hatrix

I agree with basstrix being the best hollowbody you can buy. The thing with throwing things like a 68 is not if your rod can handle it to throw it of there. The real issue is can your rod set the hook? They are a hard bait to move and when you set the hook there is no half ass hook set with those. You really need to crank down and let it rip with all you got to ensure penetration. It can be a great issue when making super long casts and that is why a line like CXX will really help stick those fish.

I have caught more big bass (relative) this year then any other year of fishing. I have also caught much less bass overall then any year also. I have also become very dedicated to throwing the big stuff almost 100% of the time I am fishing. Maybe some of you are right and big swimbaits just don't catch fish where you live. I personally doubt that though. I think a lot of it has to do with your selection of baits and most of all the quality of them. Originally I didn't catch as many as I do now but I also did not have the selection and range of big expensive baits when I first started that I do now. Having a decent selection of big baits to cover all situations you might come across has greatly increased my success. The issue I see people having with it all is that it can get expensive pretty quick. People are not so will to drop $60 on a lure let alone $100+ unless that is what you are into. Anymore I would rather buy let's say a HPH for $100 then a bunch of cranks and soft plastics and other misc stuff. In the end I probably wouldn't even use all those cranks of plastics and I know that is true because I have done it many times before and probably all of us have. Now that HPH I bought I will sure as hell fish the crap out of that and it is for sure going to stick some nice fish. In a way you kind of either need to be all in or your not going to have the success you see others achieving.

I also kind of assume that maybe you wrote this because of the thread talking about someone trying to catch a "big fish" and how any people say location. I do agree with you Matt about that. It is a silly answer and really does nothing to help someone. That should kind of be assumed in my eyes and I would like to think the person asking should also know you can't catch a big fish if there are no big fish around.

That will probably help a lot of people on here and I would imagine lots of the people who don't have crazy amounts of time spent on the water. I would just like to say though if your real goal is to target the biggest fish in the lake although BR is great there are other sites that are dedicated to only this. Big lures = Big fish. Period. It's is a different kind of mindset to throw the big stuff all day every day and anyone new should probably get ready for a lot of diss appointment and days of catching nothing. Your location will also have a huge impact upon your success but no matter where you live I guarantee there is bass somewhere that you fish big enough to eat that 10" lure you always said way to big where you live. You need to just grind it out like everyone else and put in the work and the rewards will eventually come.

Really there is only 4 washers if you don't cout the drag washers and they are all correct. There is the spacing washer the )( washers I don't know what to call them and the washer for the handle.

Well that was kind of vague DVT what is the right spot? Should I just toss some extra washers on the handle for fix the issue. Does that play in the handle also have anything to do with the feeling of gears when you turn the handle? I also noticed that I thought was funny in the PQ is that they used a right handed anti reverse and just put it on backwards so the plastic is facing out. I guess whatever works to cut down there cost.

So I cleaned a few reels the other day that needed some love. One of them was a old PQ of my brothers and one of my lews tournament's I have not fished in a while. Well for some reason just these 2 reels seem to have play in and out with the handle after all was done. None of my other reels have this issue but only these 2. I also noticed that basically they are the same reel when you take them apart except the PQ is just lesser quality on things like drag ect. They also seemed a bit "geary" when turning the handle. I contribute this to maybe being because of the play in the handle. I use very minimal grease and oil on my reels and would rather not pack them with grease to get rid of the feeling.

Turning your wrist so the spool is vertical to the ground as opposed to parallel makes a slight difference in how easily the spool spins but I don't put much into. It is because of physics and I am not so sure what others were talking about. It naturally will want to turn vertically on its own so the force of gravity is equally applied to the spool. With the spool in its natural position of being parallel it is not since the spool is not A symmetrical in regards to gravity. Only turning your reel on its side so the plate or handle face up or down will achieve this.

People do it for basically 2 reasons. The first is so you don't use a whole spool of line on 1 reel since the majority of it will never see the water. That way you can get 2 possibly 3 reels lined with 1 spool. Secondly it is to stop the braid from slipping on the spool. I have personally never had a problem with that but it happens.

Stanley top toad.

A year ago I would of said Lews for sure. Now its Diawa without a doubt. They are smooth well built and have the best braking system of any brand. Tatulas are great reels and *** has the T3 on sale for $200. If you talking about casting distance thats a hard reel to beat. You can also go JDM and get some really sharp stuff. They just seem to have nicer reels we don't get.

I don't know why some stuff has trouble with braid. I just bought a pair of Shimano split ring pliers that are basically needlenose. They are brand new and can't cut braid for the life of them but this super junk pair of needlenose I have been using for like 4 years that all rusted cut right though it.

