smalljaw67

I've owned an Avid and I have a few Aetos rods, in all seriousness with no bias I'd say the Elite Tech smallmouth is closer to the Avid, the Aetos is much better, in fact I'd put the Aetos up against the Legend Tournament Bass. Now if you are talking the Legend Elite or Legend Extreme then you are at the top of the heap, Fenwick doesn't make a rod to compare with those. I'm an older angler, I have a pretty good size collection and before I got sick I was buying customs, as well as high end rods many of which I still own and I found Fenwick rods work for my new income structure, I can get a rod without sacrificing performance. I still have a G.Loomis jerkbait JBR752C, 2 mag bass MBR753C IMX, a CR721 GLX and 2 SJR722 GL3s. The St. Croix I owned that I have sold to my neighbor and St. Croix fan was a 6'6" MH-F and while it was a really good rod I found that all things equal, I liked my Elite Tech smallmouth more as the rod was lighter and had more sensitivity, I have fished with my neighbor and fishing buddy, his Legend Tournament bass just comparing rods and it is another good rod but very similar to the Aetos, again the Aetos was lighter but sensitivity was hard to distinguish. If I got better tomorrow and my income tripled, I would still keep buying Fenwick rods, to me they are the best bang for buck I ever used, I'm not saying the best but the best I have used, these sticks work for me, build quality is great, and the blanks are really good, I never fished with a rod of that quality under $200, but that is my assessment. The best way for anyone to make their own judgement is to hold which ever models you want side by side or if you were able to get on the water and use them, that would be the best way, unless you were looking at the Legend Elite or Extreme then it is a no brainer. BTW my neighbor loves his St. Croix rods, he has 3 Legend Elites in both the older and newer models and the same with the Extremes although he is still getting acquainted with the handle, and we went out when I got my first Elite Tech Smallmouth rod, we fished for a few hours and a few days later he sold 1 of his Avids to buy 2 of them himself and he still takes them on every trip.

Not having a dedicated work area is going to be a problem, the lead will melt at around 650 degrees or so and that is very hot, any kind of carpet it touches will ruin it. Outside is fine but it still has to be a place that is going to be ok when molten lead drips on it, so while it is possible I'd wait until you have a dedicated place to pour. If you have any friends that have a garage or basement try enlisting them to help, maybe you can go in 50-50 with someone on the molds or the pot or you can get the stuff and let them provide the place to pour, that would be better.

A lot of guys will use a medium powered rod in a fast action for crankbaits because the medium power has more forgiveness to it. If you are using a crank specific rod with a slow action then a MH is fine, I have 3 different models, I have a 6'6" ML-M for what I call finesse cranking, then I have a 7' M-M and a 7' MH-M not to mention a 6'10" MH-MFI use when I only take a few rods with.

I always thought the BPS cranking stick was a good rod, they had a composite blank but the action was more like pure glass which I like for heavier cranks. I was contemplating one of these as I love my glass rod but I would like to find a lighter glass rod and everything I tried in the composites or S-Glass was too fast. I may have to head to BPS and check one out..

A 6'6" medium power spinning rod with what I assume is a fast action would be the rod for a 2000-2500 size reel, a 3000 will work but the spool size will create a steep angle to the stripper guide on the rod so better choice is the 2000 or 2500.

I will tie the hackle and flash on treble hooks for X-Raps and Zell Pops for myself but I have a couple friends who trout fish and I do their spinners for them. One guy in particular likes bucktail on his Mepps spinners so he buys the Aglia undressed by the dozen and I tie bucktail on them with a little Krystal flash, he tell me the bucktail gives a better minnow profile than the squirrel tail that Mepps uses. BTW the hook isn't removable on a Mepps spinner making them a pain in the neck to tie them.

Can I ask why a 7' MH rod with a lot of backbone? I'm curious and also want to learn how others are using jerkbaits.

I rarely go over 1/2oz because I don't like fishing spinnerbaits deep, I use other techniques for deep fish. Most of the time I'm using 3/8oz and 1/2oz, these are easy for me to roll cast into tight spots with a high degree of accuracy and slow rolling for me is using a 1/2oz bait with double Colorado blades just ticking the bottom every now and then in 5' to 7' of water.

I learned that after years of tying hair jigs, I never used scent until one summer day when I had a day that scent seemed to really work. After that I put scent on my winter hair jigs and I wasn't getting bit but my buddy was, that was when I found that the scent was making the hair kind of matte and stick together. So now I tie a small chenille ball on the hook shank of my hair jigs as a scent sponge, that way I can apply scent and still have the hair move.

The waters I fish in the north east are different, if you find a concentration of fish you'll get more with a moving presentation. We have done this for decades here, in the spring you can get them by searching and then slowing down but not in fall, the fish will not hit a bait that is on the bottom when they are feeding for winter, they seem focused on crankbaits, jerkbaits, and spinnerbaits. In the latter part of fall you will find them with a jerkbait and when you do, that is when you slow down with a tube or hair jig but that is normally when the water in in the mid 40s and it is basically a winter pattern.

