War Eagle 44

I too am still in the process of "perfecting" my skipping with a baitcaster, I can make a couple great skips in a row and then BANG blow up on the next so I'm still working it out. Anyway on to your question. I do, and have, done plenty of dock skipping with my spinning gear. My current rod is a Crucial 7'2" MH Fast 8-14# 3/16 - 5/8oz. lures, I fish it with 20# PP main line tied to a 15# fluorocarbon leader. I feel very confident in the rod's ability to get the fish safely away from a dock, it has plenty of power for me. I know it's a little long for most guys looking to fish this way but I've gotten used to it and never have any trouble. I own my own boat so I always get to position the boat exactly how I need it so that might play into it if you're going to be fishing out of the back of someone else's boat. I've always been able to skip any bait I've wanted to on this line combo. I tried 30# once, just to experiment, but found no advantage over 20# because I always tie on a leader. I've gone as heavy as 20# and as low as 10# for my leader but 95% of the time I'm using 15#. Just to help keep things simple those are the only three pound tests of leader that I keep on hand. One of the three has always worked for me. In my opinion if you're already comfortable with spinning gear then I say absolutely go for it. I love fishing this way and I've never felt that I was "under gunned" just because I was using spinning tackle. I'm just trying to learn to skip with a baitcaster simply because I want to, no other reason. I enjoy the challenge. I'm sure there are plenty of rods to pick from that will be great for exactly how you want your setup to feel/fish.

I'm not certain about all the brake weights but I do know that the blue ones are the lightest. I ordered a set for my reel before I decided to go with the 6 pin but I never fished them so I have absolutely no idea of how much they actually effect the reels performance. I'm with you though in the feeling that the "older" style blocks perform better, I've not exactly been blown away by the 6 pin performance.

I did the read the entire article, I was also pretty surprised at the results back then. I agree though that the sensitivity of fluorocarbon is superior enough to mono/copoly that I will continue to use it.

I've done some tinkering with a couple of my Ambassadeurs but it was at least a year ago now and I've forgotten most of what I read about them. Refresh my memory if you don't mind, what exactly has to be "modified" in order for the pinion to work with the Avail part? I'm thinking you'll be fine if all you need to do is widen the slots in the pinion to allow the Avail part to work properly. I thought of going this way with mine but instead just ended up using the "new style" plastic brake with 6 pins.

This one falls into the "just gets bit" category. I'm pretty sure this is the single hard bait that I've caught the most fish on, ever. Still have it, still going strong and catching more fish. I didn't do the best job of showing all the teeth marks that are actually on this bait but you still get the general idea.

My favorite by far is the Owner ultra head shakeyhead.

The two spools (50 & 65#) of 832 I tried didn't float what so ever. I'm a PP guy and just like most of the other guys here I like 50# as my favorite "do it all" pound test braid.

Count me in as another excited angler, can't wait to fish with this line.

Paycheck

I'm the opposite of most of the other guys here, I always rig mine on weighted swimbait hooks. I've just never liked the action I get when rigging them on a jig head. I feel I get better action/movement when rigged on a swimbait hook. Just one guys opinion though.

X2

What ever you do don't fish a scrounger/fluke combo! Wasting your time and money.

The 200 size E series is one of my all time favorite reels, I'm sad to see them go.

Agreed, I'm very much looking forward to this line. 90% of my braid fishing is done with 50 & 65 anyway so I'm not at all discouraged that they aren't releasing it in lighter pound tests.

The lowest pound test braid I've personally used is Power Pro Micro Line 4#. Best I remember it's sub 1# test mono in dia. Great stuff, I absolutely love it, been using the same spool on my ultra light spinning rod for going on 3 years now with zero problems or breaks. I'm amazed every time I fish with it at the distance I can cast micro lures for Crappie and Bream.

I'm another vote for 50. It's my favorite "all around" braid strength, if I were forced to only use one pound test this would be it, hands down. Having said that I've also had very good results with 40# on similar powered rods for similar duties. I don't think you can really go wrong either way here. As far as casting distance between the two is concerned I don't think there would be any discernible difference in everyday on the water fishing. Maybe if you were to set up a controlled test the 40 might edge out the 50 by a small margin when comparing max casting distance with a given lure but as I said for normal everyday fishing 50# is great on casting gear.

X2. I change the hooks to Gamakatsu 2X EWG's.

I'm with the other guys on this one, I'd also suggest 30 or even 40#. Although I mainly use 50 & 65# for the vast majority of my braid needs these days I've always had great luck and performance when using 40#.

7.5" Red Shad with green flake.

The combo I've used the most (by far) and really really enjoy is my Powell Max 7105 and Citica 201E spooled with 65# braid. I love the action and taper on this rod. I also have an old Falcon Expert flipping stick that's a very nice pitching/flipping rod as well.

This guy nailed it, I agree 100%.

Thank you.

I have, they obviously work the best when the bass are feeding heavily on baitfish. This is the only situation in which I've tried them but I do like them very much. It's also a lure that the fish don't see very often if ever so it also has that going for it.

X3

I hadn't fished my Calais DC in a few years so today I decided to break it back out. Sadly I didn't catch a fish on this set up today but it was fun just having it back on the water.