spencer12

Hello everyone, back in late March I purchased a Daiwa Tatula rod from tacklewarehouse. It's my main rod I use 50-75% of the time while on the water. Anyways yesterday morning on the third cast of the day I got my jig hung up in some cover, no biggie. So as I've done a million times before I trolled over to my jig, and reeled all the way down to it and popped it out. When I went to straighten out my jig trailer I noticed that the tip line guide had snapped off cleanly. This ruined my whole trip as I only had 4 rods with me, 2 being cranking rods. So my question is who do I need to send it back to to have it repaired/replaced? Should I contact tacklewarehouse, or Daiwa directly? Is this covered under Daiwas 5 year warranty on this particular rod? Suggestions please. Also I have no intentions of even attempting to repair this myself.

Very informative guys. AJ also feel free to share all you want about that rig you use I like it.

What head shape would be best for this? An arkie, round, football?

Actually a great idea. I never thought of that thanks for this info. I will have to give this a try. I guess what I really want is a jig that I can fish in and around wood, logs, trees etc.

Hello everyone, I need someone to offer me some advice on which jig (or jig head style) I need for what I intend to do with it. This year I've really upped my game on fishing with jigs. I no longer just flip and pitch them. I've been using them in the place of my texas rigged plastic worms. This is my problem. I need a jig I can cast 20-40 yards and fish similar to a texas rig. I need a jig that I can fish through wood and heavy cover as well. This is what gives me the most problems. Casting a jig 20-40 yds into heavy wood or cover and trying to finesse it out. I can not for the life of my find a jig that is intended to do this. I prefer to keep the jig 3/8 oz or lighter. I've been using the Booyah Baby Boo round head jig and it works ok. It's a 5/16 oz which is what I prefer. What type of jig do I need to fish this way? I will fish it just like a tr worm. Dragging it into or through cover. I know a football head is more of a ledge dragger so I haven't tried it in the wood and cover. Do I need a specific style head to accomplish this? What about angle of line tie? I know these factors will all impact how the jig reacts to wood and cover. Opinions?

As posted above, I believe larger fish will stay in a general area while smaller fish will school up and roam around.

I use a baitcaster for all texas rigged worms all the way down to a 1/8 oz weight. (Any lighter and I use a spinning reel) It took a long time to be able to throw a 1/8 oz texas rigged worm with confidence on a baitcaster. First get comfortable casting with the heaviest weight you can get away with. In my opinion a 3/16 is a good in between weight. I see too many people using a weight that is way to heavy. After you've found the reel, have your weights, you need the CORRECT rod. This in my opinion is one of the most important factors. I use a MH/XF, but a good middle ground is a MH/F. If your rod is too stiff your not going to be able to cast correctly, same for to flimsy. Start short. Don't be discouraged if you can only cast 20 yards to begin with. Keep your baitcaster as tight as possible until you feel you have it mastered. Once you become confident, loosen up the dials. Do not try to cast "hard" but let your rod and reel and the weight of the worm cast together. A properly set up reel does not have to be violently whipped forward to get distance. I had that problem when I first started.

If the bite is tough and I have to pick one bait to get a bite it's a no brainer. I go with a texas rigged plastic worm, but not just any plastic worm. It's a small worm (6"). I have probably caught more bass over 6lbs on this little worm than any other bait I own. If you can't get a bite, try going light. A close second (and also would be my #2 for big fish over 6lbs) would be a spinnerbait. But again a worm has caught me more fish than any other lure. I kept a log of my fish catches last year and with over 800+ bass caught I suspect 600 or more were on a worm of some sort.

