smalljaw67

Oh boy, this is going to take a while. I'll ask you a question and I'll give you the low down on jerkbait rods and the differences. First the question, Do you have experience with a jerkbait and if so what are you using to fish them? If not continue reading. There are 2 separate sets of jerkbait anglers, the first set includes myself and we prefer shorter, faster action rods, something in the range of 6'10" down to 6'3" with a medium power and a fast action. The reason for this set up is the faster action rod is a little more stiff than a moderate action and it allows complete control over the bait and the medium power offers enough forgiveness to fight and land a fish hooked on trebles, when it is cold and you use longer pauses with short jerks, the fast action rod becomes neutral as there is no advantage to working the bait. The second set of jerkbait anglers look at jerkbaits as a crankbait, so those anglers tend to use longer rods with moderate or slow actions, the rods they use are typically use range from 6'9" to 7' and they like them as they provide the ultimate fish fighting ability and they will lose far fewer fish than the first set of anglers. In cold water with longer pauses this type of rod becomes advantageous as you don't need to move the bait very much and you have the fish fighting ability with the extra flex of the rod. The pros of the shorter fast action rod and medium power are the ability to rip the bait hard without hitting the water and you can work it fast in warm water as the tip recovery is instantaneous so you have total control of the bait. The cons of these rods are the higher rate of lost fish,( although the claim is strikes are also at a higher rate but that is for another discussion) and decreased casting distance due to shorter rod. The pros of the longer, moderate action rods are increased landing percentage due to the better fish fighting ability of the slower action, and high casting distance because of the longer rod. The cons are decreased lure control due to slow tip recovery, rips are limited as longer rods can and will hit the water if ripped too low, so you have to ask yourself if you like to be aggressive with a jerkbait, or are you more of a subtle twitch and wait angler? Lure control versus fish fighting ability, choose your weapon and the suggestions will be rolling.

Yep, smallmouth!! Our rivers run pretty clear but do get dirty from time to time and if the water is dirty I'm not using a super fluke, I'll be cranking or slow rolling a spinnerbait.

I think DVT is correct, it may be the old BPS line of Team KVD reels that were cheaply made and if that is the case it isn't even close to the Energy PT which the new ones seem to be pretty good.

I don't use a weight, even in current and I fish them hard in the river. I use the Owner Twist Lock light for flukes and what I do is make a cast upstream and let it sink and then I work the bait like a hard jerkbait except you don't want to pull the bait, you want to jerk the slack line. If the current is fast you'll have a short amount of time that isn't is in the zone before it comes up but once that happens, don't quit, hold the rod tip up and give it small pops as you're reeling in the bait, it will be scooting along the surface and I couldn't tell you how many times I'd have a good one hammer it on top like that, in fact I had a day that I caught 9 and all of them were on top by doing what I just described.

I have used a lot of Trokar hooks but I also use hooks in every brand for different purposes. I will say this, I have use the Gamakatsu Heavy Cover Flipping hook and they are a rip off, the keeper slides down the hook shank, I was given 3 packs by Gamakatsu to replace my faulty ones and they lasted an extra hook set and slide down the hook too. The Trokar Flipping Hook is only a dollar more for the same amount of hooks and it is superior to the gammy. I also like the HD worm hook from Trokar, but for regular wire EWG worm hooks that I use for Senkos, they are all Gamakatsu, that hook is just perfect in every way. For Flukes I like the Owner Twist lock light, that hook is unreal and my point is that each one seems to have a hook for certain things that work for me, this is why it helps not to be a 1 brand person.

I see guys put these away once fish get on beds but that is when I really like them. Post spawn fish tend to be spread out and the lipless is a great search bait, and any active fish in an area will be found quickly as they will crush a lipless crank at this time but having confidence is the key. I remember fishing a Sebile Flatt Shad the first time, it has no rattles and I didn't have confidence in lipless cranks without sound and I would have put it down after 5 casts if it wasn't for my buddy getting 3 fish in a row on it and now I use it a lot whenever I'm in clear water. Be patient and remember, when you get one on it, document the time, the temperature of air and water as well as the location and how you were working the bait, by doing that it will give you insight on when and where to use them plus it will give you the most important thing, confidence.

