fishwizzard

I have gotten a few custom spinning rods from a local builder and he is all about spiral wraps for casting rods. I might get him to build me a BFS rod this summer and let him spiral wrap it. I figure worst case I can have him remove the guides and replaces with conventional ones if I really hate it. Will I see much if any benefit if my max lure weight is around 5/16oz?

I want to post my rod/reel collection but every time I try to take good pictures they come out awful. I think I need to wait for a nice sunny day, but then why spend it indoors? In any case I am kinda shocked at what I have accumulated in three short years and I should get some pictures for my insurance in any case.

What hooks do you use? I picked up a pack but have not found a hook among my collection that I love.

I finally got to fish the new heads and I am not a fan. The keeper seems somehow worse than the Zman one and the #1 hook is just too big and rolls over and snags very often. I had a mix of Zman, the New, and some Gopher heads and fished them all in the same pond. The New heads would snag far more often and would break off rather than pull out like the other heads would. They also seemed to get hit less but I don't have any real numbers to back that up and was not fishing uniform colors across the different heads. I would try them again if someone offers them with a smaller hook but I am not getting anymore of the #1 sized ones.

6' ML spinning rod, CI4+ 1000 reel, 15lb braid w/ 6 or 8lb floro leader. I know this would limit me a lot but I prefer wading streams to fishing big water and would rather go for numbers rather then size most days in any case. For lures, it would be tough to pick; 1) Ned rig made from a half zlinker and a Gopher #2 1/16oz head. 2) Zoom Super Fluke on a 3/0 SkipGap hook 3) 1/6oz RoosterTail inline spinner

I also fish shallow weedy spots and it works far better if you use the lightest and smallest-hooked jighead you can find. The Zman 1/20oz ones are good as are the Gopher 1/16th with #4-6 hooks. If I am going to be throwing it around wood I use a weedless head like a Owner Ultra or Decoy Nailbomb.

Hook sets are free unless you set your lure into a branch underwater.

I bought a small pile of them in December and have been fishing them sense then. I really like them compared to the Zman ones, I find they start up more reliably and homestly the split ring attatching the blade to body seems to make them a bit more durable/repairable when one accidenty slams them into a dock or standing tree.

What A-Jay posted is my experence as well. I tied to use the Freedoms on the same MH rod I fish normal chatterbaits on and had hookset issues and found the lures were far far heavier than their listed weights.

I have a CI4+ 1000 I picked up this winter. I only have maybe 16-20 hours fishing it so far, but really like it. Beyond the obvious lightweight, it is very smooth to work and the stock drag is very easy to dial in. I am going to piggyback on with question of my own. I have been using 8lb Seaguar Finesse on my Ci4+ and was really like it a lot. Then I had to pull a few snags out one day and it seemed like every time I had to break the line, sometimes 8-10' up from the break would be damaged, almost like it had been over twisted or something. Also, unlike braid/leader, the line would not always break at the lure tie, both costing me more line and leaving more trash in the water. I have yet to decide if the cons outweigh the pros, as I love the way the line handles and fishes and it seems quote strong. My question is, can you comment on any of the issues above as they relate to Tatsu? I would like to keep using a floro mainline on this reel as I almost exclusively fish it in shallow, clear waters, but am not sure if I have realistic expectations for it.

Had the day off and did some pond hopping. Was at the fist spot at 8am. Walked the whole place without a bite. Same deal with the second pond. By the third pond I all my "jig fishing patience" had been used up so I grabbed a spinning rod and tied a Ned on. Ok, atleast I got a fish today. Then like three casts later; Now we are talking. Then almost immediately after; The pic doesn't do him justice, he was a good bit heavier than the first one. Then, two casts later,I got another bite; I may have set the hook a bit hard and sent this little guy flying. Got him washed off and he swam off, so hopefully he is ok. A couple more small bass and a handfull of crappie finished the day off. Sometimes I wonder why I bother with other lures when the Ned works so well in so many conditions. I will send you a PM tonight/tomorrow with some spots that I like. All are a bit south of you but some of them are solid producers for numbers atleast.

After I get the zlinker guled up on the jighead I give a stretch to the part behind the hook. I figure I want action there but I want the plastic to be solid and firm where the hook is in it.

Headed out to Gilbert Run and got this one and a second smaller one yesterday on a LC Pointer78 doing a weird lift/rip retrieve. Tried for a while today at Loch Raven but the wind was too much. Had the same Pointer blow right back at my face and called it quits.

I keep most of mine in an old coffee can to use when trying to match up plastics to terminal tackle. I would rather rig and re-rig a lure with a bite out of it then ruin a good one.

The Impacts are getting eaten but even a little 9" smallie can wreck one. They ususly maybe last two fish at most. They are fragile enough in rivers, but in small ponds a lillypad "V" will rip the tail off of one before I even notice it's snagged. They are cheaper then the Fat Impacts but still a bit pricy. In general, 3-4" swimbaits were some of the first lures I ever really had a lot of success with, but last season my attention wanded away from them. This comming year I want to find ones that work well and really learn them.

Added a pack of the Little Dippers to some an ebay order this evening. I use the Keitech Impacts a lot in small rivers but they get destroyed so quickly. Hopefuly the RI lures are a little more durable.

I have thus far resisted dress-up parts, but those lime knobs are really calling to me.

Agreed very much. With a small grub trailer the lure ends up right around 5/16oz and casts a mile on light tackle and even my M rods will get it a good ways out there. They run very well at low speeds which is something I often have trouble with when using other small spinnerbaits.

I have both of those reels and will try to remember to grab some pics for you tonight. I have smaller hands and prefer the SV105, but the Zillion is perfectly comfortable. My only complaint with it is that my thumb tends to "hang" on the spool release causing a second of grinding gears when I go to crank, but I suspect I can train myself out of this.

I just gave it a shot the other day with one of the 10g ones. It very much wants a loop knot or split ring, but they have a nice subtle wiggle at low speeds and the price is right for throwing in all sorts of cover without much worry. Please report back if you have any luck with them.

That is lame as hell. I have both a SV105 and a Zillion SV TWS and I really think I prefer the SV105. Time to start shopping foe a second one I guess.

Really? Did they say why? I love my SV105 and will have to buy a second one it looks like.

My thought for using braid is a backing is as follows. Braid will not gain much if any line memory, so if I do have to fish it as main line, it will work better then mono that is months/years old. In addition, I have done some (admittedly crude) measurements and as near as I can see, a braid of a given diameter is decently lighter than a mono of the same diameter. So a spool backed with braid will be lighter then one backed with mono, which will help a little with my attempts at bait finesse stuff. And finally, I do have mostly shallow spooled reels at this point so spool capacity is something I need to consider. I do use a wrap of trimmed down electrical tape around the spool before I tie my knot and in my (again, crude) testing, it will not slip if I hold the line firm and work the reel handle with a reasonable amount of force. I am looking to fuss around more with Floro mainline and that is what I would fill the rest of the reel, say 3 cast-lengths with. This way a 120-150y spool will let me get a couple of uses on a few different reels.

I have done it with math and had decent luck. I split a 200y spool of floro between two reels that each hold 100y. The first spool is a little under filled and the second one is a little overfilled, but they are close. I am going to hunt around ebay for a cheap spool of 15lb braid and use that for my backing going forward. Due to still being in the frequent backlash phase, I only want maybe three casts worth of nice line on each reel, with a small piece of tape maybe two wraps into the backing to protect it. This way, if I do backlash on a trip where I only have one rod with me, I can remove the tape and fish the braid and a leader until I can get home and respool.