deep

Love it. Just the right stretch and strength, with easy handling and plenty of abrasion resistance. Available at my local Dic k's too!

I know of only one technique to set the drag; turning the drag knob. Remember to loosen up the drag after the trip is over though... If you mean how tight the drag should be set. I think the rule of thumb is like 1/3rd of the line strength, or something like that. I just set it pretty tight; without damaging the washers. I don't want the drag to slip on the hookset.

$150 better? I see used scorpions turn up on flea markets once in a while for around $125 or less. A quick ebay search turned this one up for the first item... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Shimano-Scorpion-1500-baitcaster-used-/230702896196?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b6f6d444#ht_500wt_1288 In the same ballpark as the Curado E, and a little more expensive than the B. Whether it's higher price compared to the B is justified or not; I have no idea.

I know that feeling.. I was used to catching 1 and 2 pounders until one fine day I stuck a 6 lb-er. She definitely wasn't a dead weight though.

Dude, you're in Mexico. I have a feeling you're going to catch a DD pretty soon. I hate spinnerbaits, but I learnt a lot from this video: KVD also talks about trailer hooks IIRC.

Of the rods you mention, there's only one I'd even consider for regularly throwing swimbaits. The Okuma. There's a lot of stuff that makes a swimbait rod, a swimbait rod. Lure ratings aren't everything. Remember this bit of wisdom from Bill Siemantel: A good flipping stick makes a lousy swimbait rod. Other than the Okuma, I'd also consider the Lamiglas Excel 7'3". The Excel is primarily designed for hardbaits; specifically the Spro BBZ-Jr. The Okuma has a pretty moderate taper too. Both might work for small hudds if you use braid. I had the Okuma 7'11" heavy for 8" hudds until I broke it last week. Looking to get another one. For small soft swimbaits, the rod you really want to buy is the Dobyns 795ML. It's out of the price range you mention, even with the usual 20% black friday discount. But I heard a rumor than the Gen1 rods are being clearanced for $100 + shipping.. I might get one for myself if the rumor is true.

I'd be looking for a spinning setup for those A curado 51 if you can find one for around $100 would be a great deal too...

That observation is very "interesting", for lack of a better expression.

I don't have either the rod, or the reel. And I never tried 832. However, I do use braid + leader on my hudd/ soft swimbait setup and it's working out well; hopefully this will help you or someone else to figure out your own solution. I used to use 15 lb Yo-zuri, and the only thing I didn't like was the stretch. I now run 80 lb Samurai, which has the diameter of 17 lb mono. I know 80 lb sounds overkill, but it's really not. Braid has low shock strength, and it's easy to cast off a bait on a backlash. Yeah, maybe not a little jig or a spinnerbait. But a 2 oz bait? Certainly. Once again, please adjust to your own set-up; you probably aren't going to throw 2 oz baits on that rod. Lower diameter braid (at least Samurai) has a tendency to dig in on baitcasters too. The diameter is the important thing here. The leader I run is 20 lb Big Game. The leader helps with abrasion resistance. I like to match the leader diameter to the braid diameter (no less than the braid diameter though), but it really doesn't matter a lot. The leader also provides a little bit of stretch to prevent casting off baits, and breaking stuff if you like to fish with locked down drags. EDIT: I re-read the post I made, and I know it sounds like I'm paranoid about casting off baits. But I really am; when that bait is a hudd. Some baits have been eaten time and again, and got the "mojo"; if you know what I mean. There's no way I'm going to lose those.

You and Hooligan are right about the longevity thing. I have had reels spooled with sufix siege mono that last half a season. Good fluoros should last longer.

$35 odd for one tiny spool of line? This line better be awesome lol..

hmm.. only spent a couple of hours working on it, so no big deal. Anyway, I don't fish regular 6", only the weedless 6". I'll be making a few real weedless 68s (with a 8" tail on a weedless 6") over the winter; that would take care of everything. P.S. Don't tell me you fish the 8 incher with the stock jig hook?

Another version of the rigging. Cut the third hook point clean off. And installed the treble upside down. Looks similar to the BB rig, except that there's no hook point embedded. Rigged this way, the treble has a slight tendency to rotate. In the earlier rigging, the body of the bait resists this rotation tendency. Didn't fish the bait rigged this way, so idk if this is more snagless or not; definitely something to try out the next time I hit the lake.

