smalljaw67

Make sure you use the gel, super glue GEL!!!!! The reason is regular super glue will wick up the weed guard and won't hold in the hole. Loctite super glue gel control!!!

So what are you going to use the vise for?? Are you going to use it to hold a jig or crankbait to paint? Or are you going to tie jigs? If you want to hold cranks in order to paint then just go to a craft store and by exacto knife handles, they work well for holding cranks and the jigs you could do with a simple rack made with wire or dowels. The other bit of advise I have has to do with saving you money so don't get mad, but you can do a lot better and have a higher profit margin getting unpainted jigs from a different source. I really like the quality of the BOSS jigs but they are way over priced for blanks, you end up having to charge more money than guys that pour them, check out LPO (lure parts online), they sell a lot of different jigs with high quality heads and you can get bulk pricing, you can also get them completely finished just tell them what you want.

I really wanted to get a Daiwa Tatula until I read that it weighs 8 ounces, I know that isn't heavy but when you fish with a Revo Premier 2nd gen, a Quantum Smoke, and a Lews Tourney Pro it is impossible for me to use a casting reel that is more than 7.5 ounces now and even that seems heavy. The only bad thing is with the low weight comes high prices, but there is some really good affordable equipment out there if you take the time to look and research.

It depends on what kind of line you are using, I use a medium power, extra fast action using mono but if you are using braid then you may wan a fast or even a mod. fast rod for that. The extra fast is good for flouro or mono as both lines do have some stretch but braid doesn't so you need a little more give in the rod to absorb some shock, it is why you now see moderate action flipping sticks for guys using braid.

I can't bring myself to pay that much for tungsten so I go with ultra steel depending on what I'm doing. If I'm using 7" - 8" worms with a 1/4oz weight and I need ultimate feel then I go with ultra steel as you can tell the difference between pea gravel and sand with it and it is very affordable, the only downside is a 1/4oz ultra steel bullet weight is about the size of a 3/8oz lead weight. If I'm in weeds fishing over a muck bottom then it is lead as I'm in a place where losing the rig is highly likely and it doesn't matter how hard the weight is, you aren't going to feel too much more on a soft bottom.

have the same Griffin Spider vise, $85 bucks, made in U.S.A. , and it has a lifetime warranty but it is also a rotary vise which is something I will never do without again. I got it because I use larger hooks as does Cadman and the Griffin spider will hold a 5/0 depending on which hook and what you are doing. For example, I can put a Mustad 32798 flat eye hook in 5/0 and ties with no problem, if I use a 32786 then I can still use it but I have to watch as it will slip a bit when cinching down. It is about the best vice you can get for larger hooks without spending a ton, for example most other vises you need to buy a separate set of jaws, the Peak vise I was looking at I had to spend an addition $55 dollars on a jaw set for larger hooks on top of the $300 for the vise. Let me know what you are tying and I can tell you if the Griffin will be right for you.

I like the larger square bills so I prefer a MH with a mod fast action, a fast action is ok on a medium power rod as it will have enough forgiveness to keep you from pulling the hooks out. I found the moderate action cranking rods to be too soft for my style but depending on how you use the square bill it is an option.

Eye Surrender, seriously, these are as good as you wilkl get with a $20 lifetime replacement and the come with a cleaning cloth and hard case for $59.99. I just had a pair replaced that I got 6 years ago, the rubber backs came off and at the time the replacement was $10 and they honored it plus the glasses are now ten times better which I didn't think was possible. I have had both Cost and Maui Jim and they are good glasses but they use a glass lens and you tend to feel them after a bit, TAC lenses have a little less optical quality than glass but they are shatter proof and they are light, I forget I have the glasses on until I go into a dark room. Try them out, I'm glad I did.

That is how I prefer to shop but where I live the mom and pop stores got hammered by both a Cabelas opening in 2003 and a Bass pro shops in 2005. I do use mostly custom soft plastics made by small manufacturers and I still frequent 2 local tackle shops but when I need a rod or reel I need to go to TW.

