War Eagle 44

Uuuhhhh... the two's are definitely Mustads but the 4's & 6's don't have the same point as I'm used to seeing on my KVD trebles.

I'm a big fan of the 41's personally, although the 36's are really nice hooks as well. I think it would depend on what type bait I was changing the hooks on, say a jerkbait I'd more than likely stick with 36's because changing hooks on these lures alters their "suspendability". Now with square bills I always go 41's, this is a technique where you're mostly using heavier line and fishing around cover so I like the added advantage of the 2X 41. I've been having this very same thing happen to me. The hooks are deadly sharp and high quality but for some reason fish just keep coming unbuttoned. I think it has something to do with the gap being opened up more than the KVD EWG style hooks. I never have problems hooking or keeping fish hooked on the KVD trebles.

Well, your statement isn't exactly 100% true. Yes the lighter spools will cast light lures better but when you get up to the 3/4 oz and heavier range a heavier spool will cast farther, simple physics. As to the original topic, the farthest casting reel I've used is a Calais DC. Non-DC reel is a Chronarch 101B that I've upgraded with different spool bearings and performed a complete polish on. Also have the lightest brake blocks (clear) Shimano offers and I've made a modification to them as well. I actually have 3 different color brakes, clear, smoke, and green, on the spool so I can fine tune for any condition.

I'll have to strongly disagree here, my Stella 3000FD is by far the best spinning reel I've personally handled. I know it's out of the price range for many guys but that doesn't mean it isn't one fantastic reel.

They've held up very well for me. The wire weed guard can be bent back into place many many times. The hooks are Mustad so they're fine. I know they look small when you see them in person but trust me they'll hold. The skirts themselves are fine, it's the rubber collar that comes on them that needs replacing. After I tie them on with braid I usually lose the jig before I can wear it out. I'd recommend these little jigs to anyone, I've had a ton of great fishing days using them.

Those are PJ's Lil Brush Jigs. The only thing I've done to them is to tie the skirt on with braid, does away with the rubber collar that most jigs come with for added longevity and increased skirt movement. As far as trailers go I use either a Zoom swimming chunk or Rage chunk in matching color. I always dip the tips of the trailers in chartreuse dye as well. I never see these little jigs talked about anywhere on the net but they sure do catch fish. My local tackle shop carries them and this is by far the most popular color for around here. As I said before I'm not sure why because it really doesn't look like anything else that's in the lake to me but the spots sure do like it. I will add that I've had very little success using these while targeting largemouth, not sure why. Again, they're money for spots though.

I've had really good luck fishing them weightless around shallow cover with the above mentioned technique, sloowww drag.

Citica and Curado have the exact same drag, just saying...

The above is solid advice. I've had by far my most luck fishing them in big schools of shad. Most of the time I'm fishing any where from the surface to maybe 14-15 feet. I've not caught many fish on the rig unless there was shad nearby. Also I know a lot of guys are using straight braid and say they aren't experiencing their number of bites go down but I've tried it both ways and I always get more bites using copoly.

I've just recently started switching my stock drags for Carbontex but so far I've been very pleased with the switch. Don't get me wrong, I've never had a single problem out of a Shimano Dartanium drag, I switched just because I like to tinker. I don't agree that the Carbontex washers aren't as smooth or have less adjustment range than stock washers. If you grease the Carbontex they feel just as smooth to me, but of course this is just MHO. I've just installed a set of Carbontex washers in my Symetre 3000FJ but I haven't had the chance to fish it yet. I've tried them both greased and dry in baitcasters and I've determined I prefer them dry, YMMV.

My area lake's are also loaded with spots but I've never heard of anyone using hair jigs. This certainly doesn't mean guys aren't or that it wouldn't work if you tried it. I don't see why they wouldn't work, I mean there's a good possibility you will be showing them something different than they're used to seeing so you may have great success. I've found that using "spider" or "finesse" type skirts gets me a lot more bites from spots than a full skirt. Also my most productive color by far looks nothing like anything that I've seen in the lake so I'm not sure what they think it is or why they like it so well but they do so I don't argue with them. You've piqued my interest in trying hair jigs so now I think I'll pick up a few and try them out this winter. Oh and it always seems that a jig with some chartreuse in it is better than one without for spots. Here's a pic of the finesse jig I usually have the best luck with.

