the upgrade. I'm about 5 hours away and plan to drive up every spring before bass season opens here in Southern Wisconsin. Enjoy... Whets 8-)

At the time, I did not because this type of set up was new to me. My other Revos are Winches and they have a different set up. However, after inspecting the brake functions, I noticed how the blocks extend and that they are yellow. I did not see any yellow. It was really as if the spool was rubbing on the cover instead of free floating in the bearings. I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks again. Whets 8-)

Thanks guys. I appreciate the input. A drop of oil here and a drop there and it is all good. This should have been common sense, but the reel was new, so I just thought I'd ask. I think I'll just have to keep it. Whets 8-)

Boyd Duckett was the face of E21's Carrot Stix. He has since left and started his own rod line. If you have not already, search "Duckett leaves E21" online. You can then read a bit about why he left. Basically, he didn't feel the company was building a rod worthy of risking his reputation by putting his name on it. Other than that, I really don't know of any professionals pushing the product. I don't use Carrot Stix and I'm not trying to talk anyone out of their chosen brand. I don't believe one should really base your rod choice solely on what the pros use. (Not saying you are...) Take a look at St Croix's pros page. They are all from WI and I've never really heard of any of them. But, they make a great fishing pole in my opinion. Whets 8-)

Hi All, I took advantage of a closeout price and Father's Day special and picked up a left-over 2009 SR Reel. It was under $145 and I just couldn't pass it up. These things are super light-weight and I couldn't wait to try it. My first cast went well. Then, I took the side-plate off to modify the centrifugal brake settings. After putting it back on, the reel makes and awful screeching noise when I cast. Casting distance doesn't appear to be affected. I don't want to return the reel without asking some advise quick. Has anyone else had an issue like this with one of your SR reels? I think it has probably sat on the shelf and may just need to have a touch of oil put on it. It feels like it is being caused by the outside of the spool touching the spool housing. Do reels, if they sit for a while, need to be touched up with lube even when they are new? I kind of assume so, but would like to hear some input. Thanks for your time. Whets 8-)

I plan to try and take advantage of St. Croix's trade up program each year. So, I get at least 2-3 new rods each season. My reels are good, but I couldn't pass up a deal on the Skeet Reese Revo from TW right before Father's day! Once I'm on all top-end stuff, I guess I'll have to figure it out as I go. Whets 8-)

Fishing, once addicted, becomes an expensive sport. Personally, I am not independently wealthy and work for the quality products I use. Therefore, if I were in a position to accept a sponsorship from a company to promote and use their products, I would surely leap at the chance. The only way I would not is if I truly believed the product was an inferior product and would only serve to help me catch less fish. This isn't really selling out. It is acknowledging there are plenty of quality products out there and plenty of good people behind them. I'd be happy to give it a shot. That said, if St. Croix & Abu Garcia or Quantum are out there listening, I'm here for you. Whets 8-)

It's got to be the line conditioner. I bet he follows the directions. ;D

My favorite setup is also one of my most versatile. 7' Medium-Heavy Fast St. Croix Legend X. paired with a LH 7.0:1 Quantum Tour Edition PT spooled with 30-lb. Sufix Performance Braid. I traded up to get this rod as my primary spinnerbait rod. It works great for spinnerbaits and has filled in nicely as my top-water buzzbait or frog rod. Whets 8-)

Thanks for sharing. Not only am I jealous of this angling work of art, but I've been introduced to a new rod blank and custom builder I hadn't heard of. Now, if I could just be introduced to correct lottery numbers, I'd get me one or ten. ;D Whets 8-)

This is exactly what I thought and why I decided to use LH baitcasters. This is only my second season of bass fishing and LH feels natural. Honestly, I have a harder time fighting a fish with the rod in my weak (left) hand. So for me it's more about which hand the rod is in rather than which hand I'm reeling with. One thing to think about though, I'm afraid I may damage my reels in the long run because sometimes I catch myself starting to reel before the spool has stopped. I've been working on consciously stopping it with my thumb first, but you know how it goes. Whets 8-)

