Tim Kelly

That's not a pike...... LOL

If you're using a moving bait, like a crankbait, I don't think a wire leader makes any difference as long as it's not too massive, thick and bent. A nice fine 50lb single strand with appropriately small clip and swivel is very good and I use it a lot where pike are a probability. For slow presentations, dragging soft plastics around the bottom or dropshotting I wouldn't want to use a wire leader, but also those presentations are less attractive to pike and pickerel, so there is less risk of catching them.

The SV has a slightly smaller frame, the same as the Tatula CT, and is significantly more comfortable in your hand, though the original Tat/zillion TWS is not at all uncomfortable. The SV would be your best option I expect as long as you don't need huge line capacity for your saltwater stuff.

Give them a call and ask them, or take the tip guide off and measure the blank with a micrometer.

I prefer mono. 6lb CXX works well for me. Light braid catches the wind too much.

A friend of mine had a tracker avalanche, which is the only stamped hull I can think of, other than the deep v version which had transom issues. I thought it was a nice boat. he had a 150 XR6 motor on it and it was good for 60 or so. Drank fuel like it was the space shuttle though! I don't imagine there are many of them out there as the stamping process must have made the hulls quite expensive compared to other aluminium boats. I don't think you're going to find many smaller aluminium boats that are going to run 70+ however much you overpower them.

Sounds like a great lake.

I think you're on a better lake.

Don't know if you can access the bank at the bridge, but if you can that would probably be your best chance.

Wow. I just looked up the price, 90c each. Are you serious? That's not remotely expensive considering the quality of the hook. These aren't cheapo crappie jigs from Walmart. The one I don't understand, yet everyone happily pays it, are the price of mass produced soft plastics like Keitech. Those things are way more expensive than similar looking equivalents, much like senkos are much dearer than the copies. Like with all things though, you charge what you can get for an item. If people recognise that they are better, then they will pay a premium and everyone's happy - not that that's the case with these jig heads, they're just not expensive!

That's a very good point that I hadn't considered. As it was a two day competition I would have thought everyone who caught would have weighed in the first day though?

A friend of mine recently moved to a lakeside house and we were talking about the quality of fishing one the lake. He hasn't had much time on the lake to explore yet, but has been finding it generally quite stingy, and he's a very competent angler. I suggested looking up the club tournament records for the lake to see how people generally do on there, which was interesting. A 130 team buddy 2 day tournament this time last year had 5 teams limit both days and 32 teams blanked both days. I thought that sounded pretty bad, but then realised I didn't really know how the results generally look in club competitions. In your club tournaments, what sort of percentage of boats typically blank or limit? Kind of intrigued to get a metric on it.

The only megabass reels I've ever liked the look of were the Ryoga based ones. I would like one of them, though would never want to pay the price for it. Generally I dislike their reels appearance and their rods are really unappealing with a ridiculous collection of parts thrown onto the blank. No where near how I like to build my rods, which are very stripped down.

I like a correctly sized fastach. I've had failures with virtually every other snap, though only when pike fishing. I have had lure come undone with fastach, but only when using too big a sized fastach. The number 2 is ideal for most bass sized cranks.

Quite agree. I really dislike the megabass style builds where it seems that putting the most ridiculous collection of components together in as unergonomic fashion as possible is the aim! LOL. I build my own and they're basic stripped down and as I want them. Suit me perfectly.

Thanks. Looks like I'll need to get that mould. Just got to wait for the pound to recover a bit! Stupid global currency markets!

Would a #2 lil nasty fit in the mould or is the leg to the eye too short?

The reel is less important than your technique. Hit the water at the wrong angle and even an SV reel will spill its guts. I would recommend you get some thick mono and go and practice on some water. The thick line means the spool level drops quickly, which helps with control, under filling the spool makes life easier too. 20lb mono would be perfect. You will have backlashes, so it's inexpensive to bin when you've ruined it! Enjoy. So satisfying when you get a good cast, and so frustrating when you don't!

I have an Alphas SV and an SS SV, but the reel I find easiest to skip with is a Tatula CT loaded with 20lb fluoro. I think the thick line helps, but that reel is really easy to skip with. I wonder if the Twing helps with the thick line? I imagine a zillion SV would be the ultimate?

'Bird have are just bringing out a new Helix 5 with map drawing. Might be worth hanging on a month or two and see what they're doing to the Helix 7. Might find it also offers map drawing and maybe networking soon, which would make it a very attractive buy.

Excellent news. That's one of the advantages of Garmin joining the competition for the freshwater fishing market. They had map making software on their newer smaller units, so now Humminbird has had to respond. Win win for us.

My Leatherman is always in my pocket and used constantly. Just a knife blade would be much less useful.

I dislike the skinny bail arm wire on Shimanos, seems to get bent too easily. The thicker wire on a daiwa bail seems more robust and doesn't get bent as easily.

I had a Jackson Cuda 14, worked well on the water, but it was a bit of a game getting on the roof of the van. The weight can be a crucial part of your choice of yak if you need to get it on a high roof rack on your own.

My kind of rig, enjoy it. Not sure what info you want? Just go out and fish it.