The American

Too many stupid pickerel are in the reservoir i fish in. They tear up flukes real bad, and just feel fragile when you grab them to unhook them. I'm afraid I crushed one's gills, but don't feel that terrible about it because those stupid things were hitting everything. I started on flukes/traps, but read online that Pickerel go after the shad immitators, so I switched to a worm. Sure enough, one of those freaky things was on my line. Next, a texas rigged craw. Pickerel. Spinnerbait? Pickerel. I hate to complain about catching fish, but these things just don't look right. I guess this is just something i'm going to have to live with fishing up north now.

Just buy a LH baitcaster, pretty much all of them come in LH models.

Wal-Mart!

Ive used the silent with great success. I believe that was the only one they sold at walmart for a while..

Yeah those KVD cranks are no joke. Sexy shad ftw

I've rigged Jr. flukes on them and done ok. It didn't seem to mess up the action, and gave the fluke a nice swimming action. I don't really like chatterbaits in general though..

A 7' M crankbait rod A 7'6 MH crankbait rod a 6'6 M xf spinning rod I will be purchasing one of these when I go home for the summer, and technique specific tackle. (deep cranks, dropshot terminal tackle, or more shallow-med cranks depending on my decision) I have very limited time at home(3 weeks in the middle of summer). It seems to me that that justifies a deep cranking or spinning rod (fishing hot). I don't own a crankbait rod, so maybe a M would be better for all around use? I currently have a 5.4 reel w/o a rod, and a spinning reel on a rod I don't like. I am not going to list models/reels because I don't want to get into that. My question to you is: which setup would you purchase if you were in my shoes. Because it might be important: what I own right now 6'6 MH 6.3 -carolina/texas/jig 6'6 MH 6.3-same, but rigged different from 1st 5'6 M 7.1-spinnerbaits, jerkbaits 7' MH spinning(6.2)-shakey heads, skipping

BPS Tourney Special combo for $80, spool it with cheap mono because there is going to be a learning curve, especially with a cheaper reel. You'll be going through quite a bit of line early on. The BPS combo is what I learned on, and it still works great.

I've got one on the way(MG) in 5:? for deep cranking, I'll see how it is soon enough. Looking at this thread, I'm pretty pumped.

Yeah I was leaning towards the M, but noticed that most of the expensive drop-shot or finesse specific rods were ML. ML just seems too sissy to me anyways...

I am looking into purchasing a spinning rod for shakey heads, drop shotting, split shotting, and skipping docks. I currently have a 7' MH rod on a Symetre 3000, and just dont like the feel of it/use a baitcaster for anything in the MH range. I think I am going to go with the Abu Veritas, and wanted your input as to which power would be better suited for this variety of uses. I would most likely be shakey heading and skipping more so than using dropshot and splitshot.

I recently read a post about nicknames given to big bass, and it was pretty funny, but how about nicknames for certain lures. For example, I have a 1/2 oz Rat-L-Trap in chrome with the blue top that I call 'Ol Blue. I was wondering if I'm the only person crazy enough to name my lures!

Zoom finesse in green pumpkin on a 1/4 oz shakey head.

Zoom dead ringer in junebug or green pumpkin on a carolina rig, or Zoom finesse same colors on a shakey head.

Put it on an underspin jighead, and let it fall around submerged brushpiles or paralell to steep dropoffs, that's where the swimming flukes really shine.

The BPS crankin' sticks all seem to have a fast action, isn't it ideal for a crankbait rod to have a moderate-fast or moderate tip?

So I have recently acquired $200 for my birthday, and don't know what I should purchase next. I'll include a list of everything I have, and maybe you could help me out. I currently own: Shimano Symetre on KVD 7'MH fast spinning rod, spooled w. 12lb flouro KVD Sig. series 7.1:1 on 5'6" M (its an ugly stick..) Ugly stick spooled w. 14# mono PQ 6.3:1 on 6'6" BPS Extreme MH fast, spooled with 10# hybrid and some sort of $100 BPS combo of 6.3:1 reel and MH fast rod $200 is my budget, and any insight on additions OR improvements to my collection would be great, Thanks!

I have a Pro Qualifier, and when I go to turn the dial that adjusts the magnetic brake, it twists between 0 and 4. I was wondering if this is a common problem/easy fix before I sent it back. The only thing i've messed with is I greased the tip of the spool shaft and I oiled the bearings.

I vote methane, the gases escape in tiny bubbles even w/o anything disturbing whatever's decomposing on the bottom.

I'd get a M action rod for spinners and jerkbaits, 3 different MH rods seems like just getting the same exact rod and putting different line on it, especially if that's all you have.

I'm spooling my baitcaster andI know there's a max line capacity as it's written on the box, but I have no way of measuring it. Is there a rule of thumb to tell when it's full? It's a PQ and i'm spooling it with 10# hybrid if that makes any difference.

Thanks guys, I think i'm going to go with the 10# hybrid. I'm in the great white north for now, and am not expecting anything that big to necessitate a braid/leader combo.

I have one rod, a BPS PQ/Extreme 6'6" MH and will mostly be fishing from the shore. I have pretty much every type of lure available, as I have a boat on Lanier. My question is: what type of line should I spool on that will be OK for pretty much every technique. Just to clarify, I will be using texas and carolina rigs, shakey heads, senkos, flukes, spooks, shallow cranks, jigs, and spinners all in the 3/8-1/2 oz range. I am a fan of flouro, but am open to any suggestions you may have. Also, the rod is rated for 10-20lb line. Thanks!

I'm a college student in the central valley area, and fish whenever I can. Unfortunately, this is not that often, but I enjoy time at home on Lake Lanier, and look forward to more freedom to fish as an upperclassman. This forum is great!