McAlpine

I'll take any education you care to throw down. I have never thrown these big deep divers before but have gone in all the way to learn deep cranking this year and plan on putting in some serious time learning what works. I'm armed with a pair of hummingbird sonars, 898 SI/DI on the back and 798DI up front networked to share waypoints. Picked up B&R graphite crankin sticks in 7'6" and 8' and a mess of Norman and SK divers. I haven't made it out on the water yet to really check out either yet and would gladly take any advice. Picked up a navionics chip at bps last night, ready to start planning some waypoints on breaks and get out there to find some deep cover.

DD-22 or 6XD? And...why? ------- When fishing one of these large crank baits what size line do you use?

If you can get to a BPS for the spring sale the carbonlite rods will be cheap especially with a trade in. These are simply oustanding rods for the money. I know i'll offend someone that owns these but i have to be honest to answer the question above, the skeet reese rods are at best not all that great and the reese reels are straight junk. Dont waste your money.

Fair enough sir, but I can't catch 5 bass at once on a spinner bait, but I can with a net. To say there will not be increased mortality is incorrect. More fish are being caught, otherwise these would not be such a big thing. More fish caught = more dead fish even if returned to the water. Last thing I want to do is side with the peta nuts but that is reality. Big fish that would normally be tough to fool are suckered by a horde of baits being drug past them. My opinion is out there, I'll stop trolling-up your thread. I just feel strongly about this as many do.

I have thought long and hard about how I felt about this rig. My first gut reaction was one of disgust. My next was one of fear. Fear that nobody will ever be able to win a tournament without throwing one of these all day. I initially felt it was cheating the fish and the sport and that they should be illegal in all states. After I had time to calm down and think about it, really what is the difference between the A-Rig and say an A-Arm Spinnerbait? More baits right? My final personal belief is that this is 5 baits on one haness, period. Now, what is a bait and what is an additional "enticer"? Spinnerbait, one bait, with "enticer" blades right? Well, I've changed my opinion on the A-Rig too, if one were to keep the number of "baits" on the harness with hooks limited to the number of "baits" per line allowed in any given state, then more power to the user. Someone throwing this with 5 or more baits with hooks. Well, that bothers me. Why not just go troll 100 baits and call it an A-Rig? Why not use a gill net? If it's just about pulling meat out of the water for you there are plenty of methods. Overall, the thing has already proven to be dangerous. Fish caught = fish mortality or educated fish in one form or another. To paraphrase Dr. Hal Schram. Its bad for fish and it's bad for fishing.

First off, thanks for the info. You just saved me $150 as I was thinking about buying a medium heavy smoke rod specifically for frog fishing. Secondly, I wouldn't be replacing a thing. I would return the rod to the store or to Quantum. That's ridiculous. Good luck.

Guess we were all on top of it. ;-)

0.7 ;-) Ok, the gear ratio on a reel is the number of revolutions of the spool to one crank of the handle. Thus, 6.4:1 and 7.0:1. What is more important to know however is the length of line pulled in by one revolution of the hanle as this will give you a static comparitive value between reels. Say at 6.4:1 a reel pulls in 23" of line. another 6.4:1 by another manufacturer with a larger spool may pull in 25". The more line you pull in with one revolution of the handle, the "faster" the reel is. Or, how much faster you can reel in your bait with the same speed retreive. 6.4:1 is a good standard average gear ratio. This really will work for anything. 7.0:1 is considered a "burner" type reel. Used for fast retreive presentations or things like frogs where you may have to pick up alot of line fast. Does that help?

I have gone to 6'6" spinning rods and almost exclusively 7' casting rods. I did just pick up an 8' casting rod for big deep crankbaits. I dont personally feel any loss of ability to be accurate with a longer rod and actually to me the longer rod makes me feel more in control of the bait. You can definitly move more line with less wrist.

easy, I tie lots of these. I do brown and green as well as the brown and orange. They are weighted and I tie them both fat and thin to change the fall rate. Killer. Especially on smallmouth.

I'm just starting to become more of a jig fisherman. It's just not the type of bait I would normally use but I'm getting better with them. But as I have been getting better with jigs the last couple years I have found that I can replace that jig with a chatter bait at times for working around cover/flipping and it not only works very well but suits my fishing style better. Haven't really made the leap to replace the spinner bait with the chatter bait, so perhaps my thinking is the opposite of some. however; the chatterbait has worked for me when other baits didn't, it has definitly earned a spot in my boat.

I agree, if cost is a concern just stick with what you have. Spend your money paying off those school loans!

