fishwizzard

I bought a Fred's Magic Stick to use as a frog rod, but figured it was a good excuse to give swimbaits a try. A Hudd 68 Special and a Huddgill. I can see why people lube them up with scent, the plastic is very tacky and just reeks of chemicals/paint. Overall they are very underwhelming to see in person, the hook slot seems really tight and I don't see how they will last for more than a couple of fish. My gill even came with a bent and ripped fin; I fixed it with some Mend-It, which did work very well. However, I am excited to try them, I have seen enough videos and read enough praise for them that I have a lot of faith they will work. I have a few smaller ponds that I fish that are both stocked with rainbows and have a large population of bulegills right around the size of the lure. A question though, how do I tie these on? Can I use a oval ring or do I need to tie a loop knot? Also, I was thinking of using 12lb YZH for line, will that work for this presentation?

I was all set to buy a Alphas SV instead of a second sv105, but TW put them on sale for like ~$175 and I could not resist. Still kinda want a Alphas SV though.....

hah, one never knows what the bass will want!

I am mostly a finesse fisherman and got bit by the BFS bug last year. I feel that the sv105 straddles the line between a true BFS reel and a more general purpose reel. There are a lot of light and medium light rods out there, especially if you are willing to buy JDM stuff. I strongly prefer rods under 6'6", which limits my options a lot, but I still find enough options to keep me busy. For me, right now I feel that all hat is keeping me from being able to use a casting reel for all my L and UL needs is lack of skill. My UL trout casting combo casts as well or better then my UL spinning combs, but I have to use 4lb mono with it to keep my self mostly out of trouble and I still have yet to have a spool of line last me more then a few trips. Where as my spinning combos, when loaded with the same 6 and 10lb braid, never give me anymore trouble.

Living by the Chesapeake bay, most of the local kayak fishing scene is all about trolling for striped bass. I enjoy casting and working a lure enough that trolling holds little appeal to me, but then again I don't catch nearly as many fish as the trolling guys. I do usually flip a weedless lure over the side when moving form spot to spot when bass fishing. I rarely catch anything, but get the occasional bass out of it. Some of the larger resivors I fish have some large catfish in them so this year I might try trolling a jighead with a Slimjim rigged like a shakyhead to see if I can catch one.

I have a pair of sv105, they are quickly becoming my favorite reel. One is on a Loomis CR721, which I am going to use for soft plastics 3/8oz and under. I have not had much time with it yet and do have some concerns about hooksetting power, but I am optimistic that anything around senko thickness should work fine. I only have two fish on it so far, the largest being right at 2lb. But it handled him fine and I was even able to work him through some light pads. My second is on a MajorCraft Go Emotion 6'3" ml/rf. I used it through out the fall for jerks, cranks, and some thin soft plastics. It has a few dozen bass under it's belt and a pile of stocker rainbows. Never had to get a fish through cover with it, but it handled a ~20" pickerel with ease. It also casts plugs in the 3/8oz range very well, with 11lb mono I can get the spool half empty with almost no effort.

I feel dumb as hell for never thinking of that. Mind telling me what brand of toothpaste the cap is from? Or are they more less universal? I never really thought about it too hard.

I've done this before, but only a 15 minute drive. My solution was to get a cheap four-part breakdown paddle and keep it always stowed inside the hull.

I am also falling in love with Jigs. This is my first "official" jig fish; Biggest fish I have ever gotten from this pond.

Very interesting. I have a Ray's spool for a PX68 that I am liking more and more. I am looking for a budget reel for a travel rod and an older Tatulas with a SV-like spool looks like it would be a good fit. What rod do you have it on? The lightest lure I would be looking to throw would be around 1/4oz.

I'm out of town for work and ordered a new curtain rod for a very large picture window we have. I just got a text from my wife with a picture of the tube it shipped in and some snarky comments about being "bad with money". I think I'm sort of obligated to buy a new rod at this point.

This is my goto for finesse casting and spinning, but I am giving 8lb Seguar Finesse floro at try for the time being. After all, how can I really learn to hate floro without fishing it?

A "traditional" Ned rig weigh since right around 3/16oz. So about half of the lower end of the rod's rating. The other rigs you mention should all fall much closer to 3/8. It's bizarre and kinda troubling that no one at Phenix can give you a straight awnser about the rating, I would pass on it just for that. I do have a Phenix finesse casting rod that I do like a lot, but it is marked 1/16 - 3/8.

Cool, thanks for the info. I think I'm going to focus on peacocks and largemouth tomorrow. The depth of the canal threw me off today and I was fighting with the landscaping crew who's freshly cut grass kept fouling my crank baits. Tomorrow I'm gonna try to get some peacocks on cranks on my walk out and switch to a ribbon tailed worm dragged along the bottom on the walk back for largemouth.

Oh man I know. Only been here since Monday and I've had two of them so far. I think I've had roast pork with about every meal so far. I have to do a lot of bank walking in the next two weeks to burn all of this off.

Thanks! The orange guys were everywhere right up on the rocks. There was always a smaller speckled one like I caught and a much larger pure orange one. I assume they were guarding beds? They would charge lure but not strike it, the one I caught snagged himself on my crank.

I want to say one of the G Loomis rods from their spinnerbait lime has a similarly tight rating.

Well, didn't make it out fishing during my first trip, but I am back in Miami again and hit Coral Reef Park. It was insane, far deeper then I expected and so many fish, it was hard to focus. Got out my first peacock; amd caught two mystery fish; Can someone ID them for me? I also caught a bunch of small LBMs on 4" senkos. I am headed back tomorow armed with some ribbon tailed worms and a silver lipless crank, I really want to catch a nice bass while I am down here.

Guys I caught a really weird bass: I'm in Miami for work but had some time today. Hit a canal and caught this guy and a pile of small LBMs. I hope there is still some action at home, I have the next two weeks off and want to do nothing but fish.

Nice! For some reason I have never fished any of the Columbia Lakes, other than maybe an hour or so at Centennial. Cleary I need to remedy that.

Yeah, with all the high-quality lines out there to choose from, the one that marks the halfway or even a quarter points would absolutely tip my purchases in it's direction.

These things are great as a general finesse plastic. I fish the 3.5" ones on 1/16oz shakyhead Jigs using the MWF retrieves and weightless on like 2/0 woke hook fished like a fluke. They are surprisingly durable for how soft they are.

The advice I was given here I was struggling to learn a baitcaster was to spooled up with 8 pound YoZori Hybrid. It casts easily, is pretty strong, and is cheap enough that the backlashes hurt a lot less.

I use Megastrike when I'm fishing jigs or using elaztech plastics that will hold the sent. I would use it a lot more if they offered it in a fliptop tube, like toothpaste.

The sv105 or the JDM version are pretty easy find for around $200 online right now.