smalljaw67

If there is a way to be able to hold one first do so, the ergonomics may not work for you. I thought this was going to be the reel I've wanted Daiwa to make since the Advantage but once I palmed it I was immediately disappointed. It is probably a very good reel but it feels really wide, it is like how some can't stand the bulge on Quantum reels. I palm my reels in my left hand and my thumb sits across the top diagonally I guess and it rest on the other side of the frame, but on the Tatula it doesn't make it and my thumb is left on the spool unless I reposition it which doesn't feel natural.

If I'm catching a good number of fish on 7" worms and most are in the average size range I will often go to a 10" worm rigged on a 5/0 Gamakatsu offset shank worm hook. As WRB already mentioned, you will catch some smaller fish occasionally with a big worm but not likely, and it holds true in my waters, the switch to the big worm and the bites disappear but when you do get bit it is normally a 3lb+ fish. I have never thrown a worm larger than 10", we don't have big schools of large fish in PA so the need for a larger worm just isn't there.

I use a lot of different ones, right now the finesse soft plastic are what you want. I use a small manufacturers swim baits, the River Rock Baits RR Striker, it is very similar to the Keitech Easy Shiner, the Strike King KVD Swim-n-Shiner, and the Gene Larew Sweet Swimmer, these are all 3.5", 3.75" and 4" and do good during the summer. I throw them on the back of swim jigs for largemouth in weeds but I use them on a 1/8oz and 1/4oz swim bait heads for smallmouth. I also like the Hollow Body swim baits, my favorite being the Bass Magic is 3.5" and 4.5" and the Berkley Hollow Belly, I fish them on a jig head for deep water and on a weighted hook for shallow water. The hollow body baits seem to work better during the fall, right when the grass is beginning to die and I guess it makes sense as most forage fish are at their biggest. Hard body swim baits were a mystery to me, I loved how they would swim in the water but the fish didn't and then one day I found out about a cold water swim bait bite and started trying out my hard baits like the Sebile magic swimmer and I discovered a lot when I did that. I like the Sebile Magic Swimmer, the Storm Kickin Stick and the Storm Swimin Stick, and I use them in mid spring when the water temp hits the low to mid 50s, it is very close to the way you would work a jerkbait. I'm not as far north but I'm in PA and while some will get a decent fish on a big swim bait I won't because there are not enough big fish here to devote a lot of time to it but the smaller 5" hard and soft swim baits work well if you use them when conditions call for them.

I'm lucky in that I have a Cabelas 20 minutes from my house and a BPS about 40 minutes away and I choose Cabelas most of the time because they have better customer service. BPS normally has a better selection of stuff but if you have a problem Cabelas will solve it while BPS takes their time to determine what to do. I bought a zoom tube kit from BPS in March, this was a few years back, I needed this for a tournament and they didn't arrives, after 2 weeks I called and was told it was on back order, well I cancelled it and it was weird, the charge never came off my card. I called every month to tell them they didn't take the charge off, they would assure me it would get taken care of and apologize for the inconvenience, well this went on until one day in August when my tube kit I cancelled finally arrived, they never took it off my card and I was done with them after that and have only made in store purchases since.

Adjust the size of the jig, very easy to do. I have my jigs put in 3 separate categories, FINESSE, REGULAR, and HAIR, and they all have a time and place. Eakins style jigs are considered finesse but they make them in a 7/16oz which I don't consider to be a finesse jig, I make mine 1/8 and 3/16. The next time you go make sure to have some 1/4oz jigs or maybe a bitsy bug in 3/16oz and pair it with a Zoom super chunk jr, or any type of chunk trailer in the 2" to 2.25" range. That jig and trailer will get bit if presented in front of a fish, try it slowly and see how the fish react, if working it slow with a simply lift and drop doesn't work try dragging it or aggressively hopping it and take note of what happens. I say this because the jig is one bait that even if the fish aren't on it, you should still be able to get bit so try somaller jigs at first, if you start getting numbers of small fish try going up a size and see what happens. I've had times where I started with a 3/8oz jig, and didn't get a sniff and dropped it to a 1/4oz and it was game on, just a difference in fall rate and it works the opposite way, you may not get bit on the 1/4oz but go up to a 3/8 or even 1/2oz and the faster fall may get reaction strikes. You like jigs and you like the idea of them but you don't have much confidence in them but be patient and try using smaller and larger jigs based on what the fish tell you, and the most important thing, if you aren't getting bit and you've been dragging the jig and then on on cast you make it hop and get bit, try to remember that, it is often the very clue you need to get the fish to hit.

This did freak me out! That stupid stick worm is my failsafe, we even tease each other when fishing to see who is the first one that gives up and goes with the Senko!!!! To me that thing is like live bait, it doesn't matter if you wacky rig it, T-Rig it, or even on a shaky head, it just works and fish hit it when they won't hit anything else. For me it would have to be the full size brush hog, as others already said, the baby does a great job but the fish in my neck of the woods don't like the big hogs.

