smalljaw67

If you are just getting into fishing them, what kind of rod and line set up are you using? If you are using a limber or moderate action rod with any line other than braid then I would say that is the problem. A 4" Super Fluke Jr. I use a 2/0 EWG hook on 10lb copoly line with a medium power, extra fast action spinning rod and it is fool proof, for full size flukes I use a 4/0 EWG hook 12# or 14# copoly with a MH-F casting rod. Take a look at the rod you use, it may not have enough backbone to set the hook or perhaps the line has too much stretch.

That is a EWG hook and if it is a 60 degree hook it may be a Gamakatsu 2014.

I don't believe that scent attracts fish but I firmly believe it does help making the fish hold on a second or two longer and that helps with hook ups. I don't use any scent no reaction baits like spinnerbaits or crankbaits but jigs and worms I do. I use CB's Hawg Sauce crawfish scent, I remember I was fishing for smallies on the river and the water was low and gin clear which made the fish spooky and they didn't want to bite. I finally found an area that had overhanging trees and the fish were holding in the shade, I would pitch my 1/4oz jig and zoom chunk next to the bank under the trees and I would get a bite and ste the hook and nada.... It happened 5 times, I then decided to give it a spritz of the hawg sauce that I won in a contest, I don't remember why I had it with but I did and so I put the hawg sauce on my jig and my next pitch got me a nice solid 3lb smallie! It actually made a difference that day and now I always have some hawg sauce for jigs and worms.

You got great advise, a 7' heavy power fast action rod is a good rod to use, some like the long 7'6" and longer but it isn't required, personally I have more control with a 7' frog rod than I do with anything longer. I use 30lb. braid unless the cover I'm fishing is really heavy like a football field of matted grass, that is when I use 50lb. but there is only 2 places that I fish like that os I don't have a big need for super heavy stuff.

I have used them all and own 1, and here is what I can tell you. The Citica and Kinetic offer pretty much the same performance, I purchaed the Kinetic over the Citica when both reels were $119.99, the only reason I did was the Quantum has a handle side aluminum side plate while the Citica has both side plates made of graphite. Out of all the Reels you mentioned, you should get the Revo STX, it is the most refined and better of all the reels you are looking at. When it comes to casting reels you pretty much get what you pay for.

I tie direct, older Zara Spooks get a split ring added and so does the Rattlin chug bug. I did experiment the use of a split ring on a popper and I didn't like it and I tried the loop knot and din't like it so the popper gets a palomar knot tied direct. The baits that benefit from a split ring or loop knot are walking baits, on poppers I thing it makes them a little more subtle and I consider the chug bug as a walking bait. I don't like snaps at all especially on a topwater bait.

X 3 on the BPS crankin stick!!! I used one for a long time, they are easily the best value when it comes to a crankin rod.

I call them the lazy C rig and I really like them!!!! A lot of the lakes I fish have muck bottoms that makes C rigging almost impossible so I don't use it much, only a handful of times a year but when I do I use the keeper and to think I found them by accident.

Stay with your spinning outfit until you are willing to invest at least $100 for just the reel. I always give this advise because I've talked to a few anglers with one being a friend of mine who gave up trying to learn as they tried casting with budget reels. The difference is the quality of the bearings and overall balance of the spool, backlashes will alway occur when trying to force a cast and a good reel requires little effort but while budget reels do work, they are very hard to learn with as you need to exert a lot more force to get them to cast and when you are just learnig that extra force is going to equal extra backlashes. The other thing is adjustability, better and smoother braking systems make casting easy and as I said, most budget reels lack the refinement in braking and bearings which makes casting much harder and will prolong the learnig curve much longer than normal.

CHRGD, Right now Janns Netcraft has them in a gold size #6, if you go and look under "specialty blades" you will see a listing for "oklahoma blade" and the pic doesn't look right but trust me, this is the terminater blade. It describes it as a mag willow or olympic blade with extra contours which is the beveled edge you want but a #6 is pretty big. The other thing you can do is go to lure parts online and they sell a wide willow that is fluted, it is a slightly different look but it does the same thing the oklahoma blade does and that is reflecting light at a different angle than the rest of the blade. If you need any other help feel free to ask and I'll try to help.

