smalljaw67

Cabelas has the quantum Kinetic for $10 dollars more, $69,99 and it is a much better reel than the Code. When it comes to Quantum the lowest reel I would buy would be the Accurist PT.

Very easy to do with any weedless jig mold, if you want to make your own wire weedguard or use the ones at Lure Parts Online and not the ones made for the wacky jig either since they are too thin. Anyway, grab a rubber skirt collar put the first weedguard in the opening followed by the second, next you line up the weedguard with how much you want coming out and where you want them inside the head. Place the skirt collar right where the weedguard slot meets the head and close the mold and hold tightly and then pour, you my get a tiny amount of smoke but nothing really. When you remove your jig you can just break off the sprue and remove the rubber collar and then bend the wire in the position you want, it also works with a single wire.

I have the underspin for my grandson and I have it spooled with 4lb mono. I have to say that it performs so well I really am thinking of getting one for me crappie set up, very smooth drag and for 2 full years it never tangled, messed a cast up or had any regular issues associated with a spin cast reel.

The square bill is made to fish fast and deflect off of cover, they are fished that way to produce a reaction strike and sometimes the fish are tight to cover and won't venture to hit a fast moving bait. I have tried slow rolling a square bill but truth be told, if you are fishing it like that then a different bait is called for such as a jig or soft plastic. If you get hit on the slow moving stuff, try to remember or keep track of how the fish are taking the bait, are they grabbing it and running? Are they just picking up very subtle? You also need to keep an eye on where they are hitting it, is it on the Fall? Is it while on the bottom? Was it hit when paused? Was it hit while it was moving? All of those things are clues as to what bait you want to use. If I'm using a shaky head to start out thinking it may be slow and I start getting hit on the fall, I may try a moving bait, perhaps a swim jig, it depends on the location, and it works when trying to dial in a size of jig or worm too. Keep your mind open and follow the clues, it more often than not, leads to catching more and bigger fish and lets you know what lure is best for the conditions you currently face.

See how the rod handles the jig, for example, can you feel bottom? Can you feel light bites? Is it a fast or mod fast action? While labels are usually a moot point I find that some manufacturers actually change the way the rod behaves rather than just having a MH-F rod it may have more flex for the spinnerbait rods and less for the jig and worm rods. I never fished with the mojo series but I have owned a good bit of Loomis rods and the mag bass rods were perfect for fishing anything, true all purpose rods but the BCR jig and worm rods had much more feel and tighter actions, they behaved very differently from the mag bass or MBR series of rods. Try it out and see is it works for jigs and worms, my guess is that it probably does just fine as it is more likely a regular MH-F with the only thing making it a spinnerbait rod is the writing on the blank.

That is a good deal, I like those cutter for the dremel, I need to get up to Harbor Freight to get another set, mine are shot from modifying my molds. Great post and the pics were clear, thanks.

I fish floating rogues all summer, it is a killer on river smallmouth and if you have weedbeds that have a 1" to 3" depth then you have the perfect spot for that bait. This year I started using the Bang--O-Lure from Bagleys, they are quickly becoming my favorites and I never thought anything could do better than my clown colored floating rogues, the shallow diving ones. The Bang-O-Lure is doing better with size, it seems the bigger fish have been hitting it and I've been doing well on river smallmouth with it but the shallow rogue is still my go to but really any floating jerkbait will work great in summer but very few anglers use them anymore. i'm glad to see other use it as well, good luck on the next outing with it.

Molds are owned by the Charlie Brewer slider company and are not available for purchase. If you want to make them yourself you need to make the mold which isn't hard.

I'm glad it helped, I hate paying retail and if you can wait you will get a good deal, expect to see the Fenwick HMG to be around $79 - $89, the Lews should end up close also look for the same Procyon rods as well as the Ballistic from Daiwa, *** just blew the Ballistic out for $65 and with the new Lexa rods I think the procyon may be going to get axed, I was going to just take mine back as it was a gift but I decided to try it and it surprised me, especially since it has a 5 year warranty and it performs incredibly well, much better than what the price suggests. Be patient and you will be rewarded.

