fishwizzard

My main concern was making sure I added enough backer to let me get two fills from one small spool. I use lighter line then most and some of my reels can eat up 75% of a spool unless I watch what I am doing. I do some dumb math where I measure the depth of the spool with calipers and then fill with backer until I hit 50-75% full by depth. Even if I dont know the exact legnth of my backer, I know what % of the spool I have filled and can guess pretty accuratly from there. The other "solution" is to only buy Daiwa reels, all of mine have spools with a half-way mark on them. It makes respooling a snap. As for the knot, I back with cheap braid and use a blunt needle to push the knot into the braid and cover it with a tiny bit of electricians' tape. I also got the bright idea to write the line specs on the tape so that when I inevitably forget what line is on what spool, I can pace it out and check. I will admit I get a kick out of fussing over things, but I think its a good system.

In general, yes, but for $35 per spool floro, I would want to get as many respools as I can. My new "system" is to only buy lines that come in bulk spools whenever I can, which also solves the problem.

I have a couple bags of the 3 inch ones but I have yet to fish them. I kind a wish I got the bigger ones now, they look like they will be great wacky rigged.

How did you get the coil keeper into the trd? Heat?

Yea, when I use shrink tubing I keep the hook perpendicular to the worm, with the hook pierced through both. I fish a wacky senko on a casting combo most of the time and the O-rings will still let the worm go flying off on the cast every once and a while, which is an almost guaranteed backlash.

Very nice! I have a GLX MBR783c and I am slowly talking myself into picking up one of those reels for it.

It's right by Lancaster Pennsylvania, which is an cool little town with a decent number of restraunts and such. If you enjoy road trips and shopping in a physical store, then SFT is a real hoot. I had never been to a bass-centric pushing store before and it blew me away the first time I've went there. They have a decent inventory but not quanties of most items, so if you're going to feel a specific rod call the day before to make sure it is still in stock even if their site shows one in stock.

Do they sell it in 55g drums?

Yea, I thought a Pickerel in the mid-20s was impressive catch, but not a world record. I caught a pretty good size one when I first started fishing for them that I estimate was around 20-22 inches, crudely measure it against my kayak paddle. I want to say I saw a picture somewhere of a monstrous one that someone pulled out of Rocky Gorge Reservoir last year, but that might've been an actual Muskie.

I believe they use spliced hollow core-ropes for most of that type of work, 2500lb test floro has too much memory.

The closest place to Richmond I can think of is Susquehanna Valley Tackle, in Columbus PA. It is a bit of a drive but they are right by the river and that part of PA is full of wading spots. It's a great store and having been to the stores you mentioned, it will blow your mind with the stuff they keep in stock.

Why go with such large reels if you are going to run braid? It is to get more drag? I am fussy and cant stand spinning reels much past the 2000 size range, but I have been thinking of pickup up a MH spinning rod as a loaner when my friends want to come out for an afternoon. Right now my heaviest spinning rod is a M/XF and it is not ideal for a lot of things.

I would love to take you up on that. I used to work as a theatrical rigger and teaching new folks knots was one of my favorite parts of the job, and you are correct that a hands-on lesson is the fastest way. However, having to suspend yourself 50' in the air with a knot you just tied also works well to keep a student focused.

You have got me interested. You said you fish them around/under docks, are you skipping them under and then letting them glide down? I really like the Ned as a skipping lure. It does really put the hurt on the jig->plastic connection on a normal head though, I bet the long shank of the Slider holds them pretty well. A lot of the rivers by me are in not great shape with long silty flats with little cover or structure, other then the odd rock/boulder. When wading, they are a fish-scarce pain to wade through, but I have found that by skipping a Ned along the surface upstream and alongside one of the isolated rocks is a great way to summon up either a smallie or a fierce red breast. I feel like the skipping and then the dead drift back down stream is irresistible.

For a less photorealisitc soft plastic option, a Rage Shellcracker rigged on a 6/0 Monear swimbait hook makes a very convincing tiny 'gill imitator.

I balked at the price of the Texas Tackle pliers, but broke down and bought a pair. They are so far and away better then the other ones I had that I would pay ten times the price if I lost mine and had to replace them.

