iabass8

i agree that the toothpick may have done some damage to your knot. yozuri is supposed to be some strong line.

i bought a new in box 51e last year for 139 on the bay...inflation

I've got a 6501c3..for catfishing. the reel is bulletproof and the bait clicker is a neat feature. i've had the reel for a long time and it still works like new. it's also probably the easiest reel to clean/service. mine also has "made in sweden" stamped on the side plate.

i cast a DS in stained water where there is a little bit but not much visibility but not muddy water where visibility is zero. i use the same baits you use /w traditional vertical clear water DS as long as it has some sort of action/vibration i.e trick worms, dream shots, senkos, etc. a little DS tip for you is to take a berkley (i've never tried a different work but i'm sure others work) power worm /w a long tail and cut the ribbed body off so there is only the tail and a small piece of thick plastic to nose hook. this bait has incredible action /w a little but of current. red shad seems to work the best for me in stained water. i generally have much better luck either working it a little more aggressively than you normally would by just keeping it moving little by little or doing almost nothing at all. there doesn't seem to be a middle ground for me. it's either one way or the other.

you can let the swim jig sink, yes. i like retrieving mine over lily pads, through grass, over rip rap. fishing it over pads yields some intense bites by dragging it over a pad and letting it fall in a hole and quickly "popping" it. you can swim them down in the grass as well with a heavier jig but i prefer to keep a swim jig up in the water column. casting at certain targets like fallen trees and weed edges will get you lots more bites as it will come through the portion of the cover that most baits won't. as far as the trailer goes i pick something with more action rather than less.

this would be my suggestion as well. i throw swim jigs a lot over pads and usually get more fish than with a frog .

you can skip really anything. some lures are easier than others. i.e lures with flat back sides like rage craws or arkey jigs. braid is more user friendly when skipping but i prefer fluoro so the bait drops straight down as most of the time bites when skipping are on a slack line.

you can use google chrome to translate any webpage.

some sort of hollow body frog would be a good solution.

1/4 oz Brovarney's Blue Crab (Looks just like blue gill) /w rage craw in amber/green flake 1/4 oz Brobarney's white/gold /w subwoofer trailer in white

i'm a big fan of the Dream Shot. Also, if you take a zoom original trick worm (non salt), carefully slice it vertically head to tail in half, and nose hook it, it makes a killer DS bait.

i've transferred line numerous times from a reel to a reel. works just fine.

one of my spinning set ups uses 6# suffix 832 /w a 7# fluoro leader. works great.

try a skirt when punching. sieberts outdoors sell the whole thing together. it's a tungsten weight/skirt/hook together. you can build these yourself with ease but you can also buy them together.

always always always tie direct frog fishing. yes you answered your own question. dobyns 735 is my favorite frog rod can be had for 130 during major online retailer sales. I'm only mentioning these because it can save you money if you don't frog fish much but the Dick's near me has a lot of abu garcia veritas (including the 7'6mh) for 89.97 which would make them roughly 45$ each after the .97 discount. if you have one near you it may be worth checking out.

I'm a huge fan of Siebert Outdoors (board sponsor) football and brush jigs. 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 oz are the weights I use the majority of the time. Northstar Custom Baits (another board sponsor) makes a very fine quality jig as well.

1/4 3/8 1/2 is a good starting point for 3 weights that cover a lot if not most situations. green pumpkin, black and blue, some sort of brown/orange. color combinations are endless and you will get 20 different answers from 20 different people but those 3 are pretty much the base of almost everything. my 3 favorite color skirts are Blue craw, watermelon/greenpumpkin/red, black/blue/purple flake.

i prefer gama drop shot hooks i believe size 1 tired directly /w a palomar knot. don't forget to run the tag end back through the front of the hook to keep the hook pointed upwards. i do not like the spin shot hooks but that's a personal preference. many on here like them.

nice and slow steady retrieve. i've had great success with them in muddy water switching the skirt to sieberts 24/7 ( i think that's what its called. it's mostly black with tings of dark purple and dark blue) and a cane thumper trailer.

68mxf ltbc curado 51e 14#(might be 15 it's been a long times since ive had to buy mono) trilene xl i use the same set up for zara puppies/spook jrs.

i've never seen those. good videos thanks.

I forgot to add that I believe that minimum payout for elite series events (50th place up to somewhere around 40) is 10k. it gradually goes up in small increments from there. Not too long ago it was 5k so it seems like these tournaments are doing something right.

i'm not too picky on mono. i really only use it for topwater and ul stream trout fishing. trilene xl hasn't done me wrong yet.

top 50 get paid in elite series events. it's a very gradual incline in money won until you get to first place. That is why there is so much pressure on winning as first place pays out usually around 72k(give or take a few thousand) more than second place while others only get 5k(again, give or take a few depending on fishing place) for jumping up the ladder. I believe all of the angles are "elites". They are good enough to be there and have clearly earned a spot to compete. obviously some pros stick out more than others and make more final day cuts than most but to think somebody on the 100 list of entrants isn't "elite" is foolish. Finishing well in tournaments is obviously a great way to get notoriety with sponsors. Having a personality(like ike who is one heck of a fisherman who has proven himself and to say otherwise is ignorant) and voice that people actually enjoy listening to will get you a lot further than you think as well.

and pay for over 1/2 the rod in gas on a 10 hour round trip....