mjseverson24

I think the longest I have used floro is 2 full seasons, but it was not nearly as strong as it was when new, when I finally replaced it. Since I have started tournament fishing almost every reel gets spooled up once in the beginning of the year with fresh line and probably again somewhere toward the end of the summer heading into fall. Mitch

probably the biggest regret I have with beginning baitcasting is why I did not switch from primarily spinning to primarily casting long before I did. the advantages you get with a caster are incredible, the precision casting, the power, the reliability, and the space saving properties(try and fit 30 spinning combos in your rod locker). I personally learned on cheap daiwas (strikeforce) and abu's(black max), I didnt have any issues learning within a week of playing in the yard i was no longer backlashing, and i was relatively accurate. take this to the flip side I have been converting my father(who is my tournament partner) to casting equipment and he has been having issues with the lower end casting equipment, backlashes, distance and accuracy, so in his case I set up on his rods mostly mid range reels ($125.00-$200.00), he is now able to cast pretty well with minimal issues. now not knowing your age or ability to learn new things quickly and easily this in my opinion is how I would suggest, if you can catch on to things quickly and or you dont get frustrated easily try like the abu max series or the daiwa laguna, or even easier one of the evercast horizon reels(military or college) they are centrifugal breaking and extremely easy to cast(less than $80.00). If you dont typically pick up on new things easy i would suggest at the minimum the shimano Citica, or a lews tournament MG. Mitch

I like at least a 7' rod for fishing t-rigs so I would go with the IMX, also it will be a very noticeable increase in sensitivity compared to the carbonlite(which is also a nice rod). Mitch

I personally use the SK Rodent, the Yum woolie bully, and the havoc pit boss... all are good baits Mitch

I loosen the tension knob and put the breaking systems to minimum. On reels like the shimano's I sometimes even totally remove the weights from the centrifugal breaking system to make it easier to pitch lighter baits. also I usually upgrade the spool bearings with either hawg tech bearings or bocas. If I want to make a few casts I either jist use my thumb or increase the tension knob a bit. Mitch

I guess I am a little optimistic, unfortunately all they sell right now is jigs and jig heads, I make my own jigs but maybe I will give them a try. 9 bucks for two jigs is not too crazy mop jigs were pretty close to that. I am looking forward to seeing what this company will come up with. Mitch

personally I like the lighter jigs I use 1/4 oz about 60% of the time 3/8 30% and heavier the other 10%. In Minnesota most lakes unless you are fishing a rocky area the main forage is bluegills, perch, and shiners or some type of minnow. I think the lighter jigs more accurately depict a falling baitfish with the slower fall. the only down side to these lighter jigs is the ability to pitch them is a little more difficult, but i believe they work better for the lakes I fish. For the rod I use 7'2" shimano compre M/XF for the 1/4 oz and less jigs, I use a 7'2" MH/F Compre for 3/8 oz and for 1/2 oz and up I have a 8' st. croix mojo flipping stick, for football jigs I use a 7'6" gander mountain GSX tournament rod. these rods work well for these applications i think the length depends on how accurate you want to be compared to how long you want to cast. Mitch

personally I would break the reel down soak the bearings in acetone or some other kind of solvent, remove the old grease and re-lube and oil. better safe than sorry, the rod is fine. Mitch

you already have two combos, I would suggest that 5 would be a good number to avoid changing lures often. 1) 7'MH/F casting for spinnerbaits/squarebills/swimjigs/bladed jigs... 2) 6'6" M/F or M/XF casting for topwater baits/medium crankbaits/ lipless cranks... 3) 7'M/F or M/XF casting for lighter jigs/t-rigs... 4) 7'6"-8' H/M or H/MF or MH/F casting for bigger jigs/ punching/ frogging... 5) 7' M/F-ML/XF spinning for dropshots/weightless plastics/ shakeyhead/tubes... these five in my opinion cover most techniques you will need in a day without having to retie lures often... Mitch

havoc pit boss and craw fatty, rage craw, SK Rodent. yamamoto kreature is also another good choice. Mitch

every time out I try to learn as much as possible. I do this by trying different lakes, different locations on lakes that I have fished before, and different techniques. most of my fishing is either pre fishing tournament waters, or during a tournament, probably only one day a week is spent on non tournament waters, so I am almost always fishing with a purpose and needing to learn how to catch bigger fish more consistently. sometimes it happens sometimes it doesn't, thats fishing. Mitch

