tstraub

I like to say "FISH ON" but lately its been a curse word followed by missed it.

I don't throw a lot of GYCB senkos but do use the bass pro stik-o pretty often. I just buy the assortment kit and look at them as dark or light colors not so much the exact color. The ones that have worked very well for me are watermelon magic, black/blue, June bug, and sweet potato pie. I really don't think that those are the perfect colors just the ones that came in my kit any similar colors would probably have worked just as well under the same conditions.

You only use 1/2 of the original handle so it's still a 12% increase which I would assume is substantial. I'm not sure what lewe's reel you have but assuming it's in the $150-$200 range that $37 dollar handle is roughly 18%-25% the cost of the reel. Will it make the reel 18-25% better? That's up to you to decide it's your money.

The best reel for my money is a used one at a fraction of its original cost. Quality reels are built to last and with a little cleaning and lubrication they will cast like new. The fish don't mind a little boat rash and neither do I.

I'm no expert but judging by your picture maybe you're loosing fish because you forgot to take the first fish off the lure before you caught the second one.

I went up to the campground yesterday for a few hours. My father in law, my oldest son, and I went out on the boat and made a few laps looking for bass. I had one hit on a power worm but came up empty on the hookset. My youngest son stood on the pier with grandma throwing a small minnow bait on a 1/64oz jig head. We watched him reel in about a dozen crappie in a very short period of time. so we lightend up and targeted pan fish and got a few nice bluegill ,crappie, and couple very small bass but still got our butts kicked by my 10 year old boy standing on a pier with a $15 zebco combo. He'll never let us live that down. My father-in law(his grandpa) and I have never had such a good time getting out fished. Tyler

Using a baitcaster is sort of like driving a manual transmission, lots of people go threw their whole life without learning it and that's OK. Eventually once you learn it you just do it without even thinking about it. In some situations it is more efficient. In other situations it can be cumbersome. One thing is for sure you will always look cooler driving a stick or fishing a baitcaster. Tyler

I have used a bass pro ultra light spinning combo for T-rigged worms and senkos. I did it because at the time I didn't have a lot of rods and by the time I passed out rods to all my kids I was only left with 2 choices for myself. The ultra light or a baitcaster I bought used at a garage sale. I was pretty bad with a casting reel and only used it for catfish because I could tie on a heavy weight cast it once and set it down. Hook set ratio was low and line breakage was often with the ultra light but when I got it right it was a lot of fun fighting the fish. After a few hours of struggling I picked up the baitcaster and learned to use it.

We were catching crappies this past weekend near Rochester Indiana. The boat was in about 15 ft of water and we were casting to the edge of lily pads the fish were about 4 ft deep. They were biting live crickets under a slip float and Arkie sexee shad minnow lures in Tennessee shad color. We would cast to the edge of the lilys wait a few seconds for it to sink and reel it in slowly. About 1/2 of the fish we cleaned were full of eggs so they haven't spawned yet. Tyler

Black works because there is very little light to make bright colors show. But since the fish are under water and the night sky is the only light source black makes a good silhouette for the fish to zone in on.

They'll bite at night. General guidelines are if you like soft plastics throw something a little bigger than you would in the daylight. Black is a great color. Jitterbugs and buzbaits are also a good choice. Tyler

We went up to the campground Friday evening and just got home a few hours ago. We made a few laps around the lake fishing for bass but could not find active fish. My father in law did get one 16 inch bass but that was the only bass that made it in the boat. We all got lots of bites but could not get a hook in them. So we assumed it was panfish just grabbing the end of our worms. Then we picked up our panfish gear and filled the livewell. I think we cleaned about 30 big bluegill and 10 black crappie the biggest was just over 14 inches. panfish were mostly caught on live crickets under a slip float or arkie brand sexxy shad artificial minnows. Tyler

My in-laws have been camping at Summit all week haven't heard from them in a few days but I know the said the fishing was really slow early in the week. She primarily goes for panfish and he usually starts off looking for bass but will move to panfish if the action is good. last report I heard was a few crappie and maybe a walleye or a perch I can't remember. He said he hooked something big but got it tangled in the anchor rope and lost it before ever seeing what it was.

