Preytorien

I think I'll pull the sideplate and check the factory grease. Maybe it's one of the Shimano's that didn't get the giant amount everyone's talking about. I know a bit about mechanical things, and it really does sound like there's not enough/no grease on the drive gear. It seems to be fine in the beginning, but as I work the reel it starts up.

Here's another question for the reel experts. Another reel-noise question. I've got a Curado I, purchased in March, used very frequently and in very good condition. It's my go-to multi-use reel. Lately I've noticed that after a while of fishing, whether it's light or heavy lures, fast or slow retrieve, topwater, finesse.....you get the point.....I get a sort of geary buzzing as I'm reeling in. It's not super loud or anything, but it's like there's a bee buzzing around on the inside of the reel....which I highly doubt is the case I've never taken the reel apart, and I can't imagine it's dirty or needing cleaned already. I hear Shimano packs their reels with grease, so I can't imagine that it needs more. This is my first choice reel for almost every application, so I'm not ready to take it in to my local reel servicing guy until late fall. Any ideas what I could look at and/or try here at home first?

I've got access to a nice very small lake to fish. The fish quality is good and it's a nice convenient location. The recent explosion of weeds, it looks like Coontail, all around the rim of the pond has caused it to be very difficult to fish. The weeds extend out about 15-20ft all around the rim of the lake. It's not boat-accessible, so I'm strictly limited to the bank. I cast out a good distance, then retrieve back into the nastiest mess of weeds I've ever encountered. I've given it a good shot the past week, three times and I've found these things to be true.... 1. Despite the idea of being good frogging conditions, I've thrown one for three nights and never had even a swirl. I'm not sure if they're not interested, or the weeds are too thick for them to detect a frog. I'm not sure. I thought for sure it'd be a frogging paradise, but it's not so. Even soft plastics on top of the weeds hasn't produced. 2. Cranks and jigs are hopeless here. Every cast comes back almost immediately with a giant salad attached to the lure 3. Using plastics to get under the weeds requires some decent amount of weight, which again, causes the lure to immediately come back with weeds balled up So I'm at a loss. Coontail is VERY dense, so even the tiniest exposure of a hook or eyelet gets awful snags. What would you guys suggest? Is this pond kind of just "done" until they spray or treat it? Thanks

For those that haven't used them, the Caffeine Shads are the best flukes you can use. Their action is unequaled. Do yourself a favor and get a pack of the pearl white ones and watch the fish kill em'

I use them almost all year long. Summer I find some of the most productive times I use them are at the very first light of dawn, and the last light of dusk. Rig them weightless and weedless and twitch along just under the surface. Fishes more like a topwater, but I've had some great nights like that.

X2 Out of the box mine casted better than my old Curado G with ceramics. It's a smoking reel. You'll soon be addicted to the casting distance and won't ever want to go back

I'm not sure about the Spike-It. Try it on one of your more beat up Z-Mans (so you're not testing on a new one), and let us know. I know it's fine with MegaStrike. In fact, as you use the TRD's the become slightly spongy. So I let them dry overnight, then the next day slather them in MegaStrike, and stretch them a few times, then let them sit some more. I can imagine this might somewhat impregnate the MegaStrike into the TRD? Worth a shot...

Yes I will. As I watched the TRD disintegrate I thought to myself, "Man, I'm sure I read that somewhere on BR"

Seems like I read it somewhere, but it didn't store in easily accessible parts of my brain, so I learned the hard way.... Z-Man products do NOT play well with JJ's Magic

Well, I bought into the hype and got a Ned Rig setup, and man, I'm not disappointed. I don't know how they work, but they do. I have a couple questions though, maybe some of the seasoned Ned Rig folks can help me out. 1. After a fish or two, I notice the worm isn't straight up and down on the hook. It's bent in a slight "V" shape. Even if I try to re-fit it back on the head it doesn't go back on straight. I have to completely remove it and re-thread it on the hook. Any idea why this is happening? Any way to prevent it? 2. I usually have to try a couple times to get the hook exit position just right so the bait stands straight on the hook shank. I know how to do it well for a t-rig, but what's the method for threading a bait straight on the shank to make sure the hook exits optimally? Thanks guys

A Stradic FJ for $129 is SMOKIN' It's the best spinning reel I've used - understanding I've never used a Stella

