FishTank

Seaguar Gold Label or Grand Max. Another good one is Daiwa Saltiga Xlink. I tend to like 10lb for most applications.

I was getting ready to place an order myself but I might hold off. I emailed a few sites including JLS. We will see. If I can get it in time, I am going to stock up (baits, lures, line and terminal) and be done with it. Most of the stuff I am after is about half the cost of what is here. That's a lot of nickels.

My routine, Spunk Shad (pin tail style) in warm water and Zakos in cold water. The Chatter Spike is the go between. Dirty water or if I want to run it in straight over something, I go with a fat paddle tail.

Interesting. Never used a craw for a bladed jig trailer. Personal favorites are..... the Spunk Shad, Zako, Chatter Spike, and Keitech Swing Impact Fat. OSP also has two great trailers... the Dolive Stick and the Action Trailer.

I have been using it since last year and in the grand scheme of things, I like to think I am still figuring it out which is why I said "starting to like". So reasons I like it..... 1. It's soft like Invizx but tough like Tatsu. 2. Casting with it is excellent. 3. It has the right amount of stretch. To me Tatsu has some stretch but R18 works great for crankbaits and it's not as stretchy as mono. 4. The 6lb to 10lb I have tried seems to be geared/formulated towards finesse fishing and crankbaits The 12lb to 16lb I have used seems to be geared towards jigs and worms. I have noticed this with Sunline Shooter as well. 5. Knot strength is really good. 6. Makes for excellent leader material. I had about 20 yards of 10lb left over and used it for leader just to see how it holds up. I actually like it just as well as Seaguar Gold Label. It binds really well to braid. Downsides.... 1. The 6lb I used on my BFS gear is not strong as Sunline Invizible. 2. If you backlash, Tatsu recovers better.

It seems to cast better. It seems like it's made to be something in between Invizx and Tatsu. Like you get the best of both worlds.

I tried it in 6, 10, 12, and 14lb in the clear version. All had the same issues. I tried 12 and 14lb in the green. It fished totally different for me. On a side note, with all that said, I like Sunline Invisible better than J-Fluoro Hidden Concept and I'm starting to like R18 LTD better than Tatsu.

I've tried multiple spools of clear J-Fluoro and didn't care for it. It didn't last and I kept getting break offs in random places. It also stiffened up over time (a few months maybe). On the other hand, J-Fluoro Hidden Concept was great. It was a totally different line to me. It casted well and held up for a whole season. I ordered all of what I used from The Hook Up Tackle at the same time.

Is it great line? Yes. Is it worth the $50 they are charging? Probably not but if you can catch it on sale, then it might be worth it depending on what you get out of it. For me, I can get multiple seasons out of Tatsu. I just changed a reel that had it on there for 3 years and it would still be on there if I hadn't hit a tree over my head on a cast and backlashed it all the way down to the spool. With other lines, like Invizx, I might get one season in before its time to change it. For most mono lines, I might get 1 month or less out it. So for me, using Tatsu is worth it simply because its great line and I'm not wasting time and money change it out.

Check out the BKK Titan Rider and Titan Diver. I don't have a massive amount of time with them but when I have used them, they worked great. Another I like is the Hayabusa Tornados. These have a thinner wire and they pull through swimbaits pretty easy but don't rip them as bad as a thick wire hook.

This is the time of the year, for me, where fish seem to get stupid and lazy. The water is hot (90+ degrees) and the pleasure boaters have churned up the water and turned it chocolate. So fish seem to hit baits weird. I tend to foul hook more fish this time of year than any other time. It's not uncommon for me to fish a crankbait or jerkbait and end up hooking the fish in the middle of the body, nowhere near the mouth. When they start doing this, fishing a fluke style bait can be challenging. I tend to use an open hook lightweight jig head (1/8oz or smaller) instead of an EWG. Hook ups are better and fish seem to strike it hard if they decide to chase it.

Maybe....I recently chased something like this on an older Daiwa Steez SV. I would turn the handle and it would have this click feeling to it. I cleaned it. I replaced the spool bearings and support bearings (not the AR bearing though) and it still remained. I then tried turning the main gear without the handle on and no tick. It ended up having two bad bearings in the handle, one in each knob. Also, check bearing BNT3927, both of them.

There are a lot of good quality hooks now a days. I've used Gamakatsu, Owner, Berkley, Trokar, Zapu, Fina, BKK and Ryugi. They all are good in their own way. I have struggled to like Mustad overall but I do like their flipping hooks. The one that gets me is the Gold Eagle Claws that my fishing buddy uses . They bend, rust and just flat loose fish. I finally got tired of seeing him struggle so I bought him a box of the BPS version and so far so good. On a side note, I'm sort of picky about my hooks these days but as a kid I could care less. I think I had a silver and black Rapala Floating Minnow tied to a rod for most of my childhood. The hooks were rusted red and were as dull as a butter knife but that lure could catch fish anytime and anywhere dispite the god awful hooks.

