smalljaw67

I never saw those in a 6'3", only a 6'4". The 6'4" model is listed as a jig and worm rod and that would be a good size to skip jigs and stick worms and it would also be a good target spinnerbait rod.

I never picked up a Keitech or any other higher priced bait because I thought they would be more durable. I fish a lot of pressured water and you being from central PA probably do as well. If that is the case, then you want a bait that is going to have more life and feel more natural so softer helps, don't worry about durability. If Keitech changed their formula, I'd guess it is either a lateral change meaning they have almost the same texture and density and just tweaked it to save money or they made them even softer but my friend who is in the tackle business hasn't heard of any formula change, at least he hasn't said anything so I'll call today and find out for sure.

I use soft plastics from a small manufacturer because they make the best tubes which are soft. I fish a lot of smallmouth and everyone uses a tube but the fish are conditioned to the point they spit them but the soft tubes they hold on. Another thing with softer plastic is it is more lively and you don't have to move it as fast to get the desired action, Keitech makes high end soft plastic just like Yamamoto, it is about catch fish, not how many you can catch on one bait.

I actually tie a mad tom hair jig, but it is more just size and color that actually looking like one. Case Plastics makes a mad tom soft plastic bait. http://www.fishingcompleteinc.com/salted-mad-tom

Did that rod work for you or did you feel like you were missing something? I have several jig rods, I have a 6'6" MH-F jig rod I like for roll casting 5/16oz and 3/8oz finesse jigs along rock flats, it is also great when the water is clear and I have to stay back to far to pitch but not as far that I need a long cast. I have a 7'MH-F for most of my casting jigs, like stroking a football jig or dragging heavy ball head finesse type jigs over rock from distance just covering water, a great way to find a pattern in spring. My favorite is a 7'2" MH-XF, it is a very stout MH and is closer to a heavy power. That rod to me is perfect, it is my dedicated pitching stick as the super stiff tip allows me to pitch a good distance with accuracy with little effort, it also is long enough that I can do close quarter flipping with it and if I was going to have 1 jig rod, that is what it would be, a 7'2" MH-XF, that length just makes it super versatile as it is long enough to do some flipping and is great to pitch with and still not too cumbersome to cast with.

I tend to use medium weed guards and then snip a few strands out. I can do that because I make my own jigs but I found that you can walk a jig with a light weed guard through some nasty stuff but a medium seems that I can really get it through heavy cover. I totally understand your phobia but what you have to understand is that if a fish just "mouths" your bait, it can spit it out even with an exposed hook but when a fish is trying to kill or eat a bait, it crushes down on it with a lot more force than what it takes to push the weed guard down and it is something that you just have to believe until you catch enough fish and see how they are hooked to fully realize this. There are times it can hinder hook ups but most of the time I've encountered it is when the bite was really light but all in all, weed guard help more often than hurt and the hook up and landing percentage with jigs with weed guard is really high so it makes total sense to use them but I still like to use medium stiff guards just to ease that part of me where a little doubt still exists.

If the water is clear I'd look at a jerkbait as the first presentation and I'd look to the mouth of creeks and main lake points first. I'd also look at throwing a spinnerbait or square bill up shallow in the afternoon as the water warms, look to fish being further back in the creeks but don't ignore the birds, they will show you where the bait is at. The last thing would be the lipless crank, around me area the fish won't be in winter areas at that temp, they'll still be spread out and if you find bait then ripping a lipless crank off the bottom or over the remaining weed beds could be a big producer.

The Staysee or Mcrip 85, these are the only ones you need. I have an X-Rap deep and an old Xcalibur Xt3 deep twitch bait but they only get down to about 7' or so and deep is 10' plus and that to me means Staysee, which is tough to beat, and the Mcrip, which works well when the fish a even more lethargic than normal.

Those are the original punch skirt hubs!!! I have wire tied them and it works fine, I have also thread tied them by holding them in the vise. I purchased extra pull pins and held the pull pin in the vise with the slip jig on the pin and tie as you normally would.