Franco, that makes sense. My observations above are based upon my style which is generally tight line and I like to feel a bass pick a bait up in it's mouth.

Rod and Reel monkey is getting into a backpack so I can start carrying him around.

Just a little something I was thinking about that really shows an example of what we are talking about here. I am certainly guilty of paying way to much for equipment at times just because I wanted something. However; to this day my favorite spinning rod and what I consider to be my best combination of "Sensitive, strong, good backbone and soft tip" which is what i use for unweighted soft plastic fluke fishing in the top portion of the water collumn is a 20 year old Daiwa Samuri powermesh. I honestly dont even know what it is made out of and if I remember right it cost me around $25-50 at WalMart years ago. The rod is a medium heavy, but you would never know it by looking at it, thin rod but strong backbone, has a fast tip but soft enough to toss a light bait. However at only 6 ft, with a non-cork light handle the rod is very light and with a medium sized reel balances so well it feels like it weighs nothing. Combine that with a palm swell at the grip and what you get is an extremely well balanced stiff rod with lots of surface area where it connects to my hand. Best dang spinning rod ever.

Also, the newest boron-graphite-mega-multiplexed-blend doesn't mean a darn thing if it isn't well balanced.

I agree 100%. This is why I have always bought the lightest, best balanced rig I can get. Even way before it was the "in" thing. The less mass the fish has to move, the more "sensitive" your rod really is. Those guys that try to sell you a sensitive rod because you can feel them flick the end are full of it. A bass does not flick anything. It pulls. The lightest pull you will feel would be by holding nothing but the line. The closest you can get to that 0 additive mass, the best chance you have to feel that pull.

Personally I think that TFO makes just about the best rod for the money out there and comes with a lifetime no questions asked warranty. A 6wt is a great starter rod that will do just about anything you want. Starting out you dont need a great reel but dont buy junk either. One of the TFO combos would be fine, Ross also makes a great reel for the money. Good luck! http://www.templeforkflyrods.com/ http://www.rossreels.com/

I dont know about the rods but the skeet reese reels are junk. That would steer me clear of the rods.

Anyone else tried these? I decided this spring I was going to pick up a couple smoke PT's for cranking but have had a heck of a time finding exactly the rod I wanted to go with them. My requirements were: 1.) Extremely light and 2.) Extremely sensitive. I am used to the BPS carbonlite's so something heavier just wasn't going to work for me. No going back after you are used to those light rods. Also I was looking for 3.) MH backbone but with 4.) a medium action at the tip for those crankbaits. I looked at most of the major names in glass, graphite, blends etc. The only rods I found that came close were either too thick at the base and heavy (bulky) missing on item 1 and definitly 2, or rods that met the first 3 criteria would only be available in a fast tip missing criteria 4. So I have been looking pretty hard for awhile now and today ran into B&R at our local boat show. I was really impressed with their "graphite cranking" series. Light, sensitve, flexible tips and in a M/M or MH/M. I ended up with a 7'6" M/M and an 8' MH/M. I'm pretty excited to get those smoke reels and try these babies out. Interested in whether or not anyone else has tried them. Honestly, where else can you find a MH 8' rod with a soft tip that is still sensitive but the butt of the blank in front of the grip is the diamater of a pencil? Really can't wait to try 'em.

guys in our club swear by ICE in their livewell but I just use an additive and make sure to recirc plenty and have never lost one. If I remember right, I am using Catch and Release addative. At weigh in I swear the fish have more gumption then when I put them in the livewell.

Not often but i was like that with the Rapala X-Rap shallow version. That thing just looks like it will catch fish, used them this last year and did very well using them as a jerkbait.

I hope they do this at our local store. This sounds like a heck of alot more fun than what they have been doing the last few years.

Just an update, anyone that has not checked in with their local store get on it. Not a one day sale but an ongoing clearance sale. I hit two more by work. I may never have to buy plasstics again. Most importantly, Terminator Titanium T1 spinner baits $2.98. This is about the only spinnerbait I use any more and they are $9 at normal cost. What an awesome sale. Bought my first swim bait - $5.

Nice sale, thanks for the heads up. Ran into my local store tonight and bought most of the good stuff they had left. Locallly there was just one isle in the middle of the store with the .97 stuff but still did really well. I have a Dick's by where I work. Are they doing this for only one day or can I hit that other store tomorrow too? My local store had some reels on sale but no additional 50% or 25% off of the mark down price. No rods on sale that I could see. Bummer.