Loop_Dad

...and I believe some of the reel manufactures recommend you to wash your reel after use. I never dropped reel in the water, but I dropped camera when I was taking fish pic. It did not survive.

I have my flipping stick (MH) and frog rod (MH, but close to H) with 65 lbs, I have my cranking MH with 30 lbs, all the other MH gets 50 lbs. My rod for jigging spoon (M) gets 30 lbs as well.

Never done ice fishing. Do you fish for bass or something else?

Just ordered one. Can't wait to read this!

I've had the most success in my local lakes at the edges of rocky section, especially where it meets flat bottom.

Yeah, I'm not picky and I'll take some clearance priced Curado G. If someone sees one, make sure to post up.

I was planning on fishing places that you have to hike in and I was looking at Cabela's XML Travel Casting Rods. 4pcs, which might be over kill for your need. I never pulled the trigger, so I do not know how it is.

It does to me. You just need to have the backbone to drive the single hook through the fish's mouth nicely.

Water temps are between 42 to 48 locally. That's winter. However I'm finding them shallower than I would think, 5-10 ft range. Try jigs and craws. For the way to easily locate them, I haven't found it myself yet.

Nice pic! That's classy. I got a get me picture like that to hang in the living room.

I'm like you always tend to try something. But sometimes I realized I am trying too hard. What I do these days on purpose is try hard 1/2 of the time I have that day and go with the flow the other 1/2.

That's whole lot of fish! I've never had a 100 fish day.

I've used two Citica G's for two seasons. One thing I have just noticed was the side plate has a bit of play when I push it to the front and back of the reel. So I'll be pushing the plate towards the rod tip and bud of the rod. It is very small one and I don't even notice when I am fishing. I have bought a couple of reels and rods recently and was playing with my stuff at home. That's when I noticed. Of two I have, one is more than the other, but they both have some play. I've search on Internet to see if there's anything about this. I have found some old article about previous versions of Citica having loose plate. I wonder if this is inherit to the design of the reel. For now, I put a strip of scotch tape on the front edge of the site plate and that was enough to remove the play. Any of you who have Citica G for a while, do you feel any play at all on the side plate?

I cannot comment on this particular lures, but I bought a couple of blade baits from Hong Kong. They looked very nice on the web, and they actually looked very nice when they came. However Raul is right on... The hooks were too small for the lure and didn't look like it will work for the size of the lure. I have bunch of hooks I bought when local store had a clearance, so that was no problem. Then I went to the lake and used it. It doesn't vibrate easily and limit how I can fish. Basically it is a bad design. Good thing I only bought two. If you want to try out, try out a couple first to see if they perform. (Edit, you already bought them, hope they are any good.)

I'm with Bassguytom, Senko. Get a pack of 5" senko (or something similar) get a pack of Owner Wacky Jig Head (1/16 oz or 1/8 oz) and just toss it near cover. Learn to watch the line as they hit as the bait goes down. If the vegetation is very thick you might want to go with Texas-rig or weightless. Have fun!

My most successful combo is Swiming Supper Fluke, Ghost Shad color (?). The most productive way to rig for me is with keel weighted EWG hook, that I bought off of eBay as I like something heavier in 1/4 oz range. I think it is 3/0. The screw lock type wobbled too much for my taste. EWG seems to keep the bait more tight and wobble less and go through stuff better. I use this as kinda search tool, throwing everywhere, against the cover, drop off, you name it. I usually let it go to the bottom, let it sit few sec, then start retrieving. The way I retrieve varies depending on my mood, but I never retrieve with constant speed. If I want to go deeper or it is windy, I would use Owver Sled Head. With this the bait goes down head first and get to the bottom quicker, but this is less productive for me so far.

I think lot of things 'depends'. For me some times I lose no jigs. Some areas are more prone to loosing them, and some are not. If you are fishing form boat or shore makes difference. If you have heavy equipment with braid, you can get them back more...etc I agree with iabass8, keep it simple. You don't have to jump off of the cliff to fish jigs :-) Just get some and start fishing. I would start with 1/2 oz jigs with brown, black and green pumpkin. My preference is Archy head, but that depends on the places you fish.

7:1 on jig 7:1 on worm 7:1 on crank 7:1 on spinnarbait 7:1 on top water 7:1 on blablabal 6.3:1 on frog My idea is to keep them all about the same. Then I the operator of the reel can adjust the speed manually. This way I do not have to remember, "I'm using such and such reel, therefore I need to turn the handle slower/faster" etc. Also I can switch around the reels vs rods and they all work. Keep it simple silly method. Note: on 6:3:1 reel was freebie, so I had no choice in gear ratio.

Ok, so you are not going after the braid's sensitivity of the strikes then. Do they just come off from the hook, or your line break? Maybe you need different hook than line.

How are you loosing fish?

I have Clarus cranking rod in MH. It is light and long. It sends my 3/4 oz lipless far more than required. Did I say it is light?

I have been mainly with Shimano both rods and reels. However I also enjoy the variety now. I had a thread a couple of weeks ago about most sensitive $150 bottom contacting rods which I got lots of member's input. I ended up picking a couple of Fenwicks because of that. I'm glad that I listened to folks. A couple of opinion on the internet can lead you to wrong place. But when enough people say something is good, especially here in BR, there's usually reason for that. This is my believe. I recently picked up a couple of Daiwa reels also, Lexa 100 and Tatula. Lexa's is okay, not a bad reel, but not impressed. Tatula is great. Good casting with good break. By trying variety of brands, I'm more keen to the ability of my equipments.

Welcome on board! I fish mostly stained water too. Do you have any use for dropshot? Some days, fish like things to be off the bottom and rather still. However, if you don't have fish finder, I would go with that first.

Not sure what kind of requirements you have for your footwear, but I like my water proof hiking shoes made by Keen that I bought from REI. However the fit is very important so what works for me does not necessary work for you. The best way to do is to go to specialty store and ask for professional help for the fit.

My Saros in the box came with a spare spool. Not sure if they still do this...