iceintheveins

Whoa I misread I'm sorry. Most versatile hardbait is a lipless crankbait. Fish it right under the surface, or along the bottom. Fast or slow.

For squarebills and shallow cranks, minimum of 10 but usually 12 or 14, and that's mono. Anything 4 - 10 feet, 10 - 12 pound mono. Pure deep cranks over 10 feet? Ten pound fluoro.

I was thinking of something like that. If I still have interference with the ducer mounted on the suction cup I'll know it's from the unit itself.

I'll probably stick with Curados for my next reel then, I already have one I and one E. Was just thinking about a Tatula for my next if it casted better or was more foolproof. But sounds like it's a slight notch below the Curado.

I've only talked to two people about them, and both said they are junk. But that's just two opinions.

Jig. Followed closely by a spinnerbait.

Any swimbait over 2, and especially 2.5 ounces calls for a large, XH swimbait rod IMO.

So let's start a debate. Which do you guys think is better? The Curado or Lower End Tatula, especially for casting distance but also for general smooth performance. You can compare both the Tatula 100R and the Cheaper Tatula 100. I've heard almost nothing but good things about the Tatulas, while the curados most people love them but some have a lot of problems with them.

Blood knot is good but a carefully tied uni knot with some superglue on it will do the trick.

D'OH! That sucks. It's the bees knees. Better casts, more natural presentation, and is good for your reel too.

Curado 200E5 (5.0:1), 7' M BPS Crankin' Stick, 10 - 14 pound mono or fluorocarbon, I prefer a bomber square A in apple red craw, brown chartreuse craw, or Tennessee shad. I do change the hooks on these. My other favorite squarebill is the KVD 1.5 in firetiger, chili craw, bluegill, green gizzard shad, or blue gizzard shad. Those are my two main brands, but don't overlook Norman Mad N's, Or the Excalibur series either. In murky water you cannot beat the norman fat boy.

I think the only time you need a stiffer graphite rod with spinnerbaits is if you are ripping it through grass a lot, and that certainly triggers strikes. But I've done pretty good ripping spinnerbaits through grass with a MH cranking type rod and fluorocarbon line of 12 - 14 pound test and sometimes heavier should get you through grass. If you do choose a cranking rod, make sure it's' a good, sensitive one so you can feel the thump of your blades spinning. If you catch grass, throw slack in the line and give it a good pop. That should free it. The slower action rod does help hook more fish and keep them hooked.

I will let you guys know how the suction cup mount elsewhere on the boat for the ducer works, since it will be isolated from the trolling motor.

The reason being I have to hand launch it in small lakes without a boat ramp, so if it's on the bottom of the transom or even close, it runs risk of getting all scraped up. Transom mount would be no issue if I just had lakes that had boat ramps (which most of mine do but my favorite lake that's electric/hand launch only doesn't.

Yep, only when the trolling motor is running.

I will do that if the problem continues.

Try a 7'6" MH Abu Veritas. My Halo 7'11" MH Deep Cranking STick is perfect for 1 - 1.5 ounce swimbaits.

The KVD is such good stuff that it's well worth ordering online if you can't find it locally. No other line conditioner works like it does.

I like regular old Gamakatsu round bend trebles. Mustad Triple Grip Short shank ultra points are very good too, as are owners.

If you clean reels you can replace the gear yourself. If you've never cleaned a reel, send it to DVT would be my advice.

It's an Eagle/Lowrance FishMark480 sonar, powered by a small gel cell sealed 12 volt battery, and a sealed deep cycle 12 volt battery for the trolling motor, which is a Minn Kota Endura 50lb thrust transom mount trolling motor. I'm careful to keep the cords for the sonar/ducer and the power cords for the motor away from each other.

That looks like it will do nicely.

I alternate with a pop/pause retrieve, changing the length of the pauses anywhere between 2 and 15 seconds, and a walk the dog retrieve. Just have to let the bass tell you what they want.

I fish in a 12 foot aluminum boat, so a shoot through the hull or transom mount transducer really isn't an option. I mount mine to the trolling motor. But I continue to get interference (both screen going blank at higher speeds or a series of constant dots/clutter at the same depth, even with the sensitivity lowered. I'm keeping the cord away from other cords, and not taping it to the shaft of the motor. Still get the same interference. Has anyone here ever found any ways to mount a transducer somewhere else in the boat, such as say making some type of contraption to keep it level and clamping the contraption to the side of the boat?

The Tatula 8.1 would be great for it.