smalljaw67

Everything today is made to handle braided line, the difference is smoothness and what it will handle. Most hardcore guys are using rods that make $100 dollar rods entry level or value rods, meaning they are ok but you'll do better. Now, these are basically bass anglers, casual anglers who fish for anything that bites have no trouble with the ugly stick rods. If you spent 3 hours fishing and the first 2 hours you were casting the ugly stick then you ended up using a rod say at the entry level like an *** *** Black, you would right away notice an enormous different in weight, a few ounces doesn't sound like much but over the course of a day it really makes a difference. That is one of the biggest knocks from hardcore anglers about the ugly stick rods, the weight, the other is the action, these rods are very flexible but they are also much more durable, they are going to take abuse more expensive sticks won't. I don't look at them as bad rods but for bottom contact bass fishing you can do better, the very thing that makes them indestructible also makes them heavy with little to no sensitivity but for a casual angler it is fine, no problems whatsoever. If you think you may want to get into angling at a level that is more than just a pastime then you'll move on in a bit but if you aren't going to get fancy using a ton of different lures or anything then what you have is basically the cream of the crop for casual anglers.

There are 3 different KVD series, there is the KVD signature series that comes from BPS, they are junk, $99 disposable reels and that is surprising because the original silver kinetic was $20 more and a much better reel. Then there is the Team KVD, these are a little better, they replaced the Kinetic line and then you have the flagship, the Tour KVD, those have good tolerances and aren't sloppy at all. I know this stuff because there is a Quantum nut in our club and when he complains about Quantum you know there is a problem and he calls the other KVD reel "imposters" as they aren't the same level, believe me, any time someone said something negative about Quantum, he was Johnny on the spot to tell you that you were using the wrong product. In this aspect they remind me of Lews with all the different speed spools to the point it gets confusing and Quantum does that with the KVD series.

Storm Arashi Rattling 5 and I'll include the Arashi Flat even though it dives to 7', I use it on 14lb line and it gets down a little past 5'. This is odd as I don't have many cranks that dive to that depth with rattles, most are silent except for those 2 and all the rest are either shallow models or deep diving baits.

River Rock Baits, best tubes I ever used , period!

My buddy hates Quantum with a passion and he curses me for ever letting him fish with my 7' MH-F Smoke rod. He made a promise that he would never spend a nickel on a Quantum product so he asked his friends and relatives to get him gift cards for Christmas in order to buy one without him spending his own money. He told me that as much as he wanted to hate the rod he just couldn't, it was legit in every way and he could not believe it was light and balanced well with power and a good tip for a MH rod. I got my smoke rod because I had purchased a Super Light in 2007 when they came out and I broke it going down the basement steps and since the rod was no longer made they gave me a Smoke to replace it since the Superlight was under lifetime warranty and I told them it was my fault and I was going to pay for one, I was hoping they could just give me a good deal instead of paying retail but they insisted I take a new Smoke rod. Well I'm glad I did, it is a legit rod as my friend says, and I saw a piece on Lindners Angling Edge that Al Lindner said that even though they like all the products (of course, they are sponsored by them) they prefer the Smoke rods and reels even over the more expensive offerings, they got that series of rods and reels right, cosmetics, weight and performance of both the rods and reels.

I got myself a Berkley Spooling station a long time ago, it was the best line investment I ever made as it gets the line on tight and it keeps line from twisting on a spinning reel. The way it does this is when you spool up a casting reel, every thing I read from line manufacturers has said to pull the line off the spool over the top and when spooling a spinning reel, you want the line coming from underneath. Well that has always worked since I started doing it and the beauty of the spooling station is you set the line up for both types of reels the same way, but since the spinning reel mounts upside down, you are pulling the line off from underneath the spool and therefore it goes on perfect, every time. What is happening with your brother sounds like he was using fluorocarbon but seriously he was using some super cheap mono or he was putting the line on in a way that it was twisted. Normally the line springs off the spool when it is over filled and the only time I've witnesses it coiling off a spool that was only half full was when a friend was spooling up his catfishing reel with goat rope (25lb cheap Eagle Claw Mono that was $0.97 for 500 yards).

