Airman4754

I fish 8lb CXX with 10XD's. You'll be fishing a 25' crank bait that won't get past 18' with 17lb line. It kind of defeats the purpose unless you're fishing shallow lakes and just want a big crank bait. Any line with great abrasion resistance like CXX, Big Game, Iron Silk, etc. and under .12 diameter is going to let you fish the deep divers the way they are supposed to. Rocks won't beat up those lines enough to matter and no bass is breaking line of that diameter on a crank bait rod.

You can't do an apples-to-apples with CXX and other co-polys. One is meant for something completely different. 6lb CXX and 12lb anything else is fair, but 12lb to 12lb isn't.

You won't get the potential out of your deep divers with 17lb test.

They are annoying as they have to be treated like nuclear waste around all other fishing gear. The couple things of theirs I have I lined my Plano boxes with the bag it came in. It seems to work.

The fast sinks are almost impossible to fish. They drop like a rock and have huge trebles on bottom. The slow sinks on points in the summer aren't bad, but I'd rather throw a glide bait now. I've had one of the big rats since they first came out. They are a quality wake bait and accommodate all sizes. The big one takes serious swimbait gear to fish or you will be worn out in a hurry.

sebile.com They are $2 right now for both types in both sizes. I just ordered some more today.

I used to only use Dirty Jigs and still have a ton of their products. Now I have a small company make all of my football and casting jigs because he does an incredible job and I like tungsten heads. For swim jigs all I use are Dirty Jigs. Mods will push sponsors, fisherman will push what they've grown to like. You'll find a lot of fisherman back Dirty Jigs.

I have the 7' M for my jerkbait setup. It's well made, comfortable, and light enough. Unless it breaks I wouldn't replace it. For their price you can't really go wrong.

Yep, the rope onto the winch post is the easy money if there is a dock or not. Matt Allen has a great video of launching to a dock on YouTube.

My 04 Triton TR-21x w/225 Optimax has been ridiculously reliable, but I am EXTREMELY anal about preventive maintenance and I do it myself so I know it wasn't hurried or half-assed. The only problems I have had was the relay for the down trim went out, but it was after we were off the water and I was trying to put it down for the transom saver. That was $17 and ten minutes. The second was one of livewells pumpouts stopped working, then it started working again.

I hate having a seat. I use the butt seat if its rough enough that I don't feel safe.

Was one of them on The Bachelor?

That fish is starving.

If you're going to have one swimbait rig and don't want to worry about it snapping on a cast run the middle ground and throw 25lb CXX. With baits that size you don't have to worry about the fish seeing your line. The way Butch and all of us out here rig our soft ones they look like they have antlers and they almost always head shot it, so line is meaningless. If you want to have far better hookups with those top hook ones and get to use all three of the hooks on a treble up on top of the bait PM me and I'll show you an easy thing I came up with that works.

TW has awesome customer service.

Any time outside of summer the mud line will be some of the best water you can find. Throw parallel to it with noisey stuff; big swimbait, spinnerbait, chatterbait, lipless, etc.

The reason I remove the back hook isn't for performance. It seemed like half the spots and smallies we catch when it warms up impale their bodies or gill plates with the back treble. It was for fish safety. The heavier front hook is for performance.

I'm a Phenix UMBX and Lamiglas guy. Phenix uses great blanks and Lami's are absolute work horses with everything you need and they are built like tanks.

Any pre-2004 Optimax had a massive amount of problems. They stopped making them for a year to right the wrongs.

Smaller line makes a huge difference in the flutter fall. 15lb test will make one almost fall dead where 12lb test will make it have a very visible flutter. We remove the back treble and add a larger treble to the front. It flutters even harder. If they are hitting a lipless they always get the front hook anyway.

Bullard's is such an awesome lake. It will keep pumping out the record.

Total fishing easily, but most of it wouldn't be bass. I was so young I can't remember my first good bass, but I've got the picture!

It's snowing like a bat out of hell as I type this. It won't get good around here until May. Sadly, I have to be out of the country for pretty much the whole month of May. Ugh.

Junebug.

I agree a well made 200 size reel can do the job. A 4600 isn't much bigger. I learned my lesson with line. I had a R2S 200 go sailing off into oblivion using 17lb fluoro. I'll take overkill over watching $45 fly away.