I've been a fan of rattle traps for a long time, in the early spring they are very effective just being reeled in at a slow steady pace or on a yo-yo type retrieve. In the warmer months it is a great bait for reaction strikes or as a search bait and you can burn them, yo-yo, rip and pause, or tick the weeds and rip free and they will catch fish. I prefer the rattle trap over the spot as I think the body of the spot is slightly thinner which not only makes a different sound but has resulted in a few cracked bodies, something I haven't experienced with a rattle trap. Today, the Rapala Clackin Rap and the Xcalibur one knockers get most of the use, they have been cosistantly catching bigger fish versus the rattle baits.

The blades you are looking for are made exclusively for Teminator, as long as they keep paying the manufacturer a fee to keep them exclusive then custom makers won't have access to them. I've been making spinnerbaits for over 15 years and what I can tell you is the beveled edge on those blades are for light reflection more than anything else. If you want a good blade like that look to Worth company for a fluted olympic blade, it isn't beveled but the flutes in the blade reflect light in multiple directions. You also need to go to Janns Netcraft and check out the closeouts and check every week, every so often they will have blades for terminators for sale, they are usually gold and size 3 or 5 but the are the real deal and they get them about twice a year.

I really don't think you have much to change as far as your rod goes. The 1/2oz Banshee is a great little swimbait but you found the same problem everyone else has, it is hard to cast. The rods you listed will all be too heavy for the small Banshee but should work with the larger one. The Excel 735 was going to be a flipping stick for me until I got a good deal on a Fenwick HMG 7'6" HX-F and telescopic, it is rated for 3/8oz up to 2oz, the nice thing is the tip is just a hair softer than most fast action flipping sticks which makes it great to cast and work frogs and I'll bet it could hanle swimbaits in its range.

I usually use a stout medium heavy rod and 14lb to 17lb copoly when fishing football jigs off points in 12' of water or less, if I'm fishing deeper than that I'll use 30lb braid. Your set up is fine, and you got the idea, a slow crawl with a hop or two in between pauses and when you feel it stick on a rock that is when you just give it small pulls, it will make the jig rock in place and it often draws strikes. If you are looking for locations the first place I go is the points, and most of the time it is the secondary points I hit first, they go untouched a lot of times and they hold fish just as good as main lake points.

I don't thing the JDM reels and rods are better than what is offered here in the States, I think it is just different and it is due to the demographic buying the stuff. From what I've been told by importers is that the Japanese bass anglers like bling and styling when it comes to equipment and the American market is now changing but for the longest time a traditional Loomis build was the gold standard here, and look, they just recently developed split grips and even though they are the benchmark for performance they do look a little dated. The samr thing can be said about Lamiglas, high performance sticks but they are now beginning to look like antiques and the only line that looks modern is the Excel line which is a mid tier rod. I think that is why you see radically different reel versions made for Japan from different manufacturers because we want performance and are willing to look past cosmetics in favor of price but the Japanese angler is willing to pony up to have looks and performance. We have anglers here that are willing to do it to but Japan seems to have more of a high end market than what is here in the states.

I think the 5.4:1 Lews Speed spool and a BPS Cranking stick would be the way to go and is well within your budget.

Yep, you have got the fever and there is no cure! It is pretty easy to get proficient with your tackle, the problem you have is you are all over the place but at least you have the bases covered. What you need to do is discover what lure you like to use most and start there, once you begin to catch fish you will quickly learn where the lure is working and under what kind of conditions and before you know it you learned to use a lure and then it is on to the next thing. I think a good place for you to start would be spinnerbaits, these will work deep or shallow and they catch fish plus you can burn them or slow roll them or work them somewhere in between. Get good with that bait and transfer what you learned from that into cranks or jigs or whatever else you want, the choice is yours but you need to get used to one bait at a time.

