bhoff

Just by nature, the spinning gear should be able to cast much farther. This is because the angular momentum of the spool can only get so high along with the inherent drag when dealing with rotating mass. Whereas the spinning setup only has the increased line slap because of the spool design to overcome when casting. The reason you might see pros bombing lures with a casting setup versus a spinning setup is because of lure weight. If you think about it, you only use spinning gear when trying to finesse fish and you size down your tackle accordingly. You don't see pros out there punching mats with a spinning rod, likewise you don't see pros throwing 1\16 ounce jigs on casting setups.

With frog fishing its important to let the fish fully engulf the lure before setting the hook. I usually wait a good second before cracking them. Also if hookups using that technique doesn't improve, you could try bending the hooks out (slightly) and see what that does.

I don't agree with people that buy things just to have, that idea is just silly. Honestly, that is why so many people struggle with debt and paying off credit cards in the US and its sad. There is no reason to buy a new year model of product x each time one is put out. Especially not with rods or reels. Until materials such as graphene can be mass produced I doubt there will be any significant advancements in rod technology. As far as electronics the same applies, the law of diminishing returns proves this. I ride for my schools cycling team and see the same thing all the time. There are people with more expensive wheels than my entire bike yet I can still drop them. The bike doesn't make the cyclist, similarly, the tackle/electronics doesn't make the angler.

With a soft bottom, this could mean there is grass. Along with the low visibility possibly try ripping rattle traps off the grass bottom or a spinnerbait\chatterbait on the top of the grass, granted this is assuming there is grasss. The low visibility combined with the lower water temperature means that a reaction type bite could be key. I don't feel as if jigs would be all that logical of a choice because of the muddy bottom, but hey who knows. You could even try throwing a deep diving crank or a dropshot with a longer leader.

This is probably knit-picking here but would it be possible to put all the pinned posts for a forum category in a folder titled "Pinned Posts" for each respective forum? This probably doesn't apply to a few forums on this website but at least on the General thread it would be nice. The pinned posts here take up nearly half the first page...

I usually just go with PowerPro because it's able to be found in almost any store. That being said, I was in the tackle store recently and saw some Daiwa J-Braid 8X and decided to give it a shot. So far nothing to complain about. Also its a lot quieter going through the guides than standard PP because of the 8 woven strands versus standard PP which is < 8. I've heard some people having problems with abrasion on higher thread count braids but so far so good.

I usually use the 2/0 Gamakatsu Octopus Hook but the last time I headed out to buy some tackle I couldn't find any. Went with the 1/0 because that was all they had and managed to land a 4.5lb off the bank without any bending of the hook. Also to whoever mentioned gut hooking fish with circle hooks - I thought that was exactly the reason they made circle hooks, to avoid this. Aren't they designed like that to do a reel set and hook the fish in the corner of the mouth more often?

Just because of the nature of two piece rods they will be less sensitive and be slightly heavier for the same action of rod because of the reinforced connection points. With that being said, I have never broken a rod bass fishing nor have I felt that I was ever on the cusp of doing so either. Also the difference in sensitivity would probably be quite nominal, maybe only at the highest end of rod blanks would you begin to be able to detect a difference.

Granted this is just my opinion, but I think Lews has this price range pretty nailed down. I haven't bought a reel in a few years but I have two Lews from around that price range and they definitely punch above their price category imo. The Speed Spool LFS is probably their best seller and it can be found pretty much everywhere for $99.99. I have also heard great things about the Shimano Casitas ($99.99 on TW).

Wacky rigs and shakey heads are pretty much my go to. I mainly use yum dingers because of the price of Yamamoto baits and Power Team Lures 7" Finicky Tickler for shakey heads.

I really only use tungsten when fishing thick grass or heavy cover and need the extra weight. Only start using it at one ounce and above, otherwise, its lead for me

That or the fact I'm selling offshore reels on a bass fishing forum... And that was mainly hypothetical.

I'm sure this is posted somewhere in the multiple pinned posts at the top of the sub thread, but for the life of me I can't find anything on it. This being, if there is no bumping, what do you do to your post after a week or two and it stops getting any attention? Are you allowed to repost after a certain amount of time? Any help would be great. Thanks.

Chatterbait or spinnerbait with colorado blades would be my best guess, given the fact that there is low visibility and grass.

If you are really wanting to catch a bedding fish then I would say just be patient and persistent. Sometimes I have luck with just casting to the bed so many times the fish eventually gets fed up with it and strikes.

You could try loading the rod tip up a little before setting the hook. I feel like you may be basically punching the fishes mouth open from the inside with the top of the bait/weight. Other than that maybe try using a larger hook as this would also help with the hookup ratio to a certain point.

I am in a similar situation right now in the waters I fish nearby. The fish are bedding and instead of taking the bait down they like to bite/nibble it and then spit the bait out immediately. I figured it's because they are just trying to protect the nest, but it makes it incredibly difficult and annoying to hook a fish properly. I can't just set the hook per normal as soon as I feel the fish bite down, by then the bait will be out of their mouth. I've basically just resorted to letting the fish take the bait for a couple of seconds, but not too long. Too long and you are almost guaranteeing yourself a gut hook. I guess what I'm getting at here is that you just need to figure out the bass' behavior and adapt to it.

I'm in the same boat as you. I've been crushing bass in the local lakes and ponds using a PTL 7" Tickler on a 1/4 oz shakey head as well as with stickbaits. I've had times where I was able to catch 3 fish in 5 casts just casting to the edge of the water and pumping the bait. This time of year is sure fun.

You could probably find an OG Daiwa Zillion pretty easily for this price.

Dobyns Champion, St Croix Legend Tournament, Kistler Helium 3, *** *** Black and I've also heard that the Daiwa Zillion rods are very nice.

What about MajorCraft ,is there any seller here in the US for them? I was looking at the Nanoace at TW, does anyone have any experience with that rod here?

Im looking into getting a JDM rod and was wondering where a good place to buy one is. I figured that buying them directly may be very expensive because of shipping costs and wanted to know if there were any places in the US that sold JDM rods for a reasonable price.

I would have to say that the Savvy is not renowned as the most sensitive rod but does have certain things going for it (Balance, action, warranty etc.). If you could find a Champion 735 for less than $200 on the flea market or Ebay, that rod is a huge step up from the Savvy and is a very good rod for jigs and frogs.

I personally use a Dobyns Champion 735C. I've found that it is also great for jig fishing in heavy cover or just throwing heavier jigs in general. If you look around you could find one for less than $200, you may even be able to find one of the flea market if you get lucky.

You wont go wrong with either of the two rods, this price-point is so competitive that almost all rods are great for the money. I just looked to make sure, but Irod does offer a lifetime warranty as does Dobyns. I don't have experience with Irod but I do own 3 champions and can say that they are great.