backcast88

I use 8 lb Sniper or Trilene Pro XL. Anything over 8 lb is a bit of a hassel.

The old white box stuff was pretty good. When it was on sale it was hard to beat. The new stuff made by Seaguar is in a purlple and yellow box and says KVD on it. It is not as good. I bought some 10 lb for crankbaits and hated it. The rest of the spool will be used for carolina rig leader. If your store still has the white box get it before the new yellow/purple box.

The Aird is a great reel. Lightweight and smooth. Its one of the best reels in its price point.

I am looking to buy a 7'6" MH deep crankbIt setup. I've narrowed my choices down to the Winch and Crankin Stick. Both are the same price and I've handled both and can't really decide. Which do you think is a better rod? Is one more sensitive then the other? The only hold up with the Veritas is I had a 6'9" ML that was pretty dead. I have heard a lot of good about both and am having a hard time deciding between the 2. Thanks.

I prefer the Baby version over the full size. I stick to 1/0 round bend hooks when fishing them on spinning gear and 2/0 round bend hooks on casting gear. I have had great luck this year fishing them on a Carolina Rig in Watermelon Green. I have caught 3 lb+ spots since February very consistantly.

I have some BPS braid scissors that work well. But most of the time I just grab whatever knife I have in my pocket which is usually a Spyderco Delica or a Benchmade Mini Griptilian. They work just as good as the scissors and I don't ever have to look for them.

I have a carbonlite and really like it. I think I will give the Fenwick a try and see how they compare.

My store has 6 of the spinning HMG's in stock. The split grip vs. full grip doesn't bother me. I like my Carbonlite's but am really tempted to try the HMG.

I was at bass pro today picking up a few lures and need a new spinning rod. I narrowed it down to these 2 rods. It's for finesse jigs. I was looking at getting a 6'6" MH. Which one is more sensitive? The price difference between the 2 isn't an issue.

I had a Veritas and didnt care for it. It was too stiff for my intended use. Plus most of the ones I looked at had jacked up guides and looked pretty crappy. I exchanged it for a Carbonlite. I have 2 spinning Carbonlite's, and 1 Micro casting Carbonlite. I like them a lot more then Veritas. Just as light weight, sensitive, durable, less issues with messed up guides. The only real gripes are I don't like the hook keeper on the spinning rods. Every now and then the line hits it and gets wrapped around it. I wish them made a micro spinning version and that the handles were a hair longer. If your looking for a ~$100 rod I feel the Carbonlite is pretty hard to beat. The Veritas is ok. Just check the guides real good and be ready for a stiff rod.

My go to color is watermelon. Especially watermelon green brush hogs. I always have pumpkinseed and chartreuse pepper or something with a chartreuse tail as a backup for those cloudy days when watermelon isn't the best choice.

Carolina Rig or a tight wobble crankbait (Shad Rap or Spro Fat Papa 55). If they are around docks or less then 15 ft of water I like a 4.5" finesse worm/baby brush hog TX rigged with a 3/16 oz weight and 1/0 Owner hook. I haven't had much success on a jerkbait but for other people they are great.

I would use 7lb or 8lb Sunline Sniper. I started using the 8lb recently and really like it. I haven't used Tatsu and probably will not since the price is a lot higher then I can afford on fishing line. Another alternative would be 8lb Trilene XL Pro Fluoro (new stuff in red packaging). Very close in performance to Sunline Sniper but has a hair more memory. Not enough to really cause issues but it does have more memory then the Sniper. A line a lot of people will tell you to use is Seaguar InvizX. I have used it and would say to avoid it. It handles well on a spinning reel but doesn't have any abrasion resistance and has a ton of stretch. For the same price I would get Sunline Sniper or Trilene XL Pro.

I have used several different fluoro's over the past few years. I put them in order from my most favorite to least favorite. Sunline Sniper 8lb: I don't have a lot of time on the water with this line but so far I really like it. It casts and handles great, very low memory, doesn't seem to stretch very much, and is rather abrasion resistant. Trilene XL Pro Fluoro 8lb: Like Sunline Sniper, I don't have a ton of time on the water with it. Very similar to Sunline Sniper for $5-$6 less for the same lb test. The only noticeable difference between the 2 is that the Trilene seems to have a little more memory and maybe a hair less abrasion resistance but its difficult to really see the difference. XPS 8lb and 12lb: handles and casts well, abrasion resistant, but it gets memory quicker then some line at the same price point. I have it on a casting reel and feel for the price its hard to beat since it goes on sale very regularly. Sunline Super Fluoro 12 lb: good abrasion resistance, lots of memory very quick, casting distance seemed to suffer some. It's ok, I doubt I would use it again for a main line. Seaguar InvizX 8lb: casts and handles well, very low memory, very low abrasion resistance, a TON of stretch. I won't use it again.

