.ghoti.

The chatterbait did not quite turn out to be the next great bait for me. I put in a lot of time with one on the line, and caught only a few small bass with it. Had quite a few missed hits. The only decent fish I caught with it came on a yo-yo retrieve, pulling it up off the bottom long and hard enough to feel the vibration, then letting it drop. Rather like a very aggressive jig retrieve. In my quest to reduce the amount of stuff I'm carrying around, I've been re-organizing my tackle. The chatterbaits will probably not make the cut. If I want a spinnerbait, I'll be using a spinnerbait. Ditto for jigs. I know a lot of people have reported very nice results using this bait. I'm not one of "em, so off with their heads. Cheers, GK

I've never fished a jig without a trailer. I have no idea if they'd work without one. I suppose they would, at least in some odd situations. Cheers, GK

Good baits for numbers, but I've never caught a bass over about a pound and a half on one. Good for trout. Good for big crappie, but not for numbers of crappie. The bad thing about them is the line twist. I've found one that doesn't twist your line. http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=15446&hvarDept=100&hvarEvent=&hvarClassCode=6&hvarSubCode=2&hvarTarget=browse Get a couple of these and put a suspend strip along the bottom of the entire body. It will run deeper and not twist your line. It's hard to get these very deep without some help. Rapala used to make a version of this that was a heavier, better balanced bait, but i haven't seen any for sale for a few years now. Cheers, GK

I was out last Sunday, flinging an old spook, with the hooks removed, out across the ice. I always leave the old line on my reels when doing the yearly clean & lube, so i can try them out. I don't always get things put back together just right, so I need a test before I can say that they're done. Glad nobody came along to ask if i was catching anything. We're all nuts. Ain't it fun? Cheers, GK

I may be the odd man out here, but I've caught more on the regular -1 than on the baby. It's an awsome bait for the times, early in the day, when there's too much chop on the water for most topwaters. I've done the best with it under these conditions by crankin it fast and jerking on the rod. No pauses. Plus, you can cast it a mile. With that new Steez/GLX combo of yours, you can probably chuck it into the next county. Cheers, GK

I've always t-rigged these with a 3/0 EWG and an 1/8oz slip sinker. DOne very well with them. I'd never considered rigging them backwards. Got something new to try this season. Cheers, GK

I have had some success withthe YUM products. Haven't had much luck with powerbait. My experience is just the opposite. I've caught a lot of fish with Power worms, tubes, craws and brush hawgs. Haven't had much success with YUM baits, at all. Go figure. Didn't like the spray because it stains everything. Too messy for me. Cheers, GK

For me, it's 1/4oz and less. I catch very few fish on jigs any bigger. Don't know what my malfunction is, but, a recipe for getting skunked is tie on a 1/2oz jig and fish all day with that. I know a lot of guys who do very well with the larger jigs, but I'm not one of them. In my newly re-organized tackle system, the only jigs onboard now are 1/4oz and less. All the larger ones have been retired. Cheers, GK

I bought a bunch of them last year, thinking like you, that they would be good for weeds. Was I ever wrong. They will not stay centered on the line. And when they slip off-center, they will pick up more trash than normal shot. Try the water gremlin bull shot. They look like little bullet weights, and will stay centered on the line much better. I put all the clam shot in my panfish bag and just use them to balance floats. That's about all they're good for, in my opinion. Cheers, GK

The more expensive version screws into the rod, and only works on selected models of rods from BPS. The cheaper version will work on any rod. After having used both, I'd recommend that you try out a buddy's rod, if you have a friend who has one of these. I really don't like the larger buttcap that these add to the rod, particularly the cheap version. I kept getting it caught on my vest and shirtsleeves. Finally decided it wasn't worth the hassle and took it off. The screw-in version will probably soon follow the cheap one into the junk drawer. Cheers, GK

I should have added that a spinning rig is in my hands about 10% of the time. So, a high end spinning reel is just not justifiable for me. The two Capricorns that I have, I use occasionally for bass and even less for walleye. They are going to last me for quite a while. My wife uses spinning gear exclusively. I'll probably be replacing hers sooner than mine. If nothing new shows up, I'll still stick by my earlier statement, and buy her more Quantum's, if they do wear out. We will see. Cheers, GK

My wife works for them. Has for a long time. In this area, they are phasing out all high end gear. No more good reels. no more decent rods. Just the cheap stuff will be left. They will still stock a small selection of tackle, hard and soft baits, tackle boxes, etc.