I like either the yozuri 12-15 lb for sparse cover and or clear water, 30 lb braid with 20 lb floro leader for heavy weeds and wood. Mitch

its more user error than the reel its self, but since the knot is the weakest part of the system( or at least it should be) if you abruptly stop a very energetic cast (backlash) the knot is where the system is most likely to fail. I also use mostly magnetic breaking systems, but when I first started out i had a similar issue and it was like the spool and bearings were set up too fast for the breaking system. i have not had this issue except with the one reel a few years ago. so i guess the real answer should be either get a new reel that is more forgiving, or get better at using your thumb to control the cast. (it was just nicer for me to say it was the equipments fault)... Mitch

this is probabily the issue, it is a good reel but you are most likely using it for something that it was not designed to do. since this is a magnetic breaking system unless the breaks are set to maximum and you try to make a long cast the breaking system will not be able to control the cast properly and most likely you are backlashing about 40 ft or less from where you are casting from this is because the bait is slowing down faster than the cast control system is slowing it down causing a backlash and an instant cut of your line. if you want to make long casts with that reel the baits are going to need to be heavy and aerodynamic(spoons, lipless cranks, football jigs...). I have had this issue in the past, I just ended up getting a reel with a centrifugal breaking system like the lews BB1 or the revo S or the bass pr PQ something like that should help out quite a bit. Mitch

if I had to use floro for jigs it would be 12-20 lb either invisx or abrasx (red label works well too), if i had to use floro for topwater baits in sparse cover it would be 6 lb invisx, for heavy cover topwater umm... not sure probabily 20 lb abrasx. Mitch

i am not sure how the line breaks without you backlashing the reel, so I would assume since you are going for maximum distance that you have you reel breaks turned down a bit and are relying on your thumb to keep from backlashing. if this is the case it is not the knot it is either the wrong equipment for the job or user error. what reel are you using? Mitch

shallow cranks 12-15 lb floro. medium cranks 10-12 lb floro or 30 lb braid with a 3-4 foot 20 lb floro leader. deep cranks 10-12 lb floro ( if you need to get down deep use the lightest line you can get away with) in murky water braid works just fine as long as you have a glass rod, also if i am not around wood i often use mono of the yozuri hybrid. Mitch

drop shot is one of my go to baits, If I had to pick one technique to use it would be this. I think the biggest fish in most clear water systems are deep, and often times the drop shot is the most efficient way to present the bait to these fish(jig works too). also the thing I really like about the DS is the ability to keep the bait in the strike-zone for a really long time. I do fish it quite a bit around docks, but I actually use a medium power 7' baitcasting set up with 12 lb floro for this as you may want more power and control to get the fish up and away from the dock. I also love the flick shake presentation, there are specific times when they would only bite a FS, not a lot of 4+ lb fish on the flick shake but a lot in the 2.5 - 4 lb range. is it spring yet... you can use the dropshot in any type of cover you may just have to change the way you hook the bait and the power or action of the set up you are using. Mitch

I use straight braid for heavy cover flipping and pitching and punching, as well as hollow-body frogs and buzzbaits. I use all floro for medium to light jigs and T-rigs. I use hybrid line for all moving presentations like swimjigs, spinners and cranks. mono for sparse cover topwater presentations, and 10 lb braid with 8 lb floro leader for all finesse spinning reel applications... each has a time and a place that it excels in. if I didnt fish tournaments I would probably switch my to mono or hybrid line for jigs and t-rigs, but I do believe floro does account for a few more fish throughout the day on moderate to clear lakes... Mitch

I personally use two different rods, but a good rod for both techniques is a 7'6" MH/F, 7'9" H/XF abu Veritas, nice and light, but definitely heavy enough to handle either technique nicely... especially for around $100.00... Mitch

I have two of the 7' Heavy rods, they work great for reaction baits, not sure how the heavy rating gets on these rods as they feel like a medium power rod, that said they cast well and are pretty durable, not sure about the medium powered rods I would think they would have durability issues... Mitch

good for them, it is almost impossible to compete with foreign labor costs here domestically, I hope they are able to put out a product that will be competitive in the future...( i do like the flipping reels though) Mitch

I agree with what the other guys have said I have used black/silver max reels in the past and they do not handle lighter baits as well as they handle the ones in the 1/2 to 3/4 oz range, that being said if you have a rod with a soft tip this can help compensate for the slow spool on these reels and cast these lighter baits. for the money they are a fantastic reel if you get the cast control knob and magnetic settings right it should work well for you... the only thing you might want to do is break it down and clean it, or at a minimum flush and re-lube the spool bearings... Mitch

I have lowered my standards in tournament fishing, I see it as I am competing against the fish not the other guys so I set a goal weight and I judge a successful day on if I achieved my weight or not... winning and loosing take care of them selves... I had one tournament where I set the goal weight for 2.5 lbs per fish or 20 lbs for a bag of eight, we hit our weight but lost by almost 8 lbs I still considered it a successful day based on my knowledge of the lake and the prefishing i had. it is also just a ton of fun to fish in tournaments with my father. Mitch

replace older rods with newer rods...(mostly done... never satisfied though) upgrade reels for frogs and jigs...(done) make a whole bunch of new jigs for next season... (70 done 30 to go... i thought 100 is a good number) take inventory of plastics, get rid of stuff that doesn't work, buy more of what does... put structure scan on the boat...(maybe ) clean, oil and grease all reels, replace stock bearing on all flippin reels with ceramic abec7's.(4 down 2 to go) figure out tournament schedule for next season... Mitch