backcast88

Yea. Just not sure I'll be able to get the rod in time for a rig use since I have a tournament in less than a week. Drug my feet and didnt know if I was going to fish since I pulled a muscle in my back. But I'm healed and ready to fish. Might hold out and get the ALX anyway and make due with my 7' H unless something else gets recommended.

The past year or so I have been throwing my A rig's and 5"-6" soft swimbaits on a 7'H ALX rod and it has performed ok at its task. It's mainly a big jig/carolina rig/lite flipping rod and performs best at those tasks. For this year I'm looking to get a rod to use that will be more suited for a rigs in the winter and 5-6" soft swimbaits (keitech 4.8/5.8, zoom 5" swimmer, and gambler big ez) on 1/2oz-3/4oz heads. I would also like to use the rod for some heavier flipping. Not puching in the Cal Delta, but looking to flip into some heavier laydowns and such. Wanting to keep the rod $130 or less and looking 7'6"-7'11" could be a hair shorter if needed. What is some advice you all can give me? Thanks.

Thanks for the input. I'm off Wednesday so I'll probably hit the lake and give a couple different baits a try. Probably try: fluke trick worm baby paca craw

Anybody used a wobble head (biffle hard head) in the winter time? I've done decent with them in the summer time but never gave them a try in the winter. I've used a football jig with a lot of success in the colder water and figured I could use a fluke on the wobble head and drag it around rock and see how it goes.

Thanks for the info. I'll grab a pack of 4's and 2's and see how they turn out.

I fish jigs and soft plastics mostly but want to start throwing more cranks this summer so sorry if this question is stupid. The lakes I fish have a lot of grass and wood so I don't want to be fighting getting hung a lot. I have several squarebills that need new hooks. I'm wanting to try EWG Short Shank Gamakatsu's. My question is, do I have to up size the hooks (#4 stock, so go up to #2) or can I stick with the same size? Or would I be better off going with EWG trebles that aren't a short shank?

It mostly depends on the water clarity. Where I fish the water color tends to be rather clear. If its bright and sunny I use watermelon but if its cloudy I'll use green pumpkin. The lakes that I fish that are dirty I use mostly plum, purple, and some black/blue. If I had to pick one 1 cover most situations I'd go with green pumpkin.

Agreed 100%.

I've used Sniper exclusively for 3 years now. I really like the performance of the line. It doesn't have a bunch of memory and has pretty good abrasion resistance. I use 14lb for jigs and worms, 12lb for crankbaits, and 8lb for dropshots/shakey heads. I've been playing around with 20lb Assassin. So far it's not bad. It has a little more memory than Sniper but is pretty equal in most other categories.

I bought a Mojo 6'8" mxf. It is the older version but it was on clearance so I only paid $60 for it. It's way better than the old crankbait rod I was using. I don't have a ton of confidence in a jerkbait but I've manage to catch more fish on a jerkbait this year and haven't lost any fish or feel at a disadvantage with the xf tip.

I'm not really a braid fan, unless it's on a spinning reel. For all of those applications I'd use fluoro.

Trokar, Eagle Claw, and VMC hooks are also on sale during the SFC. I'd look at those hooks before I purchased BPS hooks.

Why does something have to be wrong for me to have failures with InvizX? Maybe I got a bad spool or something else happened but either way, Seaguar will not go back on my reels. I used 8lb and spooled it up on my Symetry 2500 and Duckett Ghost. 3rd cast of the day with a shakey head I got bit. Set the hook and the line broke. I was using a san diego jam knot and never had a single problem with this knot or the reel with sniper 8lb or XPS 8lb. The line was not damaged either. The abundance of stretch, lack of abrasion resistance, and overall issues I had with InvizX makes it one of the few lines I avoid. I also had problems with their mono. I put 8lb Seaguar mono on my mom's sahara 2500 and after 2 trips over the course of a week I could hold the line between my hands and break it with no effort. Not acceptable.

