Preytorien

That's a darn good idea Albright is tricky, but effective. Knowing a better way to get a nearly perfect tie is incredibly helpful Thanks!

I'm sure it's some of the scent oil, but a lot of it is probably the stuff they use to keep the baits from sticking together, pretty annoying though I agree. Trigger-X is similarly goopy

I read so many reviews and posts about rods and reels that are lighter than their counterparts. Nowadays, along with product quality is listed the weight (usually in ounces) of the product being marketed. I have to wonder, how much difference does it make? A couple ounces here and there doesn't seem like much, a slice of bread is approximately 1 ounce. That doesn't seem like much to me. Now keep in mind, I'm not a hardcore guy like many on here, who fish all day long. At most my trips are maybe 4-6hrs max. But I never notice fatigue from casting/reeling with any of my rigs. I have spinning and baitcasting setups of all weights and none cause me problems. I could see where a pro, who fishes 350 days a year all day long could probably benefit from something light, but how would that benefit most of us? I'm not trying to be a smart-aleck, I just wondered what the benefits were to an average fisherman.

I haven't used the Livetarget but I have used the Moss Mouse, and it seems to do a great job.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/forum/32-smallmouth-bass-fishing/

You'll get a million answers. I've used PP, Sufix 832, Spiderwire Sufix 832 wins, hands down, every time

Like Darren I have one of the old generation cork models, and it's not nearly as heavy. That said, it's probably my favorite rod. Paired with a Stradic FJ2500 it's a perfect balance. I can't say for the new ones. The Loomis will likely be lighter, but how much is that worth to you? I've never had any issues with fatigue from a spinning rig, but a baitcast rig would probably be a different story. Again like Darren stated, a Carbonlite rod is crazy light. I have one for one of my casting rigs, it's amazing how light it is and still has incredible sensitivity.

I'm pretty bank restricted as well, I find a lot of success in fishing neighborhood retention ponds. The banks are usually clear, or at least not heavily brushed. I keep moving in about 10 minute segments if things aren't hot. If they're biting I'll fish until it's "panned out" so to speak. Like Felix mentioned, when it's tough I work things thoroughly with finesse baits, senkos and weightless flukes being my go-to lures.

I have a Sellus and Clarus both, the Convergence being the in-between offering from Shimano. I love both of my rods, so I'm betting you'll like the Conv. I agree that anything smaller than a 1000 might not be the best all-around choice, although plenty of guys on here use them faithfully, and I'm certain they outfish me any day. 4000 might be more than what you want, especially since the reel size and weight start getting up there above a 2500, which is by the way what I'd recommend. That's the kind of shop I'd continue to give business to. That's a great proprieter in my opinion.

^^ Agreed, Bob hit the nail on the head. Especially the last part. Most rods, including Shimanos I own, are good quality. Sure with any rod, regardless of brand, you'll get some out of the thousands made, here and there that will break, but in most cases (and I say MOST, not all) the rod breaks because it was used improperly. Graphite is the most common of rod materials for a reason. It's light, it's sensitive, it's strong, all the qualities a guy would need in a rod to do in darn near every presentation he would ever need. It's the jack of all trades workhorse material of rods all over the world. But, I can see your concern, I'm a review reader m'self, I knew I wanted a Crucial, but heard a few blasting reviews, and finally just had to remember that bad reviews happen to every single product, and the fact the internet can so quickly transmit a negative review makes choosing a rod based on quality an even toughter decision. Long story short, I got the Crucial, I love it, I've had it a year, no breaks.....huh....who'da thought? As far as Shimano.... I've got 4 of their rods, a Sellus, Clarus, Compre, and Crucial.... All are excellent rods. The Sellus, Clarus, and Compre are all spinning rods, and do a fine job, they're sensitive and have hauled out some nice fish with nary a complaint. I had to re-tip the Clarus since my wife shut the trunk on it without realizing it. I put a new Fuji tip on it and now you'd be hard pressed to know it was ever broken off. Shimano has a good warranty system (i've used it for cycling parts, never yet for fishing), and make it pretty much hassle free to get a replacement if it were to break due to faulty craftmanship. It think you'd probably be pretty pleased with the Convergent. Good luck, and welcome to the forums!

I don't use nearly as expensive of lures as most guys on here. Then again, I don't often use cranks or swimbaits, so that takes a big portion of the expensive lure market out of the running. My most expensive though was a couple weeks ago, I bought a Spinbait 80.....did pretty well with it in a very clear pond near my house, caught a few 3lb-ers then a few casts later it simply broke off the line and went *ploop* in the water about 40 feet offshore. I think it broke at the knot, it was heartbreaking. I'll probably order another one this winter, i'm not a cranking fan so I can handle the wait.

Where do you get line roller bearings? I can see the mechanical common sense in something more durable/better working than what might be stock. Like has been mentioned, it's likely the hardest working bearing in the whole reel, and it's subject to the water from line pretty much constantly

I've had some frogs out of the package the body is supple and easy to depress, others feel noticably firmer. I'll try softening it up like you do to see if I can get better depression. Thanks!

