fishwizzard

I was lucky enough to snag a few jigs yesterday and 40lb braid breaks with not too much effort if you have a good pulling-stick. I use floro leaders for spinning reels as I want some help keeping my lure down. I am messing with using braid for jigs and while I like the hooksets, I am not liking having to keep all the slack out of the line.

Well, the ususal “stick it in the freezer” is out, unless you have access to a walkin.

It is tucked under my arm, which is why the butt snags my clothing/drysuit. I keep the reel so tight in that I don't need much rod butt to clamp down on, too much gets in the way and grabs bulky/loose clothing, especially when sitting. I also make side arm casts a lot and prefer a short butt for that.

For most everything bottom contact I keep the rod tip out at like 45d and the reel very very close in, with my wrists almost touching my stomach and side. When I am standing the rod butt is also almost touching my side. When seated I still do this but the PFD makes me keep the reel further out then I am used to and a long butt gets snagged on my loose sunshirt or my drysuit. I also hold spinning reels with my entire hand in front of the reel stem, so a short butt matters way more for them. I more or less learned to fish in on my own via internet videos, so I might just be a weirdo.

Too much goose poop for me to even think about that. I can't even wear my shoes back into the house without a rinse in the yard when I fish this spot. I have a snagging hook around here somewhere and like 50' of amsteel, I think that is what I am going to try first. In any case, I will be buying another one, it was a pretty productive lure, but I think I might try lighter wire hooks on my next one. I feel like some of the bass that have come off on me were not hooked super well and I want to see if that will help any. I rarely manage a bass large enough to really choke it and a lot of the ones I do land are hooked on the outside edge of the mouth.

I have a pair of them and honeslty dont use them very much any more. I can’t get them to pop or walk as well as a dedicated popper or walker. I am very much not a topwater guy though and never really fish it unless the conditions are prefect for it.

Yea, I used mine a ton in small ponds and some days they would just smash it, but others they would just follow it to the bank and back off. Sadly my Jr is now stuck to a log in 5-6’ of water with 2-3’ of mud under it. Still trying to figure out if I can get it back.

I also use 3600 boxes for bank and kayak fishing. They fit in backpacks and crates better I think. I also sort them into little kits, so like plastics and the hooks/weights or jigs and trailers. If I am traveling very light I will pack a single mixed 3600 with a bag or two of spare plastics.

I prefer shorter kayak rods as well, with most of my kayak aresnal being 6’ to 6’6”, with more of them being on the shorter end. They are just easier to handle onboard and I will gladly trade casting distance for leverage. I still don't have a short frog/cover rod, so I will bring a 7’6” rod along went I need it. I caught a nice big pickerel on it the last time I was out and that extra foot and a half of rod really made boating him more difficult. I have had fish (mostly schoolie stripers) run under my bow, but my yak is only 10’ long, so a 6’ rod still works fine.

I think I will. I need to thin the BFS herd a little first, but as I am the one dude out there who isn't in love with the CR721, I think a custom is my best option for a 6' finesse casting rod. I went with an FMJ for my fancy jig rod, but the 873CRR was the runner up and I still wonder about it. I wish I could have gotten my hands on one.

I throw sub-3oz swim and glide baits on a megabass hyuga 72h and an sv103. I switch between 55lb braid and 25lb Defier Armilo mono. I can't decide which I like better.

Huh, that is really interesting. I have a spinning rod built on an MHX blank and had noitced how much the taper felt like some of the MBR rods that I have. I keep meaning to have a casting rod built on the same blank just for S&Gs, I might have to make it happen now.

Their storefront is like 3 hours from me and at least once a winter I get cabin fever bad enough to make the drive. It's most bass-stuff that I've ever seen in one place and the only way I can make it out of there with any money left in my checking account is to limit my purchases to only as much as I can hold in my two hands.

I have a XXX Themis and while I really like it, it does far far better at the upper end of it's weight range. It will cast a 3/16oz Ned, but not super well. It's very much an XF action and I have never really liked them for light weight lures. I think like 5\16-3\8oz is the sweet spot for the BT. I also have a Phenix Recon 681 casting rod and it is a "fast-medium fast" and it does far better casting light lures.

You would think, being an internet based business, they would have a few alarms/reminders set for this. Hell, getting a florist to make a monthly delivery of a single rose with "SSL" on the tag would be cheaper than even like two missed sales I bet.

I actually hit Gilbert Run this morning on foot. It was way way more stained then I had expected it to be and there were about 300 summer camp kids there. I lasted about 4 hours of no action before I had leave and go soothe myself with bbq and iced tea.

Are you checking your hooks for sharpness? Thin wire hooks get beat up pretty quick if you are fishing them in current and letting it hit rocks and such. The other possibility is that it is small fish just holding onto the lure and they were never hooked at all. I have landed several panfish that were not hooked, but would not let the plastic go.

Yea, I have found the same thing. The General is a litte more durable then a senko, but not by much. They for sure caught bass, but like my experence with Gulp baits, I can’t deal with plastics that have to be kept in “juice”, so I will not be buying any more. I even tried them with o-rings and I swear it made them rip faster. I also bought a pack of their chunk trailers but really like them. They are quite tough and they are porous enough to really hold megastrike once the factory sent has washed away. I think I am going to use them a lot this winter once we hit the “painfully slow dragging” period of jig-fishing.

There are a few spots in SoMo that are fun with a yak. Gilbert run has some great shoreline and some really nice bass. Myrtle Grove has a good pad field and has some decent bass. I keep talking to people who have yaked in the Depot Pond, but I have not been brave enough to yet. I am usually up for SoMo yak fishing, but am slammed/out of town for the next two weeks. I will try and remember to post next time I am heading down that way, I always love company.

I have never broken a bass lure off but I did send a 3oz Kastmaster into low Earth orbit when the bail snapped shut mid-cast on a surf casting reel. I think I had 80lb braid tied on ?

There is a NIB right-handed on on ebay right now and I keep having to slap my hand away from my mouse to keep from buying it.

My first real success with the drop shot was with a MMIII Roboworm and I still use it about half the time. I use a ton of Martin’s Madness and have yet to settle on a green/natural color, but like Aaron’s Magic w/Red Flake a lot.

I think I am going to do the drag myself, then fish it for a while before I send it off to make sure it's still comfortable after a few days of heavy fishing. What spool are you running in yours?

Dude that thing is ill as hell. Bright metallic greens are the best colors. By coincidence, my first TD-Z arrived today; It's in pretty decent shape, with this bubbling on the foot being the worst. I am looking for a replacement for a Steez SV TW that I am not in love with, so I thought I would give the TD-Z family a try. This one was like $100 on ebay so I thought I would take the chance. The drag is shot and the reel in general needs some love, but I spooled it up and it casts like a dream and is super comfortable to palm. I need to decide if I want to try to service/upgrade it myself of sent it out so someone can get it up to snuff for me.

Yea, they also seem way under-rated for weight, imho they start casting well at the very top of their range. They are way faster than most other Light or MediumLight rods I have tried, but they lack the super soft tip common to the the other three XF rods (a Daiwa DXW Walleye, MB Black Themis, and a Avid M/XF casting) that I have. The MagLights are great rods though, I was taken back by the first one that I bought, it was far far too stiff and under-rated for my intended use, but I liked it enough in general to buy a second one as a DS rod for my kayak. I think the MagL/XF Loomis' are the perfect power/taper for a small, t-rigged plastic with like ~1/16 to 1/8oz of weight. I am starting to think that they might be the ideal Ned/MWF rod as well. TackleTrap has some rig that does that and they use it to compare the rod's they review, but they only really look at high-end stuff.