7'0" ML Daiwa Procyon spinning rod, Okuma Inspira spinning reel, the rod wasa Christmas gift and the reel I grabbed from a gift card but I picked it out unlike the rod. The rod was $70 and the reel was on sale for $40 so $110 is the total, BTW if you don't mind fishing with the previous years product or you don't mind something discontinued you can get some great deals. The Okuma Inspira spinning reel I got for $40 is a great reel that was discontinued, it was normally a $109 but due to the fact it was discontinued TW was blowing them out cheap. Right now anyone needing a new set up but is on a budget should keep their eyes looking to tackle shops all over, the ICAST items will be arriving which means any series that was discontinued or upgraded by new will be getting discounted pretty big, look for the old model Fenwick HMG to be on sale, also look for the Lews Tounament speed stick SL to be discounted pretty heavy. If you keep your eyes open and can resist the bait monkey you'll be surprised at what you can get.

I guess I'm a snob but I found a small manufacturer a couple of years ago and the plastics they make are impressive, super high quality plastic, very soft and they just flat out catch fish in the toughest conditions. River Rock Baits is pretty much all I use with 1 exception, I do like the Gene Larew Biffle bugs and it has become the only mass produced bait I use anymore.

If you want a Chapion extreme you can save some money by getting a Loomis IMX, they are about the same in weight, balance, and power and even the sensitivity department I'd say the IMX is just a tad bit better but that again depends on the user. The biggest difference is the DX has a little bling while the Loomis IMX is more a traditional looking rod, I'm not knocking the Dobyns, they make a good rod but I think they are over priced considering they are made overseas. I have fished with a Champion and a DX and I would have to say the IMX from Loomis is about where they fall, I would say the Champion line would be between a GL2 and a GL3.

Some older "new" stuff is good, I bough a brand new rod from 1992, it still had the tags on and the cork was covered in plastic with the BPS bar code tag still on. The rod is a glass cranking rod, it is a Quantum Tour U S A, the last ones that were made in America. It is a glass cranking rod, that particular model used a Lamiglas E-Glass blank and is a kill cranking rod, back in the day it was over $100 but I paid $23.00 shipped, most of it was shipping and as I said, it is high quality. Depending on the model you have, some of your equipment may be made in America stuff but it would have been pretty expensive but it is worth a look. BTW, congrats on the find, now hit the water and do some crankin'!!!

One thing I don't rely on is reviews from places like TW, BPS, and Cabelas, I tend to form my own opinion and sometimes you have to. The reason I say this is because if you take the time and look at the reviews of a reel, go to a different retailer and see similar reviews with similar language and after a bit you think the bad reviews must be true as they all say the same exact thing, that is a tip. Most of these are from the same people, most of whom don't own the reel and just parrot other things they heard. I saw a bad review on a Lews Tournament MG, the same review was on 5 different sites under different names but they were too close to have been different people. I admit Quantum has had their share of problems but so has the rest of them, the only problem is a bad Daiwa or Shimano review will get you bashed pretty hard so the bad experiences don't get aired as much but they do happen. I'm on the fence with the EXO, part of me want to try it but I just can't justify the added cost versus a Smoke, the Smoke reels I have are just flat out performers and I don't think you can do much better, at least not that much money better. Any reel in that price range is going to perform well, so fear not, because when it comes to reels, every brand has reels in that price range and they're all good, some more than others but you don't have to worry and in reels any defect will show up well before the warranty expires.

This right here is something to look at. I know a guy that used to break rods like that and he had a bad habit of "snap setting" when he got a bite. What you do when snap setting is you get a bite, reel the slack and instead of swinging up or to the side, you drop the rod first and then swing, what happens is by dropping the rod you put a slight bow in the line and then swing hard. When you do that the rod goes from zero pressure to max pressure in a millisecond, do that over and over and eventually it is going to break, add a tight drag or braided line and it will happen sooner. I see this happen a lot and you really have to have someone watch to see if you do it. You may had bad luck getting rods but having them break during hooksets is very telling, to me it sounds like you may be snap setting and if it is the case it is an easy fix.

Welcome aboard from PA. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would say the model rod with the most comfort is going to transmit vibration better and you will be more focused on what you feel versus trying to feel vibration while your focusing on holding a thin handle so you don't drop the rod. It sound strange but when a rod isn't comfortable and by that I mean that you don't even think about it in your hands, almost a part of your body, when you have that then you will notice more in terms of vibration but not everyone will agree which is why there are so many different brands that succeed.

When you have bass hitting spinner blades you need to go with a different color. I see this happen a lot in clear water when throwing chartreuse or white spinnerbaits. Use a bait that has a white or pearl head with a translucent skirt, a good one at fishingskirts * is #522, clear silver neon, and the best part is you buy some material and make some skirts to take with you. This situation is why I like to use bands for my personal spinnerbait skirts rather than tying them on, you will have a day in which the fish begin banging the blades and you either need to go to a more natural color or a really bright color. The next time that happens go to a different color bait, you'll be glad you did.