American Legacy Fishing has a Quantum Smoke 150 right hand retrieve 7.3:1 gear ratio on sale for $99.99, that reel retails for $219.99. I have one and to me the Smoke is the best casting reel Quantum has ever made. I have a Lews TP but I feel the Smoke is better, well the 150 is better, the TP may edge out the Smoke 100 but to me the Smoke wins just because it uses aluminum side covers with an aluminum frame while the Lews TP uses graphite side covers but it is still a good reel. The new Energy reels are getting a lot of good marks as well but if you are measuring the Energy versus the TP, I would have to get the Lews, the TP is a nice reel with matching performance.

You can buy heads already painted and just buy the skirt material and tie your own or use skirt collars as that will be the cheapest way out without investing a few hundred bucks. You also are going to need to spend some time to learn but if you do this, my advice would be to spend a little more and get a bottom pour pot versus the ladle, the ladle takes time getting use to it so the bottom pour is easier to use but cost a little more.

Yep, Jig Man pretty much laid it out for you, there isn't a mold I know of so you have to modify one. For tube heads I like using .015 steel wire and you could do the same thing with that as what Jig Man described. Set the wire in the mold in the position you want and then close the mold and put it in a vise, (wooden blocks on each side to protect the mold) and then tighten it down until it closes, this will leave a slot for your weed guard. The problem is the other cavities depending on how long you make the weed guard, good luck.

We rig them with an insider jig head and fish them like tubes and they work very well. I've caught river smallmouth on them as well as lake smallmouth and largemouth. I bought my grandson a pack of pre rigged ones and he caught over a dozen smallmouth with his biggest a 4lb 7oz pig.

Rapala DT Flat 3 and 7 have been great and this season I'm going to give the Bagley Rattlin' Kill'r B2 a shot as they look like they are going to be pretty awesome.

Normally it doesn't matter but when I'm fishing river smallmouth it can, and often does, make a huge difference, especially when the water is low. I know a lot will laugh but when we head out we have tubes in straight black, and black neon which is black with red flake. Black with blue flake doesn't seem to make any difference, if they are hitting black, they hit black with blue flake but they may not hit a black neon, that color is either on or off. If the black neon is on, you won't get a bite on a straight black bait, I proved that to a few people who didn't believe it. For our lakes that have smallmouth in them it is different, it doesn't seem to make too much of a difference, but I'm guessing because the water is so much clearer in the river that the smallmouth feed based on sight more, so they react to color more than fish in more stained conditions. So unless you are fishing extremely clear water for smallmouth, I wouldn't think the difference in flakes is going to matter too much.

I would have thought that a 60 degree hook would be used in that mold like the 32786. That said, you may have to find a different mold or buy a head that has the hook size you want as the largest cavity of that mold only takes a 4/0 and you are already using a 5/0 so you may be at the largest hook that mold can possibly use without modification or some sort.

I use a variety of them, and the reason is due to the differences, most are unique in some way that makes them good at certain times but not all the time. I love the Xcalibur one knockers, they seem to draw big fish and the Cotton Cordell Super Spots work well and rattle at slower speeds than others which makes them great for cold water. I really like the Rapala Rippin Rap too but I don't have much time with it, but so fat so good.

It all depends on water clarity and weather conditions but here is a list of baits I'd have with me. 1. Jerkbait. 2. finesse jig or hair jig. 3. Spinnerbait. 4. Shad Rap or other small flat sided crankbait. 5. chatterbait. 6. shaky head with 4.5" to 6" finesse worm.

As Bluebasser86 said, it depends on the type and for me it is solid soft plastic and hollow body soft plastic. The solid ones for me are either fished on a jig head or on the back of a swim jig, the hollow body ones are fished on a weighted hook most of the time but I will use a big jig head every now and again when fishing it deeper than 5'.

I'm going to say something that might make some mad at me but I've been messing with shaky head worms for awhile to see if floating worms did better over all because they look awesome when being worked across the bottom. What I discovered is there really isn't much of a difference in the amount of fish caught, over a 4 year period the number of fish caught and landed with a floating style worm was almost identical to a salt impregnated worm. We were fishing a spot 2 years ago, my buddy was using a Kicker Fish Hole Short 4.5" shaky worm and I was using the Berkley 4.75" Bottom Hopper Jr. and both worms were in green pumpkin color. The bite was decent for about 3 hours before we decided to move shallow for some jig fishing but my buddy caught 2 more fish than I did but I retied my line a couple times, he never did until we finished up. The thing was we were on a good bit of fish and they didn't seem to have a preference and it has been like that almost every time we go out but there are days when the floating worm just kills them and the same thing with the salt filled worm so I have both floating and sinking worms.

