Tim Kelly

Really, wow. How do you get any tongue weight? My trailer has a tipping cradle of rollers at the back and I can launch or recover from virtually no water, but the wheels are in the right place.

Thicker line and raising the rod tip as you watch the jig skip away from you. I find concentrating on making a good roll of the jig as I make the cast helps to send the jig out at the right trajectory too.

I think you need to go to a shop and try a few reels out. I can't see the zillion HD being a good swap for a Steez A. If you knew what you were buying a Steez A for, the Zillion or Tat TWS are a very different shaped reel.

Personally I wouldn't want a reel faster than around 7:1 for those apps. I'd get a Tatula SV in 6.3 or 7.3 and use it until the Steez is repaired, then see how you feel about the whole situation.

I'm intrigued to know what the stabilizing pin is more usually known as.

A lot of them will have a spliced tip of solid carbon or glass. Makes the tip super light so the fish don't feel the rod when they bite. If you haven't used a rod like that before it is quite different to a conventionally built rod. Not bad, but not XF in the sense you are probably thinking of. I have one (Reins) rod with a spliced tip I use for tiddler snatching in the sea, great fun, but not an advantage for other types of fishing that I do.

That trailer looks really wrong too. Be careful out there! I have a little 13ft glass boat and have the same issue you're probably having with weight distribution. The main motor, trolling motor and me are all at the back of the boat, so weight distribution is difficult to get right. As the boat is short it exaggerates the problem. Try putting some heavy stuff as far forward in the boat as you can to see if that helps you. It's the nature of the beast though, especially with light ali boats. A friend of mine has a 12 ft Sea Nymph, which is very like yours and it is pretty tippy and gets blown around by the wind a lot.

That spool tension thing is really daft advice. I wish it wasn't put out there as much. If you're even vaguely competent with a baitcaster you need just enough tension to stop the spool moving sideways in the frame, everything else is with the brakes and your thumb. Imagine how much tension you must have on the spool to slow the drop of a 1oz bait! Daiwas require a slightly different casting stroke to centrifugal braked reels like shimanos in my experience. You need less power and a smoother stroke to get the best from the magnetic systems, where a full on haul is possible with shimanos. Both end up about the same distance, but with different levels of effort and control.

LOL. Get another Kastking. But hang onto the Tatula you will probably appreciate it in a few years.

Thank you. Yes, that's the shape I imagined you meant. Not really what I have in my mind as perfect. The hook bending tip should be a massive help though.

Thanks anyway. The reason for wanting the hooks I want is that I really like the 1/8 head with 3.25" Lunker City Shakers. Shakers are really sensitive to having the hook too far back in the body, so a longer shank, larger size hook kills the bait. I have sort of made a size 1 Eagle Claw Lil nasty hook work by bending it, but I'm sure I could do better with a more appropriate hook.

Thanks. Do you mean this shape? http://store.do-itmolds.com/Owner-5304brBlack-Finish-25_p_402.html I'm not keen on that shaped hook really, but thanks for the suggestion.

Now that is a very good, and obvious once pointed out, idea! Thank you. I expect that will make the range of hooks I can bend a fair bit wider. Thank you!

Funny you should say that. All my lead is 100 year old lead pipes I take out of houses when upgrading plumbing systems.

Thank you. Good advice. Just checked and I don't think I would really like that style of hook. Appreciate the idea, but I think the search goes on. There's a VMC 7161 http://vmcpeche.com/products/round-jig-60° That would work if the wire is soft enough.

If it's just for fishing get a normal pair of fishing pliers, ideally one with a sheath and wear that. I use a leatherman all the time for work and life in general, but it's inefficient for fishing. A conventional pair of fishing pliers is much more convenient.

Straight

I have a Do-it 3499 shad head rig mould which asks for a 30 degree hook, but I can't find any small enough 30 degree hooks (I want a 1 and 1/0 size), so I've been bending out some fine wire 90 degree hooks to fit. Sort of OK, but it's a long way to bend the hook and only certain hooks will bend, others just snap. I've been looking for 60 degree hooks to try, as they would only need to bend a small amount, but there don't seem to be many options in as small a size as I want. The Trokar TK835 looks possible. I wonder if anyone has used these hooks in smaller sizes and thinks they would bend OK, or whether they're the forged high carbon type that tend to snap? Any other possibilities?

Just had mine block up terminally. Poured out the lead then scraped the sides and did my best with drill bits and bits of wire trying to clear the spout. Not sure I wouldn't be better off using a ladle and abandoning the spout. Will give it one more chance!

I think that might be the key to your issue. Fluorocarbon really doesn't like getting kinked, whether it's on the spool when you have a birdnest, or in this instance where the front hook has caught the braid. As you continue to twitch the lure the line, wrapped over the front hook, is having a kink twitched into it and creating a weak point. If I were you I would either go a fair bit thicker on your FC leader or go with a mono leader, which is stronger and more resistant to this kind of thing. Failing that you should re-tie after you have had a front hook catch up as that line is now weakened.

A few years ago I had a 14lb pike attached to my wrist with a 5/0 treble. Once the pike was removed from the equation I had to perform a similar operation to Christie. The guy in the boat with me was the theatre technician from a hospital, but got a bit queasy helping out! Had to push the hook point and barb through the gristly part of my wrist to get to the barb to cut it off. It took a ridiculously huge amount of pressure to get it through and I ended up cutting the surface to try to get down to it, much like Shaw. Had to have 5 minutes sitting down swearing after the hook was eventually free!

Repair time. Sounds like the release lever has got worn. Can happen if the gears are engaged before the cast is finished. Once it's been repaired just be careful to wait until the spool has stopped spinning before turning the handle.

Phew then. I like Davy on live, but Zona brings an energy and entertainment value that is hard to replicate. I wondered if he was unwell or something as he appeared to be finishing a few of his things.

What's Zona going to do from now then? No bass live, no Awesome. We all need a little Zona time every now and then.

When are the rattlebaits coming out? Love the idea of a floating and suspending model as well as the sinker.