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community college professor - full time industry consultant - part itme I'm a techno-geek, specializing in automation systems.

Matt Fly said it. I would add responsibility. DO IT!

I was thinking that the Conquest was lighter, and had different spool capacities than the same size Calcutta, but I haven't looked it up. I think they just drilled more holes in it to lighten it up. I should have looked that up before saying anything, I may be all wet. Spinning gear is the way to go for light weight cranking, for me. My favorite spinning rig is a Quantum Energy PT30, 8lb XL, and an Avid 7' MF rod. I get long casts and max depth with this setup. I use it for all small crankbaits; #5 Shad Raps, 1/8oz traps, Pin's Minnows, Original Rapala's etc. I also use this for regular Flukes. ( not Super Flukes) And for most all of my walleye fishing, the little I do. I use a BC for bigger cranks, and for deep divers. I don't own a spinning rod I feel is heavy enough for deep divers. That Legend Tournament rod you described sounds like it would be better than what I have for this application. If it's stout enough to troll with, it oughta be fine for deep crankin bass. With a line rating of 6-12, it should load easy with a medium sized crank. Probably throw a big crank half a mile.

I'll go with stuff I have, and not "dream" outfits. #1. Daiwa L&T rod 6'3" MH, Daiwa Millionaire reel, 10lb XL line #2 JM Sig Series rod 7' MH, Quantum Energy PT reel, 12lb Transition line lure 1 - 5" Senko lure 2 - Fat Ika lure 3 - 10" Power Worm lure 4 - Zoom tube lure 5 - 1/4oz white/chart willow spinnerbait I guess we know how I like to fish, now don't we.

Why do blondes wear pony tails? To hide the air valve. A blonde called up her boyfriend one day with a problem. She was trying to put together a jigswas puzzle. She said, " It's a picture of a big rooster, and I can't get any of the pieces together. None of the edge pieces will fit, Would you please come over and help" When the boy friend arrived, he took one look at the table and said, "Honey, put the cornflakes back in the box" What do you do when a blonde throws a pin at you? RUN, she has a grenade in her mouth. What did the blonde say the first time she saw a YMCA? Look, they spelled Macy's wrong. Why do blondes have TGIF on their shoes? Toes Go In First.

I like the 5" swim baits. They've done well for me. The key, I think, is to retrieve them very slow and steady. Try one out in shallow water where you can see the action. You'll know when you've hit the right speed when you see the bait do a little side-to-side "searching" action. That erratic movement is the key, and you can't get it by doing any twitching or jerking. It takes a steady crank at just the right speed. Not all of the Storm baits will do this. That's my only knock on them. About one out of four just won't work. But, they are cheap enough to just throw away the ones that don't work. I let them hit the bottom, then start the crank. When that doesn't work, I'll count them down to different depths just to experiment. For me, just off the bottom has been the best by far. Crnkin one down a point, or up , instead of across has also been better. Good luck, GK

Quote; "just because someone posts a lot doesnt mean they have knowledge, in this case he clearly does not." I'll say this once; better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. Abraham Lincoln