I agree Kevinator. I typically do much better on a non-DNR managed lake here than one the DNR handles. Geist and Morse are some of the better two I fish. Geist being my favorite, just out there Monday. I can't think of any recent talk of anyone smoking them on Monroe, Patoka, and definitely not on Eagle Creek. I think our DNR does a decent job though. In years past they've had to deal with the White River mess, and that seems to be bouncing back nicely. I know several guys who make annual trips here to fish some of the upper portions of the river, saying it's some of the best smallmouth river fishing anywhere. That said, I'd obviously like them to see what more they can do to create truly hot bass fisheries out of their maintained properties. Then the problem you'd have is every bass angler for 100 miles around would hit those lakes. Geist isn't all that big and had a 40+ boat tournament on Sunday. They just get slammed around here.

I wonder if some of that is them "smelling/tasting" to see if your lure is legitimate. Fish don't really smell or taste the way we do, but they definitely can make some conclusions based on scent. Maybe they're scoping out your lure to see if it "smells right" to them?

If all else fails, I'd try the Ned Rig. Man that thing works and it's absurdly easy to use.

Mines a tossup between 2 1. I've become a believer in spybaiting, so the Duo Realis Spinbait 80, 90, and G-Fix 80's are a go-to for me 2. I've recently become a Ned Rig convert, and lawdalmighty, those things work

....uhmmm

Man.....I'd like to give it a shot

Very nice. Those smaller suburb ponds can really hold good fish. Fishing cover-less bodies of water is certainly a challenge, but can be productive. Keep up the good work!

Man I'm really sorry to hear that. Thieves are absolute scum. I hope they get caught and arrested. At least you've got insurance to cover it, and hopefully you can get back in the swing of things soon.

I've seen that too. Sometimes I've gotten lucky and someone on eBay will have it. Otherwise I'm drawing a blank as to where else to get it. Maybe some of the reel service guys on here keep spare parts available?

Down here the White River does that occasionally....I've fished it, but never had any luck. It's just too fast, too high, and too muddy. However, that usually also means my normal bodies of water are also high, but not moving so fast (or at all in some cases). That's when I'll basically leave the house armed with only a very heavy thumping Chatterbait, you want it to rattle your fillings as you're retrieving.....black-n-blue, with a RageTail trailer. Slather it with Megastrike. See how it goes.

I got lucky at a store about 20mins south of me. But he said they can't hardly keep them in stock. After using them on just two outings, in lakes that typically are pressured/hard to fish this time of year, I'm a believer. Don't know HOW they work, but they do.

I have this boat.....and it's great. Very very durable and puncture resistant (not puncture proof though) Takes me about 10mins to get on the water

I hardly think the success of a Ned Rig, whether branded that way or not could be considered a ploy of any kind. Now the Banjo Minnow? That's a ploy. The Ned Rig, while not created by ZMan, has just been capitalized by ZMan, they saw an apparent hole in the market that needed filled, provided a product based on their research and have tied up the market for it, until iCAST I presume, where everyone will probably introduce their version. But you can't deny the Shroomz and TRD aren't specifically, thus effectively designed for Ned Rigging.....it's a product that works, and MANY people will tell you that. So it's definitely not a ploy But about that Banjo Minnow....anyone killed it with those?

Many times in our area local nieghborhoods, they'll install triploid carp as a grass/weed management solution. It doesn't matter what DNR booklets say or pond management guys, I've never seen a pond with carp introduced that sustained its fishing quality. It always goes downhill. Like Tom said, they roam through bass beds and wipe them out, however I almost never see them come back and spawn again. It ruins their spawn. I can think of 3 large ponds they did this to, and within about 2-3 years the fishing is downright awful. I know they say they don't compete for the same sources, but when the carp eat the cover the bass/bluegill use to protect their young, and then mess up spawning beds too, the fishing quality is going to start suffering. A couple places' HOA's have realized that the water is extremely muddy after about a year too. There are no plants and small fry to keep algae and silt in check. So now they've got muddy ponds with virtually no fishability.....they had to drain them to kill the carp (and all the other fish too), then install diffusing stations every 200 feet or so to help with algae blooms. It was an expensive lesson to learn to quit putting carp in ponds. Carp aren't native, so they won't easily fit in with other species without unbalancing something somewhere.