I have rods that are 25 years old and that were used very hard and never got weak but they are stored inside in a vertical rod rack. Even though mine are in a rack, I never heard of graphite getting weak over time, it may just be slower than newer rods and you just never realized it before.

I was looking at it but it is a 2 piece and it is MH, my spinning rod powers go from ultra light to medium, after that I go with casting rods, no use for MH spinning. I think the 2 piece is going to make that a tough sell, not a big market as most prefer 1 piece, good luck.

I like mono for those techniques, braid with a leader can work too but the no stretch is a no-no for treble hooks in my opinion but you use what works for you. Fluorocarbon sinks, that makes it tough to use for topwaters and some jerkbaits will be affected by fluorocarbon.

You see, you affected the bait with the hooks you use!! The 110 is a slow riser, if the hooks you added make it suspend perfectly then they are too heavy and should be replaced if using the bait as it was intended. If a suspending bait is better for you then you made an improvement but you did affect the bait so the hooks you used are too heavy and if you put those on the RC STX it would most likely sink.

There are some hard baits with colors of soft plastics but in general they aren't. There are two reasons I can think of, one is getting people to buy a junebug crank and the other has to do with the water column. Most plastics are mimicking invertebrates like worms and insects or injured and dying baitfish and those have splotchy colors or scales falling off which is what glitter is supposed to represent. Most hard baits are moving, they are designed to mimic injured bait fish or just baitfish in general and therefore they are painted to look like the prey they mimic. Now there are exceptions all over the place but in general it is about what prey items the baits most often represent, where at in the water column they are presented at, and marketability as they have to look good to the angler for him or her to purchase it.

You own any Oakley glasses? Have you ever worn a pair? I have and I also had Maui Jim sunglasses and both of those I chose over Coatas. Maui Jims had better optical quality but were heavy, Costas were good but they too are heavy, Oakley has similar optical quality with an impact resistant lens and you forget they are even on your face they are so light. Right now I have Eye Surrenders, $50 dollar sunglasses that I believe are one of, if not the best sunglass under $100 and the lenes while good, are not Oakley so the statement you made is complete hogwash, please don't act like a 14 year old spouting "stuff you heard", learn from experience and don't knock until you try, you may be surprised at what you learn.

I have 3 baits for shallow power fishing around wood and weeds, chatterbait, swim jig, and spinnerbait, the spinnerbait is my favorite and how I go about which one I use depends on certain variables. I very seldom use Colorado blades on spinnerbaits anymore, and the reason is the chatterbait fills that niche, so if I have low visibility I'm using the chatterbait, the vibration is a big factor when it comes to dirty water. When me and my partner start a day in which those baits can be the deal we always use something different, if I'm on a spinnerbait then he is using the chatterbait or a swim jig is we have somewhat clear water and we see which the fish prefer, it is that simple.

There is a thread about the hooks getting bent on a Luck-E-Strike RC STX jerkbait, I bring that up because that bait is a direct copy of the 110. The reason for the light wire hooks is so that they penetrate with very little pressure because the bait is designed to be used on spinning tackle with 6lb to 8lb max line. The Vision 110 is easy to switch out hooks, you can go to the Stinger ST-36 no problem, in fact you can even get away with ST-41 hooks because the bait is a slow riser so you can add a little weight to it, the RC STX suspends really well and any added weight will make it sink. That said, if you want the light wire hooks to replace you can go VMC 8570 Barbarian outbarbs, these have the same outside barb like the Katsuage hooks on the 110 but are just a little bit stronger, if you want the really light wire then go to the VMC 8540, and just so you know, VMC make the Katsuage hooks for Megabass.

Owner ST-36 Stingers are the only ones you can use, and if the water is over 55 degrees it will sink with those on. For the cold water they are fine but when it gets a little warmer you'll want to use the VMC 8540.