I have a Stradic, two Symetre's, a Catalst PT, two Energy PT's, two older Team Daiwa's and two Daiwa Capricorn's, so I can comment on all the above. The Stradic is in a drawer in the garage. After three seasons, and yearly cleaning, it just doesn't feel anywhere near as smooth as it did when it was new. In reading everybody else's comments on this reel, I realize my experience is atypical. Maybe I got a bad one? Don't know, never bought another one. The two Symetre's are about 7 or 8 years old, and still working just fine. They are on my crappie rods, and get a good workout every spring and fall. For my money, this is the best bang for the buck in the Shimano line of spinning reels. I'll temper that remark by saying that I've never owned a Stella or a Sustain. I've owned the Stradic, Symetre, Sedona and Sahara. Gave the last two away. The Catalyst PT is every bit as smooth as the Energy. If you close your eyes, you can't tell the difference. As far as longevity, it's a bit early to tell. I've had the Catalyst for three years and the Energy for two. No problems at all, so far. For my money, the Catalyst is the most bang for the buck. When my wife started fishing with me at the beginning of last year, I let her try out all of my spinning reels and rods, and let her pick what she wanted. She picked the PT reels most emphatically. There was no discussion on this point. Those reels are "hers". The older TD's are dead and buried. They gave me better than ten years of hard service, with no maintenance at all before they gave up the ghost. Got "em on a clearance sale at wally-world for 25 bucks each, so I got more than my money's worth out of them. I bought Capricorns for a couple of reasons. They were on sale at Cabela's, my wife had confiscated my PT's, and my old Daiwa's were worn out. The Tackle Tour boys had done a comparison of the Capricorn and the Stradic, and had decided that the Capricorn was the better reel. Based on my experience with each, I'll have to agree. The Capricorn has been replaced in the Daiwa lineup, at the same price point, by the Tierra. Never owned one, so I can't compare them. Knowing Daiwa, I'd have a hard time believing that the quality went down. Bottom line, if I were buying a new spinning reel today, I'd get a Catalyst PT. For ten bucks more than a Symetre you get a smoother retrieve, better drag and a magnetic bail. Pretty good for ten bucks. Just my fifth of a dimes worth. Cheers, GK

Centrifugal brakes help to prevent overruns at the beginning of the cast. As the spool slows, the pins retract, producing less and less braking friction. At the end of the cast, they're doing nothing. You need your thumb at that point. Something in me likes the idea of balance, so if I have two brakes set, they are opposite each other. For three, I'll set every other one. I don't know if this actually makes any difference. If I had to guess, I'd say not. Start out with three brakes on, and practice. As your thumb becomes educated, you can go down to two. I don't know anybody who keeps them all off, all the time. You'd have to have a very "smart" thumb to pull that off, on a consistent basis. Cheers, GK

Good advice here. It's not all that hard, just time consuming. The worst that can happen is not getting it back together correctly, or losing some parts. Some of the small springs have a mind of their own, and will find a way to jump off the bench. I use about three feet of paper toweling, taped down. Tape it down good. The parts I've lost were lost because I pulled the towel off the bench. Lay out the parts in order as you remove them from the reel. You can write on the paper towel if you want. Might not be bad idea the first few times to write what the part is next to it. If you don't know what it's called, make something up. A baitcast reel is full of bearings, linkages, springs, whatchamacallits, doo-dads, thingamabobs, dingle-scheaffers and overlaitors. Get all the old grease and oil out. I use a toothbrush, very hot water and Dawn dish soap. It's cheap and always around the house. Re-lube sparingly. For the spool disengage linkages, I put grease on my fingertips and rub it on all the parts. I use a tooth pick to get grease into the gear teeth. I used to also put grease on the levelwing gear and pawl. I've since learned, on this site, that this is a dumb idea. Use oil instead. One drop of oil in each bearing. Too much lube in the IAR bearing will cause it to slip. Good luck, it's not as hard as you think it is. Cheers, GK

