War Eagle 44

The fishing has really gotten tough here over the last couple of weeks, gone are the afternoons of 10 to 15 fish on the A-Rig. I've had to break out the spinning equipment and shakeyhead in order to catch fish consistently now. I hadn't fished with one in a while and forgot just how much fun and how effective this technique can be. I used it this afternoon to get three quality bass in the boat. So it got me thinking about the technique in general and the gear used to fish them so I thought I'd start a thread about it. So lets talk shakeyheadin', anything you feel like sharing on the subject please do because I can always stand to learn something new that might help me catch a few more fish. The setup I use most often for this technique is a Powell Max 683 with a Symetre 3000FJ mounted on. I'm currently spooled up with 20# PPS8S green main line and run a 15# P-Line fluorocarbon leader. My favorite head is the Owner Shakey Ultrahead in 3/16oz, green. This is the "set up" I start with 95% of the time and make adjustments from there. If I do change something it's mostly head weight or color. The worm I use most is the NetBait T-Mac in a variety of colors. If I were forced to pick my favorite color I think I'd go with Paca Melon. It's a great color for spots for some reason, so much so that I always have at least two packs in the boat. I also like A Magic, KeyLime Pie, Bama Bug, and a few others. I also enjoy using the Zoom Shakey Head worm, here I only go with one color, greenpumpkin. I ALWAYS dye the tail chartreuse on my Zoom worms and they work great as well. As I said please post anything related to this topic you like, rods, reels, line, baits, heads, whatever. Any tips that work for you and pics if you have them. Thanks fellas.

For what it's worth I have 4 Citica 201 E's and all 4 of them have the "problem" you're describing. Mine don't move an 1/8th of an inch but nevertheless they do move. All 4 of mine I purchased new and they've done this since day one. Most of my Shimano's do this, it doesn't bother me and it's never been a problem while fishing but I can understand where it would bother some guys. I'm not at all trying to tell you not to try and fix your reel, all I wanted to do was to let you know that there may not be anything wrong with it from a mechanical stand point. On a side note of sorts, I love these reels, especially for their price. I got a slight discount on mine because I purchased them all at once, I paid $99 each. I use them a TON and they just keep on keeping on. I plan to upgrade the drags, spool bearings, and the one bushing in all of them very soon. They're also super easy to tear down and work on or service when needed. I plan on picking up a new Chronarch 201E5 this year as well for a 7'7" Cumara Reaction I have that currently doesn't have a reel on it.

Learned something new today, I didn't know about this little trick. I'll have to give this a try no doubt.

They are my second favorite toad style bait, behind the Gambler Cane Toad. The Rage Toads are great when the fish are aggressive because they cause lots of "disturbance" on the surface. They cast really good IMO and are fairly durable. About the only complaint I have with them is you have to fish them faster than I like in order to keep them on the surface. As I said though when the fish are on this style of bait and are chewing, these baits are very very good. In fact come to think of it these are the only two toad style baits I fish anymore. No need for anything else.

1 Shimano 2 Owner 3 Stratos 4 P-Line 5 Strike King

I've been over and over this in my mind and about the only thing I could come up with was my "hookset technique" as well. I'm positive my snell knot was correctly tied and I'm using the correct type of gear. Flipping/Punching is one of my favorite ways to fish so I spend a good amount of time (and money) on it. I've got three different flipping rods and I've tried using lots of different lines, copoly, fluoro, & braid. Line type didn't seem to make a difference for me while using the straight shank hooks either, missed fish using all of them. So in my mind it really all leads back to the way I'm setting the hook. My main flip/punch combo is a Powell Max 7105 with a Citica 201E spooled with 65# PPS8S. For about the past year, give or take, the TwistLOCK flipping hook in 4/0 has been as much a part of the combo as the first three, usually the only variable is the weight. I normally use weights from 3/4 to 1-1/4, all tungsten of course. I did just recently pick up my first 2 oz but I haven't had a need to go that heavy yet. Using the above mentioned gear I've all but eliminated missing fish, and I haven't altered my hookset motion at all. I was thinking maybe my hookset was to "snappy" and I was doing exactly what you described, blowing their mouths open with the weight but now using all the same gear except for the hook I'm hooking them every time. So this was the only point putting a little doubt in my mind about exactly what was happening. Also one of my fishing buddies flips with an 8' XH Carrot Stix rod with braid and 1 oz weight using a Trokar Mag Worm B.A.R.B. EWG style hook and never seems to have any problems. This guy puts about 2 feet of slack in his line on the hookset and swings for the fence and always seems to hook up just fine so that also kinda throws me for a loop. Anyway sorry to have gone on so long I just love talking flipping/punching.

I know this set up has to work for other guys but I just can't get it to work for me. I've tried the BMF, Trokar, and Mustad Grip Pin Max flipping hooks WITH Bub's snell knot and still missed bite after bite. It has to be something I'm doing wrong, I just don't know what it is. Almost every fish would pull the plastic down the shank and ball it up in the bend so I couldn't get the barb in them. The baits I tried on these hooks ranged from D-Bombs to baby Paca Craws and it didn't seem to make much difference. The BMF was the best of that group for me but I still missed way to many. Again I want to emphasize I'm not saying these hooks are bad or that they don't work wonderfully for other people, just that I can't get them to work for me. I do however catch a very high percentage of my bites while punching using the Owner Twistlock Flippin' Hook. I love this hook, it has really made flipping/punching much more fun for me. This is the only hook I use now for these techniques. I've also had fairly good luck with the EWG superline Gammies or the wide gap plus Owners but the hook I had the most luck with before the Twistlock was a regular ole offset shank round bend Gamakatsu. Usually went with a 5/0, it fit most of the different plastics I like to punch.

