TorqueConverter

Back in the day we called them 'crankbaits'. 90%+ of what we would describe as 'shallow crankbait' also falls under the category of 'squarebill crankbait'. Don't let the name fool you, it's the line tie location, bill length and width that lend the bait its snag resistant capabilities. Shallow cranks with coffin and rounded bills are just as snagless as the squarest of the squarebills provided they have bills as long and as wide. People have been making shallow cranks that we today would call 'squarebills' since Big O in the 60s at least. Deep squarebills? That's pile of you-know-what. You can square the bill of a deep diving crank all you want but it's not going to endow it with the snagless nature of a shallow crank.

I thought the Palm Trees and Psycodads were exclusive to Kinami and then later became GYCB products indicating some sort of shifting of Kinami baits over to GYCB. The Kinami stuff has been taken off the shelves and sold to outlet stores like Overstock Baits ect. If you're looking for cheap Palm Trees, Overstock Bait a& Tackle does a $1.99 sales once and a while and the Kinami baits are usually on sale. They currently are selling the Kinami stuff for $3.99.

Despite what people may think they're not some new thing that came onto the scene in 2005. They're shallow crankbaits. You fish them is shallow water.

I love the shallow scatter raps. I bought them to burn over weedy flats but discovered that they slay fish in icy cold water when fished so slow that they don't scatter and the fish take them DEEP.

Musky and big pike stick or maybe a punching stick if you have matted vegetation.

The PQ is overrated. I know thems is fighting words around here but there was a time, not that long ago, when the thing was amazing for the money but that time has passed. There's $100 reels with 10 bb, aluminum frame with either dual or externally adjustable centrifugal braking, on sale for $60 with some being lighter than PQ and offering better handles and knobs or Korean production lines (PQ is china) with all featuring a smooth drag instead of the herky jerky thing the PQ has. Even at $50 it's not worth the $10 saving over a $60 sale priced Prolite, Nitro Tournament Z or the various Browning reels based on the NTZ. Unless you're after the odd ball low gear ratios, then there's no reason for go after a PQ anymore at least not until they launch a new version of the thing which I'm sure they will considering it's practically a house hold name. The new Carbonlites on sale for $99 is a way better deal. That reel blows the PQ out of the water. Stick one on a 7'6'' MH Carbonlite rod while you're at it and make sure you get the combo discount.

Please tell me this thing rolls like Flat Rap and twitches like an X Rap.

Maybe. The PQ was part of a family of BPS reels using a common Doyo platform with the PQ being the last man standing in the BPS reel line up on that platform. By the looks of things BPS is shifting away from Doyo and is now using the OEM behind the Quantum stuff judging by the new Extreme, Prolite and JM Carbonlite.. The New Prolite makes for a good PQ replacement with it's dual breaking, elongated handle and 10 BB but has vanished from the website and only exists as a display model in store, indicating a supplier issue. I bet they either kill the PQ and let the Prolite fill its shoes or badge one of these newer platform reels as a PQ.

My old thin fin does not rattle

I stopped driving the truck as a daily driver and picked up a $3000 4 banger wagon. @ $3.50 a gallon it payed for itself in just under two years. If you've got the space for multiple vehicles then it's the smart way to go IMO. Keeps the miles and abuse off the truck and considering the resale value of trucks compared to crummy little 4 banger wagons, it's smarter to put the miles on the thing that's not worth much to begin with.

I wouldn't use it for frogs personally. The rod is probably not going to have the tip needed to load up and launch a frog let alone walk one in a beautiful wide glide. I'm not familiar with the rod so might be wrong and maybe it does have soft enough tip but there's only one way to find out. Tie one on and start chucking it in the yard.

Flat: The Cabelas Flat Side Porkchop has a text book perfect hunting action, or at least the one I have does. and that puts the bait head a shoulders above a lot of the competition in my book. The Rapala DT Flats especially the Flat 3 are great baits and are very quiet but not silent. I was looking for the best money can buy then I'd be trying some of these custom built wooden baits many of which are both flat and silent.

Yup I've done that before but I didn't leave an air pocket in the bait so I'm not sure how that's going to affect it. I like the action better than the Palm Tree or some of the other baits designed to glide backwards. The Trigger X Hodad works pretty much like one of these modified tubes and that's what I use now instead of the tube.