Hey buddy, welcome to a whole new world. Fly fishing for bass is a hoot. It's not the most efficient way to fish, but it's certainly fun. Once you start down this road, you'll have another place to spend your hard earned money. I'll attempt to answer your questions. The combo; I have two of these reels. In my opinion, these are one of the best values out there. You can catch them on sale for $40. Nobody else has a large arbor, disc drag reel for anywhere near that price. Good choice. Don't know anything about the rod in that combo. I'd suggest a Temple Forks Outfitters rod. They go for about $90. Never seen one on sale. I have two of them. I regard them as the best bang for the buck right now. The line: I did not have a very good experience with that particular line. Cortland 555 or 444 would be a lot better choice. It's gonna cost you more, but either will be worth the extra cost. Get a weight forward, floating line. The rocket taper is a good, versatile choice. The leader; there are a lot of good choices for leaders. Back in the bad old days, we had to make our tapered leaders with several different sizes of line tied together with blood knots. Now you can buy a one-piece tapered leader for cheap. The one you picked will work just fine. Rod specs; If bass fishing is your primary objective, a 6wt will do you just fine. If panfishing is your game, then you'll want a lighter rod. I use a 3wt for panfishing. If carp are your target, you'll want at least a 6wt. A five pound carp will fight three times as hard and ten times as long as a five pound bass. Get one of those on and you'll need your drag set correctly. I like to fish for carp with the fly rod. So far, I've caught four carp, the biggest was 6 pounds. My biggest bass on the fly was 4.5 pounds. Here's what I use: 3wt, for panfish, mostly bluegill 5wt, with floating line for trout, with a sink-tip line for crappie 6wt smaller bass flies and larger trout flies 8wt for big bass bugs How long will 90' of line last? I have some Cortland 444 on one rod that's at least five years old. The line will last as long as you take care of it. Get soem line cleaner/floatant, and use it every trip. Scientific Anglers makes a decent cheap version. If you keep the line clean, it will float higher, cast farther and last longer. Too make things easier, shop for a line with loop connectors built in, then buy leaders with the loops already tied on. Makes switching leaders a snap. A leader around 7 - 8 feet will do for almost all applications. Get a small spool of both 4 and 6 pound test tippet. Thats what you'll be changing the most. And learn to tie a back-to-back uni knot. You'll need that to attach the tippet to the leader. The tippet is like an extension on the leader. As you change flies, the tippet will get shorter, not the leader. A zonker is a great fly for bass. Made out of rabbit fur, it looks really cool in the water. I've caught a lot of bass on zonkers. Check out Flyshack.com. I've been buying from them for a while now and have had no problems. They have the best prices I've found, and will ship any order over $25 free. If you look for bass flies, check back on a regular basis. One thing I like about them is if they don't have it in stock, you won't see it listed for sale. Sometimes they'll have five pages of bass flies, and sometimes only one. For bass, my best producers have been zonkers, rabbit strip divers ( almost the same thing), bouface, wooly buggers and deer hair bugs. For bluegill, just about anything will work, but I tend to favor brightly colored dry flies, because it's topwater fishing in miniature. For carp, the only thing I caught them on was a small crawfish pattern. This is something I know little about. I know it's a blast, but that's about it. I intend to get better at it. Good luck man. Fly fishing is fun. Cheers, GK

By all means, pause it, twitch it, jerk it, rip it, pull it, etc. Do anything you can to break up the slow wide wobble. The more erratic you can make it, the better you'll do with this, or for that matter, any crankbait. Just mix it up. Experiment until you find something that works that day. I'll agree with ChugBug, this is not a time of year that I have any confidence with shallow cranks. But, I'll always have one tied on in the spring. These are also a pretty good choice at either sunrise or sunset during the hot part of the year. Good bait. Don't give up on it just yet. Cheers, GK

Your comment about price per bait got me thinking. Yeah, I know, a dangerous proposition, but I'll try to not strain any delicate parts. I really got into the X-Raps this year. Started out with two just to try them out. Ended up buying a bunch more. I have a whole box full of "em. There's probably 20 of them. that's a bit over $100 worth. I still have all except one. Lost it in an underwater tree. I also got into Fat Ikas this year. Bought a whole bunch of those too. Then bought more, and more, and more. I know I spent more than $100 on these things. And most of them are gone. I know I'm comparing apples to oranges here, but it begs the question, which is really cheaper to use. I don't have to reach for the calculator for the answer, and I have to stand in the shower to count to 21. I'm totally with you on the space thing. Every year I come up with a new tackle orginization scheme. And every year I conclude that this scheme just doesn't get it. I'm always packing around way too much stuff. I got the big Okee Fats bag early this year as part of my scheme. It's jammed so full of stuff my wife can't carry it. She won't even pick it up. I have three more similar bags, all jammed full. I also have seven BPS dual side binder bags full of plastics. And there's a lot more stuff in 3700 boxes, in the garage. I hate to think about how much money I have wrapped up in baits that have never been wet. Did I mention the BaitMonkey has me on speed-dial? I'm going to do better next year. HA! Didn't mean to hijack your thread, I just got on a roll here. I'd like to hear some space saving ideas. I am really going to try to get it down to that one Fats bag. I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I'm gonna try. I found an old three drawer file cabinet for the garage. I'll use it to store all the boxes full of baits that don't get used on a regular basis. And I'm going to eliminate most of the crankbaits I'm currently caring around. I'm in agreement with RoLo on this. You can throw a soft bait anywhere you can throw a hard bait, but not vice-versa. That's a thought I hadn't really articulated, up to now. Thanks for that one. There are a bunch of smart people here, let's hear some more thoughts on this subject. Cheers, GK

