aavery2

I use a 3rd Gen Revo Winch, 12lb Invisx, on a Falcon Cara Composite Cranker II. Smooth and easy.... A 200 sized Shimano will hold more than enough line, probably close to 115-120 yards of 12lb line. The Dobyns 805 CB is a very balanced rod despite its length. Most 200 sized reels will feel nice on it.

Nice fish, pics make it look like your fishing the Atlantic.

Cool Joe, I will definitely get a hold of you after the Holidays.

Looks good, but that bottle is making me a little dizzy. Well I think it's the bottle.

Nothing life threatening, but some things that are certainly making the things I enjoy doing difficult. It would be cool for you to come back up here, or I would even head your way if we could figure out a plan.

I fish a few areas on the West end of the lake. I agree the fishing in general is slower, but I think, I know, there are some very good fish to be had if a guy spent the time to get more familiar with that end of the lake. Just have to deal with the Walleye guys a little to fish the areas that I like.

Well that will keep a man honest. I have not been that well, been having some health problems that don't seem to be getting any better. Would love to get together with you and fish again.

Small world, I have not seen you around much lately, everything good?

10 lbs on 5 fish would be a very average day, not hard to do much better. Have you had any luck on the West end in Coal Creek?

How long is it going to be before they start having a tournament or multiple tournaments there every weekend. I hate to keep talking about how good it is, in hopes that it will somehow prevent that from happening. They ruined El Dorado, after a magazine article said how great it was.

The last outing I had at Melvern was interesting. We were having a very slow afternoon and it was windy, so we were just kind of playing in some cuts on the south side just west of the wing wall to the marina. I was throwing the buzzjet, and not having much luck, was just kind of trying to get an idea of what rod, line and retrieve would work well with the bait. I was throwing shallow and retrieving the bait slowly, I had a small mouth follow the bait for a ways that was big enough I was embarrassed to tell the guy on the front of the boat what I actually thought it weighted. It was a large fish and had its nose as close to that bait as I think was possible, I almost dribbled on my leg a little.

The big one is a large bait, it weights over an ounce. I have played with the knock off I have at Melvern, and while I have had no takers, I have raised a few small mouth that make me interested in the baits. I am not going to guess how big these fish were, but I will make the prediction that the next State record smallie comes from Melvern.

Did you have the 4" or 3" model?

Just wondering if anyone here is using these baits. What size do you prefer and what is you setup for fishing them. I was able to jet my hands on some knock offs that impressed me enough to be interested in purchasing a couple of the genuine article if others are having success.

The Bomber 4A and 6A have caught an awful lot of fish for me. I use them as often as the Bandit 200 and 300 series and can't honestly say I prefer one over the other. Many baits that are inexpensive require tuning out of the package, it is just kind of the trade off I suppose, do a few and you will soon be an expert. Which model Bombers are you having problems with?

Agreed, the only thing I have used that offers a moderate amount of resistance to them is FC. It still requires the re-tying of your baits very often.

We have them bad here as well. Did you find light braid to be a solution to the problem the zebra muscle were causing?

Curious, why are you having to change the line on your crankbait setup so often?

When they are on sale, which is just about most of the time, it would be hard to find a bait any better for the price.

I don't own the molds, but if they were mine, I would modify them to hold the exact hook that I wanted.

The problem is not finding a better hook, as you mentioned there are many better choices than EC or Matzuo. The problem for me is that many of the Do-It molds for small jig heads are designed to use the EC 570 575 hook, and finding something else to fit can be challenging.

These are a few we have done trying to come up with a good combination. I think so far I like the spring locks the best. T to B EC 570, Mustad 833BLN, EC 570, Owner 5318, Mustad 833BLN.

on the light stuff like 1/8th and 3/16th it does after that it becomes a problem

I checked those out just now, looks like the 833 is a thicker hook, which explains a few things.

My mistake, I had been using the 570's in a similar mold, guess they got stuck on the brain, had lots of problems with them bending and moved to the Owner 5318 better but much more expensive, looking for a cheaper solution. Is the Mustad an 833?