DCales84

I have two of the second most recent accurist casting reels and they have been solid so far. Have caught snakeheads, catfish, bass, and many other species without any issues. The only thing that I dislike about Quantums are the overall size as I have small hands. The newer models are smaller overall and I've handled them in person many times. The kinetic reels are good performers and I've had one of those too. Again they are bigger reels and if you keep an eye out I've seen them for 50 plus shipping on the evil auction site.

Anybody try these on a swinging football jig with light wire hook? Pretty sure the TRD's from ZMan will float a light hook.

VMC brand hooks have the eyelets closed with resin. the powder coating is not in question. Have been using VMC ewg hooks with the longer shank with great success esp with bigger plastics such as craws, creatures, and 10" worms. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/VMC_X_Long_Wide_Gap_Hooks/descpage-VMCXLWG.html?from=basres

Hey guys I'm looking to bake some swinging jigs with VMC hooks that have the hook eyelet resin closed. Any idea what temp the resin may be able to withstand? The only thing I can think of is trial and error at this point but would like to see if anybody has suggestions. Thnx

It's all about covering water... Ive noticed this for awhile as well. Timmy Horton deep cranks with a 6.4:1 lews on his shows often and he's tossing Azuma 20'+ divers without issues.

If your set on buying one make sure to check out the auction sites. They can be had under $100 if you look around. As always its a good idea to handle one in person before buying to make sure its a good its comfortable.

You could get in on the Berkley Havoc sale at TW and get some subwoofers or grass pigs at a great price. The only person that I've met here in VA that uses that rig runs Zoom grubs and swimming flukes in shad patterns. May want to mix one lure in that's a different color as well to give them something to key in on.

I have three different Bucoo models at this time and really enjoy them. I was able to find all three at a deep discount which is the only reason why I bought them. The MH 7' Trap Caster model has been able to handle just about anything so far and has a moderate action. I would imagine that the 7' Med Moderate would work well for a wide variety of lures. It may not be best suited for deep divers but square bills and moderate diving baits should do well. Also if you plan on using braid with a leader the micro guides are very small and may not be ideal for you.

Bought both spike it and JJ's last year. Both are effective and will dye/scent baits. JJ's in my opinion has a much higher level of "stank". I fish a lot of Zoom and Berkley Havoc plastics that are not scented from the start and both products help me get more strikes. Mega strike is in my box right now but I haven't fished it more than an hour or two as of yet so time will tell. Just keep in mind that spike it and mega strike come in different flavor a so pick accordingly.

I bought two of the jig packages last year each with five colors and it covers all my basic conditions. Pick what head style you prefer and go for it. I have the brush and football heads and have yet to hang any of them up even in the thick stuff. Next on my list are swim jigs in bluegill bream and sunfish patters and possibly a spinner bait or two come spring time.

I bought the river bug kit awhile back and they have caught fish on numerous occasions. I've used them as jig trailers, on a swinging football jig, and texas rigged. The kits offer a wide variety of colors for a good price esp. when they are on sale. My suggestion would be to buy the smaller kit or 1-2 bags of a color that works in your area and rig them on a swinging head to start. Not a lot of action from the claws but they will hold up when fishing heavy cover or rocks from my experience.

Anybody having success with the "bubble" bladed baits made by Sieberts? Have considered adding a few to my next order to try out. Im assuming that the 3/8ths OZ would do well for river smallies.

Mostly use only two rods for kayak fishing as of this year. I have a "sit in" old towne kayak and have been using lightening rod shocks with one being a 7' MH casting and one 7' M spinning. Also have dedicated reels for kayak use as I tend to dunk them often over a years time. If either of these setups are damaged by trees or get dumped over board I wont be too tore up. I have taken my better setups out on few occasions but have found that having a sit in kayak the longer handles such as the ones on Duckett rods are too long and hit the seat in many cases. I also use left hand casting reels and do not switch hands so there's no back and forth between hands after casting and banging the rod into the kayak.

