rockchalk06

I've fished them for years. The Rayburn red I think it's called still catches me tons of fish in October/November. As for better or worse, I really can't say. The Lewis traps are noisier and come with KVD elite hooks. Both paint jobs are so so. They kinda flake easy. The Cordell's are always on sale too. Academy had them in 4 different colors for 33 cents a piece last season so I got about 40 of them. They were nice as I could throw then in the nasty and not be heart broken over loosing a 5-6 dollar crank. There are better looking lipless cranks out there that have better paint schemes and better components, but for the money they are good cranks.

Won't that throw off the balance of the spool? I'd hate to think that you would be forced to remove them to use the reel properly when there about a gazillion people using them with all breaks installed. Kinda defeats the purpose of having the quick access to add more or shut more down.

The best for me would be jigs, for the next guy something different. Alot depends on your location, water level, clarity, time of year, temp etc etc etc. most importantly it's what your confident in.

If you could take a few pictures directly level face on of the break hub and maybe one of it at an angle, we could see what your looking at. It could be the flat wide portion of the breaks are worn out, broke or? Or the grooves that catch the breaks are worn.

My least favorite part about my job is training day. 50k volts not cool

Agreed. I love using braid as I can get back almost all of my cranks that get hung up, but I think a moderate or parabolic action is a must with braid

I love that Salsa. For cold clear water, that was my go to jig. Give the Berkley Subwoofer in Watermelon for the Salsa a shot. Also the Alabama Craw in the subwoofer for the New Gill they both make a great match for them.

Thanks man. I will definatly check it out

I was in the same boat as you when my fiancé and I combine plans. I got the 4 gig shared plan. Both lines are like 140 bucks and we online all the time. I've never made it to 3 gigs yet

Anything weedless will work. In thick grass like that, when I can find it, I will throw a North Star flip n swim jig. It comes through the grass really well. If you get hung up, give it a quick snap to come loose. The most violent strikes I've had using them, come when you pop it out of the weeds

I crank with a 6.4:1 Chronarch 50E that has 25 IPT. For smaller stuff and squarebills, it works pretty good. I slow down a bit but I am going to change in a couple of months. It wears me out after 200 plus cats. I'm going to get another Chronarch 5 gear that has 23 IPT. Hopefully it will not wear me out as bad. I know Mark Zona uses a Core that has like 30 IPT but that dudes wired so I guess he can do it. I know several people that use 6 and 7 gear reels but I can't see how they can do it. My 25 IPT Chronarch kills me with a 5XD. I gotta cut my speed down which throws me off with everything else. It makes more sense to me to get a slower IPT reel to keep the same turning speed n

It has ok action. It didn't seem like there was that much vibration with it the short time I was able to get out today. The Menace looked killer in the water. I'm going to get out again tomorrow and see what it can do

That's good to know. I never really thought about that. Thanks

Thanks. You don't think there is too much green in the shell cracker?

Haven't been able to find one that matches perfectly. If was my first trailer I looked at

Don't forget to check out the Shimano Clarus. It's at the 80 dollar mark, light, sensitive and lifetime warranty. I've have yet find one with a buggered guide or any other issues.

The winch was designed for cranking. It's in a 5 gear slower ratio for what you need. The STX is mainly for your jigs, trig etc. it comes in 3 gears, but nothing slow enough for cranking. The winch also has a larger spool for more line and a larger handle to help with deep diving cranks

Yes sir! I'm going out tomorrow tornado or not.

I just had this custom made for me.

A friend of mine has a killer pond that I get blessed with being a guest at every so often. I have been using every combo of swim jig I could find to mimic a bluegill. Not much luck. The last time we were able to get out there, we kept a few bass. I was surprised to see every bass we caught had crappie in the stomach, Some even had crappie sticking out of their throats! That got me thinking, I need a swim jig that mimicked a crappie. North Star had an original swim jig that was close, but wasn't what I wanted. I also don't use the original's I prefer the Flip N Swims. So on the way home from the pond, I called Chris with North Star, and explained what was going on. I couldn't get a bite on any color Flip N Swims that I had. I also went on to tell him that I needed one to look like a white crappie. Chris told me he had the jig I needed. It would be a custom jig so it would take a few weeks. After these arrived, it was worth every second it took to get here. Below is what I got! Chris told me that all other jigs that imitated a crappie were just plane black and white with some speckle. If you look at a crappie in the water, you can see what looks like a purplish shimmer to it. You also see green shimmer as well. I had never seen anything like this before so I was very pleased when it arrived and looked just like I hoped it would. As you can see from the two pictures, there is a green and purplish shimmer to it. For those of you that haven't tried this Flip n Swim jig yet, here are the specs on it. It has a 3x 30 degree round bend hook that is super sharp and really strong. I cannot flatten this hook out. My 65 pound braid breaks before the hook will flatten out. I have a "Mistake" color Flip n Swim that has caught about 60 fish total, and the hook is just as sharp as it was when the jig arrived. My jigs were 1/2 oz and these came with full length white weed guards. The pointed head allows this to be ripped through weeds and grass very easily. The bottom of the head is flat to allow it up stand up straight when it hits the bottom. Comes with 60 strand skirts and 3D eyes that are glued then epoxied over to last. I have never had an eye fall off yet. I got 5 of these to use and see if they will work for me. These were your typical North Star quality jigs. I prefer wire tied jigs and all of North Stars are. The skirts are all aligned perfectly. No empty spots on the jigs. I like the detail on the Flip n Swim head. Life like eyes, great paint job and it has what looks like a gill pattern molded in. I have purchased around 150-200 or so jigs from North Star in the last year and half. Each one has had the exact same quality. Either I have been very lucky or Chris must have some OCD that blows mine out of the water. The hardest part of working with a new jig is finding a good trailer to work with it. I went through just about every trailer online and in a few stores to find some that would work. I needed something that had a somewhat darker body with a salt and pepper colored tail to match the White Crappie around here. Here is what I found. First was the Strike King Rage Tail Menage in Blue Gill color: Next I found the Bass Pro Sassy Sally in Bad Shad: Last one I got was the Zoom Fat Albert in Clear Silver Black: I'm sure these are not the only ones that will work. I am still looking for something that will match up better. I think my favorite is the Rage Tail Blue Gill due to the darker tint in the tail and the green and black speckle. Over all I can't say enough about this new jig. The color is nothing that I have seen before. The quality is 1st rate and it was really nice to be able to pick up the phone, call the owner of the company and have him be able to produce something for me. Hopefully we can get out these next days off and do some fishing. The last 4 days have been storms and more storms.

Forgot about tax lol I have used 5XD's with my avid. It does bend the tip, but not as bad I thought it was going to. Its gonna flex it, but it should be ok. Its rated for 1oz. It has the same power and rating as my Avid, so it should act similar. When I posted my thread about my Avid, guys said they were cranking with 5 and 6XD's with no issues.

It will be a good year before we see them though. Also the E6 has been out for a few years now and has proven itself. I'm not dumping all of mine for the new ones for some time. I went through hell trying to find something that works lol

That 5 bucks is nice isnt it lol It has plenty of backbone. You will be able to launch a 1.5 or Red eye a good 40 plus. Put plenty of main line on lol That was my first thought when I got my Avid cranking rod, it being thin. It had more than enough backbone to set the hook. Remember its for treble hooks so you don't have to lay the wood to em. I love cranking with a graphite rod. You can really get into the fish and don't have to "Finesse" it back to shore or the boat.

Ya, hes a good dude. The Thunder does alot for the community. He helps out with Thunder Care.com

Ive got some friends in Muskogee that said they faired really well. Most of Muskogee faired pretty well too