BradH

I have pretty good luck with Norman Deep Little Ns and DD22s in SX shad, charteuse shad and nutter shad. Just bang the heck out of the bottom with them or ding them off the vertical structure where it drops.

I carry a bag of #006 o-rings in the boat so I can snap a R bend spinnerbait to a wire leader. Just push it over the bend and snap on. If I'm not using a wire leader I still like to direct tie. The snap is just one more thing to collect junk.

Every time I get oil in an IAR bearing it starts slipping. Grease for me. Oil on spool bearings, grease in the IAR if it needs any.

I've still got some old white tuff line on a few reels from a few years ago, it just won't die!. I never botherd to color it but most of the time it's got a leader tied on.

I agree, C3. That extra bearing is on the levelwind and not really a big deal. If you want to add bearings a C5 levelwind has 2 bearings and will drop right in. A 4bb Revo S handle will go right on and is a worthwhile upgrade. The spool diameter is large so that 5.3 C3 sucks in as much line per turn as a 6 something low profile. All the newer ones I've taken apart have the carbon drags disks already.

It's hard to pick a favorite but I love banging cranks off of rocks. Shallow to deep, I can't get enough. I like to find a nice rocky vertical cliff where the channel swings up against it and work it from top to bottom using shallow squarebills and progressing to deep cranks. I also get a surprise walleye, sauger, pike or drum when doing this to keep it interesting.

All I know is I sure wish Rapala made a husky jerk the same size as the F18 floater.

I think you'll need the drag star off the SX to clear the handle. You can use the parts diagram from the SX to order the part numbers needed from the SX after swapping parts to make sure it functions right. I just email my list to them and they get back to me with prices and avaliability, usually the same day. I call with my credit card and I get it in a couple days. Don't toss the 4 BB Revo S handle, they fit anything with an 8mm drive and make a nice upgrade on the round ABU reels. Abu Garcia Customer Service 1900 18th Street Spirit Lake, IA 51360 (800) 228-4272 abugarcia@purefishing.com

Rapala Crankin' Rap CRR-10

I'm doing the same thing with 15lb Vicious fluoro and I have not had any knot issues with a back to back uni tied to braid. I had really bad issues with the Berkley stuff with knots breaking. I got to where I could make it work going super slow and using lots of spit but once I tried the Vicious I tossed the Berkley. I've got some Cabela's house brand 17 pound fluoro (seaguar?) and I have had zero issues with it also. I bought a big roll of the Cabela's stuff about 5 years ago. In the Berkley's defence I never did loose a fish to it due to bite offs or knot failures, I just find it easier to get a good leader to braid union with other brands. I still use spit and cinch the knot down really slow.

I've got a Berkley digital, a 40 year old zebco spring and a Rapala spring I found. I tried them all on a 4.5 pound weight used to check trigger pulls and and 10 pound dumbell, they were all right on the money. I was surprised that the old zebco was accurate, not that you can really read the scale that fine but the needle was half way between 4 and 5 and right on 10. I'd find a couple different known weights and see how they do. I also started weighing fish in the net and subtracting the weight of the net. They move around less in the net.

I have the 6'10" M/F casting. I have had it out three times and it fishes nice. I've been using it for wacky rigged finesse worms & senkos plus some small jigs with a Curado 50 and 8 lb. fluoro. I wasn't sure about the handle at first, specifically the blank being covered by the cork, but after fishing with it a few times I like it. I'll see if I can add a pic later. Edit. Small rod & reel makes your fish look bigger, hahaha

Yes, and when I loose the bottom half to a snag it becomes a single, haha.

Without the spool in there is nothing to align the gears correctly so there will be slop until the reel is together. Reels with a bearing pinned to the drive side of the spool shaft are that way. On that style of reel it's a bad idea to crank the reel with the spool removed. On some reels the gears can bind if the spool shart is not there to align them. They can be damaged if you continue to apply pressure to the crank handle after the gears bind. I'm kinda glad I grabbed a 5.4 for cranks. I took it for a test drive today and it's fine. I did take mine apart first and flush the grease out of the spool bearings, oil them and give it a general cleaning first so maybe that helped.

Green Pumpkin is still #1 but I love the Yamamoto blue smoke senkos.

Not everyone is the same but yeah, I've tried all 3 lines for cranking and I like the fluoro and braid. Better hook set on the end of a long cast. I do fish around rocks alot so I tie a chunk of fluoro on if I use braid. If I used faster action rods for cranking I might be using mono but I don't.

I have pretty good luck on rogues and husky jerks. I picked up a bunch of McSticks over the winter for $5-$8 each and I really like them. They cast much better than the rogues/husky jerks and produce just as well in mid 30s water temps, a factor for me fishing the SD/NE border. I like the xrap jerkbaits but they are less consistent for me in cold water than the husky jerk. You are quite a ways south of me so it might be different there. If you want to get deeper I like the xrap deep #10 better than the deep down husky jerks. It looks and acts alot like my lone LC Staysee and can often be had for around $5 if you keep your eyes open. I do most of my shopping in the off season at the bargain bins, hahaha. If you want to work over the top of some vegetation a floating rapala is hard to beat. Pull it down till you hit the weeds and let it rise.

I use those Cordell lipless all the time. A buck is a great deal. My local Funny Mart had suspending rogues, regular and deep, under three bucks so I snagged a pile of them. I'm going to start checking there more often.

Rubber or coated is the way to go. After getting F18 Rapalas out of the old knotted nets the difference is night and day plus if you want to release the fish it's better for them. I've got a Frabil that was about $60 and the hoop size is 23x26 with the coated netting that is about 1/2" squares. It's a touch big for just bass but it works good for walleyes and will handle pike to about 40" just fine. Pretty good multi-species net. The handle slides into the frame for storage.

About $250?? JM carbonlite reel and 7' MH Crucial crank rod using the trade ins for both.

Nevermind. Called the guy I was thinking of, they are all E7s. Too fast for cranking for this guy, well, that and I'm right handed.

I fish under similar conditions for smallmouth. I have used 30 to 100 pound fluorocarbon leader material for pike fishing with large baits but it will kill the action on your smallmouth sized baits. Same goes for those store bought el cheapo steel leaders, especially with jerkbaits. Right now I use 12 to 20 pound fluorocarbon as a leader. We have literally caught hundreds of pike here this winter alone, some well over ten pounds, and have yet to get bit off. If targeting pike I would use something else but if you are smallmouth fishing that's how I do it. I do check the leader often and cut off or tie on a new one as needed. I do have some of the Tyger Wire, just have not tried it yet. YMMV.

I still see plenty of 201E5 Curados out there.

I use both of them. I think of them as something between a crankbait and a jerkbait. They will work in the summer but I usually do better with a wide wobbling crank. I've had some good September and October days with them.

For $69, great freakin' deal! At full price, 120ish, I'd look at a Revo S or Citica. They do come in all 3 ratios which is nice. I put one of the 5.4:1 reels on a crankin rod last fall I picked up for 89 and fishied it all winter. Nice drag. The only downside is the weight, not an issue for what I use it for. You'll like it.