If you never changed out hooks before then the easiest thing to do is look at a manufacturers website and see if you can find the size of the hook but there are some little things to remember. When changing hooks on topwaters or suspending jerkbaits, be very wary of trebles that say 2X strong unless somebody you know has used them on the bait you want to change. The reason is topwaters and suspending jerkbaits are weight sensitive and any hook that has 2X or similar markings mean the hook is stronger which translates into heavier diameter wire that makes it strong but also adds weight. The easiest way is to try different hooks with your baits and see if they have a negative impact but it is very hard to do so I suggest start with a brand you can afford to buy several packs of and try those. Most common size hook for crankbaits is a #6 but a lot of the square bills in the 1.5 size use a size #4, so if I wanted to replace some stock hooks I'd pick a brand of hook out and then go get a pack of the size #6,#4, and the #2 and then you can match them up to what is on the baits you want to replace.

It is the only bait that is $2.99, it is the XTS crank, not XPS but XTS. We were out yesterday and I was in a hurry and I wanted to make sure I had my jerkbait box with me as a cold front had come through and it made me think I'd have to slow down. It turns out I was right but I forgot my new XTS cranks at home but it didn't matter, the cold front shut the fish down and a jerkbait and tube were much better but my buddy still managed 5 fish on that crankbait, I tried the 1.5s that I had and didn't get a sniff, something to that bait as it caught fish even when the other baits were clearly doing better.

Mustad KVD Triple Grips, Owner, VMC, and believe it or not, the Eagle Claw Laser Sharp 2X trebles, the number is 374T. The KVD triple grips hold like no other and are very strong and that is why I like those and I use them on baits that I upsize my hooks. I like the VMC Barbarian outbarbs on my Megabass Vision 110 baits, they are very close to the Katsuage (made by VMC) hooks that come with the 110 but they sport a slightly heavier wire diameter without adding too much weight so they don't affect the action. I like the Owner ST-41, the ST-36 is good but I feel that other hooks are just as strong so the only Owner I like to use is the 41 and I only use it on a 5" Bagley Bang-O-Lure because the added weight doesn't affect the action and that bait draws violent strikes so the hooks need to be stout. The Eagle Claw 374T 2X strong trebles are what I take on the water with me, they are used to replace hooks that are bent and here is the thing, these are bronze so they only last a season but when I'm on big smallmouth that are breaking and bending treble hooks, I will replace them with these Laser Sharp hooks. The hooks have a slightly curved point, they are seriously sharp and they are also strong, I have 3 or 4 KVD 1.5s right now that have them on as I was on a fantastic crankbait bite fishing smallmouth earlier in the week, 50+ smallies and the smallest was 16.5" and the rest were 3lb to 5lbs, a strange thing that happens for a very short time and I was lucky enough to hit it this season. Anyway, some may say that those hooks aren't any good but I have turned a few good anglers including 2 guides on to these hooks as temporary replacements until end of season. They don't break or bend easily and I don't lose fish that are hooked on them, something I found by accident over the years. I feel I need to explain why I use certain hooks, it is easy to say I like these hooks and be done with it but I have tried every hook on the market and this is what I've come up with that fits my fishing and my wallet, and I will try new ones like the Trokars, those are really good but feel I get good results to the point I don't need to spend that much.

The Elite Tech Smallmouth rods are discontinued but if you find one don't be afraid of the medium, I have a 6'9" M-XF and I fish 1/16oz shaky heads with a 4.5" finesse worm and I have no problem casting and it doesn't overpower small fish but it does have the power to deal with a big fish if you run into one. The HMG is a good rod but it weighs a little more than the elite tech, if you get the HMG go with either the 6'9" ML-F or the 7'ML-F, both of those are very nice for what you are looking for.

The MH should handle those weights no problem, at least the 3/8oz, but if it feels as if the rod has too much power then drop down in length or power by going to a 7'1" MH or a 7'3" medium power.

