martintheduck

Just checking back in - been using the gallon bags for about a week and it has made life so much easier. I thought it might be cumbersome to find baits, but it isn't. Glad I finally did it.

I just got the 898 rigged up tonight and plugged the 365i transducer into it.... still had the same problem - no readings except sporadic flashes of depth. I'm guessing transducer is crapped. And the transducer is mounted off the bottom of the transom. Has worked fine for the last months, but all the sudden stopped. It does take a pretty good beating back there at around 58 mph... shooting a nice rooster tail. After I run WOT for a minute or so, it will flip up, so I'm betting theres QUITE a bit of water pressure hitting it.

That might have been me.... I had an experience like that.... I was looking for some poppers in fire-tiger...you found me a couple and told me where Toledo Tackle is?

My 7'11" is a Crank specific rod. My MH and Medium Falcon aren't any technique specific.... just a MH and M rod. After we started on this thread, I've started to wonder the same thing as you Del - Are MH crank rods softer than, say, a MH jig rod? hmmm

Skin n' all?

For some reason I love the look of Javelin boats. It's a shame (maybe) they merged. and let me say ---- DAT TROLLING MOTOR! YUM!

Figures it would turn into this "multiple opinions" type thread (and that's not a bad thing). I'm going to come through with a bit of honesty here: I learned about crankbaits blindly without anyone to teach me. I started throwing them on a MH rod for a few casts, no bites, pick up something else. Finally gave in and decided to LEARN cranks and first time I fished strictly crank all day I was exhausted. Looked up various articles and videos and found conflicting information. Some ppl verified I had a good setup and I was doing it right, others said I should drop down the action of my rod and lighten my line. Lightened the line first but NOT the rod, lost some fish, got snagged a lot, went back to the drawing board. Forums and videos told me my rod was too heavy. Ultimately (and I know this will sound sad), I watched a bunch of videos about KVD fishing cranks and decided to take his advice. Medium action rod w/ moderate -to- modfast taper, 8/10/12 test fluro, and gear ratio to fit the situation at hand. The medium action is supposed to help with absorbing some of the vibration of the lure (and be easier on the arms and wrist) and it's supposed to do better with hook-sets and NOT ripping trebles out their mouth. That's the point at which I bought the 7'3" Falcon Bucoo Medium. THIS ROD LET ME ROCKET THE LURE A MILE! I mean launch that sucker! I don't know what everyone elses thoughts are, but I can sling a crank farther w/ a Med action than a MH or H. Fished it with some dd22's and 6ft's and did okay. It was a LOT easier on my arms, and I actually managed to get some solid hooksets. Ultimately, though, I thought "DANG this thing is weak!" Just bends in half when cranking! Started reading around and found some Falcon rods are action-over-rated. I now use it for square bills and it's perfect. BUT I was determined to find a rod perfect for cranks! Got a WHOLE BUNCH of recommendations from people about which rods to get and lengths. I settled on wanting a 7'11" b/c KVD and Paul Elias both seemed pretty adamant about that detail - "It will give you better casting distance. Also, when you're fishing with that rod tip down, the tip will be right on the water so you aren't losing any depth in the crank." Shopped around online to see which ones fit my decisions - 7'11" Medium crank-specific. Didn't find anything that jumped out at me. Most everything was rated MH or H. Finally decided I'd hold off on buying one till I found exactly what I wanted. Well I went on ebay a few days later and was looking at 7'11" rods and up pops a Cumara. Click it, read, look - brand new. $150. Medium action. Moderate taper. Exactly what I wanted. IN ADDITION - I have some other Cumara's and like I said, favorite rod's I own. So - my favorite rod in a crank specific model with all the specs I want? Well I ordered it! Got it. Fished it. Loved it. Comparing to my spinning gear, it's more of a stiffer Medium. DEFINITELY not as stiff as any of my MH's though.... even my MH Cumara. It's got way more give than those. I like the length because I can stand straight up and have the rod tip right on the water, so I am getting deepest run possible (without kneel and reeling). The action is good b/c I can load up on the rod when casting and LAUNCH that bait a mile. I can only speak for myself, i launch a crank farther on a loaded-up Medium than I can on a MH or H. Also, the vibration from the "swimming" lure is absorbed a bit by the rod rather than transferred directly into my wrist and arm. I'm able to fish cranks with FAR less fatigue on this Medium rod. I still can feel EVERYTHING too. The length has helped me out when trying to get a few feet deeper too---- kneel and reel and I can get the dd22's down to the actual 22 ft. Maybe some of that will help. Maybe not. Ultimately I was told to just go with a "standard" crank rod which is a lighter action... then I independently decided for the 7'11" length. Maybe one day I'll decide to up the action on my rod, but not today or anytime soon... I'm really doing well on cranks (deep cranks at the moment) now that I have a good "standard" setup. I say "standard" because it seems like all the pro's I've watched will only use heavier rods out of personal preference... not because of any glaring benefits.

You can't make a post like this without pictures, man!

I figured that'd be the only intelligent option. Just gonna plug it up to the 898 and see if it works or not. dang.

Can't go wrong either way IMO.

