Fishingmickey

I have got some and used them. They seem to work just fine, not much difference then regular EWG hooks IMHO. FM

Beautiful Bass! FM

Good luck! FM

Looking forward to hearing about your Baccarac adventure A-jay! Hope to see some more beautiful pictures and hear the stories behind the catches! Hope to go one of these days! Fishingmickey

Quattro, Having it spray is a sign of not enough water. That spray might be steam from the water flashing off into steam in the "hot" head. Is the spray hot? Is it hissing when it comes out (like it is under pressure)? It should always be a stream of warm water. If it is hot then your water flow isn't high enough. If the motor has sat for a long period of time the carburetor just like the water pump impeller has rubber parts. It has gaskets and "O" rings made of rubber. It is very possible that some of the rubber pieces have dry rotted and turned into hard carbon instead of pliable rubber. It is also likely that the old gas/oil mixture has dried up and caused varnish build up in the ports of the carburetor. The problem with the shifting i would suspect is due to the shifter rod not being adjusted properly when the lower unit was re-built. Forcing it is not a good thing. There is a dog (three notched block of metal) on the end of that shift rod. it adjusts up or down on the threaded rod to shift the motor gears. Find a reputable mechanic to go over the entire motor and correct the problems. It might/will save you a bunch of money in the long run. The old saw is pay me now or pay me four times as much or more later. Nothing sucks much more then being stranded out on the water. Good luck and hope you get everything sorted out! Fishingmickey

Hi Jeremy, I'd be really hard pressed to limit myself to one brand. I'm kind of old school for some stuff and throwing a balsa crankbaits is one of them. I think the balsa baits float much quicker then the plastic cranks. So when you hit weeds, rock or wood they float back and up much better. I like the Bagley balsa Killer bee's, Rapala Fat rap's, DT series and Shad raps (shad raps especially in cooler water), DT22's from Norman have a place in the arsenal too. I do like the Strike King bigger cranks (6XD & 8XD's) for getting seriously deep. I have not tried the newer line of Berkley crankbaits. Good luck with the re-vamp of your arsenal. Fishingmickey

The OP has to purchase (with a gift card) from TW guys. Amazon and Ebay deals are out. FM

A 10" green pumpkin Berkley power worm bit down to 8" texas rigged on a Gamakatsu 5/0 round bend hook with a 1/4 oz slip sinker is money. FM

Berkley Big game also has a Hi-vis color they call solar collector. FM

Are we on to something JustJames? Is that a Metanium paired with a Tatula? Hummmmm.....

I did take the plunge and combined.....a Diawa Tatula rod and a Shimano Curado K reel. Lighting has not struck me dead yet. it has only been a month or so since. FM

Welcome aboard John, Lot's of world class bass fishing in that neck of the woods! Fishingmickey

I'm not rising to the "bait". FM

I in the same camp as Just james, My line of thinking is if your going to be throwing big baits and putting heavy line on the reel (heavy meaning above 16# flouro/mono). You need a reel with the matching guts (gear strength, retrieve ratio & drag rating). With that in mind, the round reels fill that bill like the Calcutta, Ambassador, Millionaire's. There are others I am sure. Low profile reels would be the Shimano Curado 300E or Tranx series, Diawa's Lexa and Garcia's Revo winch or Toro S would also be decent choices. The lower retrieve ratio is like having more torque at your finger tips. Which ever way you decide to go good luck swim baiting. FM

Fishingintheweeds, You have to commit to throwing the spinnerbait! Short accurate casts to pocket targets, long casts over the top of the weeds. Make the thing dance! Work you rod and make that skirt flare out like Marilyn Monroe over the grate. Bounce it off of every piece of wood you can! Deflections rule, after the deflect let it sink/kill it/die for a one or two second count then start those blades a turning. Burn it back till the blades blurble the surface! Use either a Chartreuse, White or Chartreuse and white in 3/8 or 1/2 oz double bladed willow leaf. I like silver blades and white for clear water, chartreuse and gold blades for dirty or stained water Then after you done that a few trips come back and tell me/us the results. Good luck! Fishingmickey

I don't know about most kayak anchor trolley kits. But I do recommend you use well nuts (expanding rubber with brass insert) or machine screws w/nut and back up fender washers to avoid pulling the machine screw out. If you use well nut's they are self sealing and the machine screw route will require silicone, marine goop, E6000. Some kind of sealant is needed. Sheet metal screw will pull out sooner or later. It can happen if you snag your trolley or get hit by a wave.They are easy to strip out by over tightening. The plastic isn't strong enough for threading. I prefer to use a 8lb barbell for a anchor and 1/4" braided rope for the line. The barbell does the job and doesn't get hung up in rocks like the grapple type anchors can. FM

Dunno if this will help or not VB. I have a couple of Fenwick methods three piece rods. One is casting and one is spinning. They came with two extra sections so you have two different actions for each rod (five pieces total each rod). The spinning has medium and a medium heavy sections and casting rod has medium heavy and heavy. The really good thing I like about them is that if you break a section on a trip your not down a rod, you have a back up on hand. I also bought a brand xIII *** not to be mentioned travel rod (casting) and it's pretty nice too. Diawa also makes a three piece travel rod in spinning and casting. All of the above rods come with cases. Regards, Fishingmickey

I like your analogy!

Too light of a rod for the larger deep diving crank baits. most of the larger deeper divers 6XD and up or DD22 class. The weight is close to 1 oz or over and there isn't enough backbone in the rod to handle the load/resistance of cranking them back especially if you want to crank them fast. Fine for mid-sized and small crank baits though. FM

Merderinc, The drop shot technique in itself can produce serious line twist issues with the bait spinning on the drop and the retrieve. Not sure if this applies but when fighting a fish that is pulling drag do not turn the reel handle on a spinning reel. This will produce significant line twist! I use a good high quailty small swivel at the top of my drop shot rig. I know there are several brands of dropshot hooks that have the swivel built in because of the problems with line twist while dropshotting. Gamakatsu makes the swivel shot, VMC calls theirs the spin shot. Hope this helps and don't mean to come across wrong on the reeling while drag is being pulled out. Fishingmickey.

This I agree is probably one of the reasons there are so many more split grip rods out. Spot on DVT. FM

I think it is a pickapike! JB, I'll be up in your neck of the woods next week, Fishing Long pond and maybe China lake and Cobboseecontee. Fishingmickey

The only time I have had issues with line twist is with the WP is the 90 size and below. 110 and 130 sizes no issues. Different tools for different applications. The buzz bait has it's place. FM

Bank stomping, one rod should do nicely. Change lures, less stuff to carry is better IMHO. FM

The anchor when I use it is a 8lb dumbbell with 75' of 5/16" line. I don't use it much since I graduated to a PA14. But I do use it when I feel like sitting in a spot or to raft up with my sweetheart. FM