That is the reason I have several different types of lipless crankbaits, sometimes the Rat-L-Trap is the one, other times it is a Spro Aruku shad and then even 1 knocker, the Xcalibur one knockers sound different than the Rapala Clackin' Rap but at times the fish show a preference for one or the other, I can't explain why and if I could I'd be rich. I approach jerkbaits the same way as I do lipless cranks, I have a bunch of different brands because of the different properties each one has. I have experienced times when the 110 was a flat out killer but I've also had days where the 110 couldn't compete with a Rattlin' Rogue and days where the Pointer 100 was the only bait you could get a strike on, I don't know for sure why but some days it takes a different triggering quality to get them to react.

Tom gave you very good advice, Bass do become selective when certain prey is available in abundance and there are times when it seems like the fish won't hit anything and we say they are in a negative mood but we see them busting the surface yet they won't touch our offerings. That is something that happens but most of the time Bass are opportunistic and they will eat anything that they can catch that will fit in their mouth. We have a lake that is full of alewives but not a single shad, but shad imitations do very well but at times they will key on the alewives and when that happens you better have a bait that is similar in size and color to them or you won't get bit. The only way to find out is experiment and see what will work based on conditions.

You can swim any jig but the jigs that are made for the technique typically have a 30 degree line tie and a cone shaped or low profile head of some sort. There are a few different kinds of swim jigs, you have the Northern or finesse style swim jig which is usually 1/4oz and it uses a 3/0 or 4/0 standard wire hook with a thin 35 to 40 strand skirt. Then you have the California style swim jig which is 1/2oz and larger with a heavy flipping type hook 5/0 and up in size with a heavy skirt.

Fish activity, along with water clarity and cover density are all determining factors for me. I will use the bladed jig on active fish in stained water around wood or sparse grass, I'll also use it in clear water if the fish aren't spooky but that happens mostly during the pre spawn period. If I'm fishing dense vegetation then it will be a heavier swim jig and if the water is clear I use a northern style swim jig, 3/16oz or 1/4oz most of the time.

If you want a good Norman crank, the Flat Broke, that will catch fish anywhere, the Jelly Bean color is all you need.

The Xcalibue EEratic shad is an awesome jerkbait, I do well on deadly shad and voodoo patterns but sadly they are discontinued. That is what gets me a little angry with Xcalibur, they had the XS4 and the XT3 jerkbaits, both worked as well as a Pointer for me and while they were still expensive, they were a little less than Lucky Craft. They discontinued those and then came out with the EEratic shad, which is identical to the XS4 but it suspends nose down while the XS4 suspended level. You got a good bait, it will put some fish in the boat for you.

You are asking a very vague question as affordable is different depending on who you talk to. For a guy buying Megabass rods, affordable to him is a G.Loomis GLX but I'm assuming you are talking $150 to $200 range and just about any rod in that range will be fine, just go find a length and action you like and it will be fine.

I need to ask for opinions on this from those who have used it before. I was cleaning reel spools when my buddy stopped by and we were talking about fishing in general when he asks me what line I was putting on the 2 spinning outfits I was getting ready. I told him that based on my experience last season with the Berkley Trilene XL Armor Coated line, I was going to use both 8lb. on one set up and 6lb on the other and he says that I have to try the Spiderwire Ultracast Ultimate Mono. I only fish with this guy every now and then but he told me he used it all of 2013 and 2014 and it is the real deal, he did say it was for casting reels but the lower pound tests work good on his spinning reel. I'm asking for advice as my buddy uses fluorocarbon and braid and he only uses mono for certain things like topwaters and I use it for everything as I hate fluorocarbon and I only use braid for frogs and heavy flipping. I did check out the website and some reviews and it seems they are telling the truth about the line being low stretch but after that it is mixed as most do say it is strong but some say it handles poorly while others say good. Normally I don't let reviews stand in my way if I want to try something but I'm on the fence with this because the Trilene has been really good but this stuff is super thin with low stretch, I'm really wanting to try it but I'm also worried it could be all hype as I don't see too much info on it. If anyone has used it let me know what you think, I may just grab some and see for myself.