Hello everyone, I need some help on choosing a rod I will use primarily for punching. I would also like it to be versatile enough to use maybe a frog or a heavy topwater such as a whopper plopper or a full body swimbait. I would like a rod that covers the 1-(maybe 3 oz) range. I don't want to spend over $150 for the rod as it won't be an every trip type rod. I want something in the 7' 3"-7'6" range I believe. I fish out of a 14ft flat bottom jon that is setup like a bass boat without the deck. I think any longer than this and I will run into some issues with flipping. I also prefer something that doesn't feel like I'm holding an iron rod. (Need a lightweight setup) I went to a lake that is covered in good punching grass Monday. I punched for maybe 3 hours on my current setup (which is nowhere near what I need) and my forearm is feeling it. I currently have a cheap walmart rod that is a 7 ft heavy action, but it weighs a ton and it is a bit short. All of my other rods and reels are higher quality. I have seriously neglected my heavy cover arsenal and need an upgrade.

Has anyone used the PowerPro Slick 8 braid? I like the brown braid they have as it matches the water color a little better around my areas as opposed to the dark green. I fish a lot of grassy lakes and usually when it's time to get out the punching gear and frog rods the grass is a greenish brown color. I feel like this color would blend a little better. I've heard good and bad, however I do not hear a lot about it or see anyone using it so it may not be the best. Just curious if anyone has any info.

I heard a guy talking about a small pond I've fished before. The pond is maybe 5-6 acres and about 4 of it is covered in grass. Apparently this man has been slaying them there. He caught something like ( I can't remember exactly) 12 fish over 10 lbs in two weekends out there. Few people have caught a true 10lber before, including myself. This guy caught a dozen of them in two weekends.

I fish a lot of public access areas. Mainly small lakes 1000 acres or less. Here are some of my biggest gripes. 1. Showing up to a 100 acre lake at 5:30 (First person there) in the morning launch the boat and get a good hour of fishing before I see 12 boats heading my way. This may not seem like many but on 100 acres it is. 2. The "fishermen" who set up shop on, or right beside the landing. I mean chair, cooler, 106 rods with bobbers the size of softballs. I have no problem waiting for them to move their stuff, I load or unload at my own speed. They usually get the point. 3. Watching the same type of fishermen as mentioned above throw every single bass they catch regardless of the 14 inch minimum into their 5 gallon. 4. Trash everywhere. I watched from a distance once as a family catfishes near the dam of a lake I was fishing. Right before they left they threw all of their worm containers, liver tubs, and trash bags to the edge of the water. Classy people. 5. And last but not least, the bird dogger. This guy usually has a $75,000 bass boat and can be seen at any local lake near you. This guy knows who to follow to catch fish. He usually shows back up the next weekend and sets up shop on your offshore shellbed it took you years to find, and wouldn't you know he will be throwing the exact same lures you were. He will also avoid eye contact at all costs. But honestly, I've been fishing around this for so long it doesn't bother me. I used to get upset or aggravated but now I just smile and fish on. My time on the water is to short to fret on all the googans.

Forgot about this old thread. Some great responses in here.

Now that we're in the dead of summer I'm hesitant to return to this lake. I feel as if these shallow cypress lakes peak around March and April and begin to get tougher and tougher as the water warms.

I caught my first bass over 8lbs 6oz. this year which was my previous best. I caught a 9lb 2 oz. largemouth a few weeks ago around the middle of June. When she came up I knew for sure she was going to bust the 10lb mark. I came up just a bit short but I'm still impressed. The lake I caught her in is pretty small and gets fished heavily. If she would have still been in her fat stage from the pre-spawn/spawn I know she would have went over 10. The base of her tail was thicker than any fish I've ever seen. The thickness of the fish is what amazed me. I couldn't imagine seeing what a 15+ would look like.

That's how this lake is. Although, I have seen a few 10+ pounders caught here it's just brutal to fish.

Lake Lanier in Georgia is a great spotted bass fishery. Some of Georgia's mountain lakes have both species but to my knowledge the spotted bass have wrecked havoc on our native bass. I'd say your best bet for a trophy of both species in the same lake would probably be in a Tennessee or North Alabama lake. However I don't know the best locations for them.

Great info everyone.

Bartrams bass, redeye bass maybe?

Good Info. I actually fished Banks with my Dad when I was very young. I may go down again one day. Do you fish there often?