You can throw just about any soft plastic on a Carolina rig. Just depends on what your comfortable with. I usually mix it up but here's what I tend to throw: Trick worm Brush hog/ D Stroyer (or any other creature bait) Lizard Ol'Monster/ Big Dead Ringer

I'm a Sunline Sniper fan. I have 8lb on my spinning reel, 12lb on my jerkbait rod and my open water spinnerbait rod, and 14lb on my main jig rod. It handles well, has good abrasion resistance, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I've been experimenting with 20lb Assassin and have been pleased with the results. 25 extra yards, a couple $ cheaper, and seems to perform very close to Sniper. I need more time on the water with it to give it a total passing grade. I also use 12 lb Sunline mono for crankbaits will good performance. The only fluoro that will NEVER go on my reels again is Seaguar. I've had nothing but trouble with all of their fluoro's and will never use them again. Far too many breakoffs and not worth the headaches.

I'm a fan of the uni to uni. I have total confidence in the knot, especially after catching several 26"+ red drum on 10lb sufix 832 with 14lbs Vicious fluoro.

I agree with most of the others. Go with the 2500. It's far more versatile than the 1000. The 1000 would be a good trout reel but would be far from my first choice for a bass reel.

I've had better luck on the 90 size for both quantity and quality. I prefer the bone color and have both the 90 and 130 size. I throw the 90 size on a 7'6" mh crankbait rod with 12lb mono and I throw the 130 on a 7' H Duckett with 20lb mono. Both setups work well for me and produced a lot of fish in later December 2015.

Probably not. TW has them for pre order and expected delivery is in March.

I was at my local Bass Pro yesterday and noticed they had Lew's Custom Speed Stick rods they had just put out. I checked them out and liked the overall feel of the rod. Has anybody used these rods? I was looking at the 7'3" Heavy Football Jig rod mainly. How's the sensitivity of these rods? I'm also considering an Avid X 7'4" H and Duckett Terex 7'4"H. I will be using the rod for 1/2oz-3/4oz football jigs, and Carolina Rigs. I currently use a 7'H Micro Magic Pro for this but want to keep this rod mainly for lite flipping around brushpiles and laydowns. Thanks in advance.

I mostly fish 1/2oz football jigs. Unless I'm fishing over 25' or it's rough on the lake, then I'll go up to 3/4oz. I usually fish a True South Blind Side jig or Siebert Derocker football. Both have a recessed line tie and flat spot so it sits up better and comes through cover really well. Color wise, I keep it simple. I fish mostly green pumpkin unless its really stained then I'll throw a black and purple. For trailers, I use Zoom Fat Albert twin tail grubs, Zoom Super Chunks, Rage Chunks, or Missle D-Bombs. I play with my trailers based on the water temps and how active the bass are. When its cold I prefer the super chunk or d-bomb for added bulk. When it warms up I prefer the Rage chunk or fat albert twin tail. I am always throwing them on a 7' Heavy Duckett Micro Magic Pro with a Lew's Tournament MB 7.5:1 with 20lb Sunline Assassin fluoro. I focus on deep points, roadbeds, ledges, and humps. I prefer to drag the jig. Slowly (painfully slow) in the winter and rather quick in the summer. If I hit structure I like to shake the jig then drag it over if I don't get bit. A lot of people like to stroke the jig in the summer but I haven't had much luck stroking a jig so I stick to dragging it along the bottom.

Siebert Outdoors makes good hand tied jigs. I've used them and done rather well. Lately I've been going a little more local. I currently use True South Custom Lures. John makes a couple different heads and hand ties all of them. His spinnerbaits and swim jig are deadly on Spotted bass on one of my local lakes.

Mike is a great guy. He makes a really good jig and was easy to deal with when I asked about a special jig color that I wanted to try for my home lake. The jig was really successful on big Spotted bass. The only reason I haven't ordered much from Mike lately is I found a lure maker withing 35 minutes of my house. He makes all my spinnerbaits, underspins, and jigs. Saves me some money on shipping since I can drive there for less than the shipping. Plus I can text him my order and pick it up in a couple days. If I need any more of my special jig or know well in advance what jig's I'll need I'll certainly place an order from Mike.

The 130 does pull bigger fish but I've also caught come pretty good spotted bass on the 90. I usually start with the 130 and if I'm not getting hit I'll drop down to the 90, unless I know the bass are feeding on very small gizzard shad. That was the case Monday. I caught one on a rattle trap and it spit up 1" gizzard shad. Tied on the 90 and wacked em all day long. Where I live the bone color is the one to have. I Know It, Monkey Butt, and Chubby are also pretty popular.

Any colors tha you recommend? I was thinking of Ghost M Shad or Ghost Pearl but I'm open to other suggestions.