fishballer06

For the price the Curado I is being clearanced out on right now, I would go with that. It's a solid reel even at it's original price, and at the clearance pricing, it's a steal. As for the spinning reel, the Shimano Nasci is a great choice.

Back when I had my 71XG, I spooled it with 50lb. braid and fished frogs with it. It handled them just fine, however, it would bomb a frog out there so far that I'd be down to my last 5-10 yards of line left on the spool. So had I gotten bit upon splash down, I would have been screwed.

You definitely need a 4 power. A 5 power wouldn't hurt either if you're throwing around 7/8oz. most of the time.

I wasn't aware they were that short on marshalls today. I saw Ott Defoe posted on FB that he had no marshall. That's over 25% of the field not having a marshall with them.

They're making people who aren't actual employee's take their orders from their vendors? Doesn't sound like a smart idea to me.

Todd Faircloth had 0-0 all day on BassTrak, and he went and weighed in over 21 pounds.

I was so close to picking Martens, and he's having an awesome event so far. On the plus side, my D bucket pick (Pipkens) has 17 pounds today.

Fish them the same as you do in the spring and fall. They're great over the top of weeds or around the edges.

Different trailers will make the bait rise up more too.

It sounds simple, but there's more than just pushing everything back a day involved. Permits with the local DNR, manpower, insurance, etc. all have to be in line in order to allow fishing an extra day.

Now I know my winning weight guess is going to be way off. Edit - Just checked the website. They re-opened the rosters. You can still edit your picks for the next 18 hours.

Like Blue said, killer shakeyhead bait. Very productive for me.

Put them on a swim jig or spinnerbait. Let them work their magic.

Great Lakes guys, what are your favorite goby style baits for smallmouth?

I throw a 1/4oz Baby 1- on a Chronarch MGL with an Avid 7' Medium Fast action and 13lb. Sunline Defier and it launches it like a rat-l-trap. Like WRB said, the 852 has an extra fast tip, so it's not an ideal action, but I suppose it would work in a pinch. Seeing that you're using an NRX paired with an Aldebaran, you're probably a guy who prefers to have the right tool for the job.

It looks like a Rage Menace to me, but perhaps the pinchers aren't pulled apart or it's just an odd camera angle. That's a fisheye lens, so those have a tendency to distort perception.

The worms you refer to are only $7.49 on TW and they're just a Yamamoto worm that Daiwa has had their name slapped on it. Daiwa is not manufacturing plastics.

A fishes strike zone can vary upon mood and water clarity. If the fish are active, they might swim 10-20 feet to bite something. Other times, they might only move a foot. Water clarity is another factor too. In dirty water, a fish isn't going to swim 15 feet to something that it can't see, so you'll have to put it right by their nose.

A swim jig with a Rage Menace grub on the back has been a hot bait for me this summer. I like using the swim jig on pressured waters where the fish see lots of flashy (spinnerbait) or hard thumping (chatterbait) lures all the time. It's a much more subtle presentation. Great thing about a swim jig is fishing it around isolated large clumps of grass. I can flip it into a mat, hop it once or twice, then pull it out and swim it around the edges of the mat. You'll catch fish both ways doing this.

I watched his video's, but I discredited everything whenever he used an Ugly Stick rod to test a Metanium...

I've got a tournament on Erie this weekend so I stopped by my local F&S. Does anyone know if these are good baits for smallmouth?

I've been fishing the Neko rig a bunch this year and it has produced. The chicken rig is nearly the same other than how the hook is setup. I see no reason why it wouldn't work.

Such is the fishing market. Everyone gets their slice of the pie every once and a while.

No clue what it is, but if you want a quality buzzbait, then you want a Cavitron.