My suggestion is also Owner Hyper Wire rings. I'd go with either #3 or #4 for the lures you mentioned.

I love CX for spinning applications and CXX for any none braid baitcasting duties. CXX is my hands down favorite copoly out there, I've tried McCoy and while it didn't give me any problems I still didn't like it as well as CXX. I will add though that I'm a huge P-Line fan so take my opinion for what its worth. As Craiger12 said, don't use anything over 6-8# CXX on spinning gear as it's not a great experience at all.

Hands down, green pumpkin. Junebug is good also.

Mine is the R2S Whopper Plopper 130. I've been throwing this bait a ton lately, haven't gotten all that many bites but every one I do get is a nice one. They hit this thing with such force as well, it makes for amazing top water fishing.

This is an easy one for me, it's a tie between my 4 Citica E's and my Chronarch B. I fish all 5 of these reels hard and they never let me down. I have tons of other, and higher priced in most cases, gear but these are the reels I turn to trip after trip.

I agree, this is definitely something you need to keep an eye on. I try to take good care of and be very careful with all my gear but I still had one spinning reel that "developed" a few dings in the spool lip. I, like J Francho, used my rotary tool and polishing compound to correct the problem. I now check for this more frequently.

I have to agree somewhat with this, I absolutely love my CH101B and fish with it probably more than any other single reel I own. I've used this reel for practically every technique imaginable and I haven't found anything it doesn't do well. I know most guys now days say it's to heavy but the weight doesn't bother me at all. These reels are dang near bomb proof as well. I "upgraded" a few things on mine but they were fantastic reels straight out of the box. The B series Chronarchs dropped the Bantam from their name. The last series to be referred to as Bantam was the A series.

I have 8 Bronzeye Shad's so far and all of mine have walked perfectly fine. I hate to hear about so many bad baits, especially from Spro.

Hadn't thought about using these on a shakeyhead, gonna try it now though, thanks.

This was also my experience when dealing with them about a broken crankbait. Very very good customer service to go along with their quality baits. Spro is one of my favorite brands for these reasons.

I used to fish 10# P-Line 100% fluoro or Halo on my 3000 size Shimano spinners and didn't encounter any line management issues that remember. I think Brain Needham is correct in his suggestion to not over-fill the spool, keep an eye on that. The only real negative I remember when using straight 10# fluoro was my casting distance wasn't very good. I could control the line fine as far as accuracy was concerned. Only when trying to make the absolute longest casts possible did I really not like using straight fluoro. I will also say this, I've since switched to braid as my main line and use different fluoro and copoly lines and pound tests for leaders and I'm much much happier with the performance I get with my spinning gear.

As everyone else has already pointed out you will be fine using the line. Braid doesn't suffer from the same type of problems as mono, copoly, and fluorocarbon.

G Loomis, Shimano, and Powell. For the money Powell Max rods are great IMHO, but if I were on an unlimited budget I would have a mixture of Loomis and Shimano rods. I absolutely love the one Cumara A rod I have and would love to have a "complete set". Also I wouldn't mind having about 7 or 8 of the newest GLX series rods.

I also looked at the G Loomis frog rod series a while back and though they are perfectly good rods I found them to be to heavy. I currently use a Powell Max 735C and I couldn't be happier. I haven't even looked at any other frog rods, I haven't had a need. This rod does everything I want out of my froggin' stick. I use a 6 ratio reel and don't have any problems with missed fish or bad hooksets, that said I know that a 7 ratio reel doesn't hurt for this technique and can sometimes really help. I always stick to 50 or 65# braid, I used 50# for years without any problems but I recently switched to 65# and like it even better. So my suggestion is the Powell Max 735C, if you aren't interested then like most of the other guys have already pointed out get yourself at least a 7' H rod and at least a 6 ratio reel with braid. I'm a Loomis fan so I know they make very good rods, I just wasn't impressed with their frog series. If your heart is set on the Loomis then by all means get that rod. Frogs are my favorite way to fish as well so I know how important getting the right set up for you is. I wish you luck in your search.