TorqueConverter

I don't think it's the strength of braid lot of people like but the zero memory and zero stretch of braid.

Berkley XL Armor Coated. It has ZERO memory. The absence of memory is a night and day difference between even regular XL.

I find some of their stuff to be, at best, average in performance but excellent in durability and have quality hardware. $15-$20 is worth it if you value durability and quality split rings/hooks. I'm more of a performance orientated guy so I gravitate towards balsa Rapalas even if they break easily and have cheaper VMC hooks.

Profile and action are hugely important in cranks when it comes to getting bit. Color in cranks is hugely important when it comes to getting them out the store front. I have my confidence colors and won't buy cranks that don't come in colors I like but I know d**n well my preference in colors is not based on any facts and is based on belief.

I don't know about hardness of the line, but the line's memory is awful. #17 is like casting a tiny long sliky.

Nothing wrong with having your crank swim just off the bottom only occasionally making bottom contact. I'd say that this is normal way to fish a crank and that a great swimming action is preferred when fished this way. Rapala baits have fantastic crankbait actions so I'd recommend the DT6 and DT10. If you intend drag your baits along the bottom by selecting baits that run multiple of feet deeper than the water you fish then stay away from Rapala baits. The Rapala bills are too thin and flexible to be dragged along the bottom. They are made for deflection, not dredging.

It's possible the boater didn't know that you were fishing down the shoreline. Where I fish I never see bass anglers roaming the shoreline casting baits. If someone is bank fishing they they are stationary and fishing a bobber and worm going after whatever bites. Even if people are fishing artificial lures in a mobile and aggressive bass angler type manner, how are we on boats supposed to know which direction you are heading? If we're both going the same direction along the bank am I expected to stay behind you? If I pass and get ahead to give you some distance, am I cutting you off? Am I supposed to treat bank anglers like some kind of two legged land boat?

light compared to what? They are the best casting little 2'' balsa baits I've ever used.

I sometimes have to replace my GYCB before I even get bit. It like how dare I have the audacity to actually use them as fishing lures. I really wish the Flappin Hog wasn't so awesome.

Fluorocarbon is a great line but these statements are not entirely accurate. The invisibility argument stems from fluorocarbon being closer to water in the refractive index but this doesn't apply to fishing lines because they are neither of a high enough clarity (translucent =/= glass like clarity) or in a large enough diameter for an image to be viewed through the line. Refrative index in the context of an object under water only applies if the object is of high clarity and is being used as a lens. A lens that is of the same refrativity as the water will not distort the under water view. Fish also don't pick up your fishing line and hold it up to their eyes and treat it like a lens. Even if they wanted to they wouldn't be able to because fishing line is not clear, is far too small in diameter and the differences between fluorocarbon and "mono" in the refractive index are tiny. I like fluorocarbon as a crankbait line but It's not going to get your crankbaits deeper, as in exceed the rated diving depth. If a Rapala DT-20 dives to 20 feet on "mono" then it will dive to the same depth on fluorocarbon or braid of the same diameter. Max depth of a crankbait is determined by line diameter, not material. Fluorocarbon does not pull a crankbait down and make it dive deeper. It may help a shallow crank to reach max depth quicker due to a bow in the line aiding a bait with an inherently shallow dive angle but the dive angle on deep diving cranks are so extreme that there way a bow in the line can get beneath the bait.

I've been getting bit really well with the bluegill scatter rap shallow. 1st cast produced a solid 4 pound fish. Slow rolling the bait has been the ticket thus far. My water temps are still too cold to fish the bait fast enough to hunt side to side but there is a fantastic tight and fast wobble with a little bit of roll and tail kick in the baits action that make it look like a panicked critter trying to get away, even at a slow retrieve speed. It has become my #1 bait to throw in shallow 40-50 degree water. The bill does little to protect the hooks so be prepared to pick little bits of dead aquatic vegetation off the front hook frequently.

It could be backlash? Braid will absolutely rocket off a reel faster than anything else out there. Centrifugal breaking is highly recommended to keep the spool RPM under control. Forget any d**n magnets.

How worn is the line? When braid becomes "broken in" from use it becomes softer and more flexible. It eventually breaks in to a point where it is too soft and flexible. It'll start to do two things that can result in the problem you have described. 1. It looses it roundness over time and begins to flatten 2. It won't lay on the spool right and will develop loops in the spool Some braids live longer than others. I really like Sufix 832 because to retains it roundness and manageability longer than other braids I have fished.

I not picky on this one. I'll use whatever line happens to be spooled up on on my MH. Currently it's #14 Suffix Elite.

I use it when I want to fish a translucent monofilament type line. It's not nearly as elastic as most monos, typically has a smaller diameter to an equivalently rated "mono" and is UV resistant. The stretching I have observed has occurred when breaking off a stuck bait. There is some elastic stretch when fishing the line, but this type of stretch is healthy and does not damage the line. The stretch that occurs when breaking off is the result of the plasticity of the line and is damaging to the portion of line being stretched. This type of stretch should not be happening when fishing and catching fish. The loads experienced by the line are too small to push it to it's breaking point. If plastic stretch is occurring with a fluoro line then the line is too weak for that application or some ridiculous hooksets are being done. If your fluoro is stretching and staying elongated then you have pushed the line close to it's breaking point and are experiencing stretch from plasticity. This is bad. A little bit of rubberband like stretch (elasticity) is healthy and normal. A 100% fluorocarbon should have less elasticity than most monos. If it doesn't then it's time to change fluorocarbon lines.