Slow down and learn to use the jig, in fact here is what I would do if I was fishing with you. Go to something you know works, do this and see how the bite is, if you have a day and you are getting bit then that is when you break out the jig. The first thing is start small, go with a 1/4oz jig with a small trailer, like a yum or zoom chunk, pitch or cast it to areas where you were getting bit and leave it sit for several seconds. Now that the jig has been sitting for a few seconds begin to lift the rod slowly, from 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock and as you lower your rod slowly reel the slack but watch the line as you are doing this. make a few more cast and use the same type of retrieve and if that doesn't work then try hopping it, make the cast and when the jig hits bottom give it a few hops and pause, then a few more and pause. The point of this is to give the fish different looks, there are times when the jig just isn't what they want but when you do get a good jig bite you'll love fishing it, nothing like hopping a jig for a few seconds and feeling the "THUMP" when a good one grabs it. Hang in there and like I said, try using them on a day when the fish seem to be hitting, once you gain confidence you'll do better.

No, it isn't but you can still use it. I have used pro-tec, Columbia coatings as well as powder from other manufacturers and they all work the same. The biggest difference I found was cure times, Columbia coatings and pro-tec both do well at 350 degrees for 15 minutes while some suggest 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Even when using the other powders that call for high cure temps with less time, they still seem to take the 350 for 15 minutes quite well so while there are some differences the stuff you are looking at should work ok.

I use a 7'2" MH-XF Fenwick Aetos casting rod to pitch with now, I use 15lb big game mono so I know it has stretch so the extra fast action gives me a little more back bone for the hook set and it makes it nice to get good accurate pitches. Remember when selecting a rod to pitch with you have to ask yourself what is it you need for the areas you fish and the lures you use along with the line choice, all of them will have an effect. Heavy brush or wood with braid I would have a heavy power rod either fast or moderate fast, docks and moderate weed cover with say fluorocarbon, well I'd go with something close to what I use which is a medium heavy with either a fast or extra fast action. The lures you choose to pitch with will be the last thing, and the only real effect is do you need something that has a medium heavy power but can handle 1oz jigs, it sounds strange but that kind of thing needs to be considered. So exam exactly what you will be doing and then look at line and lure choices and it will basically tell you what rod you need, the length is personal preference as you can really use any length rod but normally anything from 6'10" up to 7'4" is what I would say is good for pitching, anything longer and you have more of a flipping stick which is ok if you can pitch accurately with it. Good luck.

My hottest lure that I feel like I mastered and that has always been my go to has been the spinnerbait, but if you are talking about just this year so far it has been the swim jig!! I make a swim jig in a color I call green gill and that bait with a River Rock swim grub on the back has done the most damage so far.

You are doing everything right, the things you feel, remember them as that is the hard part about fishing a jig, learning to distinguish bites. The good news is that you'll get better in using it but understand this, a jig and trailer that is pretty big isn't going to get a bunch of fish, you will get fewer bites but the ones you get will be quality fish, most of the time. For people just starting out, I recommend a smaller bait that will catch more numbers of fish, like a 1/4oz jig with a zoom super chunk trailer, something that has a smaller profile and compact length, a jig like that will get bit more and you'll learn faster what bites feel like but for now concentrate on what the jig is doing and how it feels, it will pay off for you.

I may be wrong but from the way you are describing what it is like for you to fish a spinnerbait I am guessing you are using a medium powered spinning rod, maybe even a medium light, possibly an ugly stick. I say that as a 3/8oz spinnerbait on a medium heavy rod is fine, you will get some flex in the tip but it doesn't take over the rod like you describe. As for feelong a bite, if you reel a 3/8oz spinnerbait at a normal speed you will not have to wonder if you have a bite, you will feel it pull away, there are times when you will just feel weight but not this time of year, if one hits it you'll know it.

It depends on what the fish are doing, for example, if I'm fishing a crankbait, hard jerkbait, or basically anything that a 1/4oz or larger then I'm all casting gear. If I'm throwing tubes, small finesse jigs or split shot rigs then I'm using spinning.

I was on the Juniata river a few weeks back when it was super hot and a white 1/4oz swim jig with a River Rock Baits Swim Grub was the only bait worth throwing. We caught every fish on that set up with the biggest being a 20.5" 3lb 12oz pig!! Yes, a swim jig is a great option and don't be afraid to go big, the 1/4oz bait we used has a 4/0 hook and we actually caught 2 fish that were around 10" on it.