I've got duplicates of setups so I can run different lures on the fly. I really don't notice a difference in length under 6 inches. I run 6'10's in tight spots, 7'2's for average situations and shallow cranks, 7'6's for flipping, 7'11's for deep cranks and flipping jittery fish. As for the crankbait scenario.... Tried a MH 7'2" Crucial. Crap. Can't load up to (easily) get distance on the cast. Too stiff. Lost fish. Now use it for a spinner rod. Next, bought a Medium action Falcon Bucoo.. It works great, but does feel flimsy when running deeps. I use it now for squarebills and it works great... the flimsyness(for lack of better word) makes it perfect when running that square through woods. Finally experienced what people say - "this and that rod is over/under-rated." Found a new Medium Cumara 7'11" crank specific rod for $150 on ebay and snagged it. Problem solved. Favorite all around crank rod I've owned. Use it from squarebills up to Mann's 30+ and it SHINES! It's literally exactly what I've wanted all along. Refused to believe people saying "MH or H is the way to go for cranks..." I've tried them before and I had the same results as you.... it just doesn't feel right. I did shop around and look at various "crank specific rods" and found that different companies make their crank rods with diff actions. Like a loomis 7'11" crank rod is HEAVY action!? Then found various MH actions!?!? Most people recommended me to go with Dobyns or Duckett, but I'm just stuck on the Cumara line right now. Everytime I pick one of mine up I get this feeling of "ahhhh.... that's MUCH better." Also, I'm running a Revo Winch (not because I like it). Got is used. Has beefy reel and longer reel handle so it helps with fatigue when pounding that crankbait all day. I'm set on a 5:4:1 ratio right now because at a regular pace reel, that low ratio really gets that lure down to the bottom and gets it moving nice and slow for these lazy bass in my area. Going back to the 6:1 here once is starts cooling down. Sorry for my response being "all over the place..."

So I've been running a cheap 365i sonar for a few months and am getting ready to install an 898 HDSI on Friday. The transducer I'm using on the 365 can be used with the 898 for on plane depth readings.... Now the issue ---- A few days ago the 365i stopped reading depth. It will cut on depth reading for MAYBE a half a second and give a little blip on the sonar reading and a depth reading, then instantly go blank again. I've checked the connections. I'm hoping the transducer isn't jacked up because I was banking on using it with the 898. How can I test if the transducer is crapped out or not?

I'm telling you - properly sharpened knives make all the difference in the world.... like a hot knife through butter (almost)

Phoenix boats are so sexy

Dang thats a sexy fish.

Saltwater fisherman of 24 years checking in - Not going to be useful for smaller fish - perch or BG. Used to use them for cleaning speckled trout (12inches+ and 2lbs+) however: you waste a good bit of meat, they are dangerous if you're wore down from fishing all day, and they burn out CONSTANTLY. I went back to a filet knife. I will say the most helpful tool I've found is an AWESOME EXPENSIVE knife sharpener. I thought I had a sharp knife all those years, but no... no... my knife was horribly dull.

Just a few more days huh bud?

I just decided ordered a HB 898 yesterday. I chose HB after playing around with both of them at academy - the HB felt more "organic" in it's operation. Lowrance was a lot of button clicking. Plus the Lowrance required me to buy various separate parts for the structure scan. The only significant difference I've noticed after shopping around the last 2 months: - The Lowrance SI and DI is WAAAAAYYYYY crisper than the HB. You're going to find a good mix of opinions here man. I just wanted something that was "plug and play" essentially.

Holy crap - I forgot those existed! Def. go with that lowrance 4x DSI

At least you had luck.I went to the river today and everything was dead. Cranks, jigs, jerks, spinners, worms... nothing. Did get a bite from a gar though... pfft. Just couldn't key into anything today.

Fished one on a buddies boat a bunch of times. Like anyone else, can't 100% say "oh I caught those fish because of the HW..." Will say, there have beens times where it was off, no bite, then cut it on a quick 30 second burst and BAM... get bites. It's on my list of wants....If I had $350 to toss around I'd buy one.

For $300 tops you aren't going to be getting into anything worth a dang. I've got a Humminbird 365i right now and it does work just fine, but I DEFINITELY want something with more features after using this one the past months. With simple sonar it's really tough to get any beneficial information about, well, ANYTHING. Ultimately, I was okay using my little janky unit until I experienced a side imaging unit. I'm waiting for them to go on sale again to buy one. ANYHOW ----- If you can convince yourself to spend a LITTLE BIT MORE, you can get a couple really awesome units that'll do more than just temp, sonar, gps... Check out the Dragonfly Fish Finder. It's $500 for a SWEET unit! If you really do believe you'll be content with just a bare bones finder, check into the Humminbird 365i.

About a week ago I spent $20 on a lure retriever and have saved myself 3 or 4 $6 lures so far. Go buy you one man. Well worth it. (I have thought for the longest time "those things are a scam... but NOPE... they work!!!!) As for the situation at hand - I would have given it back, sure. No big deal. I hope if someone reeled in one of my $8 deep cranks they'd give it back!

I was using a 4/0 EWG 1/4oz swimhook. Watched a video earlier and KVD throws em weightless a lot. The are WAY heavier than a zoom fluke. I'm on my way to river in a bit and going to try weightless. The chartreuse showed up really well on white plastics for me.

Based on what I saw yesterday, it seems like they'd lose their appeal if fished anything other than t-rig style (or with a weighted hook). I'm curious to know the same thing Delco. Report back please if you try them like that.