I got a chance to get my Imakatsu Waddle Buggy in the water over the weekend and discovered a few things that those interested in lure design should take a look at. The Waddle Buggy is a frog bodied wakebait/crankbait with two bizarre metal blades attached to the back of the bait. The bait has a hunting action similar to the Imakatsu Waddle Bat, however it elicits it's hunting action in a different manner than the waddle Bat. The Waddle Bat appears to be a stable crankbait with an hydrodynamic aid on the bait that induces instability in the bait. Based on what I have observed with the Waddle Buggy, is that the bait is inherently UN-stable and the hydrodynamic aid of the metal blades on the back of the lure, stabilize the bait like streamer on a kite. This is completely opposite of the Waddle Bat. I believe that the instability inherent to the bait is because it has no blast weight and is a hollow, weightless, bodied crank. The bait's long bill grabs water once the retrieve is begun and wants to immediately blow out. The drag generated by the metal blades stabilize the bait and allow it to run. The blades are solder together with a soft, flexible solder that allows the gap between the blades to be increased or decreased. Opening up the clamshell shaped blades increased drag and stability. Closing the blades decreases drag and makes the bait highly unstable to an unfishable state. With very little gap the bait can't even be made to leave the surface before immediately blowing out. A large gap allows the bait to run subsurface and hunt like a madman. To my knowledge this bait operates unlike anything else out there and is something that you guys should probably be aware of. There is another lure with a very similar in appearance to the Waddle Buggy made from wood, the Jackal Bros Wooden Bunny. A replicated Wooden Bunny sounds like something interesting to build.

Most people drag tubes on the bottom with some sort of jig head. I prefer to fish them weightless and dead stick them like a senko. The unweighted tube will glide and spiral like a dying baitfish. The unweighted tube will also skip really well and mimic a baitfish jumping on the surface fleeing predator.

I had some frogs that would take of water badly and sink. I used a soldering iron to make a new hole in the head and placed heat shrink around the hook to fill the old hole in the body. This relocated the hole to the part of the frog above the waterline and prevented it from taking on water and sinking. I tried silicone sealant/gasket maker to seal the hole but it wouldn't stay in. The heat shrink worked really well.

No serious discussion can be had without breaking down "stretch" into plastic and elastic stretches. The two forms of are not same. Elasticity occurs at light loads and is hated by some. It results in the loss of power in hook-sets and in masking some of the softer bites. Plasticity (stretching and deforming of a plastic) occurs at high loads near or at the breaking point of the line. A line with a very low elasticity and high plasticity should only stretch when breaking off a hangup for example. The line will permanently deform by getting longer and thinner right before the point of failure. A line with high elasticity and low plasticity with stretch like a rubber band when setting the hook and fishing a fish. The line will become longer and thinner, then return to it's original state. Easy handling monos are typically highly elastic with low plasticity lines and a good benchmark 100% fluorocarbon should be a low elasticity line with high plasticity.

I used #30 regularly. I love the power, the way it handles and the long casts it affords me over mono. I don't know why so many people are experiencing knot failures with #30 braid. They must be using the wrong knots and making the most ridiculous hooksets imaginable.

Weird. I fish XPS fluorocarbon and there is little to no elasticity in the line. The line should not stretch and return like a spring. This type of stretch is elastic and is typically not a characteristic of 100% fluorocarbon lines. Are you sure you don't have the XPS KVD fluorocarbon line? That line is supposed to be softer and smoother handling than regular XPS fluorocarbon. Usually when a fluorocarbon line is billed as "softer and better handling" this means that is has a mono like behavior including some elasticity. If the line is stretching and not returning then the stretch is plastic and not elastic. This type of stretch is due to the high plasticity of 100% fluorocarbon line and should only be observed when pushing the line to it's breaking point.

I've thrown the pesky perch a few times. I like to fish it unweighted or lightly weighted with a swimbait hook. The goal is to get the bait to have a side to side dying shimmy on the fall. If I was going to T-rig it and pitch it to the bank, I'd use a beaver type bait instead.

If the rattle can be heard over the chirps in the air, then it can be heard over the chirps under the water. In the case of the Dive Master Jr, the chirps are so quiet that the sound of the split rings rubbing against the hook hangers, as the hooks swing, drowns out the chirping.

Perhaps it not something related to the hardness of the material, but to the removal of the hard coating from the underlying material. I'll see discoloration of the guides in the areas of contact between the line and guide followed by groves being cut into the guides. If I were to hazard a guess I'd say that the coating is being removed by the abrasive materials braid has a tendency to pick up and is then cutting into the underlying material. This is assuming that the aluminum oxide present in the guides is a coating.

Back before there was the Vixen there was the Spook.