Gucci Nobile, Polo Blue, Davidoff Echo, Ferrari Red. Have a few others, those are the current favorites.

Thanks a lot, Raul. It was 20 degrees this morning when I got in the car to go to work. You've just made me feel SOOOOOO much better.

Deuce beat me to the punch. Work tubes, ikas, small jigs, down the ledges. Then parallel the bank with spinnerbaits or cranks, working deeper until you get a bite. This is a good time of the year for bluff banks. Good luck, GK

I like flouro line for a lot of applications, but not for topwater. The exception would be walkin the dog. If you keep the bait moving at all times, the sink rate of the line is not an issue. If you need the bait to sit still, for much longer than a second or two, you're gonna have some problems with flouro. After some experimentation, I've went back to XL for topwater use. Jerkbaits are another story. I like flouro for jerkin. I get a better sense of what the bait is doing, and can modify the action I impart to the bait with more confidence that what is I want is what I'm getting, if that makes sense. I"ve experimented with quite a few different lines this years, with only a few conclusions. For plastics and jerkbaits, Transition get the nod. It's much better line this year than it was before. For topwaters, it's gotta be Trilene XL. For crankbaits, I'm still on the fence. Been using Vanish, Silver Thread, YoZuri Ultra Soft and XL. Seems to depend on what day it is which one I prefer. I'm leaning towards the Ultra Soft. Fpr spinnerbaits, I'm leaning towards Vanish. For buzzbaits and frogs, I don't know. I'm gonna give the braid another chance next year, specifically for these applications. As you can see, I'm of the "different tools for different applications" school. I used to XL for everything. That will work. Before that, I used braid for everything. That too will work. I've experimented enough to come up with rod/reel combinations I use for different applications, and still feel compelled to try different lines for some of these. I guess that's part of the fun for me. I like to tinker with stuff. The perfect line just ain't out there, yet. Good luck, GK

About the gear ratio thing; I bought a PT baitcaster with 4.4:1 ratio, just for cranking, and hated it. I recently swapped out the gears for a 6.3:1 set, and it's a much better reel, for me. It's a heck of a lot easier to slow down with a fast reel than it is to speed up with a slow reel. Just wait until you have a nice bass, hooked on the back treble, run right at you. If you want a suggestion, have your bud borrow a slow reel, just to try it out, before buying one. He may like it. I know I did not. Just about any moderate action rod would work for cranks. I found a pretty good one by accident. I bought one of BPS's Rick Clunn models on sale. It's the 7' worm/dropshot model. I've totally dropped the dropshot rig from my bag of tricks. Can't catch anything but dinks on it. But, that's another story. This rod is useless as a worm rod. The tip's too soft. I tried it one day, just for the heck of it, with a shad rap, and there it was, a great crankbait rod. It's been my main crank rod ever since. Good for distance, the tip loads easily, not too heavy, good backbone, once you get past the soft tip. For me cranking is all about the reel, not the rod. I use 10lb test for most of my cranking, going down to 8 sometimes. That dictates a good reel, with a smooth, repeatable drag, and a free spool, for long casts. That's just my take on it. I may be all wet. Good luck, GK

