fishwizzard

I do some UL fishing for bass, but mostly for perch and pickerel. My only advice is to get the lightest reel you can stand to buy. A super short, light rod is going to feel off with a large and heavy reel on it. Right now my UL rods have a Okuma Avenger 500 and a Stratic FJ on them. The FJ is obviously great, but that little Okuma has been a very good reel and has survived a ton of abuse and fish far beyond it's size.

Interesting, my most used spinning reels are a 500 and 1000 size, so there isn't much line on in the first place. I am getting ready to reshuffle my spinnnig combos, so I will try some backing when I respool.

I have never used any kind of backer, I just fish the braid down to about two casts worth left on the spool and then replace it. Is there any reason, other then the possibility of hooking a monster catfish, to not fish with only say 100-150' of line on a reel?

Drove a silly distance out of my way home from a trip to visit Susquehanna Fishing Tackle. Living in a saltwater-dominated area, a bass-focused store is overwhelming. I made the mistake of handling the new CI4+ spinning reels, now trying to figure out how to swing replacing all my spinning combos with them.

Hah, just noticed that I have been running the tag end between the two live ends all this time. Just tied it the right way and boy is it easier to keep the loop sized correctly.

Went after some small river smallies myself today. The river is question has a dam that has about a 3/4 mile pool with a deep and rocky bottom, then a series of riffles/cutbanks and long silty bottomed runs. There are several spots with large rocks that form good deep pools. Today I fished 3" senkos/stickos, both weightless and with a pegged 1/16oz bullet weight. Caught a few small SMBs and a few smaller redbreasts. I switched up to a J5 jerkbait and caught a few more super tiny Redbreasts, like fish barely larger then the lure. This spot usually produces a good number of small (8-12") SMBs and good sized Redbreasts during the spring/summer/fall, but the bite has slowed a ton. I am not even seeing the larger fish I usually do. Where are the bass hiding when it is low and cold? I almost never fish the pool due to it getting a ton of pressure but maybe they have moved there?

No, but I did just buy a bottle of JJ's and will be dipping up a storm over the weekend!

Ah, that is much larger than I had been trying.

I keep meaning to try yellow RIT dye on z-man stuff but have yet to do so. I now wonder if yellow food coloring would work once they have the salt washed out.

I use the Menace all the time and have the best luck with a 3/0 Owner straight shank. It puts the point about 1/8" of an inch from the beginning of the flappers. The nose of the grub gets torn up pretty fast though. When I use the owner twist locks, I go down to a 2/0 hook, as I feel that the 3/0 is too heavy and sticks out too far below the plastic.

I do this with small flukes and 3" senkos, but never have had much luck catching on the larger ones rigged that way. What size hook do you use for the larger flukes?

I'm posting for my phone so to be a bit brief, but tell your friend to look up Old Anglers Inn. The area with the amazing rocks is called Widewater and the access is a parking lot just across the street from the Inn. The canal suffers from extreme fluctuations in water level and is often totally unfishable. Pop in to the Maryland thread and look for the posts by the user fried lemons, he is like the canal master.

While I know this in my head, my heart wants to make those worms dance. I actually do like senkos a lot as flukes, they have a small profile while being very dense and fast sinking. I am realiy liking the GYCB D-Shads, which seem to have that senko wiggle and dart around nicely as well. The Keitech stickbaits are also great t-rigged and worked fast. But I know I need to learn to fish slow, it's my main focus this winter.

How long are you guys boiling these baits for? I have used hot water to straighten out fluke tails, but that only takes a a second or so. I will admit that I can count the fish I have caught on 5" senkos on two hands. I have never figured out how to make a wacky rig work and when I try to t-rig them, I end up fishing them like a fluke, so I just end up threading a fluke on after a few casts. I had one good day with them over the summer working shallow weed lines from the bank, but I after loosing 4 senkos on three fish I gave up and went to a fluke and kept catching them. I fish a weightless soft plastic maybe half the time, but somehow senko success has eluded me.

I have tried a bunch of the Rebel single hook UL lures and it seems like the QC for them is all over the place. Some will work perfectly while others of the same type will be totally devoid of action, or float on their sides. When they work they are a blast to fish with, I have a little Plano 3500 box full of UL hard baits. I use them for perch/pickerel in brackish water and sunfish and small bass in little freshwater streams.

I started using 3" senkos and the BPS brand a lot this summer/fall for smallies in narrow/shallow rivers and streams. I didn't get enough time in with them to have strong opinions about color and brand yet, but they seemed to work well enough that I build a little kit of them and plan to use it to spice up my usual "all Ned, all the time" small river fishing. I like the idea of having a good weedless option and have found that a 1/0 EWG or 1/0 Roboworm hook both work well and still let them shimmy on the fall.

That is good to hear. I have had great luck with the Gohper ones but a wire keeper is so much less hassle and I in no way need to get involved in casting at this point.

Hi, Going to be staying the night around Lancaster at the end of this week and would like to do some fishing before I head back to MD. Looking for a spot where I fish off the bank or wade for a few hours. There are a few spots around Baltimore I am thinking of, but would love to hit some new waters. Thanks

Almost the same, but on a Rugbyhead so that I don't loose as many, they are super easy for a fish/weeds to pull off a normal worm hook once they get soft.

I felt the same, until I bought a UL/Mod rod. I swear I can almost tie it in a knot. It makes my L/F rod seem like a broom stick.

He is also close to the C&O canal. It is frustrating and at times un-fishable, but when it is on you get like 8-10 miles of this: It is amazing habitat that can provide both size and numbers.

On the topic of thin line, I just picked up some YGK G-Soul Upgrade X-8 Braided Line in 14lb, and boy is this stuff thin. It is hard to get a good grip on to tie knots, it's crazy. I was able to get 200m of it onto the spool of my PX68, this might be a very expensive backlash. But if this line works it will be an amazing finesse line. I am excited to try it on my finesse spinning rig this summer.

That's the reel I have, but on a Recon 2 L. It is absurd how much fun that combo is.

Having just dipped my toe into finesse casting, I would go for a used higher-end finesse reel, then send it out for a supertune. If you are looking for "ridiculous" then just think of the looks you will get throwing 1/16oz spinner at trout or perch with a casting rig. Of course, you will then need an UL rod, but 2-piece JDM ones are pretty reasonable on ebay.

Welp, now that FFO has some 6'6" Fenwicks back in stock I am waffling again. They only have 44 in-stock so hopefully I can just waffle for a few days and the distraction will go away.