I got these. http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=44706&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults All stainless steel, very solid and reliable. Reasonably accurate. I weighed some groceries when I first bought these. Weighed a one pound package of sausage, 3 pounds of hamburger, 6 pound roast and a 12 pound turkey. It weighs in 1/4 pound increments, and all weights were within that. If you're going to handling toothy critters, this is the one. If you want more accuracy, and don't mind spending the extra cash, the Boga is probably the way to go. I did a little research before buying the one I have, and discovered that the Boga is certifiable, as is the Rapala. The Berkley digital is not. Don't know if that's important to you, or not. Cheers, GK

Hearing about anybody fishing barefoot makes me cringe. I wear the oldest pair of Nike's or Reebok's, etc, that I have. When they get too nasty and/or uncomfortable, I demote another pair to fishing shoe status. Cheers, GK

There is one other possibility. the levelwing pawl could be worn. This will cause the same problem. You'll know when that's the cause because it won't correct itself by repositioning the spool or rod. It takes a few years, but it will happen. It is fairly easy to replace. Cheers, GK

Walk the dog. This is a great bait for that application. I've been surprised by some of the responses to this question, and the earlier thread on the spook. I've never caught a fish on a spook, or this bait, by twitching and pausing. Only dog walking has produced for me. I've caught a lot of fish twitching pop-r's and skitterpops, and their like, and of course on the original twitch bait, the floating Rapala. But never on a cigar bait. But, who said this was an exact science, anyway? I'm certainly no expert. I was intrigued by the idea of pulling the head under and popping it up. I'm gonna try to remember that one. Here's a different retrieve I picked up from a guide in Cancun. He had a small hole drilled in the front of the bait, and would fill it about a third of the way up with water. We would then cast, and retrieve it as fast as we could crank the reel. This produced a very erratic action across the top of the water, with an occasional shallow dive. When you paused, it would sink backwards. We caught a lot of barracuda and quite a few grouper on this thing. I experimented with this a couple of years ago, and could not duplicate the action. Maybe it was the difference between saltwater and fresh water. Or, maybe I never found the correct fill level. It's something I drag out and experiment with, when I can't get bit on anything, and, of course, when I remember it. If I ever manage to get it right, I'll let you all know what it took. Cheers, GK

I too remember using these about ten years ago. Caught some fish on them, using them unweighted, on a spinning rod, and c-rigged. I remember being disappointed when I clouldn't find them. The originals were Mann's, I think. Not sure about that. Who makes these. They look a little bit different. I don't remember the ribbed body, for one thing. Cheers, GK

What the heck are you thinking when you try to eat a spinnerbait?

I'm close enough to St Charles that the only time I order from BPS is when the store is out of stock. I buy most of my stuff from BPS because I like the bonus points. I do also order a lot of stuff from Cabela's. That will be changing as soon as the new store opens. I really prefer to buy from a store, not online. Cheers, GK

Except for my two muskie rigs, I have no use for it. CHeers, GK

4biz, you have the right idea. An external drive, a big one, and regular back-up schedule. I'm sorry to say that I've been there and done that. And I know better, and have for a long time. Some data may still be recoverable. Take it to a good IT guy, and let him give it a shot. It will cost you a few bucks, but it sounds like you have some stuff on there that would be worth something to you. Cheers, GK

5/0 Gammy EWG for 5" senko 3/0 same for 4" senko 5/0 Gammy EWG Superline hook for 6" Walmart sells the Kinami Flash. Same exact bait, in a different package.