Another vote for the shock... I have a spinning and casting model that I use for kayaking. They have taken a beating and still get the job done.

Buy bulk soft lead from eBay and you will be fine. If you shop around you can find clean lead that's ready to go and not worry about adding anything to the mix. Been fishing home made wacky jigs and swing jigs this year with great results so far. Powdercoating helps some but honestly it doesn't seem to make a difference in my catch. If I remember right I bought 15lbs of lead for about 25$ shipped.

I've been kayaking fishing for several years now and have mostly stuck with using my less expensive setups due to the increased chances of having one dropped in the water. As others have said it's bound to happen.... And for me it happens often. Both of my current kayak setups are Berkley lightning rods. Both are 7' with the casting setup being MH and the spinning setup being M. Be ready to disassemble and clean your reels often and aside from that you should be good to go. I recently bought some lightly used lews casting reels for my kayak setup and have been using a spinning reel that I purchased at a steep discount. All together both setups are way under $200 and they do everything I ask of them.

I've been using the 7' mh ghost for awhile now and if your going to be using baits over 1/2oz you may want to consider the heavy action. As for reels I have mine paired with a lews speed spool ss1hl in 6.4 ratio and it's able to do just about anything I need it to do. Have been impressed with lews reels so far and would buy several more if they had the speed spool models in higher ratio lefty models.

I have a 7' MH ghost and have been tossing 3/8oz jigs and trailers. If your going 1/2oz or up I would highly rec you consider the heavy action. Overall good rods for the money as I have been pleased with both of mine so far.

I picked up some 2/0 trokar tube hooks about a week and and they fit the strike king 3.5" coffee tubes well. Cant confirm the exact fitments for the larger sizes but would imagine a 3/0 would work as well and a 4/0 may be a bit much for the 3.5" strike kings.

I'm not to far from you and I fish the Shenandoah alot during the summer months. I would like to hear feed back as well.

I have two standard casting versions of the Duckett Ghost and both of those feel and perform well. They are very soft in the tip and I would imagine that the cranking models would do well for you as long as you have expectations of them being very parabolic when it comes to the action.

You could also buy a bottle of the powerbait scent and add it to the flukes you already have. The havoc line of baits from berkley are all good baits but I don't think any of them have the powerbait scent added to them. I have not tried the havoc jerk bait as of yet but the pit boss, rocket craw, and craw fatty are great baits at a very good price point esp. when rebates are offered.

I gave Sufix 832 a go last season in 20lb test and it has done well. It casts very well and is strong enough to pull lures free from the occasional snag. I have it on a 30 size Quantum Accurist reel and its tied to the reel with no mono backing. I layered electrical tape before spooling on the braid and haven't had any issues. The only drawback with braid that i've found is when fishing finesse tactics such as a senko or other weightless plastics is that it doesn't sink very well and I'm terrible at tying on leaders.

50lb test will have less dig in esp when your setting the hook hard with the drag locked down. I have two reels that have stealth braid on them and they have done good so far aside from the color bleeding out over time. Have had no break offs and the 30lb test has done very well for me fishing frogs, soft plastic toads, and light to moderate cover. My 30lb line has dug in much less after its been used and soaked up water over time but at first there was more dig than the 50lb test. I offset the dig in by backing the drag down some and that helped out.

I wouldn't disagree one bit here about the fundamentals. For me fishing from my kayak brings a new set of challenges versus my boat deck. As others stated the positioning is often not exactly ideal and after much thought I feel that may have a lot to do with the number of lost fish the other day. Also I currently have a sit in kayak and often find myself smacking the butt of the rod into the side of the kayak or even into myself depending on the situation so even if I wanted to step up to a 7' rod I would have to keep the handle length in consideration. At any rate I appreciate the input so far and look forward to sticking more fish this year on jigs and wish that I would have gave them a try much sooner.