smalljaw67

I understand both of you guys as I too have ordered direct from them. The difference now is you don't need to use the order form and the codes and then call it in, now you can just add what you want and checkout. I too love a lot of Lunker City stuff, I've been using the 4.5" Slug-O since 1988, to me it is a different bait than a Fluke and one I prefer over the fluke. I also like their Trailer Bait, I use them as hair jig trailers and like Jeff, I too would use Barlow's tackle more than buying direct since it was more of a pain to do it that way but now it is easy.

The trigger is the Fuji SK2 reel seat, and they are in the same ball park as the Fuji ACS reel seat, people either love them or hate them, no in between. I found that those with smaller hands tend to hate those reel seats because they keep 3 fingers in front of the trigger when casting, the same people love the old Fuji ECS reel seat, the very one I hate because the trigger is really long and wide and the trigger tends to push into my ring and middle finger when casting. It doesn't matter with slow moving presentations but when chucking blades all day my casting hand would be sore and swollen, both the ACS and the SK2 reel seats eliminated that for me.

There is more to the arm length than just vibration. I make a bait that is an Indiana blade on the top and a Colorado blade on the bottom, I also bent the wire at a steeper angle on the blade arm and made it shorter. I did this because the bait I made is for fishing weeds in dirty water so the steeper angle helps it come through the weeds while using blades that aren't great for weeds but the shorter arm is so the end of the spinner blade is even with the bend in the hook. In dirty water the fish are going off of feel more than sight and will often hit the blades, so having the blade arm short and keeping it close to the hook makes the odds of hooking a fish that hits the blades higher than if the blade arm would be longer. I know, a long example but there are also other things it does, like killing a bait, just letting it drop, the shorter blade arm allows the blade to spin or "helicopter" better on the fall than a long arm bait does. Then you have the vibration part as what you read but there are cons as well to a shorter blade arm. It is true that you get faster vibration but it also makes the bait unstable at high speeds no matter what size of blades you run. For me personally, I don't use trailer hooks so my blade arm is shorter so that only 1/3rd of the blade extends past the hook bend except for a burner which I use smaller blades and a longer blade arm. You really don't see a ton of difference in vibration unless the arm length is around 2" or less, that is when you really notice the difference like the Zorro Short arm aggravator but they are meant to be fished as a drop bait, guys on Dale Hollow fish them at night and they cast to bluff walls and let the bait helicopter down and the rip it up and do it again, that is where the tight, lipless crank vibration really pays off. I'm sorry about the long rant, I get too deep into spinnerbaits as I have 2 full notebook pages of different size wire forms that I make for different reasons and I know some differences are slight and can be made with just a change in blade spacing but I like spinnerbaits so I get too involved.

I don't think hooks are your problem, the spook is a hard bait, when the fish grabs it they will often try to spit it really fast. The only topwater baits I wait until I feel the fish are frogs and buzzbaits and the reason with buzzbaits is my line is tight and the fish often miss it as they short strike. If you feel the hooks aren't good enough I'd replace them but if you haven't already you can grab a Super Spook or Super Spook Jr., those have spit rings and good hooks, those rotating trebles don't last a long time but while they are new they really hold.

I've played with them when they were getting popular and I see why there is a special way to fish them. I think you are having luck because you're on active fish, in clear water when the fish are suspended you'd probably starve fishing them on braid in shallow water. I hate fluorocarbon but with a spybait it is the only option to keep the bait at depth and it has to be light and to me it is more of a niche bait because you are using it for fish that wouldn't normally hit other baits. I've tried it on mono in 4lb and when the bait was rising is when I knew I had to go with fluorocarbon and that did work but if you use 8lb fluorocarbon you can really notice the difference in action, with 6lb line the bait has a shimmy on the fall and a slight roll on the retrieve but with 8lb that subtle action is gone almost completely. I tried to make them work for me by adapting my line choice area I use them in and I wasn't having much luck, in fact I didn't get a single bite, so we decided to try them on a lake when the water was clear and we found fish just off the bottom in 17' of water and we ended up catching a good bag. The thing that really turns me off to them though is the how specific you have to be in order for that bait to work in those conditions, as I said, we tried it for about a month and we messed with lines, and rods and we fished in stained water, dirty water and clear water and the only way we had success was with 6lb fluorocarbon on a 7' medium power spinning rod in clear water but it was from late June to the beginning of August and there was only 3 bodies of water that we used it in but we dedicated full outings to learning this and it just wasn't for me, my fishing partner has done better using them in spring and fall but again, I'm fishing side by side with him and I'm catching more fish on other baits during the same time period and that is why I said you probably found active fish or those keying on minnow forage for that bait to work like that but I bet another presentation would have produced better results. That is a finesse presentation meant for pressured or inactive fish in clear water that wouldn't normally bite other presentations.

