Mumbly

You guys fishing these for smallmouth as well? I have been looking at trying one up here but have only been able to find the Double-up and Ultralight Yum rigs locally. We are restricted to 3 hooks as well. I can't find a weight on this rig. What does it weigh and what rod, reel, line combo are you throwing it on?

I bought a few of the Academy Jerk Shad's and they are a great jerkbait. If you have a bit of patience they do put them on "Hot Deal" several times a year for $2.99. As was mentioned, their color selection is limited. I haven't fished a KDS bait so not sure how they perform but I just wanted to pass along that the suspending model is on sale for $3.99 on the KDS website. http://www.fishkds.com/apps/webstore/products/category/1504260

Reading at some of your previous posts it looks like you have a Curado I. I don't have an "I" but I do have 3 Curado E's and they have been flawless. I have read that the "I's" need a little more fine tuning but that has been about it. I have been looking at this from the opposite side of how you are viewing it. So perhaps this is something to think about. I have been reading a fair amount about Daiwa's as I am seriously thinking about getting a Tatula CT. I have read quite a few posts with people having issues with the inductor on the spools. The inductor either spins freely, which needs to be then super glued, or the springs are too weak and have to be replaced with stiffer springs that people have had custom made. The more I read, the more I just want to stay with what I have. It has been great so far. Having said all this, you will find loads of people that have one, the other or both and they have been flawless for them.

I found this a bit interesting. I was browsing around the fishing department at a national chain store (Canadian Tire for you Canucks on here) and a few things caught my eye. Maybe it's all the Xcalibur baits that I bought recently but this sure seemed weird. These were all new items for this year.

I have and use quite a few 1/4oz Cordell super spots and Rapala rattlin raps for smallmouth. As others have said, I use them mostly shallow on rock flats and reeds edges. Seem to work great on riprap also.

I bought a few of both sizes a couple years ago and they have been great baits for me on Smallmouth. As others have said, french pearl, pro blue (I see they have a pro blue 2 listed now) and purple green apple my favorite colors but I would throw in secret night and black diamond and solid colors choices as well. If I had anything negative to say it would be that the colors seem to have changed a bit in the last year or so. There is a couple threads on this forum showing the color difference of the french pearl to just name one. The company is also nonrespondent when asked about this as well as other question....at least in my personal experience.

Shimano covers for my reels as well. I have some rod glove covers as well but I don't like them as much.

For casting it's been Shimano 50E and 200E7 but I have acquired a Core 50mg7 and Core 100mg since the fall so I am guessing my preference will change once I fish the new reels this spring. For spinning my 2 Shimano Symetre FJ 2500's and 4000 have been rock solid.

Not to mention that Mustad used to make a line of KVD split ring pliers and in all the videos I have seen of Kevin changing split rings, he has used the Snap-on needle nose pliers.

Very nice Hootie!!

Using the exact same here as well

Spot on. I used to work in retail sporting goods. All our clothing was at least 100% markup.

The best I could do at a Canadian Walmart.

They even work when you break the lip off!!

Sorry...I left out some details. I had located them in store in another state and they were very nice and agreed to do a store to store transfer. Was a lot of calling around but paid off.

Yes they were.

They say that persistence pays off and I guess that is true. Took me a bit but I tracked some more Xcalibur squarebills down at Academy. I didn't really want the Real Craw ones but I figured for $1.98 I could at least try repainting them if all else fails.

I tried 15lb Sufix 832 in a Daiwa Goldcast last year and it didn't like it at all.

Thanks for posting this. Saved my friend a trip.

3rd vote for Simple Green

Academy currently has 25% off all Zoom soft plastics for those that might be interested.

Congrats. I think you will be very happy with what you ended up with.

Local shop up here in Canada

Couldn't resist the monkey today. Not sure what I will do with them but I snagged 2 Shimano Crucial CRC-66MH rods that were left over from 2011. The price helped.

It looks neat but I wish Shimano would bring back those slotted jerkbait boxes again. They were great.