philsoreel

I'm using the albright special now instead of the alberto. It's smaller and if the knot is going to fail it will usually do it while cinching down. You can go on youtube and look up the albright special and or finger savers and probably find the video I learned about these from.

There is a tool out called Finger Savers that make tying the alberto much easier and gets the knot smaller and tighter. I got one and I no longer have small cuts and scabs on the outside of my hands from tightening alberto knots. It's basically an aluminum ring with a groove around the outside. The groove has rubber in it, possibly shrink tubing. A good machinist could make their own but these are made by a cnc. Daiichi-Seiko Finger Savers is the name.

I just spooled up some 14lb. SW XXX Mono on my spinnerbait rod. When I tied my lure on the first 6 inches of line looked like it had been tightened down in a bind with no lubrication. So, I retied, same results. I tied a palomar, was very careful to get all the slack out first, not put it in a bind (until cinching down), and was well lubricated. I tie all my other lines (that I use a palomar on) the same way, less carefully actually, and don't get these results. It kind of looks like old stretched out line that a cork with brass keepers has been slid down. Anybody out there that can give me some feedback on this line? Is it not very abrasion resistant?

No dout. Like someone said earlier, buy those 5 for $10 and if you don't like them I'll give ya $12 for them.

My Wal-Mart put the same displays up at the checkout lines. I grabbed some of the drop-shot weights and football heads. The bait keeper on the football head bends very easily. Be careful, bend it too far and it'll break off. For $1.96...I'll give anything a try.

How? None of my T1s have ever needed tuning, even if they did how can you? The arms snap back or don't bend at all. X2 I've snatched up 3 and 4lb. bass into the boat with these things. The wire will be completely stretch out straight but the second you take the weight off they snap right back to original form. I've been fishing them since the first day I laid eyes on them and I've NEVER seen one bend.

Well, sounds like you have that end of it covered lol...

I'm no expert but if it were mine, I would take every bass under 14 inches out that I caught. I would also spend alot of time crappie fishing and take every single one of them out that I caught. There will be no immediate change but you should start seeing a difference in a couple of years.

This thread is going to be two pages long with people telling why you shouldn't use powerpro. Yes, there are new smoother, quieter lines. I have tried almost all of these newer lines because the bait-monkey demands this of me but like the old saying goes...if it ain't broke don't fix it. I've never had one single failure with powerpro. No break offs, no (Palomar)knot failures, nothing....it's bomb-proof as far as I'm concerned.

What rod are you cranking with?

Thanks and I will. I'm pretty sure I'll like it. DD22's wear me out with my 70MH so the Heavy should help out.

First off... Thanks for all the suggestions guys. If things hadn't worked out I would have contacted Shimano. I've always heard nothing but good about their customer service. As usual, I got my undies in a wad over nothing. My shakey/drop-shot rod was out of commission, it felt like the tip of my most important rod had been broken off... I called the shop I bought it from and explained what was going on. He told me he would be more than happy to make me up another receipt with the correct model number on it. He said he would warranty it if I wanted him to but of course I would have to absorb the shipping cost, expected and totally understandable. My closest Shimano dealer is about 90 miles away so I said, "Why don't I just send this one to you for warranty, buy a new rod, and you stick the warranty in with the new rod to save on shipping cost?" I ask him how much he would sell me a Cumara Reaction CUC70H for, shipping and all...He says $185!!!!! I almost dropped the phone! BPS gets $219.99+shipping for that rod. Awesome. Then, he gives me a tip to keep from having to pay the balloon charge for a package over 80'' Cleanly cut the rod in half and it get's the package down below the balloon charge. It made the cost of return shipping drop from around $24 to $6 USPS Priority Mail. Before this, I had only heard that Shimano had an over-the-counter warranty. Well, they do. Just keep up with your receipt and according to my retailer most Shimano dealers will honor it pretty much no questions asked. Barring there are no teeth marks from your dog or tire tracks on it etc...