I've got an easy system. Its sort of like my wife's laundry. I divide my lures in to three piles after using them and tying something new on. 1. Nice. I tried it once and now its dead to me. 2. Its fun and works but I might not buy it again. 3. I works great. I will keep using and restocking it.

I have the same pet peeve with slow drivers on the Indianapolis highways. I tend to see an accident caused by it every day. The posted speed limit in my area is 65mph on 465. There are people going 45-55 in the right hand lane. This causes traffic to back up, no one can merge into the interstate and then that's when the daily accidents occur. Its actually rare to see someone speeding that causes an accident these days. Its sort of like the last lap of a NASCAR race. I guess the old saying is true, "Its easier to hit a slow moving target than a fast moving one." As fishing pet peeves go.... Wake board boats, boats going flat out next the bank sometimes inside the buoys, and people that cut their line when they get snagged. It's inevitable that I get hung up in someone else's snag and its usually one of two things. Its either 832 or Big Game. I've used both enough over the years to recognize it immediately. It caused me to brake a rod that I've had for 15+ years this weekend, Loomis 803C GLX JWR.

This little attack ninja saved me yesterday while I was kayak fishing. He swooped down out of nowhere and killed a wasp that had been bugging me for hours. It was cool to watch.

I use a slow drag. If you let it sit on my lakes, it will eventually get snagged. So for me, a tungsten cylinder weight is a must usually 1/4oz. I also use left over fluorocarbon to tie on my weights and I like braid to leader. Down side to this technique is getting hung up or breaking off. Even though I pre-tie my weights, I hate setting up a new hook and weight. My favorite bait is still a Berkley Max Scent Flat Worm. It is effective though. I caught three on it while kayak fishing yesterday.

Each type of line has its own benefits. I think people try to make it to be like a specific motor oil for their car rather than a specific tool for the job. For me on baitcasters, I only use mono for some specific topwater and big swimbaits/crankbaits, straight braid for heavy vegetation and frogs, fluorocarbon for everything else (with exception of flipping on heavy braid to leader), and braid to leader on spinning. I have found braid easier to manage on spinning gear but dislike it by itself. I also use braid to leader and fluorocarbon on specific BFS setups for same reasons above. On a side note, most of the lakes I fish have a heavy amount of wood on the bottom. Straight braid is a nightmare in these conditions. Most braids act like a saw that gets caught in bark and branches. Fluorocarbon helps but it's not a complete cure. This is what I have learned to use for my lakes. Yours may be different.

I have worked a lot of reels over the years but I have never seen an extra washer, installed at the factory, on the crank shaft that was not on the schematic. Also, they are different types of washer which seems weird. It does say optional but two optional parts that are not the same when the schematic only has one, also odd. But with that said, I wouldn't think it would cause the OP problem. Something else is going on. Without seeing it, it may be hard to pinpoint. If it operates smoothly when the drag isn't fully locked down, there has to be something binding it up. The only time I have seen this was on a Lew's Super Duty. The guy I cleaned the reel for liked to lock his drag down so tight the washers would bend and have creases in them. I cleaned it, replaced the drag washers and crush washers (they were flat). That seemed to fix it but I was skeptical as I didn't think that would be what the issue was. The guy was happy with it so I moved on.

My eyesight is getting a little bad these days but is there an extra washer below the crush washers. I don't see it in the schematics. Also, I have taken one or two of these apart and from what I remember it was not fun.

I have been using Machine Gun Cast. It's pretty good. No issues but I really haven't found anything that has been as good as Armilo.

Raid Egu Dama Level and Cover. I throw from 2.7g up to 7.0g. My favorite trailers.... Great Lakes Finesse Snack Craw and Valley Hill Devil Shaker.

I went out to one of my favorite lakes on Sunday from 9am - 4pm. 9am to noon was great. I caught 4 good keepers and a few small ones. After noon, it was brutal. It was like a being in an oven. Even the shade spots I fish were hot and someways hotter. The water temp was 92 degrees in the shady coves and 88 degrees on the main lake. I thought I could take it but it was just too much. I spent the rest of the day cooling off.

I had the same issues with them years ago. I lost all faith in them. Plus, I really didn't catch that many fish with this bait.

Those CPS springs are awesome. I use them for drop shotting fuzzy dice baits and whatever else I can think of. Maybe find the hook you like and go that route. For me I like the 5/0 Ryugi Infini but for really thick baits, I use the Owner Wide Gap Plus.