When using a swimbait like that the hook does make a difference. I agree, I don't thing the size mattered, I think the EWG would allow the barb to penetrate and then you land the fish. At least you got a good one and it hit on top, we win some and lose some, that is why it is called "fishing" and not "catching".

I don't fish that worm but I do fish 4.5" and 5" worms on shaky heads. In fact the only largemouth I ever caught in water that was under 40 degrees was on a 4.5" worm fishing on a 1/16oz shaky head with a 3/0 hook. I make my own shaky heads so I can smaller hooks, in cold water I use a 3/0 with that size worm because I want the action slowed a little but in warmer water I'd go with a 2/0 hook so more of the tail can move freely. On a tough bite a 4.5" worm on a shaky head can be incredible, the fish aren't conditioned to seeing a small worm like that fished along the bottom.

They don't make all of their reels and I don't think any of the rods. Take a look at the Verano casting reel, it is an Okuma reel, and based on the Helios platform. The rods aren't Daiwa, I know this because everything Daiwa does for Cabela's still carries a Daiwa logo, even the first prodigy reel made by Daiwa had the phrase "Engineered for Cabela's by Daiwa" stamped on the handle side of the reel and none of the rods have a Daiwa logo anywhere.

I throw spinnerbaits around and through cover, a moderate action rod doesn't allow me to rip the bait out of grass or brush effectively. That said, I tend to use rods that are fast action, the lone exception is my Hammer rod, it is a mod-fast action but it isn't soft like a cranking rod, it is a heavy power and stout that allows me to rip the bait free from cover and drive home large diameter single hooks. If you like throwing spinnerbaits close to cover or in cover, a general purpose, 6'6" to 7'3" MH-F rod will work for jigs, T-rigs, and spinnerbaits and chatterbaits, but if you are using a spinnerbait in open water or smaller spinnerbaits in the 1/4oz to 3/8oz variety then a moderate or mod-fast rod may be better. If you are using braid with no leader then a mod-fast would be the rod that would work for most of your spinnerbait applications.

This is easy, just go by gear ratio and what the rod is meant to do. 7'1" M-M Tournament ZX - Arachnid 6.3:1 - cranking rod will benefit from the lower gear ratio. 7'3" MH - Tatula CT - probably a jig and worm rod so the high gear ratio makes sense. 7'3" MH - Smoke - same as above 7' XH - Zillion TWS - heavy bait rod and if used for pitching will benefit from T wing system and high gear ratio.

Bagley Sunny B, Rapala DT-6, DT Flat 7, and the Bomber 6A. Honorable mentions goes to the Bomber Fat Free Shad BD5 Fingerling and the Rapala DT-10 only because I tend to use these less as I'm usually fishing shallower water and these run slightly deeper but make no mistake, those are fish catchers and when I break them out I normally will catch fish.

I have no experience with that rod but a guy I use to fish with got his kid one to get him started with better equipment. He liked his son's rod to the point he got himself one as well, he has the 6'9" M-MF to use for jerkbaits and topwaters. I saw him just last week and he has had the rod for more than a year and it is always on his deck and this guy is detailed with his tackle so if he likes it I'd have no problem getting one.

The last sentence speaks volumes. What I'm guessing is when you try to get distance you are probably whip casting which is how spinning set ups are used. If you whip cast a casting set up you will backlash almost every time and if not you'll end up with loose loops. My suggestion is to turn back the brakes to the halfway point, then tighten the cast control knob, the little knob behind the drag star, and make an easy smooth cast. Do that a few times and then gradually increase your power until you get a good cast.

The smallmouth series has been discontinued. And the only model they made that was 7' was the 7'4" medium power spinning rod they called the great lakes rod made for fishing tube jigs in deep water. All the other casting and spinning rods ranged from 6'3" to 6'10" with that lone rod over 7'.