I'm asking about bass fishing. Any new lures, tackle, techniques, places, etc, that did the job for you. I have a rather short list. This year's new lures: Fat Ika, X-Rap, Nories Bug, Chatterbait. I found these, all of which I used for the first time this year, to be excellent lures. The Fat Ika and the X-Rap are on my "never leave home without" list. This year's new tackle: Daiwa Millionaire reels. found these for $75 at a local tackle shop. Bought one, tried it, went back and bought the rest of "em. The absolute smoothest three bearing reel I've ever had in my hands. Team Daiwa Light & Tough rods. In my opinion, the best bang for the buck out there right now. I still need rods for two of those Millionaires, and I'll probably be buying L&T's. Johnny Morris Signature Series rods. When they're on sale, close competition for the best bang for the buck award. Johnny Morris Signature Series reels. Got one cheap at the spring wing-ding. Went back and got another one when on sale. Good reels, smooth drags, light weight, both centrifugal and magnetic cast controls. Made by Pfleuger. Quantum PT reels. Had two from last year, got two more this year. Pretty hard to beat, in my opinion. St Croix Avid series rods. Got one this year. Very good rod, light, tough, crisp action, very sensitive. If it was fifty bucks cheaper, it would be awesome. This year's new techniques. I made myself learn to use jigs this year. This was my number one goal for the year. Well, I didn't entirely succeed. I've become proficient with the 1/4 oz jig and plastic craw trailer. This bait is now on my "don't leave home without" list, but the bigger 3/8 and 1/2oz jigs just don't do it for me. That will be one of next years goals. Suspending cranks. After my success early this year with the X-rap, I've been madly modifying a variety of crankbaits to suspend. I now have three 3700 boxes full of suspending baits, and have been doing very well with some of them. I have quite few that i will be re-modifying over the winter. The wife gets a kick out of me drilling, weighting, sanding, etc and tossing them in the sink to see what happens. Hey, a guys got to have something to do once the water gets hard. New places this year. Lake of the Woods. Pike and walleye. No giants, but lots of fun. Took a GPS, so we never got lost. Trophy Country, middle of Missouri. Best bass fishing I've ever seen. Had several 100 fish days there. Not new this year, but last year. Have been there seven times between last year and this. Will be going back next year, as often as I can manage it. On my first trip, last year, mid-way through the second day, I had blood runing out of my thumb. It was shredded. AWESOME!! Check it out on the web at trophycountry.com. PM me and I'll give you Clint's cell phone number. That's about it for this year. It was a fine year for me. Hope everybody had a good year. Here's to a good year for all, next season. I know I'm acting like the year's over. It's not, but I'm after crappie and muskie now, and will be until the water freezes. Cheers, GK

