Fried Lemons

Hot walleye bite. Caught 5 in a 30 minute period.

Thought I'd follow up on this thread. Was trying originally to ship a 96" cardboard tube. USPS quoted me $96. I cut off 4" which still left 9" of clearance for the rod and the price dropped to $30.

I prefer 6'-6'9 UL rods. I fish 2lb test which I find handles light baits much better than 4. However with line this light you need to tie solid knots and cast accurately. Longer rods will get you more distance but you lose accuracy. For the people who don't like noodles I'd recommend looking into rods built for "light rock fishing". These are made to cast tiny lures for small saltwater species and have much crisper actions than your typical UL sold in the states.

What dimensions are you guys shipping for $20-30? I wanted to ship a tube that was roughly 96x4x4 and no matter where I looked I was getting quoted $140 or more for MD to IL.

Jerkbait was killing it yesterday. The bass liked longer jerks and hit on the pause. Pickerel liked short rapid jerks with no pauses. Pickerel are fat this time of year.

Basically this. The absolute "best" braid has the highest ratio of breaking strain to diameter. Most braids stated breaking strain is so much lower than the actual breaking strain that it's basically false advertising. Find the diameter you want and pick the strongest line. Alternatively find the weight class you want and pick the thinnest line. This doesn't have all the brands but it's a good start. http://www.paulusjustfishing.com/4linetestingbuy.htm

FG is good but inconvenient to retie if it breaks. I’ll do it at home but on the water I’ll tie an Alberto.

I sometimes sightcast male channels up to 10lbs on beds. It is kind of like bed fishing for bass except channels are way more aggressive. They will hit anything that comes near, doesn't seem to matter what it looks like.

Saltiga has a zaion rotor.

If the plastic is strong enough for big game saltwater reels I think it's good enough for bass.

I have an exsence dc. Compared to the lews mb I previously used for bombing frogs it casts significantly farther. Like 20% or so. With 50lb braid I can cast almost down to the backing which is almost out of my hooksetting range.

I understand the concept behind the new frame and how it would make the reel more rigid. That being said, does anyone ever notice their other baitcasters flexing under load? I never have personally.

For moving baits, consider a calcutta conquest for the ultimate smooth retrieve.

Don't pay much attention to the line ratings on a rod. Avoid doing things like jerking free from snags and flipping fish with braid as the shock will not be mitigated by line stretch. You need to set the drag properly to protect your rod from breakage as it is almost certainly the weakest link.

Hollow body frog/ buzz frog. Not that versatile, but when the bite is on there is nothing I would rather be doing.

If you compare breaking strength to diameter (actual, not the published one) seaguar smackdown is among the best readily available. Keep in mind most braids break far above advertised and this is not really to your advantage. For example take sufix 832, a popular braid. You might buy 20lb test for a spinning reel for finesse applications. What you might not realize is that 20lb sufix breaks at over 40lbs and has a diameter to match. It’s best to choose based off diameter rather than breaking strength, which is grossly understated.

Expensive gear is not something you need to be a good angler. One thing I will say from experience however is that once you experience fishing with a high end product, you will not want to go back to gear that does just enough to get the job done.

Thanks everyone. I'm pretty sure I'll always be more comfortable casting right handed but I think I'll practice more with my left hand. At the very least I hope it'll improve my ability to roll cast to my right.

This is very interesting. Seems intuitive that the strong hand should be the one holding the rod as it will be under the most pressure. Given that the vast majority of people are right handed I wonder why right hand retrieve reels are so much more common than left?

This topic always confused me. Is a right handed reel intended for use by right handed people and vice versa? I am a lefty and all of my reels are right handed. When I cast I press the button with my right hand and make the cast, then switch hands for the retrieve. This seems like a wasteful movement and it recently occurred to me that if I cast with my right hand and retrieve with my left I could be much more fluid in my fishing style. The strange thing is I feel extremely off balance and weak when I try reeling with my left hand. Once on a charter boat I told the mate I was a lefty and he handed me a lefty conventional. I hooked something big off a reef that I couldn't for the life of me crank off the bottom. I suspect that I've been reeling right handed for so long that I am uncomfortable reeling left. Unfortunately I found I am also bad at casting left handed. On the bright side I suppose this has saved me the trouble of finding certain reels in lefty models. I recognize that there is technically no wrong way to fish and switching hands probably costs me less than a second since it is second nature to me but I wonder, how do you guys fish?

If you're in the avid price range for the kind of rod you're talking about consider a jdm ajing rod. Major craft/daiwa should have some models in your price range and they will blow the avid out of the water in performance.

How do you like those exsence spinners? I'm debating buying one to replace a stradic.

22 pounds of drag is way more than you will ever need on a low profile reel.

Thank you all for chiming in. The setup I'm thinking about modifying I typically fish neds and other light plastics with. I want to get more into drop shotting next season as well. I have fished straight fluoro and straight mono on it and while I like the way they handle, I find myself needing to respool far too frequently from breakoffs, reties and random abrasion. I've gathered from these responses what I want in a leader is mainly abrasion resistance and knot strength with handling qualities being of little importance. Do you think it's worth springing for actual leader material or something cheap like YZH?

I’ve read from a lot of suggestions on here that people use braid to fluorocarbon leaders. Personally tying leaders was always a hassle for me so I generally just tied straight to braid. I plan to give it another try next season. I want to touch on a few things here. 1. Is it worth spending more on a premium line if you only intend it as leader material? The general belief seems to be that higher end fluorocarbons handle better than cheap ones but does it matter for leader? 2. Does fluoro really have any benefit over mono in short <3’ lengths? People extoll the slack line sensitivity and reduced stretch of fluoro but I don’t see these things mattering in short lengths. 3. I’m not sold on fluorocarbon being significantly less visible than mono. I’ve never had issues getting bites on monofilament line in crystal clear water. In many cases I’ve had fish in clear water strike lures on straight braid with no inhibition. 4. How long of a top shot do you normally tie on? From my experience tying a long one on negates the benefits you get from spooling braid. Please enlighten me on these topics. Feel free to try changing my mind.