That reel has a set drag, it can't be adjusted and the reason it is set like that is for hook sets in weeds plain and simple. I don't want just a flip and pitch reel or I would have one, a guy in the club I belong to has 2 of them, one with 20lb flouro and the other with 65lb braid and he has like 3 or 4 at his home as back ups because he reallt likes them, some days he can't put it down but the guy does nothing but flip and pitch so it really suits his style of fishing.

I've make my own but I've been doing it a long time and while swimming a jig isn't new to me, having a designated swim jig I thought was nonsence but I finally broke down and got a mold and I'm glad I did!!! What I didn't realize was how flipping jigs and football jigs don't run level, the back end sits low and it causes it to hang up but the swim jig rides hook up and it comes through cover really well and hook ups are almost 100% and it has been my number 1 fish catcher this year!!! It has beat my favorite, spinnerbaits by 5 to 1 now and the bite on them is still strong. My favorite is a color I call bluegill, if you look at Fishingskirts * it is number #173, called both molting craw or bluegill and that skirt with a matching head color has been smoking them in every water I used them in!!! Favorite trailers are River Rock Baits RR Striker and swim grub, the Striker looks and swims very much like the Keitech easy shiner.

That will be ok but if you are going to use 50lb braid in slop, pads, heavy weeds, then you will need a MH that is a little stronger than that rod. As I said before, the Abu Rods are a little more powerful so the MH Vengeance is rated 1/4oz to 1oz, it is in between medium heavy and heavy and that would be the lightest rod I would use. Now if you are going to try a frog over light weeds, then you could use that rod. Just so you realize this, heavy isn't referring to the weight of the rod, it is the power, there are heavy power rods that are pretty light so if you are thinking you don't want a heavy rod because it is heavy, that isn't the case, even in a $50 dollar rod.

If you are wire tying the 5/0 flipping hooks the griffin will work fine, if you are thread tying and doing all 5/0 hooks you will need something more expensive with extra jaws. As I said, I tie a 1/2oz jig with a 5/0 Mustad 32798 and I have no problems with it slipping but something like a really heavy wire like a 32768 may slip if using thread and cinching down wire should be ok as you really don't put pressure on the vise. I would also look at everything you plan to do, if all your jigs are going to 5/0 then yeah, you need a different vise but if you intend to do some in 5/0 and others in 4/0 and down then the griffin is a good deal. EDIT: JezHogg, Griffin has the Montana Pro vise, it takes up to a 7/0 and is only $78.00, that looks to the perfect vise for what you are going to do!

The new Catalyst and Accurist are pretty decent, but so is the Lews Tournament MG. If it were me, I'd go with the Catalyst for a couple of reasons, the first is the Lews Tournament MG is heavier than the Catalyst and only has the magnetic braking while the Catalyst has both the ACS along with a magnetic brake. I don't mind Quantum reels, I have an old model Catalyst that is a fantastic reel and my 2 Smoke reels have been nothing but pure performance for the last 2.5 years. I also have the first Kinetic casting reel that they came out with and it too is still working like the day it was purchases and it was used hard, I used to get reels in the $120 to $150 range to use as workhorse reels for Tournament practice days and use my good reels for the tournament and I found workhorse reels that are good and others not so good, for me the Quantum reels in that range are nice because they have good bearings and aluminum frames which usually mean that if I take the time to clean and lube, they should last a long time and so far it seems to be working.

That rod is glass, fiberglass that is and you don't want that for frog fishing. What kind of money are you willing to spend, it doesn't have to be much but you aren't going to get anything for frog fishing for $25. For $50 bucks you can get either a 7' MH or a 7'6" H Abu Garcia Vengeance, Abu Garcia rods are a little more powerful than their rating so the MH Vengeance would work for frogging. For $65 you can get a Daiwa Ballistic in a 7'1" Heavy that would work but if you are looking for anything lower than 50 bucks then keep looking on ebay, you may find something used but look for a rod with a minimum length of 6'10" up to about 7'6" in a heavy power with a fast or moderate fast action.

I make a 3/8oz shaky head with a 5/0 hook for a friend and he uses it specifically for a 10" worm and he kills with it so now I do it and the results are great!! I also like to use a 3/16oz or a 1/4oz shaky head with a 5.5" Stanley Sidewinder and use that around weeds and dead falls, killer technique that works when the fish don't want a normal jig or texas rig.