Oh no, I meant that the Slider heads have a large steel hook with relatively little lead on it while the Owners have a smaller hook with relatively more lead on them, thus the greater total weight even though by looking at them, one would assume the Slider weighs more. Now, if you want a lead-free Ned head, I have found some on eBay poured from a tin/bismuth metal. They use the 3/16oz cavity on the MWF mold but weigh in at .081oz. I am not a huge fan of the hooks they come with, but I bought some for use in a lead-ban lake that I fish. The lake is closed for the winter, so I have not tried them yet.

Here are some weedless heads. I use these almost exclusively when fishing in current, so my observations are all based on that. 1. Owner Ultra Head, 1/16oz, #1 hook. It weighs in at .078oz 2. Decoy Nailbomb Head, 1/16, #1 hook. It weighs in at .059oz 3. Slider Pro Head, 1/16, 3/0 hook. It weighs in at .059oz. Firstly, it is surprising how little the Slider hook weighs compared to the other too, but steel is so much lighter than lead, and the Owner head has a larger ball on it then the others. I bounce back between the Owner and the Decoy, depending on the current and wind. The Owner seems to get slightly better hookups and casts better, but the Decoy holds the plastic better and seems to snag a lot less, I assume because the hook is closer into the lure and gets hit less often in current. @cgolf, if you like the TRD on the Slider head, give the Hula Stick a try on there. The extra inch gives it a little more wiggle on the fall and seems to slow it down as well. The tentacles don't really have much movement, but if you slit the plastic maybe 1/2" back it will quiver nicely.

The Moral hooks are a good quality example of the new-ish MWF mold, but I still mantain that the hooks are too big and heavy (in weight) to be "ideal". I thought I had one around for reference, but I guess I have used up the ones that I bought to try. In anycase, below are some examples of assorted Ned heads; From top to bottom they are; 1. Zman Head, 1/15oz, the new style. IIRC it is a #1 hook. It weighs in at .091oz 2. Zman Head, 1/15oz, the old style. IIRC it is a #1 hook. It weighs in at .072oz 3. Zman Head, 1/20oz, the old style. IIRC it is a #1 hook. It weighs in at .059oz 4. Gopher Head, 1/16oz, #2 hook. It weighs in at .053oz. 5. eBay Head, 1/16oz, from the MWF Mold, #4 hook. It weighs in at .064oz. If we are to take the old Gopher heads as the "gold standard", then the old style Zman in 1/20 is the closest in size and weight. I wish I had a Morel Head (amazing name btw) to weigh, but my memory is that they are almost 1/8oz, so around .09-.125oz. I strongly feel that if you are fishing the Ned with the standard retrieves you are best served with as light a head with as small a hook as you can get away with. I use the "crank crank glide" retrieve maybe 90% of the time and the heavier heads will stop and fall instead of keeping forward momentum and gliding to the bottom like they will with the lighter heads. At the end of the day it might be angels dancing on the head of a pin, but I like to get a little fussy about things.

If you are looking to stand a lure off the bottom, I don't feel like the Ned is the best way to go. I would go for a longer plastic and a heavier head to keep in on the bottom.

I have almost bought those jigs a dozen times, but I feel like that hook is gonna bend/break pretty easily. In my quest for a weedless Ned I have setted on the Owner Ultra Head and the Decoy Nail Bomb jigheads as the best options. They each have their pros/cons and both give a worse hookup ratio then an open hook, but for river fishing I still use them.

I use charteuse/lime when I want a hi-viz braid. I think that I can see yellow just as well, but I like chartruse better as a color, so thats my super scientific reason for picking it.

I like a high-contrast amber for everything. I tend not to wear sunglasses unless I am fishing as I hate keeping track of them or having the bulk in my pockets.

I fell that the Alberto is not a particularly difficult not, so long as you don't mind cutting off several inches of tag-end on both the mainline and the leader. If you tie it "big" it's easy to get the wraps right and it still cinchs down pretty well. The only times I've had issues with the Alberto is when I got stingy and tried not to leave enough tag.

The best advice I have for learning a knot is to practice with two differently colored lines that are around 1/8" thick. That way you can see what you are doing but the line is still thin enough that the muscle memory will be close to the same when you switch over to fishing line.