IndianaFinesse, a moderate fast action in a spinning rod is going to be very flexible. Spinning rod are more forgiving in general and most medium power spinning rods with a fast action are soft enough for cranks. The Lightning rod Shock was designed for use with braided line so they made them very forgiving, and remember, the action is only how far down the blank the rod flexes before it hits the backbone. What you need is a rod that has a good amount of flex but more importantly it has to have a soft action, a mod-fast action in a medium power that is soft light the Shock will be perfect for what you want to do, as I said before, casting rods are different as they tend to have more power than the spinning rod does.

The Arachnid rods use K series guides with SiC inserts, and they are very light. If you can find one on sale in the model you like I'd get it. I'm not sure which model Tournament ZX rod 22hertz was comparing to what model Arachnid but these rods aren't even close in weight or components. I know the 7'3" heavy power is the first in the casting rods to hit 4 ounces in weight while all the tournament ZX rods are 4 ounces and above. My friend's brother works in the fishing department and when the Arachnid rod came out I wanted to know why they were $200, and the Fuji K-series guides with SiC inserts along with the Toray graphite blanks was enough for me to understand but I was able to get the weights of the rods as I was considering grabbing one. We all have our own perceptions but the one thing with the Arachnid rod is that they really made them light weight but they didn't sell well due to the price, you are buying a rod not proven in the same price point as a St. Croix Avid which is the benchmark for that price point.

The Patriarch is really good and if you get that reel on a deal then grab it. The rod is going to be a lot better than your old HMG, the only thing is you have to make sure the Aetos is in the power and action you want, I'd imaging the 30 size Patriarch, which is like other manufacturers 2500 size, is going to be on a medium power Aetos and that will work for you but it will be a good deal more stout than your UL you are use to. At $246 for both I'd buy it and if you don't mind telling me where I may find a deal like that I would really appreciate it!!

Being the casual angler I'd suggest a 6'6" - 7' medium to medium heavy fast action rod that fits your budget. I mean no disrespect when I say this but most anglers that use online message boards or forums usually know what rod and reel they own because they are enthusiastic about the sport. The fact you forgot the model of the rod and have no name for the casting reel you have mounted on that rod tells me that fishing for you is either really new or a simple past time. Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with that, there are all different levels of anglers out there but you want another rod to simply have another bait tied on to save some time retying and that is a good thing but there isn't much help anyone can give you. The reason is because there isn't much information, a medium power rod can work but we don't know if you are fishing heavy cover, or open water or both and we have no idea of the lures you use in what weight ranges. If you are fishing smaller baits that don't go past 3/8oz well a medium power rod will make more sense than a medium heavy unless you are fishing in heavier cover and as you can already tell, there are a lot of variables. The more experience you get the better understanding you have of rod powers and what will make your fishing better but I don't think you're there yet so lets break down some suggestions. Medium power rod - 1/4oz to 5/8oz lure weight on average with 8lb to 14lb line strength on average. Medium heavy power rod - 1/4oz to 3/4oz lure weight with 10lb to 20lb line weight Heavy power rod - 3/8oz to 1 1/4oz lure weight and 12lb to 25lb light weight. I'm not going to get into actions as this will only confuse you but look at the size baits you throw and pick which power rod fits the best and go with that, just make sure the rod is a fast action as it will be more versatile for your use, I hope this helps somewhat.

Here is a picture of my version of the Bitsy bug, it is a weedless banana jig mold. The jig in the pic is 1/4oz but the way I added the wire keeper can be done to any jig mold. Put you hook in the mold and then position the wire keeper where you want it and carefully close the mold and hold it tight to keep the hook and keeper in place. Place the mold in a bench vise or use a C-clamp making sure to use wood on each side of the mold so the vise or clamp doesn't damage the mold surface. When you have the mold in position tighten the vise or clamp until the mold is completely closed or close to it and then remove the mold and open it up. What you should have is a solid imprint of the wire keeper so the only thing left to do is to take a needle file or small Dremel engraving bit and just make the imprint on each side of the mold slightly deeper to allow the mold to close easily, it actually took longer to type this than it does to make that simple modification, I hope this is easy to understand, good luck.