Any of those reels are fine, I have 2 Smoke casting reels, the 100 and 150 both are the HPT high speed. I can tell you two things, first one is the Smoke is the best reel Quantum ever made, the other is that I have the 150 on a Smoke rod, excellent set up but I also had it on a Fenwick as well as a Loomis and there wasn't any problem. I will admit that there may be a problem depending on the rod but you would have it with most of those reels you listed and that problem would be balance. You see, all the reels are light weight so if you have a rod that balances well with a reel that is 8 ounces and throw one of those reels on, well you will more than likely have a tip heavy set up but that isn't all bad if it is for a crankbait or spinnerbait application. If you are concerned then find a reel with more weight but in all honesty I doubt you will have any problem with any of theose reels including the Smoke.

Which ever one of the reels are aluminum framed would be the one you get, in other words the Shimano and the pro max are out as those reels have graphite frames so any of the others should be decent.

I've been tying hair jigs for quite some time and for me they have been the single best thing for cold water smallmouth but last year it got pretty hot and I found myself swamped with anglers wanting hair jigs so I decided to try them in the warm months to see what happened. What I found is that they do work, and work well, specifically when the fish aren't active, for some reason they won't really take a skirted jig or a finesse worm but throw a hair jig around and it will get bit most of the time so now I always have a box of hair jigs with me.

Daiwa has the Ballistic rods on sale over on Tackle Warehouse for $65 bucks, and the other Daiwa in your price range would be the Procyon, it really isn't a bad rod for the price. I got a Procyon spinning rod for Christmas, my sister-in-law got it for me not knowing too much about fishing and I was going to take it back but it was a ML and I needed one so I tried it out and I was surprised at how responsive it was and it had a good amount of feel to it, fished well above price point. I also have to agree with the reel, the Lews speed spool is about the best reel under $100, I would save and buy that instead of going to the graphite framed reels, they are inexpensive for a reason, for a few dollars more you are going to have a reel that will give you more than one season, and if you take reasonable care of it you should have it awhile, aluminum casting and spinning reels, stay away from graphite. The last thing is even aluminum framed reels have graphite side plates, when looking at getting a reel you look for aluminum frame, as long as the frame is aluminum the side plate are much of an issue, I say that so you don't get confused when reading the description of the reel, good luck.

I learned on reel that only had a spool tension knob so using my thumb is only natural. I also set minimum brakes and keep the spool tension light so I need to feather the spool with my thumb for the entire cast not just as it hits, I find I get more distance this way but it only takes a slight error to cause a mess but it is just how I learned.

The big difference between the slash-it, yellow magic, and other premium poppers are the sound and I'm a pop-r fan, the premium pop-r which is a little bigger and has a better finish than the regular pop-r. If you want to know why those bait carry a premium price is the way they are made and the action, try making the "plop" sound with a splash-it, you won't, it spits water and the yellow magic is the same. If you think that doesn't make a difference then do yourself a favor and sit in the boat near weeds or lily pads in the summer when there is a bug hatch and listen closely, do you hear that little pop of the bluegills coming up to take a bug? That is the sound the premium poppers make, more of a spitting type sound that is even more subtle that a slowly pulled prop bait. I never believed in paying a premium for a popper until I watched my friend catch 7 smallies in less than an hour while I didn't get a bite , it was that simple sound and the closest thing to them at a modest price is the Zell Pop. There are times when the louder action of a pop-r is going to work and at times it will work better than the splash-its but those times are rare and the ability of the premium popper to get topwater bites when no other topwater bait can get bit is what you buy, and those baits do draw strikes even when the bite is off.

X2!!!!! First thing is the skirt is very heavy, if you make the skirt that heavy then all you need to do is use wire or thread and pull it tight and you will get the flair. It is the same concept as spinning deer hair for a hair jig or fly, you wrap thread around stiff hair like that of deer body hair and you pull it tight and it flairs out. Puff ball jigs are made the same way like the skinny bear jigs, they use multiple layers that when the wire is pulled tight you get a heavy flair.

I use the big moe but I use it as a creature bait to flip and pitch with instead of using it like a standard lizard. The big moe isn't going to get a bunch of bites but it will get big bites most of the time, not that I haven't caught 1lb and 2lb fish on it because I have but I never caught those 10" dinks either. If you are fishing in a place where there is a population of large fish then go with the big moe, the smaller size is good all around bait and if you want more numbers then I'd opt for that but they are good baits and work very well.