I'll be honest, I was considering not posting this but then I figured not many will be fishing my water anyway so I'll let you in on something I discovered by accident. I was out fishing on Monday, we were into some serious smallmouth, and all of them on crankbaits and out of 50+ fish, the smallest was 16.5" with the biggest 21.5" and our best 5 was 21lbs 8oz. it was chaos. My buddy was doing the damage with the big fish, I caught the smallest one at 16.5" and my biggest was 19.5" and they were caught on a KVD 1.5 in chartreuse sexy shad. My buddy's smallest was 18" and his fish all came on 1 bait, a cheap lure called a Lew's Speed Crank in a color called blue chartreuse the was close to the chartreuse sexy shad I was using, I was stumped as I never heard of it before. Well after our day was over we got home and my buddy goes in the house and brings out the package the crankbait came in. It said "Lew's Speed Lures" on top and on the bottom it said "Speed Crank", on the back it was a Bass Pro Shops brand that used VMC hooks and so with that info I headed down to BPS yesterday to find out where these were. I asked a guy who worked there and he didn't know but a customer who overheard me ask knew about them, he pointed me to the BPS XTS crankbait and sure enough it was it. Well the bait is listed as 1/3oz but it has small size #8 hooks, my buddy informed of that and told me he switched his out to the KVD 2X short shank triple grip in a size #6 with no change in action so I grabbed the hooks too. Now I'm not the type to see a bait work one time and I have to get it but when I see it consistently get big fish every time it is used and the way the fish were eating it, well it was unreal as every fish just choked it and the price of these baits.....$2.99!!!!!! This bait has caught big fish since the crankbait bite started a couple weeks back, the only difference is that when it started I was able to keep pace with a spinnerbait and it was good fishing but it wasn't the kind of numbers we had this time so I didn't bother finding out what bait it was until we fished cranks side by side and it seemed to be the real deal. So there you have it, the Bass Pro Shops XTS crankbait, a truly inexpensive crankbait that is not only durable but performs well and catches fish like there is no tomorrow!!!!! Just grab some short shank treble hooks in a size #6 and you'll have a great bait for under $4.00, and before I forget, it claims the diving depth is 6' but in reality with 10lb copolymer it runs 4', so go grab some, you'll be glad you did.

I use a Fenwick HMG 7'2" M-MF, it is listed as a medium but it is rated 1/4oz to 1oz and while I haven't used a 1.25oz bait I have used 3/4oz baits and based on the feel I think it would handle up to a 1.5oz as long as you didn't whip cast the bait. The moderate fast action isn't a parabolic action, it bends slightly further down the blank which makes it nice for big square bills and large topwaters.

My favorite style hands down is the Arky jig because it will do a lot of things that the structure jig can do. For example, walking the jig up or down ledges, crawling it over humps and over deadfalls, and about the only place it really isn't good is the grass. I think 3 types of jigs will have you covered, one for rock and wood, one for grass, and a finesse style jig, now you can cover any situation.

The reel seats on those are Fuji ACS reel seats, the general consensus is one of love and hate. I really like the Fuji ACS reel seats and on that rod it isn't bad, the worst thing that will happen is the red paint might chip but other than that is isn't a bad rod. There was a guy in our bass club that used to have a full arsenal of them and he didn't like KVD at all but his wife got him one for a Christmas present so he used it and loved the rod. The think with the reel seat seems to be that a lot of guys like to put 3 fingers in front of the trigger and for those who do that, almost all with dislike it but if you use only 2 fingers in front of the trigger it is actually nice.

I don't own any rods with labels on them but if I did I would still use the rod for anything I thought it would be good for.

I use Duo Lock snaps when fishing crankbaits only, anything like a jig or any hooks get tied direct. When using the snap with crankbaits, I used to take the split rings off and my buddy never took them off and he told me there wasn't a problem so I tried it myself and I have not experienced any negative problems so I hook the snap to the split ring if the crank I'm fishing has a split ring on it. I should also note that I don't use the snaps on jerkbaits or topwaters, the one exception is a wake bait but I treat that as a super shallow crank but no snaps for jerkbaits or topwaters.

I have a bunch of lipless cranks from a bunch of different brands and as far as color goes, chrome/blue back seems to work in every brand that has that color and it works from clear water to stained water and everywhere in between. The only time I use painted colors is when smallmouths are present and even then I only use them in the Xcalibur one knockers, the 2 best colors for me are lemon-lime and Tilapia, I don't know why they just are. I got 45 Xcalibur one knockers and I have at least one of every color but most of them sit, dingy water lemon-lime, clear or lightly stained Tilapia, and aside for those baits, chrome/blue back.

Oxbow is a great color and these are really good baits to learn how to fish square bills. I like the 3/8oz size since the baits are small but you got a good size lo learn with and I say that because it will get hit by anything that swims, you'll catch big bluegills, crappie, and bass of course. Try using that in two different places, rip rap, and shallow flats, and there doesn't have to be cover to hit as long as you can hit bottom and that bait will hit bottom in less than 3' depending on the line size. Right now is the perfect time for them, the bass are beginning to put the feedbag on so grab you square bills and hit the water!!

When you get them and use them post what you learned, I'm sure you'll like them much better than what you've been using. Most guys who never used a rod above $50 really can't believe how good a rod in the $150 - $200 feels in hand and when using it, the first time on the water is where you really appreciate it, especially after you make a few hundred cast and understand how much heavier your other rods were . Congrats on the purchase, they are good rods.

The hook size on the swim jig determines your trailer size, and the Fat Albert will work but it will be very compact, you will have to trim the skirt for the tail to be free. I know a lot of my friends are telling me the new Kalins Sizmic grub is awesome on the back of a swim jig, try the 3.8 size. A good all around size for that swim jig is 3.5" to 4", the only way you need larger is is it have a long 5/0 hook, then your minimum would be a 4" or 4.5" bait.