Smithwick Rogue in clown, it works in all the versions from floating to suspending.

What happened is the split ring failed, it has happened to a few baits but it isn't common. I inspect my hard baits after every fish and if I get hung up I'll give them a quick look before using again. My partner in a tournament lost a fish that would have won lunker and put us up near the top but he lost it and then he lost another fish only to find out that his rear treble was missing 2 points and the front was missing 1 point. He didn't know when it happened and it got me started looking at my baits after landing a fish or freeing it from a snag and I have had some baits that the split ring was bent and needed replaced before using again. Luck-E-Strike had an issue with the split rings they were using on their RC STX but after numerous complaints, the addressed and fixed the issue. So it isn't uncommon for it to happen but it isn't an everyday occurrence either.

I'm in PA and the water has now passed the square bill zone with temps in the mid to low 40s. I'll throw a square bill with the water around 47 degrees and up, especially where smallmouth are present but they become less effective as the water dips down to 45 and under. A good crank for cold water is the Rapala Shad rap, I throw a #8 and a #7 when the water is in the low 50s and then go to the #5 when the water temp fall into the 40s, and I'll use it until the water gets below 40 degrees.

Rapala DT Fat 3. Bomber Square "A" (3/8oz). Storm Arashi (3&5). Bagley Rattling Killer B2. Manns Baby X. I have a bunch more that are situational baits, like the KVD 1.5, I use those specifically for deeper rip rap, 4' to 5' as they go a little deeper than other square bills. The Storm Arashi is very new yet, 2 seasons of use but I will use the 5 in water that is 2.5' to 3' deep because it really does a good job of righting itself after blowing out right or left. I'll also add that there are times when the Arashi took a bit to right itself but for the most part it does it right away. The Xcalibur XCS 100 and 200 are also very good but situational, I tend to use the 200 series when fish are really active, it seems to draw bigger fish on average, and the 100 size for me is all in the real craw series, I use those on rock flats in mid spring and mid fall, that is when they seem to work the best. The one bait I could have included is the Cotton Cordell Big-O, I didn't because I've been putting the Rattlin Killer B2 from Bagley to the test this season and it has performed really well. It is Bagleys new line of hard plastic baits and it has a rattle in it but it is very subtle, I have done well with it in clear water where I normally will use a silent bait, but this one has just enough I believe and the fish have responded to it.

I'll always use the "R" bend after losing what was a very large fish because the line got caught in the loop. I make my own spinnerbaits from scratch and the wire I use is .032 for 1/2oz and 3/8oz baits and .035 for 1/2oz and heavier, and the only bait with a closed loop that I know of that uses thinner wire is the Picasso Inviz wire spinnerbait at .028 but it isn't SS but a special heat treated wire and the loop is coiled and not twisted. Other than that the closed loop and "R" bend wires are pretty much the same as most use either SS or piano wire in the .032 to .035 range.

The fish head spin has been producing for me all this fall as the water is too stained for jerkbaits. I find that when the water temp was in the upper 50s, a small swim bait seemed to work better and as the temp has dropped into the 40s the fluke has been the dominate body to draw strikes.

The first thing you need to do is find slack water with little to no current and if the slack water has an eddy, that is even better. The best time to do this is during a warming trend, if possible but if not then try to fish the warmest part of the day. The baits I use are determined by water temp, if the water is under 40 degrees, I'll use a hair jig, the size depends on the depth but use the lightest you can that will hit the bottom. If the water tem is 44 to 40 then I'll use a tube or an Erie darter fished on a light jig head, and over 44 degrees I'll use a jerkbait.