It isn't the lure but the fish that is hitting the bait. I found that when the fish are eating a topwater it is more like a toilet flush, big fish tend to do this a lot. The bigget splashes are the ones you normally don't hook up because the fish are hitting it with mouth closed just to get rid of it. Have you ever witnessed bass tail slapping topwaters? Those make for cool hits but it gets frustrating after it happens too many times. I was fishing a Devils Horse on the edge of a pad field when the water erupted and my lure went flying about 6' in the air, so we made the same cast and my buddy was watching to see what was going to happen and the same thing but that time we got a good look, the fish would come up full speed and then turn, so the water would get a swirl and then slash and my bait was in the air, complete tail slap. I did get the fish, 4lbs 9oz when I threw a Senko in after the 4th tail slap.

Find a custom builder, I make swim jigs in 1/8oz as well as ball heads with a flat eye hook and others with a 90 degree hook. What I'm saying is there are a lot of jigs in that size, for fishing twisters you already have what you need. The biggest difference is the hooks, the 50 pack you get has what is called an Aberdeen hook, they are light wire and are designed to bend if you get snagged you can straighten the hook out, get your jig back and then bend the hook back in place, they are designed for light line and open water. The other thing that you need to look at is the size hook, I make 1/8oz jigs with 4/0 hooks as well as a size #2, so you can have a large range of sizes that will let you fish all different size plastics. I won't make jigs for you but I'm letting you know that stuff does exist, if the jigs you are using work then by all means, continue using them, the only way you need to look for something different is if you want to use a different presentation or if you want to upsize the twister you are using but if you look you can find production jigs as well as custom that will fit your needs.

What you saw was line twist and/or memory. Line stretch is different and you don't see it in the line, you feel it and notice it, especially when you set the hook on a snag.

These are similar to a Manns 1 minus and the Storm sub wart and I like to fish them fast over tops of weeds and over shallow rock flats. The "v" wake is better done with a Bomber long A, on a slow steady retrieve the tighter action allows the bait to make a wake where the shallow running cranks make more of a bulge.

I'll echo the same thing, $30 and serious doesn't go together when fishing reels are concerned, unfortunately you get what you pay for and unless there is something discontinued for a new version. If you only got $30 then I suggest you look at Cabelas or Bass Pro shops and wait until they have a no minimum $5 dollar shipping or free shipping and get one of their $30 dollar reels because if they fail within the first year those two places will take them back. If it was me I would just put some money aside and be patient, if you really want something better just keep saving until you can get a reel that isn't a one season disposable and for $30 that is pretty much what you get.

If you aren't going to use braid I'd suggest the lightning rod, not the shock but the regular version. They are pretty decent for what you pay and if you are using braid then the shock would be better. You got some good advice, the shock will prove difficult to get good hook sets if you are using mono and certain fluorocarbon lines because they have stretch and the shock has a slower taper to compensate for braid which has zero stretch.

I had the same thing happen when I tried it out and I even went and got a Quantum Tour Edition 6'10" H-F Biffle Bug rod just for the swing jig. I noticed that that rod is really stiff and because it is short you can have the rod pointing almost straight down which helps keep the jig on the bottom. The deal with it though is the rod is super stiff so when it hits a rock it doesn't load much instead it just deflects off the rock and keeps going and when a fish hits it the hook penetrates almost by itself, you simply lean on it a little. I think 7' is fine, just a heavier power rod and you are fine.

I fish river smallmouth a lot and I have much more success with a spinnerbait and a swim jig in clear water but once the water gets stained the chatterbait then comes into play more. The times in which a chatterbait has been better in the river has been when the water had less than 2' of visibility, 1/4oz models with a fluke Jr. trailer.

What you experienced rarely happens 2 times in a row and yet you caught all of your fish that way. What happened is you were lucky enough to find spots where the fish were active and wanting to feed and your bait splashed right on top of them. I like to use a small 3.5" to 4" soft plastic swim bait on the back of a swim jig and even good quality, super soft plastics seem a little more durable than what you experienced. Perhaps Z-Man plastics will help you but what you had happen isn't common.

Fishing deep offshore structure is almost impossible without electronics unless you know where the spots are. You mentioned that the lake is natural, and one thing with them is oxygen content in deep water, the natural lakes I fish have only current in the form of wind and the deepest you will mark fish is around 14' to 16' but more fish will be closer to weed flats even in extreme heat. You may get lucky without electronics but there is a better way if you want to stay away from the banks. Look for points, both long main lake points and secondary points, position the yak a long cast away from shore, even a little more, then tie on a 1/2oz football jig with a twin tail grub for a trailer. Make a cast so that the bait is 10' off the bank or so and count how long it takes to get to the bottom, once you know that you can begin working the bait back to you by slowly dragging it or stroking it. I say this because me and a friend fished a tournament 1 year and not even 5 minutes after we launched his electrical system started having fits and we were forced to fish without sonar. We fished the banks for a bit but decided to fish just the points and we finished the day in 2nd place. You may have to hit a few points until you find fish but when you do remember the depth approximately the fish was caught and how the point looked, did it go into deep water quickly from the shoreline or did it slowly taper off into deep water? You can also use a deep spinnerbait or a lipless crank or a football jig or a heavy Texas rig but without sonar to find structure or cover off shore in deep water your best bet is to fish the points.