So good. I don't know about on a dropshot but just as a swimbait. They are super cheap also.

If you are using a twistlock hook there is a little something I started doing with swimbaits just recently that helps a bit. Just take a little piece of paper clip and bend it then push it in the nose and in between 2 of the screw rings. You wont be able to pull your bait back because the paper clip is blocking it. It will even hold a bait with a blown out nose with no meat left to screw into. It works awesome for shadalicous that I have a ton of and never really use cause the nose is so garbage at holding a screwlock. also Mend-It takes a while to setup and is kinda crappy. Pro Cure is much much much better.

for sure 20# is to thin even 30# can be. Line digging into the spool will just be part of the game and you might have to cast it out to fix it after a hard hookset. Even with 65# It will dig on me when fishing heavy cover and smashing hooksets with tight drag.

I would go with a hard bait over a soft if you have toothy critters. Since you are trying to get some cheaper baits I would also look at the S-Wavers and Glide Swimmers. The are basically sub surface glides that stay around 1-3 feet unless you really let them sink a while. For top water check out a Shell Cracker and Lunker Punkers. These are all really good baits that can be had for $20 or less. These are like literally the cheapest of notable baits and work great.

This ^^ They also work well for heavy lures that cast easily with little resistance like spooks, traps, hollow frogs, ect. As for the spool tension thing maybe I am just weird but I basically never use them on any of my reels. That is the biggest robber of casting distance and if the lure has a little weight it defeats the purpose of having a nice smooth reels to me since it becomes harder to turn. Not to mention if you are trying to make little accurate pitches or roll casts it changes the release somewhat because it doesn't just flow right off the spool. I am sure I am not totally alone on that but from what I see a vast majority use tension.

I just started using the Spro Split Snaps. They are super easy to switch stuff out on and are pretty heavy duty. There is also like no way they can open up or whatever and you loose a bait because of them.

For me reel doesn't really matter. It's basically all about the rod in regards to how heavy of a bait you are using. You want the tip to be able to load up a bit and that is what really flicks it out there. You can use heavier rods for like say a 1/4 oz but of they are stiff and the tip doesn't really load to give it any fling it's a lot more difficult. Well for me it is. I also have a tuff time getting under really low stuff with to light a lure or heavy of a rod. The tip is what lets me get under stuff with a fast and low trajectory.

I use to be all braid all the time but have gotten away from that. I only have spinning reels with braid on them and a spare casting spool. I generally am a hard hook setter but my drags will slip a bit on hook sets. I generally set it that way to relieve some of the digging that happens and not pull out hooks. The only time it is tight is if I'm in thick grass or throwing a frog. I don't really want any slippage with those.

It's basically what bluebasser said in regards to break offs from a backlash. As for other lines that people use P-Line CXX was mentioned but also P-Line FX, Big Game, and Suffix Seige.

Swimbaits for sure. But to be more specific anymore it's glide baits. The power of glides really is something to behold. The ability to draw fish is unreal and when they hit it even on a slack line glide they hit it hard.

Get your self some hardbaits also. Hudds work great but are not always the best. You need to pay attention to the bottom structure and your angle a lot with a Hudd to be really really successfull. Glide baits work really well and there really is something to be said about there drawing power. They will pull fish off a spot from insanely far away and they will just follow it to the boat like no other. S- Wavers are awesome glides that are super cheap as far as glides go. DEPS Gan Craft and Roman Made also have amazing glides but cost a good bit more. Also things like Tripple Trouts MS Slammers BBZ-1 and Got'Em Coach work really well. I almost forgot top water. You also need some floater type baits like Punkers Shell Crackers 3:16 or floating versions of previously mentioned hard baits. If it is something your into it is worth it go straight for the good stuff and not waste time and money on baits that are only so-so or don't even work.

Hmm i didn't know that about the guide size vs spool size. I have some heavier braid somewhere and when i get around to it I will try to switch it out and see what happens. It just weird because any other spinning rod I have i can do whatever I want with it and never have a problem.

I also only use braid on spinning. I have some random rods without braid but they are not ones I use. Most of my spinning rods have swivels on them. I just pretty much always use a swivel anymore on my spinning rods even if its not really need just out of habit. When I tie leader I do a uni to uni and I never have issues on any rods casting or spinning. Yes I know how to spool a reel and yes I flip my bail over by hand every time. I don't even know to do engage a spinning reel any other way. I might have forgot over the years. Blah blah blah blah and more blah. Maybe it is just a bard reel or something. But I would of assumed It would happen to me with any other line and it was only braid. I even walked out the line and and spooled the braid on again but used a piece of tape so everything could be perfect. No knot or anything hindering how it stacked the line and to eliminate a variable.