This idiot couldn't be a better target. PYONGYANG, North Korea (The Onion) -- Increasingly defiant toward international pressure since his nation's first nuclear test in early October, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il condemned this morning's sunrise, calling it "another hostile, deliberately timed act by the world community" and "a clear and blatant declaration of war." According to North Korean military sources, the sunrise, sighted at 6:17 a.m. by patrolling officers, was not fully confirmed until an hour later, at which time Kim assessed the threat himself, and immediately released a harshly worded warning to the U.S. and the United Nations Security Council. "The Democratic People's Republic Of Korea condemns, in the strongest possible terms, this act of aggression on our eastern border," read a statement printed in the state-run Korean Central News Agency. "If another act of this nature occurs at any time in the next 24 hours, we will be left with no choice but to retaliate with the full might and power of our armed forces." In addition to denouncing the "imperialist invasive assault," Kim also supplied the U.N. with an extensive list of "unacceptable" international actions. According to Kim's list, North Korea will no longer tolerate the encroachment of Japanese waters onto its western shore, will view the accumulation of cumulus clouds in restricted airspace as acts of intimidation, and will not hesitate to respond militarily to any "violent and unprovoked bursts of wind." Kim outlined further "extreme transgressions" that would be worthy of more immediate and serious military retaliation. "Economic sanctions on North Korean imports and exports, the reintroduction of cuff links as a fashion accessory, a sudden drop in lower-middle-class spending habits, sporadic changes in the migratory patterns of monarch butterflies, the announcement of yet another new sports drink, a daily rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher than 3.5 points, shorter hemlines, inspections of North Korean cargo in an attempt to intercept weapons or weapons parts, or the release of a new U2 album -- any of these actions will be interpreted as an act of war, and force us to take drastic measures to protect our sovereignty," said Kim in a written statement, which also warned that the world's third-largest standing army is prepared to deliver a "merciless blow at a moment's notice" if warmer water from the Tsushima Current reaches North Korean shores. "Though we desire peace, we have seen the signs of war on the horizon, and we are not afraid to act." Despite claims from China that Kim's statements are "nothing more than hollow threats," the U.S. remains worried that the communist republic may test a second nuclear weapon in response to Sony's new line of 62-inch flat-screen television sets. "The United States wants nothing more than to engage the North Koreans in diplomatic talks, but we will not simply cave in to these bullying tactics," said Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice, who called the Asian nation's response to Wednesday's events "politically questionable." "That said, we are carefully reviewing their demands, and believe we can find some common ground on concerns over NBC's Thursday-night lineup." Kim Jong Il decried Rice's remarks, the side to which her hair was parted, and the fact that she was wearing blue, calling each an "indisputable and highly charged admission of war that North Korea will not be cowed by."

one with a 4/0 EWG hook for senko or ika one with an X-Rap one with a 1/4oz finesse jig/plastic trailer one with a single willow spinnerbait That would do to start, knowing only what you gave me.

I have four that I used most often, and four rods rigged with these baits at all times. Senko 5" Red Shad Ika Blue Tube Black/blue Spinnerbait Chart/white willow leaf

5/0 EWG Gammy 90% of the time. I go to a 4/0 for a slower fall. I'll occasionally go up to 5/0 Ewg Gammy superline hook, which increases the rate of fall. I have no confidence that I can get a hookset through that fat bait with anything smaller than a 4/0.

Lots of goos beers out there. Just remember this. You can't drink it as fast as they can make it, so there's no point in trying.

Their 6-footer is single-handedly responsible for turning about two dozen other rods into expensive dust-collectors You too, huh? My favorite local tackle shop, right down the road from the college, has a whole rack of "em marked $20 off. I drive right by it every day. I've been telling myself, self, the wife will kill you, the wife will kill you. ( She won't really, but... ) I'm getting weaker. Resistance is futile. Cheers, GK

I know Transition has a bad reputation. It was deserved. The first version of that stuff was nasty. The new formula, out this year, is a whole nuther story. I like it better than the other flouro lines I've tried, to date. As for visibility, I'm colorblind, so some lines are difficult for me. Transition shows up against the water very well for me. It has good visibilty above water, low vis below water, lower spool memory than other flouro lines, very good sensitivity and good abrasion resistance. The only thing wrong is the price. Having said that, I'll be using it on more rigs next year. Except for my spinning rigs. It's merely OK on a spinning reel. Not great, not even good, just OK. I use 10 and 12. Haven't tried 14 or above, so I don't know how that handles. Cheers, GK By the way, a Calcutta on GLX: BRILLIANT!!

Thanks RM. If the hot sauce failed a dunk test, I don't need it. Not that I dunk my reels on a regular basis, but it happens. Anybody wanna buy some hot sauce?? Just kidding. I'll find some other use for it. RM, can I buy the oil and grease from you? How about the Rocket Fuel oils. Any experience with those. Thanks again, You are one of the reasons I keep coming back here. Cheers, GK

Another possibility is the line is wrapped on the spool too loose. This can happen when using plastics, or any retrieve that picks up slack line. Hold the rod/reel so you can grasp the line between your thumb and first finger. Apply a little tension when cranking. Try it, and see if it helps. This will be a little clumsy at first, but you'll get used to it. Good luck, GK