This is something I have been working on for a while, and tried it out today on the water for a couple of hours. Worked well for me. The idea is not original, of course, but I'd like to share a few modifications I made. I don't like the jig hook on the smaller hudds. It gets snagged easily, and smaller fish wreaks havoc on the bait when hooked. Weedlessness (snaglessness) is what I was looking to achieve; and the option to break off the hook and save the bait when it does get snagged. This modification is not necessary for the ordinary 6" hudds, 'cause the weedless hudd is readily available. The first step is to cut off the jig hook on the 68. But remember to leave a little nub of the hook. Next, find a size 4 treble hook, such that one of the hook points is perpendicular to the hook eye. In the pic, the hook on the top is perpendicular. The treble is actually a VMC I took off a husky jerk. Then, you want to tie the treble to the line-tie of the bait. I used 14 or 17 lb mono (lower test than the mainline), so that I can break off the hook if snagged. Sevenstrand wire or braid should also work. The important thing is the adjust the length of the mono so that you have to pull the treble a little bit to make the (treble) hook eye fit onto the nub of the original jig hook. The flat part of the hook shank should lie on the hudd. If done correctly, we're almost there. That treble is now fixed pretty well to the hudd, and will stay there through a cast, well almost always. No need to embed a hook point, or superglue; both of which will damage the bait when it gets eaten (or snagged). Just for insurance though, I like to do one more step. I tie the treble hook to the belly ring with a simple loop knot on a 4 lb or 6 lb mono. The whole point is I want that loop knot to break and set the hook free when a bass eats it. Or, you can put a drop of superglue on the back of the bait to glue the treble. Be aware though than the "skin" of the hudd will peel away when a fish pulls that treble away from the bait. This is what the 68 looks like after being eaten by one smallish bass (used 4 lb mono to tie down the treble), and after breaking off the hook from a snag (used superglue, and a bit of skin peeled off). This is just a start to modifying the hudd, and a work in progress. Thanks to Butch Brown, Fish Chris, Mike Gilbert & Randall Kirkpatrick. P.S. Superglue hardens up the plastics. Hot/ boiling water is a good superglue remover that does not damage the bait. P.P.S. The 6"/68 hudd doesn't have much foam in front of the dorsal fin, compared to the 8"; and embedding one hook in the foam, as in the BB rig, doesn't work very well. Putting the treble behind the dorsal fin affects the action IMO. It's a small bait, and can take only so much tampering.

So what was your point? Evidently I missed it too.

Chunk rocks; fishing from the shore. The new ideas I got seem promising though. It's similar to the BB rig, except that it uses a smaller gammie instead of the VMC, and puts it further back. Also, I was told to use the ROF5, not the 12 or 16. Let's see how it goes.

Excellent demonstration gobig; although the concept isn't new to readers of BBZ. I thought about something else too. Bass don't rely only on vision, and a 8" hudd definitely moves way more water than a big senko. Maybe we need to take that into account as well. On that note, what do you think of a hudd 68 vs the regular 8 incher? Just trying to get a discussion going. I don't fish the 8 incher a lot, mostly due to it getting snagged when I rig it BB style (the lakes I fish are very different from your California lakes). A member at SBN showed me a more snagless way to rig it, and I'm looking forward to try that out.

This probably should have been posted in the rods and reels forum. :P JDM enthusiasts haven't been forgotten either..

no, no. it's a brand new reel. Part #60 is some sort of a metal disc, and the dimple is at one end (almost on the circumference). I'd take a photo, but it's too small. Anyway, I tried it both ways, and the clicker seems to work better one way over the other. I think I'll leave it as it is.

Okay, got it. I took off #60, and looking down, I can see the shim. So I'm guessing the backer is still behind it, and I didn't lose either of those. Thanks a lot. Another quick question, does it matter which way I install #60? It looks identical from either side, with the exception of a dimple on one side.

Long story short, I dropped the spool tension knob of my Revo Toro Winch, and the washers came off the knob. I put them back together and the reel is working fine. I'm looking at the schematic (see pic). The parts that came off, and I put back, are #60 and #59. I'm wondering what are the parts #62 and #61? More precisely where are these located? Are these fixed inside the metal cap itself, or on the reel? I'm not sure if I dropped them as well, and lost them.

I use mono or copoly leader.

Sorry if this has been discussed before. If so, I'd appreciate being pointed in the right direction. I need advice on what lens color to use in low light conditions. Currently I have a pair of grey lens 7-eye polarized glasses, which work great when the sun is out. When the sun is not out, however, I can see better without the glasses than with Guess it blocks too much light. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

He's right. Braid on a bare spool would slip. I fill up almost half the reel with backing before spooling braid; saves a lot of $$.

Looks interesting. What does it cost? Couldn't find a price on it. I'm wondering about the quality of the glasses, because you'd have to use these instead of your regular fishing glasses.