I have had two friends who claimed they were hard on their equipment and didn't want to spend a lot on a rod. They were happy using Ugly Stiks. I let both of them use my St. Croixs. Since that time, one has purchased about 4 of them and the other at least one that I know of. My point isn't that they went with Croixs, it is that they felt the difference between economy rods and, well, the good stuff. Like many have said before. Use what you like and like what you use. Whets 8-)

Thanks Gamecocks. I went right to TW and ordered some. My main issues are with the "tails" of the Rage Tails ripping. Of course, the bait monkey was hungry so he talked me into ordering more Rage Tails and a few extra hooks. Of course, I had to go over $50 for the free shipping. Whets 8-)

I recently purchased some of the Rage Tail Toads. We have a small lake near by which used to be a quarry. It is loaded with lily pads, sub surface vegetation, and is crystal clear. This bait works great as a top-water bait around all the lily pads. The action and noise it produces pulls hogs from the deep. They are a bit expensive and get tore up pretty easily. But I've been tearing up the top-water bite with them and heartily recommend them. After reading the other posts, I can't wait to try more. Whets 8-)

K_Mac, that was seriously funny. This is the first string I've created and I have enjoyed reading what everyone has to say. I think I'm going to get brave and when I need that new heavy-slop rod and reel, I'm going to buy something different from what I use. Maybe then I'll ask for opinions on that. Whets 8-)

For me, this is kind of what I needed to hear. Thanks for all the responses. I guess I'm kind of hard-headed when it comes to these things. I work in an industry where we try to push brand loyalty (Powersports). Also, I like the consistency of feel when it comes to my reels. Thanks again for taking the time to comment. Regardless of what we use, we are all in it for the fish. Whets 8-)

I've been quietly sitting on the bank reading many of the posts. It is quite apparent to me that there is a lot of brand loyalty among members. If many of you are like me, if it works and you like it, use it. All of my rods are St. Croix (Avids, LTs, Legend X). I've visited the factory and was treated like a very valued customer. I love how St. Croix's work. I also appreciate that the rods I use are made in the USA. I only use two brands of reels. I fish LH, so I've opted for Revo Winches for my two crankbait setups and I use Quantum PTs for everything else (Quantum doesn't offer slow/powerful LH model). They all work for me. However, I can't help but wonder how other rods & reels work. I've spent a lot on fishing gear. I don't really want to spend more trying out these other items. But I still wonder. Where I'm at in Southern Wisconsin, I don't fish with many people who use higher-end products like I do so I don't get the chance to try other rigs. About the only thing I'm not super attached to are the Quantums... Tell me I'm not the only angler here who has perfectly green moss on my side of the boat but can't help looking at the other side to see if that moss is greener. Let me hear what you all think. I'm curious to hear why you use what you use. Whets 8-)

Personally, I currently prefer Sufix braid. I've used Power Pro and recently switched. One of the things I like about the Sufix is it feels more round to me than the Power Pro. Also, I have had a few bird's nests with Sufix and have not yet been required to cut it out. (I had to cut out a few using PP.) I did use Power Pro all last year which was my first year of serious bass fishing. It worked great. As I gain experience, I'm trying different products. Right now I like Sufix. With all that being said, I'm now using Seaguar Abrazx fluorocarbon on my flipping/pitching set up. Hope this helps you find a starting point. From there, experiment. Good luck. Whets 8-) On a side note, my cousin who I fish with regularly swears by Fireline Braid.

Hi Oldbritguy, I've purchased and sold reels on ebay many times. I've never been let down. Feel confident when you read their feedback. I believe the guy you are talking about is one of my saved eBay sellers. For what it is worth, you may want to check out an STX instead of the premier. I've heard some negative feedback regarding the drag on the Premiers. I personally use Revo Winches for my crankbaits and love them. You can't go wrong with Abu Garcia Revo reels. Happy bidding. Let us know of your experience if you decide to buy. Phil