This^^^^^^^ !!!! I have a bunch of the Berkley Split Belly swimbaits and I like using them with a weighted hook better than the hollow belly type or solid baits which I like fishing on a jig head. You can probably find the split belly baits on ebay but if not the Gambler Big EZ is exactly what you want. It isn't split all the way through, instead it has like deep groove that serves the purpose you need the split belly for, and that is to make it easier on hook sets. The only reason I know about that bait is my buddy uses it to fish lily pads and spatterdock instead of a frog, he Texas rigs it with a 1/8oz bullet weight and pegs the weight and if the fish don't come up to hit it he will stop reeling and let it fall in the holes, it actually works well and is more versatile than the old Berkley Split Tail.

The reason thay don't feel the same as your other rods is because there is no industry standard so every manufacturer has there own specs. The other thing is that series are technique specific, Fenwick often has different power schedules for technique specific rods which I hate but that is what they do. The other thing is you can't compare any rod actions in the same power to a St. Croix or Abu Garcia rod, those two are about 1/2 power stronger than their rating, a medium power St. Croix or Abu Garcia rod is closer to a medium heavy from other manufacturers than it is to a medium power so the action won't feel the same because the power is different. That series is decent but I didn't like them compared to the old smallmouth series, they added weight and length to make the rods more powerful which took away the rod, the smallmouth series that have been discontinued were one of those few gems you find that offer great performance at a value price but at $58 bucks you got a great deal.

The lip on the 1.5 shallow is like that of crankbait style wake baits. The Yo-Zuri 3DB and 3DS wake baits will run about 6" to 8" when retrieved with the rod tip down at a moderate pace, I'm guessing the 6th sense Movement 80 wake will run like that as well as the Ima Roumba and the Rapala DT Fat 1. There are a lot of cranks now that run in the 1' range but my favorite is still the Mann's 1 minus, and the baby 1 minus, I don't use the mid 1 minus. To get to the 2' zone I use the Mann's Baby X, it is a baby 1 minus with a square bill with a slightly deeper angle but not as steep as the 1.5 shallow, out of all my more expensive baits the 1 minus and baby X are probably the ones that produce the best for me in super shallow water.

Football jigs don't do well in brush or weeds. Florida lakes also don't seem to be ideal areas where one would use a heavy football head, they are mainly used on deep rocky points or humps. a 1/2oz football is what I use most of the time by the hard bottom points I'm fishing usually bottom out at 12' to 15', I jump up to 3/4oz if stroking it or fishing the few places that extend to 20' to 22' deep. Again, that type of jig doesn't do well in brush or weeds, I use smaller finesse size to pitch to boat docks but the heavier versions are deep water dragging jigs.

There are 2 ways that are successful for me when fishing a heavy football head in deep water. The first way is the drag, a smallie beaver is what I like for a trailer and all I do is make a long cast and wait for the jig to hit bottom and then I slowly drag it using the rod, the reel I use just to pick up slack after a slow pull. The second way that works for me is by "stroking" the jig, all you do is make a long cast and wait for the jig to hit bottom then rip the bait off the bottom with your rod. I use a quick fast motion and try to get the jig to jump about 3' or 4' off the bottom, and then let it fall back down, you usually get the bite as it is falling back down so watch for your line to jump of for the jig to stop falling to the bottom faster than normal. You can fish it other ways as well but for me those two techniques work the best, remember, a football jig does best being fished on hard bottom areas.

I'm using that line exclusively and I can help. If you read the box, it tells you the line is optimized for casting reels but I use the 6# and 8# on spinning with no problem. I would not use 14# on a spinning reel, and the reason is that line has a lot of characteristics of fluorocarbon...Which I hate. So, if I hate fluorocarbon then why do I like the ulracast ultimate mono?? Well the abrasion resistance and knot strength is outstanding, the only cons I see after 2 solid seasons of using it is that it doesn't handle as well as regular mono but it does handle a bit better than fluorocarbon. What I do is give my spool a few spritzes of KVD line and lure, that will have the line working well all day but with 14# on a spinning reel you may have a tough time. I can tell you this, I've taken some good size smallmouth in moving water on both the 6# and 8# and never had a break off but you need the line conditioner otherwise the memory is bad but it is as thin as most fluorocarbon lines are with just as good abrasion resistance and better knot strength, I'm sold on it but I would recommend not using anything over 10# for a spinning reel.