You got great advise, follow what the others have said and you'll be good. That said, I'll add my own 2 cents, jigs are the easiest bait to fish, and the hardest to learn because they aren't a numbers bait. If you want to learn what the bite is like, you need to get bit so lets start with a jig that will get more bites. I would get a jig like the Strike King Bitsy Bug in a 3/16oz with a Strike King Bitsy Bug crawfish trailer, this will get strikes from smaller fish and it will generate more strikes in general. The bites you will get will range from a solid thump, to a light tap, to just feeling weight like you picked up weeds or something like that, spend an entire day with it and when you get a few fish you'll gain confidence and then you can throw any jig you want and know that it will get bit and you'll catch fish on it, good luck.

I keep finding different ways to use this myself. I originally was making my own to fish for suspended fish in the summer using a 3.5" to 4" soft plastic swim bait for the body, but then I started trying them in cold water with a fluke as a trailer and both ways have worked. Now I've been fishing them in cold water just reeling in very slow, just enough to keep the blade spinning and I've been doing better with a swim bait body and I was using the fluke in cold water as the less action I figured would be better, but the swim bait body is getting it done in cold water.

I actually have very large hands, but I'm use to using an Abu Garcia Revo Premier, Quantum Smoke, Lews Tournament Pro, and a Pflueger Supreme XT. The 2 common properties of all these reels are they are light, sub 7oz, and they both sit low making them comfortable to palm. Using good reels that are sub 7oz for more than 3 years and then picking up a Tatula will make you say that it feels clumsy and heavy and to me that is an understatement, I really wanted to like the reel and I'm glad you like it, I just wanted to let the OP know that if he was use to using light weight reels that the Tatula is going to feel different and heavy is the first thing that comes to mind. I also have a hard time palming it and as I said, my hands are pretty large, but the way they made the frame to accommodate the T-wing system doesn't allow me to position my hand the way that feels good to me, just like the guys who can't stand the bulge on the side of the Quantum reels.

I'm not sure how much experience you have with casting reels but here are my thoughts on this. They are all good, however the Lews are a lot lighter and more ergonomic making them comfortable to hold, the Tatulas, for as much as I really wanted to like them, are heavy and they are clumsy to hold compared to other reels. Now, if you don't have much experience with other reels or any light weight reels, then the Tatula reels will be fine and you'll probably like them.

I just got back from tube fishing my river yesterday and the heads I pour for them all have an Eagle Claw 500BP Lil Nasty which is a sickle hook. If you do a direct comparison of the Matzuo and the Eagle Claw, you'll find the wire on the Eagle claw is stronger and just like the Matzuo, maybe even more so, the points are wicked sharp. I have lost 2 light biters since I started using these with tubes, and that is out of a lot of fish. The problem you seem to be having isn't a hook problem, it is knowing what the bite feels like and with tubes it can be just pressure to a good thump, but most of the time, especially this time of year it feels like the bait caught a leaf, it won't feel like much, just different.

Yes, this is true and if using a leader I'd go with the regular Avid as well.

The truth is that I will sometimes use a trailer and sometimes not. It depends on the hair jig I'm using, if I'm fishing a marabou jig, I'm usually using 1/16oz to 1/8oz range and it will never have a trailer. Now buck tail is different, sometimes I'll tie on a rabbit zonker on the back and that will act as a trailer, but I also just leave it with plain buck tail and if I need more bulk to entice the fish or perhaps to slow the fall, I'll use a either a Zoom tiny salty chunk or a Venom lures Ron Yurko Finesse chunk. Rabbit hair is the same, and I tie one that I intended to use with a trailer all the time. I know this is more confusing than ever but here is the way I go about it. If the water is stained, then I'm using a trailer, iff I'm not getting any bites, and I'll fish it for an hour, depending on water temp, before I take it off and use it without. If I'm fishing in clear water and the temp has dropped or stayed the same, I'll go without a trailer, if there is a warming trend I'll add a trailer as sometimes a slight uptick in water temp will make them a little more active and the larger fish will hit the bulkier jig. That is about the only way I can explain, it is trial and error, good luck.

Look for the Duel Hardcore, they are the same thing as Duel is the sister company of Yo-Zuri.

You lucked out for sure!!!! Most of the time when I find prices on used gear like that, they usually end up being pretty much junk.