Tylertut

Caught a 36" pike last summer in a river that I thought had no pike. It was way to far south. But I had to lip him because I was wading and had few tools on me. He shook and put two trebles straight through my knuckles. My father had to rip them out. Got some pretty scars from it. It was well worth my first pike though.

Is go with the senko. Rigged with a 3/0 hook weedless you can run it over the weeds as a topwater and also work any cover that might be around the weed mats. You get the functionality of both the frog and the jig with one bait.

Both me and my father have forgotten wading boots and noticed half way to the river both times. Half way I about an hour away from home. Just today I forgot to bring my hook box and only had plastics on me.

I would probably pick the senko to fish from the deep hole all the way to the shoreline. The lipless crank would come in a close second.

I have two that I remember pretty well. Two years ago while wading with my father in the Great Miami River I casted my spook in this small pool that I thought I had no chance of catching anything. No later than my spook hit the water a huge smallie blew up on it. I fought it for a short while before it shot upstream and frayed my line on a rock. It had to be about 4 or 5 pounds, which was huge for me. I still fish the same pool hoping to get that fish. My other story happened just last week. I had my kayak on an old gravel pit and found a good spot where there was a lot of fallen timber along the bank. I pulled in about 12 decent size bass of this spot and when the bite died I decided to drop shot the drop off right past the timber. Right after my weight hit the sandy bottom a largemouth slammed it and started peeling drag. He got about 10 yards out, jumped and threw the hook. I estimate it to be around 7lbs which would be more than a pound over my PB and pretty big as far as Ohio bass go.

I have the smaller version of that case because it fits perfectly in the side pocket of my bank bag. I love mine. I keep only a couple of each hooks and refill an empty slot whenever I'm done fishing for the day. I feel it's much better than a normal box.

On stained waters when it's still prespawn I usually throw anything slow moving, especially jigs, in darker colors such as black and blue. I have also had luck slow rolling spinnerbaits as we'll.

Just broke my first rod a couple days ago. Drifted into some trees in my kayak and by the time I noticed my rod in my rear holder was in the branches it was too late. I heard a snap, then sobbed my way back to the truck. Luckily it was a two piece so I just ordered a new top piece.

The bottom color in 1/8 oz has attributed to almost all of my smallmouth. If you can find them, Uncle Josh's fly strip on the back treble works wonders. A few twitches during the retrieve drives them nuts.

If I am someplace relatively private, I will strip down and swim for it. I usually wear trunks in the summer for this very reason. I have left a couple lures stuck places and it still grinds my gears just thinking about it. It's just something you gotta deal with while bank fishing.

This time I was on a river and it was a long pocket I was fishing. Usually when the bite is on for a certain lure, it stays on until the weather changes or it gets it gets dark.

Last time I was pulling in smallmouth left and right and had one break off with my lure. I went back to the truck, drove 45 minutes to bass pro and bought 3 more. Drove back and kept on reeling them in.

Only two dinks. I've only been able to hit ponds and the bite has been pretty slow the 4 times I was out. I've been trying to use mainly plastics as this is my first season using them.

Judging by your post it seems the FSS seems more suited to my needs as I have a preference towards moving baits over jigs and plastics, especially lipless cranks.

Wow, thanks for the super informative post, just what I was looking for. I just have a couple more questions. Do you recommend a versatile line to use? Would the TV still work well for moving baits? And would the SS work with lures slightly over 1/2 ounce in a pinch in your opinion.

I know that bugs me quite a bit. But I'm trying to buy a couple quality rods to to cover everything. Starting with this megabass rod.

Ha, I tried going that route. Now I'm broke and only halfway there. I also mostly bank fish and fish from a kayak, so 3-5 rods is my max, right now I have 3.

I have 30 on it now but haven't used it enough to know if it will work well enough for topwater and moving baits. Im using 20# on my Curado right now and its working fine, so I'm sure it'll be the same on the Ci4.

Thanks for the info guys. I'll probably pull the trigger on the FSS then and use my MH veritas for heavier stuff. Does anyone have a recommendation on a well suited line for this rod and a Ci4? Would 30# PP be versital enough?

Would you say heavier jigs, such as 3/4 oz be too heavy? What about t rigs?

+1 on the xrap A floating lure is going to have a little more action overall and I usually use it when the waters are warmer. If the bite dies down ill switch over to suspending, or use it from the start if the water is colder.

I usually let mine sink a bit and then swim it and then pause with some short twitches. I've also done well retrieving it quickly towards the surface like a wakebait.

It seems to me like the rod is geared more towards reaction baits. I'm newish to most of this so bear with me. Is the 'regular' taper going to be more like a moderate? If so won't that be too slow for jigs and some other applications. And is the power going to be too weak for smaller frogs and jigs?

I looked at a couple of these rods at my local bass pro and am extremely impressed. I handled the Perfect Pitch and Tour Versital. I like the TV better out of these two but wish they had a Spinnerbait Special for me to look at. I need a rod to pair with my new Chronarch Ci4. So my question is, between the Spinnerbait Special and Tour Versital, which one will be a better rod for most techniques. I need an all around rod to go pond hopping and and cover almost every technique. Also as far as all around line goes, is 30# PP a good choice or should I use mono for the stretch when using cranks?

I think I'm going to do some reorganizing of my setups and put my current Lews Tournament MG on my heavy action rod for jigs. I have faith in the composite and will be buying the Ci4, but am undecided to put it on my medium heavy or put it on my medium rod and use it for most of my plastics.