E. Guido Soda

Nah, it's getting harder and harder to help my wife understand why I need so much fishing tackle/gear.

Thanks man, appreciate that. I gotta buy local, though. I have a $100 gift card a local shop...

Looking for a medium powered rod with a super fast taper, and these two seem to fit the bill. Primary application would be plastics, but I would like to use them for the occasional topwater / spinnerbait fishing. I'm not very techy, I go by past experience; I have a GL2 (H/F) that I really like and a St. Croix MBG (M/MF) cranking rod that I really like, as well. I can go either way - what say you? Thx, EGS

Sorry to hit you with so many pics lately, but the bite has been crazy. Mostly spots from 10" - 19" / .75# - 3#, but today I put the first sizeable LMB in the boat in some time now. 20" / 3.85#; great fight on yet another shakey head catch.

Loving the 65* - 70* "winter" days after a rain. Shakey heads are the order of the day; caught 12 - 15 yesterday, with these two being the largest; I guess they are spawning early, based on the belly on the first one. Either way, caught a couple on a spinnerbait; the first one I saw coming at it from five feet - it was awesome. Had a pickerel do the same thing, but thankfully he shook loose - can't stand those things. Caught one on an H20 Xpress 5' - 8' squarebill (those are great cranks, BTW) and the rest on Reaction Innovations Flirt 6.95" in Payback dipped in a ittle chartreuse Spike-It and a 3/8 oz Picasso Shake-e-Football - these things are deadly.

Yep, shakey heads produce great numbers year-round here, too. However as the water has cleared up from the rains, the shakey heads and jigs have proven less effective than the more realistic presentations; got a few short strikes on the jig and the shakey on Friday, but only boated two...on a white X-Rap with a white/red bucktail. I figured that out too late to do any real damage - last cast was a nice one, though:

PLine CXX, 10 - 12lb. I catch tons of fish on square bills and CXX seems to be bomb proof. Though CXX tends to closely match the water color where I fish - you might not get the same results in clear water...

I haven't tried the mono, so I can't comment on that. But if you had repeated breakoffs....something by definition is wrong. Possibly quality control issues, who knows. But I can't say enough good about the spool of 12 lb fluoro I have - still going strong.

Something is wrong there. I understand not liking the performance of Invisx re: too stretchy, or what have you, but like I posted earlier in the thread, I have caught well over 100 LMB's, spots and an 11 lb. striper on the current reel I have spooled with 12 lb. Invisx, and I have not broken off *one single* fish...not one. I tie with a palomar exclusively, which people repeatedly say not use with fluoro. No issues whatsoever.

It was his turn today!

I've seen more than one poster down on Invisx. If y'all don't mind, what is the issue(s) you are having, or have had, with it? I literally have caught maybe 100 or more fish on a spool of 12 lb. and haven 't broken off, I like to think I have a pretty good strike-to-catch ratio, and there is zero memory. Just curious... -EGS

Found a couple of shelves / ledges after some flooding this weekend that has steadily produced some beautiful mid-sized spots. They are loading up on shakey heads, slow-rolled spinners and jigs. I actually went for the cycle the other day - caught one on each rig I brought; crankbait, spinner, shakey head and a jig. Can't say enough about the fight a 2.5 - 4lb spot puts up!

Seaguar Invisx for me, 100%. I have had a spool of 12 lb. on for several months now and have not broken anything off. The line isn't nicked up at all after dragging structure for months, and I am getting great hooksets. It seems to have virtually no memory, either. I do try and put line saver on after each weekend of fishing, so I guess that might help. With all that said, I was testing the line last night and it did break off at the knot with a pretty good tug...but I re-tie each night, or on the water, anyway. It's basically 1/3 of the price of Tatsu...which I would purchase if I felt like Invisx wasn't a high quality product, but as things stand I can't justify it. Along those lines, I have a spool of $8 or $9 Vicious 10 lb. fluoro (from Wal Mart) on another reel which hasn't given me a lick of trouble, either...and I use palomar knots exclusively!

Philo Beddoe?!? Nice! Right turn, Clyde.

Wow - after a few times out, I am extremely impressed with this stick. Side-by-side, it is far more responsive than "value priced" E6X. I needed a heavy power / fast action rod to fill a hole in the quiver, and this one was nails on a flipping jig / Paca Punch craw. Hooksets were sincere. Here are a few from yesterday - not the biggest lot, but some pretty spots and some solid numbers:

Got about 3" of rain the other day, so the bite was _on_ way up in the creek today. Largest spot from the day - caught basically washing a Booyah white/chartreuse spinner with large gold willow and small silver willow + chartreuse Zoom twin tail grub in fairly rapid water.

Not familiar with that thread, but I'm relatively new. Does your buddy have a yak with scupper holes or is it a sit-in unit? I have a sit-on-top with scuppers, but I opted to mount my transducer on an arm rather than through one of the holes. I feel like I have more control in case I run over rocks, etc. The display unit I mount on the gear track on the center console. It's pretty clean, I think.

Around here they bite pretty much the same thing LMB's do, but seem to have a propensity for the chartreuse tailed worms. They kill Zoom Trick Worms - junebug/chartreuse, motor oil/chartreuse, green pumpkin/chartreuse, etc. They also love chartreuse/pepper flake Zoom Lizards. Love the spots - here's a nice Coosa Rover spot from last summer (t-rig junebug/chartreuse trick work IIRC):

Thanks for the heads-up; _Love_ my St. Croix MBG cranking rod. Amen - that was a huge selling point for me. I'm going to pick it up and see how it do. What applications are you using it for?

The only GL I currently own is the "value" Loomis, the E6X - 783C MBR 6'8", MH/EF jig/worm casting rod. And it is a _decent_ rod, but not at all worth the $189 I paid for it; slightly dull, fast enough, but just not very sensitive - I get as much if not more feedback on structure/bumps/strikes from my $99 Duckett Ghost. A local shop is selling their stock of the 6'8" GL2 804C JWR's (H/EF) for $129. I plan to use it for it's intended use - jigs and worms, but also the occasional swimbait. What say you on the $129 tag? I am inclined to buy it because of the price point, but the rood just feels and looks beefy, for lack of a better term. Seems sturdy, well-constructed, and the ergonomics are fantastic. I don't know....maybe it was Utah. Whatcha got? EGS

Zoom for the Trick Worm - I like the Reaction Innovation Flirt Worms, too, but they's crazy expensive Net Bait for the Paca Punch - incredibly durable trailers which mimic crawfish very well Big Bite for the Cane Thumper - great paddle action, pretty good price point, durable as hell YumDingers - Senko style; why buy anything more expensive??

Black Zoom Trick Worm / Picasso 3/8oz Green Pumpkin Tiger Shak-E-Football -> 24" LMB, weight unclear.

Caught this guy in November. He had just inhaled a Bama craw apparently only minutes prior to being caught...

I used to fish spinning reels with crankbaits and swimbaits, but I don't use them anymore unless I need to throw something weighing less than 1/4 oz. My $.02 on Shimano: the Symetre 2500 is a good reel. The Saharas are junk.

They say the Rat-L-Trap kills them at Guntersville...I suppose that's why.