Thanks for the info. This lake was actually dammed up over 100 years ago so hopefully someone along the way decided to do some mapping and provide it to the public. I'll have to do some more digging.

Forgot about this thread and figured I would do a folllow up. I purchased The Tatula about a month or two ago and so far I've caught around 100 bass on it including my new personal best, 9lb. 2 oz bass. I found the rod is incredibly lightweight and very aesthetically appealing. The rod blank is not smooth it has little grooves in it and isn't smooth to the touch. However, I really like the way it looks. I fished this rod with nothing but texas rigged plastics. Specifically 6" curly tail worms, with 3/16 to 1/8 oz. tungsten weights with 2/0 Gamakatsu G-Lock worm hooks. Now to the performance. I found the tip to be just the perfect blend of x-fast to be the ultimate worming rod. I prefer the stiffer tip when worm fishing as I find I hang up less. When setting the hook you can immediately feel the power in the blank. Some MH rods have some give, and can feel a bit mushy on the hookset. this one does not which I love. When you set the hook you immediately take control of the fish which is another preference of mine when worming. I fish this rod with a *** *** reel paired with 14lb Seaguar red label flourocarbon. I also purchased a *** Fate Black same action, power, length, and lure weight recommendation. (7' 1" MH/XF 1/4-1oz weight) and fished them side by side with the exact same setups. The tatula stood out above the 13 but it is $50 more. Again, though the overall weight difference between the Tatula and the Fate Black was very noticeable. Another plus is I got a Free HUK performance fishing shirt when I purchased the Tatula from Tackle Warehouse. Sorry for the late response and long reply, just figured I would let everyone know how I feel about the Tatula. If anyone is considering getting one rest assured they're good rods.

Thanks for the info guys. I also would like to find a contour map but my searches yielded no results, however I did find some interesting shocking data provided by the GADNR. Does anyone know where I can find a contour map?

Hello everyone, I recently fished a new lake that proved to be quite the challenge. This lake is about 800 surface areas of tannin stained black water cypress swamp. The lake averages about 5 feet deep and the deepest area I found was in the channel at about 8-9 feet. This lake is littered with hundreds upon hundreds of cypress trees and 90% of the lake is covered in either coontail or hydrilla, 100 year old cut cypress stumps litter the area, as well as other stumps, logs and the likes. The lake has a million things to cast to and little to no contour. I fished for about 4 hours and managed 4 fish. The first came on a senko, and the next three were all caught on a spinnerbait just above the grass. I caught all of these fish with a 75x75 yd stretch and that was it. I fished maybe 1/4 of the lake and never found another bite. So where do I start? Everything looks the same, there are 2.3 million (Joking, but there probably is closer to a thousand) cypress trees, basically the entire lake buried in thick grass, bordered by fields and fields of lillies. I looked for those "different" areas but found 0. Apparently the gators have the best spots to themselves. I know there are good fish here but this lake is tough. However I feel that living where I do, in south Ga. learning to fish these swamp lakes would benefit me. Most of the lakes around me are similiar to this one, however I am not comfortable fishing these types of lakes. Help, tips, pointers?

Hello everyone, I have a few questions about man made "Brush Piles". There is a private 110 +/- acre lake that I fish that I would like to add some cover to ( I have permission). The lake is super clean and has a nice sandy bottom, no moss or grass and few lily pads. The lake tops out at about 14-15 feet at it's deepest areas and contains a decent amount of structure, humps, Drop offs, small ledges etc. There are several large brush piles already in the lake (about 6). However I feel as if they aren't in the greatest locations but I do catch fish off of them. Here are my questions what should I use as "brush" and how do I sink it? There are a ton of shad in this lake that get stocked regularly, and I believe to some degree these bass roam around with the shad. There is a section of the lake that is basically a gently sloping flat in 10-12 foot of water but it is basically no man's land. No cover, structure, stumps etc. Do you think if I drop some brush in this area of the lake I could possibly have some new fish holding locations? I would want to keep the piles as compact as possible. Suggestions, tips, advice?