timsford

I havent tried the rage bugs but beaver style baits are very productive for me. My personal favorite is the yum wooly hawgtail and the berkley power hawg is a close second. The reaction innovations sweet beaver and smallie beaver are very good also. I use black and blue in stained water and green pumpkin in clearer water. I use a 3/16 ounce weight 90 percent of the time but go smaller or larger based on water depth. The best advice i can give is to fish slow with plastics. My retrieve consists of mostly shaking or dragging but i always mantain bottom contact. Fish around any cover you can find and take your time picking it apart. If you still cant get bit downsize and try small finesse worms or tubes or the smaller 3 inch creature baits. Rig them texas style and size your hook according to the size bait you are using

Most of the problems with rod breakage are due to the fact that the higher the strain of graphite, the more sensitive the rod but also it is more brittle. Ive only broke a couple of rods and they were all user error on my part.

I hate to admit it but ive fell for a few of these baits. Ive bought flying lures, helicopter lures, banjo minnows, and the mighty bite kit. I knew going in there is no real miracle lure but i thought they might be worth a try. Sad thing is out of all that i never caught a bass on any of them. The only fish i caught on these baits was a gar on a banjo minnow

I always use a few wraps of teflon tape for plumbing or electrical tape and straight braid but i have used some cheap mono for backing in the past. If you go with backing instead of the tape it doesnt take much. I always just reeled on enough so i couldnt see the spool

+1 on the black spinnerbaits, jitterbugs, and power worms. Others you might try are black buzzbaits and jigs. The most popular night bait around my neck of the woods is a black hair jig with pork or plastic trailer

I catch a lot of fish on deep little n's, dd14's and dd22's. they are great for the money. Bandit cranks are also a good cheaper crank. I like lucky crafts but i have a hard time justifying spending that much on one crank when i can buy 3 normans or bandits or strike kings for the same amount of money

Spincast reels work too but the main dislike i have with them is you get line twist just like with spinning gear but you cant see the small loops on the spool and straighten them out before they become a mess. Thats my experience anyway. Also they dont cast as far with the same line and lure weights as a spinning reel because the line is rubbing the exit point on the top as you are casting. I dont see anything wrong with spincast gear if thats what someone prefers using, its just not for me

I haven't used that specific reel but you can use 12 lb test on the size you have. the line ratings are to give you an idea of capacity. If you are worried it might not hold enough you can use braid or a small diameter mono like sunline supernatural

6'10" spinning rod with 2500 size reel. 10 lb trilene xl and 1/8 ounce weight and 1/0 wide gap hook with a small creature bait. My favorite is the 3 inch yum wooly hawgtail in black and blue. I hardly ever get skunked fishing this setup and ive caught 20 lb limits fishing from the back of my cousins boat and he fished from the front with power techniques and never got a bite. O fish it slow and shake it like a shaky head

I had the same problem for the longest time. i could roll cast or pitch with a baitcast reel but couldnt overhand cast without a backlash. It took me a couple years of frustration, a few bulk spools of cheap mono and then i bought some higher end reels and learned how to thumb and now i can cast cheap ones too. The only thing i can suggest is a lot of practice in the yard with cheap line. I used berkley big game on the bulk spool from walmart until i got the hang of it. It just takes practice and patience and now i can outcast my fishing partner who only uses spinning gear.

I just dont get why everyone hates spinning gear. Dont get me wrong i have 4 baitcast setups and love them for anything over 1/4 ounce but any lure under that weight is more easily casted using spinning gear. I also use spinning gear with anything im skipping under docks and trees and i fish a lot of small ponds with overhanging trees and spinning gear is the only way to get any distance on a cast. I know i could buy a high end finesse baitcast setup and get the job done without spinning gear but im on a budget and spinning gear is much more cost effective. i ise a powell deisel spinning rod and a Mitchell avocet gold spinning reel. I paid 54 for the rod on sale and got the reel at a pawn shop for 10 bucks and ive probably caught more fish on this setup since i got it than all my other setups combined. Spinning gear is much more cost effective with smaller baits IMHO

I use spinnerbaits during the summer at night with a big thumper blade. My lakes get a lot of fishing and pleasure boaters and almost everyone is throwing spinnerbaits or cranks. I try to fish mostly at night during the summer but if i do throw one during the day ive caught some really good stringers fishing 1 ounce plus spinnerbaits on deep structure where everyone else throws cranks or carolina rigs

I use 2 crankbait setups. One is a 6'6" medium action with a 6.3:1 reel for anything under 12 foot divers. The other is a 7'11 with a 5.3:1 for fishing deep divers. If i only had one of those i would probably stick with a 6.3:1 reel because the slower reel makes you have to reel way to fast with jerkbaits and squarebills IMO.

I always slow down and pick apart cover during cold front conditions. Sometimes flipping a big jig or plastic with a heavier weight gets a reaction strike when fish arent feeding. The finesse tactics work too but i still stick next to cover. This is usually my last resort though because i feel like i get better quality fish on bigger baits, especially jigs

Id think the verdict would be the more versatile of the three by the length and power ratings but ive never fished any of these particular rods.

try mattlures gill swimbaits. My ten biggest bass(the biggest was 9 lbs) have all been caught on ultimate gills and hardgills) the u2 gill weighs an ounce and can be thrown on most medium heavy and heavy bass rods so u dont have to carry a dedicated swimbait rod in the yak. ive also caught some big ones in ponds at night on 10 inch worms and 3/4 ounce spinnerbaits but nothing like the ones ive caught on bluegill swimbaits

the rtx sounds like a good reel for the money. i think ill probably go with it because i cant find any info on the lews and its a lighter weight reel. Ill mostly be using it for jerkbaits for smallmouth, stripers, and wipers so im a little worried about the frame material but if it breaks at least i wont be out a ton of money. Btw they have this reel for 65 to 75 bucks on the walmart site everyday price. Ive got some pretty good deals there and if anyone is in the market for a new reel they should check there because they have some good deals

Thanks for all the great info guys! I think im gonna go with the fenwick or the *** black. Im gonna try to find both in a tackle shop and see which feels better in hand. Does anyone know how good either companies warranty works? Ive only broke one spinning rod my whole life so it may not matter im just curious if one has a better warranty than the other

Let me know what u think of it when u get it out on the water. I cant find many reviews on it but a 6.6 ounce reel with 13 pounds of drag and enough line capacity for the runs stripers and wipers take when hooked sounds awesome. (ive been looking at the 30 size) i cant find any around here to put my hands on and im a little iffy about ordering sight unseen.

I mostly use baits in the upper end of that range. Does the eyecon have enough backbone to use for weightless soft jerkbaits?

i catch fish on these when nothing else seems to work. Skip under trees or cast around any cover and work them almost like a soft jerkbait. I never let them sink out of sight and worm them as slow as possible

Zoom trick worm in white, chartreuse, or an orangish color called methiolate( i think thats tbe name byt havent found any in a good while). White is by far my mkst productive color though

I akways check the bargain bin at walmart. Ive found great deals on cranks and yum soft plastics and picked up many rapalas for 5 bucks apeice

Green pumpkin stickworm, pumpkinseed straighttail worm in clear water or black ten inch worm at night or when im huntin a hawg

I fish a lot of small ponds as well as a large lake and im trying to find a good shorter rod to throw mattlures ultimate bluegills and u2 gills. I fish from shore and there are a lot of overhanging trees so id like a rod 7ft or shorter if possible. My budget is around 100 as i dont need a super sensktive rod but i can spend a little more if needed. does anyone have any suggestions?