I'm assuming you are talking about spinning rods? If you are talking spinning rods and reels I'll tell you what is happening, well at least what I believe is happening. The Triumph is a medium power, the Elite Tech is medium heavy and you are using 2 different reels, if your set up are correct you would have a smaller president and a larger supreme being you are using different powers. If that is correct then switch the reels, try the president on the Fenwick and the Supreme on the Croix and see if that changes anything. You don't list the rod lengths and that can be very important in determining the reason but based on the vague info you provided, I'm guessing the medium heavy set up has a larger reel and you are holding it tighter putting pressure between those fingers. If that is the case it may be the reels so switch the reels out and see what happens. I had the same problem with casting rods, everyone loves the Fuji ECS reel seats, I hated them because when I would be throwing spinnerbaits all day or jerkbaits, the trigger on the reel seat is a bit longer and wider and it is only like 1/16" wider than a Forecast reel seat but that little extra in width was the difference between a good pain free day compared with swollen hand and fingers with a lot of pain. One reason I believe the reel may be your problem is the Fenwick Elite Tech spinning reel seats are the most comfortable I ever used hands down, when I got my first elite tech smallmouth spinning rod I couldn't put it down, I prefer casting but for a solid month I was doing nothing but finesse techniques so I could use the rod, it just felt so good to hold.

Very good read with facts and not speculation, bravo!!! Being older and stubborn has helped me avoid marketing and hype but at some point we all fall prey to it, it is unavoidable if you fish. I get a lot of strange looks because I use mid tier equipment which is expensive to the casual angler and even when I used high end gear my line choice was mono and copolymer lines and not because I didn't believe the marketing hype but I use what works for me, plain and simple. I'm also a "don't knock it until you tried it" kind of person and I tried fluorocarbon line, first on a spinning reel and 2 brands of fluorocarbon in 2 different strengths and diameters and both caused me the same problems. The line wasn't manageable on spinning reels and KVD L&L helped but I had to reapply it 4 to 5 times a trip and tying knots took longer as I had to be careful about burning the line or kinking the line, as I said, more trouble than it is worth. I used it with 2 different strengths and diameters with 2 different brands on casting reels too, and on the casting reel it was better but not by much, I still had the problem with tying knots and I wasn't sure if there was any difference in sensitivity but one thing I know for sure is that the line stretched but it was hard to tell how much. Fishing in the river I'm often anchored and when I'm hung up and pulling I can feel stretch as well as see it but fluorocarbon stretched weird, I didn't know it back then but I found out later that the reason it felt weird to me is the way it stretches, mono and copolymers rebound, fluorocarbon doesn't so I wasn't feeling the rebound effect and that effect is what people are use to feeling which is why a lot of angler still swear fluorocarbon line doesn't stretch. In the end it doesn't matter to me, I use braid for flipping and pitching heavy cover and for frogs but it isn't the no-stretch properties that I use it for, it is because it comes through grass better and the diameter is smaller so I can use 12lb diameter line that has 50lb breaking strength so break-offs are going to be extremely rare and that is the only times I don't use mono. No matter what anyone says or any kind of hype, you can't go wrong if you use what works for you,

20lb fluorocarbon, that is what most pros use. I don't punch at all, there are some places that I can but it is so sparse and so few areas that there are other spots that will produce fish. I don't punch and have never really used the technique but from friends that I know that do plus all the videos I saw on punching, I'd say the rod you got is more of a flipping or pitching rod or A-Rig rod and the reason is most punchers like a moderate fast taper, the rod you got has an extra fast taper which happens to be a favorite action for me when it comes to jigs and swim jigs.

They did have a bad batch when they first came out but it has been resolved.

I'm interested in seeing what everyone likes to use for square bills because these seem to be in the same category as jerkbaits when it comes to what people use to fish them. I have been trying different set ups and have used quite a few over the years and my topwater rods worked well but were too short for getting distance in clear water, and jerkbait rods also worked great but the lacked power for the bigger square bills I like to throw. Now my set up is a Fenwick HMG 7'2" M-MF with a Quantum Smoke 150 7.3:1 gear ratio with 14lb Spider Wire Ultimate Mono and so far this has been fantastic. The rod length is the longest I ever used for square bills and I wasn't sure it would work for my style but it has such a nice tip that it makes it easy to roll cast so I get the advantage of longer cast but I can still make accurate short casts. The reel is the fastest reel I have, 34 IPT with a full spool, and that makes it easy for me to burn the bait without having to work hard cranking and the line is still new to me but I'm really liking it a lot. The line on spinning reels is ok, a little more manageable than fluorocarbon but still not as good as regular copolymers but on a casting reel, which is does say it is made for it, is awesome, and it is holding true to the advertisement of being the lowest stretch mono. It truly is low stretch but what I like is it comes through cover without being nicked up, I normally cut off and retie every 2nd fish or if I'm getting hung a lot I'll retie after my 3rd of 4th snag but I decided to see how long this new line would take the abuse. I got hung about 5 times during my last time out last week, and I caught 11 bass and I didn't retie, I only checked the line after each fish and snag to see how bad it was and to my surprise the line was in great shape. So that is my newest set up which started last fall and I'm thinking this will be my goto square bill set up from now on as it fits what I do nicely, so what are you guys using?