Shortly, after buying this rod on ebay is when I saw a post where people were talking about not buying a rod on ebay because of this reason. I just pulled up my paypal activity. In this certain situation I bought a CUC69MH which was listed at the time on Shimano's website as a Med Hvy Fast tip but it got here and was a Med Hvy X-Fast tip. It was a mistake on Shimano's website, that was corrected after I brought this to their (Bantam1) attention. I didn't like the rod so I sent it back to the tackle shop (with$20)and they sent me back a CUS-DX72M becuase that was all he had in stock that I wanted. So, my pay-pal receipt says CUC69MH. Unless he will make me a receipt for the DX72M I'm screwed. People, learn from this and forget about that $20 you'll save on ebay. BUY FROM A TRUSTED RETAILER!!!!

Picked up my rod yesterday, unhooked my shakyhead from the keeper, and gave it a fling. Right as I released heard a pop and there went the tip of my rod with the shakyhead. It broke off about 1/8'' below the tips wrapping/glue..... I thought I heard something about an over the counter, no questions asked warranty in the first year??? It's a Cumara CUS-DX72M and less than a year old. I bought it from a tackle shop on ebay. What do I need to do to get it warrantied? Not having this rod makes feel like my wife left me and took everything. :'(

StrikeZone Lures Shake Up Worm. Hands down best floater out there. Not many people seem to know about them....this is a good thing.

. Sunline Super Natural Mono is only $10 for a 330yd spool. It's not too bad in the stretch department. P-Line CX Premium Co-poly Fluoro coated doesn't have a ton of stretch either. Both are very small diameter lines.

Toray Solaroam SH Upgrade is my favorite fluoro for BC's. It's indestructible. Plus, sensitivity and hooksets are lights out. It's pricey but worth it to me. A braid main-line tied to a Trilene 100% Fluoro leader with an Alberto knot won't break the bank and is a good combo in my opinion.

Yeah I saw that to. I gave EWG's another try the other day and used a snell knot.....still a terrible disaster. Every hook-set pulled straight out of their mouth. Swapped the EWG out for an off-set worm or straight shank and start hookin up immediately.

Tying is no problem, just wanted to make sure the way it kicks the hook out wouldn't create hook-up issues with other style/shaped hooks. Thanks

Is using a snell knot limited to only straight shanked hooks? Can I use it on a t-rigged off-set worm hook or an off-set ewg and it still be an advantage?

On one of the bass fishing shows on Versus, Rick Clunn said you shouldn't use a Palomar on fluorocarbon because the line itself is so hard that it will cut into itself when stressed causing a failure. He suggested using a uni knot so that's what I use. Everything else I've been using a Palomar but the Snell is quickly becoming a favorite of mine.

Shouldn't be hard to make them suspend. I got my hands on 7 or 8 for free several years ago and have put quite a few fish in the boat with them.

I agree 100%. There is a couple of brands that have good hooks but there is a 100 that don't. It's not all about being sharp, it's a must, but it doesn't matter how sharp the hook is if it flexs too much or straightens out.

Depends on if you want to catch fish or just get them close to the boat Gamakatsu Magic Eye Short Shanks and the right action rod have done wonders for me with treble equipped lures. I landed a 10lb. 1oz. and a 9lb. 11oz. Largemouth last year that I seriously doubt I would have landed without those hooks and rod The "Magic Eye" part is nothing special but I like the short shanks because I can go up a hook size most of the time. Especially, on lures like Lucky Craft Fat CB BDS 0's and 1's and Fat Mini SR's MR's DR's. They come with a size 5 and I can go up to a size 4. Alot of brands I go up from 6's to 4's with no negative effects. Mustad makes a KVD Elite Series Triple Grip with short shanks and wider gaps. I have them on some lures but have yet to really test them. They did fine with dinks but haven't hauled in anything really heavy with them yet. The right hooks are a game changer but the right rod is far more important to me. Good luck!

Haven't tried it with vasoline but I soaked some plastics in a mixture of X-brand liquid attractant, minced garlic powder, and sea salt. I took them out a week later, rinsed them off, and let them dry. The scent stayed with them for a little while but it wasn't worth the mess and smelling like a fresh garlic clove for about 24 hours. IMHO it did make the garlic scent much stronger and last longer than most garlic flavored liquid attractants I've tried. However, after finally getting around to trying MegaStrike, I now leave the garlic in the kitchen. I'm a believer.