I like Suffix 832 and even Power Pro Origional more than Power Pro 8 carrier stuff. The Super Slick 8 gets too soft too quickly amd dosen't retain it's roundness nearly as well as 832.

It's not the destination, but the journey. If I didn't find casting baits for bass fun then I'd be fishing for an entirely diffrent species. Catching bass ain't all that special; it's the fishing for them in a stealthy shallow water casting technique that is a good part of the fun. I prefer to cast for my walleye and muskey than troll. Search and destroy is fun. Trolling be in short line or long line, while highly effective. is boring. IMHO.

Unfotunately the map provided is about as bad as it gets when it comes to resolution but there's still some points of interest that if I was fsihing the lake I'd check out with a more detailed map if I was planing a visit. All I can give you is my best guess. I'm assuming 14ish foot deep weedlies for the #2 locations, meaning weed cover on main lake structure IE classic summer time haunts. 1: potetial spring spawning locations 2: potential summer locations ?: insufficient detail but potential summer main lake stuctures I'd cruse the spring locations durring mid to late pre spawn when fish are shallow, but most are not on beds and look for both fresh weed growth and warm water. I'm not seeig a whole lot of obvious transitional areas besides that one point, so I'd be a bit leery about an early pre spawn visit but I'm sure the body of water has both wintering holes with transitional areas leading to spawing grounds, it's just that they are not imideately apparent from the image provided. EDIT: if this is glacial lake then be on the lookout for rock piles deposited by glacial action. Not so much in the spring but in summer these rock piles will create bald spots in the weed beds creating fish magnets as well as creating drop shot magnets for smallies in deeper water durring the summer months. 'Eyes love them some rock piles as well and they taste good.

Jeff H can I get the tl:dr on the TD-Z including the Fuego? I can't help but feel like I'm missing out on being ignorant of these reels. I'm guessing they're an oldie but a goodie Daiwa platrom with lots of spool options, some frame material options (fuego) with something special. Hows the smoothness and noise on the reels? How do they hold up? Are they special beyond just being Magforce Z reels? I know reels like the last gen Exceler were notorios for becoming grindy and noisy but they're not the same platform as the TD-Zs. Waht do they bring to the table that a Tatula can't?

Night and day difference. The new one's more reminicent of a St Coix Legend Xtreme in terms of weight and balance than a BPS rod. These rods must have tissue paper thin blank walls to be as light as they are, which concerns me a little.

The only thing the old carbonlite and the new one share is the name. The new Carbonlites felt a little more stif in the tip section than the older models, sort of inbetween the old ones and a Veritas, but I might be imagining things. Only got my hands on one once.

There's yer problem.

I use the yum salleemander and fish in the spring in the spawning grounds and I'll rig it on either a texas rig or a weighted swimbait hook. It's got real neat swimbait like paddle tail on it It and seems to catch fewer numbers but larger fish than my other plastic presentaions.

I throw my swimbaits paired to swimjigs on a 7' MH Daiwa Jupiter paired to a BPS PQ in 7X:1 with #14 Suffix Elite. The swimbaits I use are the BPS Sassy Sally which is basically a more durable Skiny Dipper knock off. I like the MH power, fast action and 7 foot lengh of the Jupiter but the 7.X:1 reel is too fast to keep the bait down in the weeds or along deep weedlines making me wish I had gotten a 6.X:1 ratio instead. I'm taking the mono off the reel after I lost a giant smallie on it over the summer. The Suffix Elite is a quality mono, but mono has too much stretch for the longs casts I make fishing main lake structures with swimbaits.

Looks like a bllue Quntum Accurist PT to me. I've got an Accurist PT and it's basically a white and black Pro Qualifier with a better drag.

I'd rather have the Nitro Tournament Z or that new Porlite for $60. I'v got both the NTZ and a PQ and I'd rather get another NTZ than another PQ.

These days you can pick up a 10 ball bearing, aluminum framed, centrifugal braking reel for $60. Pair it to a $40 Lightning rod and you've got yourself something really nice for $100. Stay away from plastic framed mag reels unless you can find one for next to nothing or for actually nothing. http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Nitro-Tournament-Z-Baitcast-Reel/product/1303270646333/ http://www.basspro.com/Browning-Aggressor-Baitcasting-Reel/product/1311080715241/