I keep the boxes of all Rapala baits in a storage box, if I get one that breaks like that and it isn't a year old I simply send it back and they give me a new one. People forget the Rapala baits have a 1 year warranty on them but Rapala likes to see the broken ones so you have to send them back. I have only ever had 1 do it and I was fishing a DT Fat 3 around docks and I hit the bait 6 or 7 times that day off of dock posts and then it happened, I hit the post one too many times and I heard it crack, and when I got it back the bill was ready to come out. . I sent it back to Rapala and they sent me a new one and so I can deal with it since it doesn't happen often, at least for me it doesn't. If you have any DT Fat-3 or DT-Flat 3 baits you want to sell let me know what colors and how much and I'll gladly buy them off of you.

The reel will be worth around $30 or depending on condition but truth be told, those were low end reels and the rod was on the lower end of the BPS line at that time. The only real value would be sentimental if someone caught a big fish on the reel or rod, other than that there really isn't much you'll get for it.

What length and power are you looking at? Is there a material preference for glass or graphite? Saying you want a cranking rod when they range from 5'6" up to 8' with powers from light to heavy and everywhere in between leaves a lot of suggestions than can go for weeks if not months so try narrowing it down some. Glass rods are heavier than graphite and composite rods but they offer a feel that is different, they are parabolic in action and transition very slowly into the backbone and I personally like that. Graphite is the lightest and even with a parabolic action they have a shut off point that you get to quickly, there is very little transition, instead you get a deep flex and then back bone. Composite rods are a blend of glass and graphite but they are not all the same, some use E-Glass and graphite, while others use S-Glass and graphite and while there are differences they both handle very similar. E-Glass and S-Glass rods are very different too, E-Glass is heavy but I prefer it as it has a soft, parabolic action and it is a slow transition to the backbone as I said earlier. S-Glass feels almost like a composite, it is lighter than E-Glass but a little heavier than graphite but while having a soft action it doesn't transition to the backbone like E-Glass, instead it bends fast right down to the backbone and stops similar to how graphite works but softer than graphite. If you never trided glass rods you may want to check those out except if weight is a concern, I only use my glass rod for deep divers anymore as it is too heavy to chuck and wind shallow baits on so I have a couple graphite cranking rods. So please provide more detail and you'll get some good advise.

We've been using this technique for a long time on the Susquehanna River, but it didn't have a name or used a special head, we simple used a light ball head jig with a small hook and used a half of a Senko or Case Magic stick as the lure. Now since using a mushroom head it has been better but that is also because there are baits like the 3" Senko that we can use with it. The one thing I can tell you when it comes to shallow, rocky rivers is to use the lightest weight you can go to , personally I really like a 3/32oz head with a size #2 hook, it is a bit heavier than 1/16oz and a little less than 1/8oz, that seems to hang us the least and give the right fall speed.

The hooks you can use with them are VMC 8540s, they are close to, if not exact, as the hooks on the baits which are light wire VMC. If you had a Megabass Vision 110 on you would have suffered the same result, they too use light wire hooks, the reason they bend out is because you were using 10lb fluorocarbon, the hooks on the Vision 110 and the RC STX are light wire for a reason, the RC STX is a direct copy of the 110, which was designed to be used with 6lb to 8lb line max but in the states we tend to use 10lb to 12lb line. You can use Owner Stingers ST-36 for cold water but when it hits 60 degrees they will make the bait sink instead of suspend so in the warmer water you need the VMC 8540 which you can get from Lure Parts Online.