I wear my Siebert Outdoors t-shirt quite a bit (probably waaaay too often) when I'm fishing. But at least it can guarantee that I WON'T catch a fish with one of his jigs when I do. I've been trying all summer to land a nice fish, with his jigs, while wearing his t-shirt......I can't seem to get the stars to align just right, or maybe I'm not holding my mouth just the right way. Ha! One of these days...... I don't like to start fishing on a full stomach. For some reason I just don't. I'll eat on the boat itself during the day if I get hungry, but I feel like it breaks my concentration. Other than that, nothing in particular, I just have to be comfortable in my clothes.

He's got excellent videos and advice. Thanks for putting me onto that John.

I figured so. I'll pass on the bearing upgrade. It's a Stradic and has good bearings anyways, they're smooth as silk. No reason to change em' I just wondered why one would switch. Thanks guys.

I've used both and don't see much difference. I like th Shim-E-Stiks in red shad pretty well. My new favorite is the SK Ocho.....it sinks much faster though I've found.

I just got a Shimano Stradic FJ 2500..... Wondering if ceramic bearings make a "worth it" kind of difference in spinning reels like they do in baitcasting? The Stradic already has good bearings, but I'm wondering if it'll be worth the money to upgrade them to Hawgtech ceramics? Any thoughts?

Yea the White River below Anderson area. I'll have to try those, I have a couple of each.

So I'm very new to fishing for smallmouth, especially in the river. I come from a largemouth background, then one day at the request of a friend joined him in wading a river here in central IN for smallmouth. We did very good that day, and I discovered that I like wading probably more than being on a boat, I'm completely addicted. Got a very good pair of Orvis waders, a wading tackle bag, upgraded my spinning rig to some better stuff, and I go out now every Saturday morning.....like I said, I am addicted. Even when the catching is slow, I just love the serenity of it all and being a little more "one with nature" than I get in a boat with all the latest gadgets and such. It's a bit intrinsic and speaks to the basal fisherman within.....poetic eh? That said, this will obviously be my first fall/winter transition from summer. Here in Indiana fall seems to have smacked us in the mouth pretty abruptly, the water's down, but very clear and getting cooler every day. I know the techniques and presentations for largemouth in bodies of water for these kinds of conditions, but I have no clue about river smallmouth. What do I need to throw? I usually go with something topwater, I actually have very good sucess with a 1/4oz buzzbait many times, also a pearl weightless fluke. Any other suggestions? Where do I need to throw? At the advice of Google searches, I throw to eddies, just below riffles/falls, and slow moving water. Really the only place I don't throw is in the falls themselves. Where else? Is there any time of year that the bite "stops" or gets so inactive it's not productive to be out in the cold water? I've got good waders, good insulation garments, so I'm game for wading pretty much any time the air is above 30F or so, but I don't want to go out unless I will likely catch something since I don't relish an unproductive time of year all while nearly freezing my toes off! Any advice for a river smallmouth newbie would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks guys!

This.... I've tried countless degreasing methods and I find myself coming back to "washing the dishes" I'm also a very serious cyclist (dare I admit maybe more than a fisherman), and when we clean our drivetrains with hundreds of miles of grit, grease, and oil on them, we forego the fancy stuff and use good ole' Dawn detergent....besides, it smells good!

Just picked up some ultra-soft 6lb for my finesse reel.....this particular seller on eBay had quite a bit. I only bought it because of the great feedback people gave it, and I need a non-braid line this time for this rig, so I'm giving it a try. I'm usually a CXX guy and I love it, so I'm hoping I'll be wowed.

Needless to say I can't wait! Ordered a Stradic FJ 2500 size today. I have been getting more and more into smallmouth fishing, particularly while wading.....and I think this reel will do just fine. Hurry up Saturday!

I use a heavy/fast BPS Carbonlite. I think it's excellent, lightweight, stiff, and sensitive......and one nice thing is that if it ever has an issue you can just take it right back to the store.

Fished a decent sized pond last night. Had a lot of reeds along the edge along with some grass that stopped just below the surface. I first attempted a buzzbait worked parallel, but the grass kept fouling it just enough that I had to clean it off every other retrieve and if I had to keep doing that the whole rod/reel rig might end up thrown in the drink, so I put on a frog. Used a small Booyah Pad Crasher, the small sized one. Usually I kind of twitch it along, which is the result of my futile attempts to walk the dog with it (haven't ever gotten the hang of it with a frog, even after trimming the legs unevenly). That wasn't getting any strikes, but I noticed I got a couple strikes when I was bringing it back to shore after twitching it in some grass. They'd hit it on my retrieve. Weird I thought. So I started just chucking it parallel to the shoreline and simply steady-retrieving it back to me. It lit up after that. I don't know why on earth they wanted the frog like that, I have my suspicions (wanted something more subtle), but man they were zeroing in on it after that. Especially when the lure would bounce off of a stick or reed in the water, it just provided them more targeting or something. I even had a bass flop up into a couple inches of water to slam it. I ended up hauling in over 20 in about 2 1/2 hrs. Before it got dark. For this pond that's a darn good night. I guess when you're trying to figure out what the fish want you've got to sometimes throw the manual out for lures and try using it in a way that's not conventional.