faygo1979

I dont believe this unit has chirp

I own a Phenix m1 heavy rod, Have never seen the Recon. are they similar to anything else out there?

Now that the cranking stick has been finished I figured I would start on my second rod. I am thinking either a finesse rod. Something that can handle ned rigs, Slider heads, and drop shots Or a swim bait rod that can handle 6 inch Huddleston’s as well as the Spro Rat. I don’t really go up above 6inch swim baits living in Michigan. unless I am throwing large bucktails for Pike I an not sure if it is just the cool logo, But they seem to be in the price range I am looking Right now the two rods below seem to fit what I am looking for I have been looking on mudhole and I keep going back to the Bushido blanks for some reason. Bushido Drop Shot Rod Blank DS69/4-10 And the Bushido Swim Bait Rod Blank SWB710/15-30 Any other brands/models anything? you guys would recommend me to look at in a similar price range?

i ran 17 pound all last year and really liked it. for me it was as strong as any braid and i pulled in a number of pike on it with out issues. Now i fish weedy lakes with out timber or rocks so i could not test the abrasion resistance of it.

A few of us from Michigan will be there. This will be the first time I have fished Kentucky lake. My only goal is to not get skunked!

Thanks for the critiques, Love hearing them J I actually did not use CP on this build. I wanted to see how it would look without it. It may just be the light in this picture or it could be some excesses oil from my hands that could have caused this. I did back up and rewrap some of these a few times. I will see tonight. I agree on the smaller trim bands. I was originally thinking about that But I was having a hell of a time with the metallic thread when I was trying to lock them. I figured I would take some more time to practice before I tried the smaller bands again. The handle is actually 12 inches. From the angle it does look a lot longer. But I am actuality a fan of full grips. I fish from a kayak and keep my rods in holders for trolling and am always worried because this caused the rod to lean against the blank between the spit grips rather than the handle. Could be a little over sensitive on this but I am always worried that I will crack the blank by doing this. The reason I only epoxied half of the rod has more to do with logistics then time. Right now I am working on a 6ft table and with the 76 rod it was too far off the table for me to comfortably attempt to epoxy the threads. Need to do some rearranging before I make another rod. thanks!

I am building a 76m crank bait rod on a Rainshadow blank I have been slowly working on this for the past couple months and finally got it wrapped and have about half of it Epoxied. Not the cleanest but I am happy with it so far. I have experimented a little on the wrapping. I have the silver highlights on the lower wraps and skipped them on the upper. I also wrapped in front of the guide on a couple of them to see how it would turn out.

Yes, walleye fishermen up here and Pike fishermen in Europe use mostly spinning rods from my experience with out any issues for cranks.

Crawford-Lehigh RC40 40-Feet Retractable Clothesline This is what I picked up from amazon. Own a couple of them and they seem to work well. I do remove the line that is in it and replace it with something more water resistant

I have seen them in use and I do have to say they are slick. My only issue is that they are bulky. The guys I know that use them are in PAs and they have the room to use them. I have not found a way to mount it effectively enough on the outback yet to buy one. I use a clothesline for my anchor. it is more compact and I have it mounted on my crate.

Largest bass of the year I caught last year was just over 6 pounds on a war eagle spinner-bait half oz. Caught him on an edge in about 10ft of water, Second largest was just under 6 and caught him on a slider head with a 3 inch vibragrub on it. I caught him right off a beach in some isolated lily pads.

I wish they still sold these. I have one that fits 6 inch Swim baits perfectly. I would love to buy more.

A lot of it comes down to price. I have 3 kayaks and a canoe. The most expensive is a hobie outback, one of the best kayaks for a bigger guy that wants to be able to really move on the water. Frankly if I was smaller I would have probably picked a less expensive kayak paddle kayak nit for bigger guys the options are peddle drive or bathtub. lol

Don't know if you are still looking at this Curtis But kayak recommendation would really vary depending on where you fish and how big you are. If you are looking to fish larger lakes or you like to paddle a lot A longer thinner kayak would be good. Thresher, or Trident on the models you have listed. If you are a bigger guy like me I would look for something wide 33 inches plus and because of that you would want as long a kayak as you can find so it does not feel like paddling a bathtub the ATAK, Ride 135 or the Big Game If you are a small guy frankly anything over 12ft would be good for you. The rod lockers are over rated. Rods are vary much a pain in the ass to pull out of them on the water. I would recomend a crate or a blackpak behind you to hold your rods behind youl. The only useable rod lockers I have seen for on the water would be a Hobie PA or a Nucanoe Pursuit You have a lot of options out there If you put together what you are wanting to do on the water I can give you some ideas on kayaks.

Zman Project Z are the best that I have tried so far. They seem to have a little better action and they don't seem to rise in the water column as fast as other baits.

I put them on a slider head and fish them all the time,

I throw some of the rapala dt models on a ml or m spinning rod with out any issues But if you are looking for more finesse I would look at some of the Berkeley models like the Berkeley flicker shad. They make some that dive past 10ft with out any issues. I have a H spinning rod that I will throw some deep divers or troll musky lures with and it is not over powered. Frankly anything you can do with a bait casting reel you can do with a spinning reel for bass fishing. you just need the right rod and reel combo.

I am not a bit swim bait person But I really like the okuma citrix 350 it is a lower profile reel that seems to do well with bigger baits. I throw some swim baits and larger pike and musky baits on it with out any issues. For the spinning reel I would have to buck the trend and recommend a quantum reel I like Accurist and the Energy reels myself. I own some of the new Mitchell, some Shiminos, a pflueger president and a Diawa. In this range the Quantums seem to a little nicer to fish with.

All pro rods out of tn sell Tennessee grip rods. I have one of their bait casting rods that I like. I don't know if they have the sliding rings or not.

I just bought a 73h m1 but I have not tried it yet and have not touched the recon before. When reading forums and sites I thought they said that the recon was more sensitive but the m1 was almost as sensitive and more durable. granted I have not tried them yet so take it with a grain of sand.

Honestly almost almost any reel would work for that other than some of the small shimono 50 size reels or the quantum 100 size reels. most of my big baits or swimbaits I throw on a citrix 350 size or a BPS PQ. but the model with the strongest drag that i have i think is the *** A reel. I don't really find a strong drag needed unless I am fishing lily pads.

Probably do the same thing as they did last year with the smoke. They changed the colors and added a few new options to them and greatly discounted the old ones. I picked up a couple smoke spinning reels and a bait casting reel this time last year.

I have a citrix 300 but I use it mainly for pike and swim baits. I think for the price it is a good reel, well put together but I find the brakes on it inconsistent enough that I have not bought any other okuma reels.

under 75$ I would look at the pro qualifer from BPS or the H20 Mettle. I have used both and they are both very nice for the price point

the only issue I have with it is that it frays and comes apart easier than braid.