Symetre.

I would recommend a rod 7'3"-7'6" in a MH or H depending on the brand. I personally use a 6'9" MH so my rod is a little short for a Carolina Rig but it works great. Sure I could cast a little further with a longer rod but I have caught a lot of fish on a Carolina Rig with that rod and have lots of confidence with it.

I have a few Strike King's and I don't really care for them. I prefer Spro and Rapala crankbaits. I have used some Bandit's and Bomber's but find myself reaching for a Spro or Rapala b/c I seem to catch way more fish with them and I have more confidence with them. If I was spending $180 or so I would get: Rapala Shad Rap 07 and/or 08 Rapala DT (any depth would be good) Spro Little John Spro Little John MD Spro Little John DD Spro Fat Papa 55 or 70 I would get a combination of the cranks listed above to cover all water depths. For colors, I would get a shad pattern, a craw pattern and something bright like chartreuse or citrus shad.

Little John in Cell Mate Fat Papa 55 in Nasty Herring War Eagle Heavy Finesse Jig in Pond Scum w/ Zoom Super Chunk Jr in Watermelon seed Zoom 4" Deadringer in Pumpkinseed on a 3/16 oz Texas Rig Zoom Baby Brush Hog in Watermelon Seed on a Carolina Rig

I have had great luck with Sunline Sniper. The only problem is I cannot find it around my house with any consistency. Some places will have it one week and not get anymore for 6 months. Others get it in every lb test except what I am looking for. I have found Trilene XL Pro (new stuff in the red package) is great on a spinning reel. I am tempted to try in on a casting reel once I need to respool a couple reels. My old faithful is BPS XPS fluoro. Its cheap and works really good. I tried Sunline Super Fluoro. It was ok. Abrasion resistance was decent but it had a lot of memory very quickly.

I fish 5" and 6" Zoom Lizards. I stick to Watermelon seed or Pumpkinseed. I will either throw them TX rigged with 1/4 weight and 2/0 hook or on a Carolina Rig. Watermelon seed seems to do the best for me but I still keep Pumpkinseed in the boat for those rare occasions that the Watermelon isn't catching fish. My setup for both applications is the same. 6'9" MH XF Carbonlite and a Shimano Curado 201G7 with 12 lb XPS Fluoro.

1. Big Bite Baits Squirrel Tail (Chartreuse pepper) 2. Zoom Deadringer (Pumpkinseed, ) 3. Zoom Z Hog Jr (Watermelon seed) 4. Zoom Baby Brush Hog (Watermelon seed) 5. Spro Fat Papa 55 (Nasty Herring) 6. Spro Little John MD (Cell Mate) 7. Rapala Clackin' Crank 53 (Helsinki Shad) 8. War Eagle 3/8 oz Heavy Finesse Jig (Pond Scum) 9. Roboworm Fat Straight Tail Worm (Bold Gill) 10. Zoom Super Chunk Jr (Watermelon seed)

I use Owner 85% of the time. The other 15% I use Gamakatsu's I always use offset round bend hooks unless I throw a Z Hog or Super Hog in which case I will use a EWG. I prefer 1/0 or 2/0 because I feel it give the baits a little more action and I rarely miss a fish b/c of the fish not getting the whole bait.

I have had a chance to use the Trilene XL Pro fluoro several times since spooling it up the other week and I really like. It handles very well and is rather abrasion resistant. The other day I was fishing around a lot of rocks and got hung up several times and managed to unstuck every time. I had to retie several times but it wasn't needed each time I was stuck. Today I was fishing docks and channel markers and only had to retie once after getting stuck between a submerged brace on a dock. The XL pro seems to be as abrasion resistant as Bass Pro XPS fluoro and Sunline Sniper. If you have used either of those lines before then you know what to expect. Sniper handles as good as the Trilene XL Pro and is far more available in my area and is several dollars cheaper. As of right now this line is a valuable tool in my arsenal and when I use the last of my Sunline Sniper I will spool my other Symetre with 8 lb XL Pro.

I have 2 Shimano Symetre 2500's and each is on a BPS Carbonlite rod (6'6"MHF and 6'8"MXF). Both have 8 lb fluoro and make great setups.

I use the SD jam on mono and fluoro all the time. Neither have broken at the knot. My testing has shown that the SD jam is just as good on mono as it is for fluoro.