hatrix

Square: Cotton Cordell Big-O Lipless: Sebille Flat Shad Jerk: Xcalibur Erratic Shad Top: Lunker Punker / Spook

Lews Tournament Speed Spool Shimano Crucial MH/XF Seagur Red Label 12# Missile Baits D-Bomb in Watermelon 1/4 oz Tungsten Trokar Flipping Hook 4/0 (I think)

I was not trying to say you don't need a spinning reel. I use them frequently but it is only for a coupe of techniques. I think once someone becomes fairly proficient with casting gear it will become your main tool and spinning will be second.

Casting reels generally can use heavier line and are more capable of using heavier baits. It is easier to control a cast with a casting reel and they are just plain far more effective in making more casts in a day. You also can't really flip or pitch as easily with spinning. Casting have more cranking power also compared to spinning. Go beat a bank from a boat using spinning while the guy next to you uses a casting reel. He will be making way more casts then you and hitting his mark with a lot less effort. My brother had the same feeling a few years back. After constantly watching me make more accurate casts to little holes and just more casts in general with less effort he made the switch finally and never looked back. Needless to say he doesn't even bring a spinning rod usually with him when we go out any more.

I use mostly a improved clinche knot almost all the time now a days and have no issue. As someone had said it is easy to see when you tie a good one and it is a very easy and fast knot to tie. With braid I still tie a palomar because passing a tag end through loops is almost impossible at times. I think with the line crossing on a palomar if your loop has a twist in it when you go to tighten it will burn your line or sometimes it will tighten down before you can even pull all the slack out.

I threw lots of swimbaits on a cranking rod using braided line and had great success. Nothing to big just your standard hollow bellies. To me it seemed sometimes using braid with a m/h f or xf they would hit it so hard and fast they would feel the shock of the rod and be gone by the time u set the hook. That is just how I felt when using braid sometimes.

D bomb all day. My first fish this year was caught on one.

I would get a reel with dual breaking. Even so the speed spool is still a good reel.

Pretty much that's the idea. The stuff take like 24 hours to fully set up. If you can find that screw magic stuff people are talking about try that. I have never heard of it so I can't comment. But jb weld or some kind of serious epoxy will glue anything together.

The jb weld might be the best bet. Just put a bit on with a toothpick and get a small bit in there before it sets up. Also cutting a little slot with the dremel isn't a bad idea either. You could just rip it apart. You probably didn't need that screw anyways.

I only do a small uni to uni when tying to backing just a couple of turns. A full knot with heavier line can mess up how your line spools on the reel and make it stack to one side or you feel it with your thumb in a long cast.

Swimbaits Swim jigs Lunker Punkers

I like Seaguar Red label in any where from 12-17# depending. I throws hollow belly with 12# and bigger baits like around 3oz with 17#. It's cheap comparatively to others and work like a champ for me.

The line will want to unspool because it has a memory. It's current memory is to the size of the spool of line you used and that is much bigger then your reel. When I spool a reel I wet a rag with some line conditioner and hold the line taught with it as I reel. There is a coating on new line and this helps remove it and gets the line to lay better on the reel. Even just a wet paper towel will help take off the chalky coating and green crap from braid. This is just how I do it. I am sure some do it differently and some exactly the same. I really do recommend running new line through some kind of wet rag though when you are spooling. You might be amazed and how much stuff comes off the line.

I have only broke braid during a cast 1 timer ever. I got a nasty backlash from trying to tuff guy a 6" ROF 12 Hudd as hard as I could with 30# PP. Hard hook sets and sudden jaring of your line will actually break tiny strands inside your braid making it weaker and weaker every time although you don't see any difference in the line. Maybe it could of been a bad spool? Or maybe you are getting a very tiny backlash somewhere in your cast and every time it straightens suddenly mid cast it is weakening the strands. If that happens in the same place over and over I could imagine it breaking eventually.

I don't use a swimbait hook any more. For sure not on shadalicious any more. The nose on those are super garbage IMO compared to others. Just casting your screw lock will pull out. I use a tube jig head completely inside the body. I only use screw locks on solid baits like a keitech or something when I need to go weedless. Try it and you will never use a screw lock again.

I actually made a post with this question a few years back. I was asking with having Erie in mind with me being from Cleveland. I could just always remember wanting to go out as a kidand my grandfather or who ever I was asking saying no because it was a east wind.

I would just fish it and see how it goes. There is a few places I fish sometimes that are a HOA I would assume but I don't get hassled about it. I NEVER will fish behind someone's house or in a place where I think they would have to look at me all day. If possible try to maybe strike up a bit of conversation with someone there if they are cutting the grass or something and you should at least wave or something to them. If there is a issue with you being there they will come and say something to you about it and that will be that.

I have both reels in question and they basically equal to me in the end. Lews is great because all there reels are the same and palm the same. The tatulas brakes are better IMO then centrifugal brake but they both cast equally well. Tatulas are cheaper though and I will probably just buy more tatulas from now on. As a matter of fact I bought a other one today for $105 BNIB. At that price there is no real that can beat it.

For a rod you can check out Low Down Custom Rods. They are maybe cheaper then you think and specialize in those types of rods. A reel is personal preference IMO and you should stick with ones you know generally or a company you might be partial to. You can also check out swimbaitunderground.c0m It is all swimbaits all the time. Good Luck

I don't really know your skill level but. If you have that many brakes on and still get loops it might be your technique. ALL my lew's reels have 1 brake on and usually 0 mags and up to maybe 2 or 3 in strong wind. I never use tension either unless throwing big heavy lures. Sometimes less is more. With minimal brakes you don't need much effort to really get some distance on your cast and if you throw to hard your brakes will engage harder and slow your cast down to much sometimes. A dirty pinion gear can really reduce your casting. Pop out your spool and rip a little off a q-tip so it fits and clean the dirt out. That is something I do fairly often and makes a big impact while only take a couple minutes tops to do.

Well the lighter idea would be great and all but I generally tie a snell on a flipping hook. The plastic keeper doesn't really like fire very much. The pocket knife thing doesn't really cut heavy braid well. I think the way I am doing it might be the best for me and trying to use cutters nicks up the shank.

Does any one have any kind of special trick for getting these knots off? Usually I just try to snag the tag end and pull it out so I can unwrap it. It can be somewhat difficult to get braid knots off of flipping hooks and am always looking for better ways to do things.

Swimbaits Jigs and Big Plastics.

I think most people use a straight tail worm usually. I usually want to wacky rig it if possible or you can T-rig it and throw it right in the middle of the weeds with not much issue. I have also do very well wacky rigging senkos and ocasionally will use little fluke style baits nose hooked. To me a drop shot catches every fish of all sizes and that is why I think it is just the flat out best at catching numbers of fish. If there is a fish there I feel it is more likely to bite a bait sitting right in its face then a lure swimming by or something sitting on the bottom. I catch all different species with it too just because the presentation is so small usually most fish can eat it.