The biggest mistake is to lock yourself onto that one lure. Remember, lures are tools and based on the time difference the conditions are going to be different. Now, there is a possibility that it will work for you, where I live the swim bait bite goes away when you hit summer but it doesn't go away entirely. Low light conditions are where I will throw a swim bait and anywhere there is current. I will also leave you with this, since you are fishing vegetation, try using a swim jig with a 3.5" to 4" swim bait on it as a trailer, baits like a Gene Larew sweet swimmer, Keitech Easy Shiner, or KVD swim-n-shiner will work great for that.

March 2013, me and my buddy were out exactly 35 minutes, there was a stiff breeze blowing with the sir temp just barely 40 so it felt like it was in the low 30s. Well I had a spinning rod in hand as I know my hands are not good in cold as my cancer treatment caused severe neuropathy in my hands and throwing a palmed casting set up was a possibility. My buddy let his go however, a MBR843C GLX with a Shimano Calais on it and what makes it worse is the Calais has been discontinued. $700 on the bottom of a lake and we were dredging the bottom with deep divers with no luck, the wind blew us off the spot really fast and the water was high and there was a good current moving, we tried for 2 hours before finally giving up. Things happen and remember, equipment can be replace eventually, be glad you had a trip in which you caught good fish and nobody got hurt.

For a long time I advocated that the fluke and slug-o were two entirely different baits. I have flukes for fishing close to the surface and that means breaking the surface also, the Slug-o was my favorite for a long time as it sank faster than a fluke and it would dart and almost come to a slow stop while the fluke, specifically the super fluke would sort of glide to the side. I found a new favorite from a small manufacturer, River Rock Baits Jointed Jerkbait, it sinks fast and it gives a subtle kick when it darts, and that kick is deadly on a scrounger head and on a bladed swim jig. I use the 4" on a spinning set up with a 2/0 hook and the 5" I use with casting gear with a 4/0 hook.

Congrats!!! I was out on Friday, we had a lot of rain and the water was dirty and the temp dropped from 70 down to the low 60s. We threw a bladed jig, and a spinnerbait for a bit but decided to throw the jig since it looked as if the fish weren't going to chase anything moving. We tied on 3/8oz and 1/2oz Arky jigs with smallie beavers used as trailers in black neon and it was the ticket all day.

I have used them, in fact I really like a color they call "the General", it is like a red shad type color. I'm not surprised you were losing them on a Texas rig, the worm is to fragile as it was meant for a shaky head. I like 2 types of shaky heads, the screw locks with a round head are my favorite, but I also like type that have a collar that holds the worm, they work ok but the screw lock does better. Even on a shaky head the power bait shaky worms are fragile, they tear easily which makes them horrible for what you were doing, if you use them with a regular shaky head you'll be better off but if you don't have any and have to use a T-rig then go to a different worm.

There are times a fluke won't work, but in most cases they do great. If you are fishing really dirty water, less than 1' visibility then the fluke isn't the way to go but in normally stained water with 1' to1.5' of visibility you can do well with pearl with chartreuse tail, or crazy chrome. I think the best way to gain confidence in the bait is to use the super fluke jr., the 4" version is awesome on a spinning rod with a light wire hook and it will generate a lot more strikes on average. Remember, work it slow and to work the water column, if the fish are willing to take a fluke it doesn't take long to find out as they will usually move a good way to hit it.

You were using a small finesse worm on a Texas rig, correct? If you were using a shaky head the worm would be on a jig head and you'd get a lot of use out of 1 worm. There are all kinds of shaky heads, my favorite is a simple round ball head with a screw lock, the screw lock really works at keeping the worm in place.

Wrong reel, I meant the Antares. I understand performance aspects but as I've said, weight is a killer and deal breaker for me no matter how good the performance. I fished with a friends Zillion type-R yesterday, I wouldn't pay more than $100 for it because it is a brick. Did it perform well, absolutely but just as some guys can't get past tip heavy rods, I can no longer get past reels in the 8oz area. The same thing for rods, TT does a great job but they do show a little bias when doing a high end reel that performs well, no mention or points deducted for weight, fine but then you can do it to others either, if an 8oz reel is heavy for a $100 dollar reel then 8oz is heavy for a $600 dollar reel.

TT does a very good job with reviews, my only problem with them is they do have a bias when it comes to Daiwa or Shimano and I'll tell you why I feel that way and the PQ review is part of the reason. The minute they mention a reel being heavy as a bad thing, I don't like heavy reels either, I immediately think of the Zillion and the Metanium, great reels but neither ever got knocked on the weight issue and to me they are bricks. Both those reels are 8 oz, the same weight they knock other branded reels as being heavy, and I've asked about this and I was told that everything else is so good that they look past the weight because it really isn't an issue with these reels. Well is the weight isn't an issue with high end reels then it shouldn't be with any other reel and that is my only problem with their reviews otherwise I trust everything they report. Myself, when I picked up a Revo Premier 2nd generation and then a Smoke and finally a Tourney Pro, that was it, I was done with reels over 7.5 to 8oz, I don't care if the reel is said to be better than sliced bread, if it weighs more than 7oz it is a brick.