I use my 703 for a wide range of lures and techniques, including jigs. I mostly throw 3/8 jigs and this rod handles them great. I fish them in and around light brush and sparse weeds with 15# CXX and very rarely have any trouble getting good sets or getting the fish in the boat. However, if you are going to use this rod strictly as a jig stick and plan to use 1/2 jigs regularly, I think I would step up to the 704. I love my 703 and use it a ton but as I said it may be a little light on the power side for a dedicated jig rod. Your post is interesting to me, I'm just curious about which top water baits you like to throw with the 703. I like it for 1/4-3/8 buzzbaits but that's about it. I find the 706CB to work much better for treble hooked lures. Thanks

I just started to throw "the rig" seriously this season after picking up a combo designed for it. I threw one some last year on a couple different rods that weren't ideal for it, one being a flipping stick. I picked up a Cumara A umbrella rig rod over the winter and it's made a huge difference in the effort and energy used while throwing a rig all day. So I'd say the previous advise on getting the correct set up is 100% spot on and in my opinion it begins with the rod. I'm using 25# P-Line CXX on my rig gear, I tried braid on one of the set ups I threw it on last year and didn't like it for this technique. I've not had a single problem using the copoly and love the way it fishes so I don't see myself switching any time soon. One of my friends uses 50# braid and he hasn't run into any problems yet that I know of but I have been present when a backlash with braid coupled with a rig resulted in the lose of the rig. Granted the guy was only using 50# so going up to 65-80# may solve this issue. The biggest thing I had to learn to do was not to set the hook as soon as I felt the strike, a lot of times the bass just "runs through" the bait intead of eating one, I learned if I just kept reeling steady that fish will come right back and bite. I always try and wait until I can feel the weight of the fish before setting, this may be common knowledge but it was hard for me to do at first. Also I run weighted swimbait hooks not open jigheads, this has cut down on the number of "snags" I've had. The last thing I can think of right now is to make sure you make the bait in the middle of your rig stand out a little from the rest. You could go with a totally different color or use a little bigger bait. You could just dye the tail of the bait in the center, just so it stands out from the rest. I usually use all the same color just with the center bait being the largest.

Your post seems very accusatory in tone, like you're trying to imply I'm not telling the truth. I don't have to prove anything to you, or anyone else here.

I'm using a Powell 735C Citica 201E spooled with 50# PPS8S.

I've been told by two different tackle shop owners that they can hardly give away the G series. One is a small town shop the other in a big city, it doesn't seem to make a difference. The small shop had them on special for $99.99 and still had trouble moving them. The owner told me if he ever did sell them all he wouldn't order any more unless a customer special ordered it and paid up front. As far as the redesign for 2014 that's just what I was told. Again I don't have any concrete evidence to support my statement but this guy has been very reliable in the past with the info he's given me.

Because the guy told me, he wouldn't say anymore than that but stressed that point.

I agree 100% Capt. Bob, it doesn't matter if the G series isn't as bad as people think it is, it only matters that the perception is they're bad so it certainly costs them sales. Like I said earlier I know someone who works for them and he tells me that the new series of Curado's and Chronarch's for 2014 will be much improved. I also think Shimano cares and realizes they made a mistake with the direction they went with the G series and are in the process of correcting it right now.

Calais DC 201

No it wasn't, MSRP $179.99 from the get go.

I agree 100%, the D series was the best Curado's to date. I however can't totally agree with you on the E series, I'm very fond of those reels as well. As far as the Chronarch being worth the extra money I think in most cases they are, my first Shimano was a Chronarch 101A, still have it and it fishes great. Also have a B series I use tons and it's fantastic as well. Never got around to the D series Chronarch's, kinda wish I had because of all the great reviews on them.

In 2014 we will see a new Curado and Chronarch. I'm not an "insider" or anything like that I just happen to know someone who works for Shimano. This is all I know as of now, I don't have any info on what they are going to look like or specs of any kind. Good news is they are going the right direction with both series quality wise.

I haven't been throwing "the rig" all that long myself and i, like you, started out using a few different rods I already had. They worked ok but now that I've purchased a rod designed to handle these baits it's much more enjoyable to use them. If you liked throwing the rig and want to continue I would suggest looking into an umbrella rig rod. I'm able to throw one much farther and with less effort on my part with the technique specific rod. It just makes the whole experience of fishing these big baits better. I picked up the Cumara A umbrella rig rod myself but there are tons of other companies building them now so you have plenty to pick from. Just my opinion on it anyway, hope it helps ya.

Great, looking forward to it.

I know you prefaced your post but you are very wrong about spots not relating to current. 99% of the time current is exactly where you will find them, the more swift the better. As I stated I can't say anything for sure but I would love to catch a few big smallies for comparison purposes. I agree 100% with WRB and his opinion of the Alabama spot.

I have mine rigged on an Owner Beast 8/0. I wouldn't use anything smaller, actually I wish I could go with a 10/0. I'm just curious so let us know if you catch one using the 6/0/treble combo.

I'd have to catch a smallie to believe it.

I can't really weight in on this as I've never caught any smallies but I did read an article once where KVD said he thought the "Coosa River" spotted bass fought harder than smallmouth. I would love to catch some nice smallmouth one day. I can tell you though that the spots around here fight much harder than the largemouth.

Nice, love me some NetBait.