I'm into jigs, spinnerbaits, bladed jigs (chatterbaits) and things like that and from talking with other tackle makers I have learned alot. One thing is you need to go into it with the mind set of doing it as a rewarding hobby that will give you your fishing fix during the winter or other times you may not be able to get out. If you look at it thought a money saving mindest your baits won't be as good as what they can be and it will ultimatlely become frustrating and Bass Dude is exactly right, you aren't going to save money, at least not in the short term. The good side to it is you get a feeling of accomplishment that is undescribable when you catch fish on something you made and it becomes addictive pretty quick, ask anyone who has done it for a few years and you will hear similar stories of guys starting out with one mold and now have dozens of molds, a bunch of different colors and all kinds of glitters in all kinds of different sizes. I just want you to know that despite the cost if is fun and rewarding but I still want to echo Bass Dudes thoughts as it will be a money pit at first and it will take years to recoup the initial start up costs if ever. I suggest you look through the classifieds on tackleunderground to get molds and plastic at good prices rather than trying to buy it all at retail. Good luck!

There really isn't a wrong rod to pitch with if it works for you, it just needs to be strong enough to work the cover you're fishing. My pitching rod is a 6'6" MH-F casting rod that I love and I only use it to pitch with, it has just a hair softer top few inches and it really helps in my being accurate. I can pitch a 3/8oz jig into a coffee can from 40 feet away yet with a rod 7' and longer I can't hit the can from 25 feet so if a rod is strong enough and works for you then use it.

RW is spot on 100% ! Once you have the baiscs and if you really want to pursue the matter you can add technique specific or even lure specific set ups to your arsenal but it depends on you. Some anglers are perfectly happy with just a couple of set ups and only buy equipment when something needs to be replaced and others enjoy trying different levels of gear and venture into high end offerings.

Most jigs have a barb or ring on the hook shank that does a pretty good job of keeping a trailer in place.

I don't like super long rods for flipping, my fllipping stick was 7' for years and I recently upgraded to Lews Tournament SL HM60 7'2" extra heavy and it is great as it not only has a ton of backbone but it has great feel and is pretty sensitive when it comes to heavy powered rods. The other rod I was looking at was a Lamiglas Excel XL735C 7'3" MH-F, it is rated for 1.5oz lures which is stout enough but I've heard a lot of guys using them to flip with and are happy but I need to try something different.

Prop baits are great when fished adjacent to weedbeds like spatterdock and lily pads and if emergent weeds like coontail and hydrilla aren't at the surface or in mats then it is fine to use them. The problem you get with hydrilla and coontail is it gets dislodged and pieces break off and it ends up floating all over the place, if this is the case you are better off using something else as the propellers on most prop baits foul easily. As far as what is going to cast the furthest, that will depend on you and your skills plus the rod and line you choose. I can't tell you what to use since prop baits come in many different sizes and shapes with some like the tiny torpedo that works light tackle and using anytrhing other than a light set up for a small bait isn't going to result in long cast. The other thing is no matter what you do, a prop bait is going to catch some wind so if you're looking for any distance you need a heavy bait, basically anything 3/8oz and up.

The hollow belly types I really like the Luck -E - Strike Bass Magic in baby bass color in 3.5" and 4.5". In the pre rigged catagory I like the Storm swim shad, 4" in pearl and shad color. For the solid plastic I like the Lunker City Swimfish in alewive 3.75" and finally for the hard swimbaits I have done really well with the Storm Kickin Stick 5", it is like a Sebile magic swimmer only is has a slightly tighter action and reacts well on the jerk and pause retrieve.

If you plan on spending 40 bucks then stick to spinning, truthfully. I say this because the learning curve with a budget casting reel is much higher and I've met a lot of anglers who tried to learn on budget reels and gave up. The problem is you need to start casting short distances with heavy brake, a good reel will have better bearings and require less effort to cast so to get a decent cast with the budget reel you will end up with a lot of arm movment and it will cause you repeated backlashes. If money is tight I say hold on until you can spend at least 100 dollars on a casting reel because you will get a reel that will serve you well learning and once you get good with it you will still have a nice reel.