Looks like you really got a deal there. If they are selling them that cheap I wonder what they gave the poor guy that pawned them. I was at a pawn shop they other day and all they had was a few beat up low end spin cast combos marked at $20 a piece and one antique looking non level wind round baitcaster that they had in there display case. I didn't even bother asking the price on it because I had no interest in it. That Samurai looks pretty interesting with the odd taper. I have an old Shimano Fightin Rod with a similar taper but I haven't fished it much I got it and a few other old rods from my father in law last fall when he was cleaning out his barn.

I have not made it out in a few weeks. Still haven't even bought a fishing licence for this season. This weekend is opening weekend at the campground so I'll be fishing this weekend. I went up there yesterday but didn't wet a line just looked at a different lot for the camper. The lot looked great so I took it. Tomorrow after work we'll head up there and get the camper moved and set. If that all goes well I'll launch the boat and park it at my new on site pier. Supper excited to have a site with boat parking this year. In the past I always had a to walk to the boat. It was not far but when I had to carry the trolling motor battery with me it felt like miles LOL. I did look at the lake water visibility was about 2 feet and no sign of any fish up shallow or any bedding activity yet at least not in the sections I looked at. The park owner said that the crappie bite was on last week but didn't have any report on the bass. Tyler

OK sounds like stepping up the main line and using a light leader is the best answer. I had 8# on these rods a few years ago and had a lot of line management issues. So I guess I'll try 6 or a higher quality 8# mono. Thanks

My wife and kids like to do a lot of slip float fishing for bluegill and crappie near lily pads. It seems like somebody is always throwing just a little to far and gets snagged in the pads. Then they break off and lose the entire rig because there is nothing on the end of the line to keep the slip float on the line. This year I want to try rigging all of the rods with a bobber stop, a float ,a couple of weights, and a snap. Then make up several short lengths of line with a hook on one end and a loop to attach to the snap on the other end. This way hopefully when they break off they only lose the hook. The snap should keep everything else attached to the main line and we can easily attach a new pre-tied hook and leader. My question is what type of knots would be best to use at the hook and the loop knot to attach to the snap. One of those two knots needs to be the week link. I suppose that I could also use a lower pound test line for the pretied hook rigs but all of the rods are currently spooled with 4 pound test line and I really don't wand to drop all the way down to two pound line at the hook. We have a lot of lily pads on the lake and I would like to have some line strength if a fish takes the bait into to the lilys. Thanks Tyler

It took a full 8 hours for you? I drove threw all 4 seasons on my way home from work yesterday. Started with rain and wind, switched to sleet then snow. By the time I got home it was calm and sunny for an hour of so. Snow on the ground this morning. This weather has been nuts. I still haven't even bothered to renew my fishing licences. Maybe I'll get out this weekend or maybe I'll just drive over a bridge and throw about $10-$15 worth of lures in the river to save the time. That's how the spring fishing has been treating me so far. Tyler

It must be a bitsy bug the water around here is still pretty chilly for a jitterbug.

Might be some sort of a shim to put under the reel foot if the seat on the rod does not tighten down enough to keep the reel form moving around. I have never seen one come with a reel but I have had to make a shim or two in the past. Tyler

I struggle with justifying the cost of high end line as well. That's why I go with Big Game for mono and I recently bought 300 yard spool of KastKing braid off ebay for $11 and change. I have not had a lot of time on the water with the KastKing but so far it seems to be good enough for me. It handles well for casting and does not dig in any worse that the Suffix that I have on another reel. Dig in just seems to be something you get when you set the hook on a snag with braid. My only complaint is that the color bleeds really bad the first time you get it wet. I mean my thumb turned green and my reel was dripping with green water the first day. Everything cleaned up easily without leaving a stain and the bleeding stopped after the first day so I can live with that. Tyler

Maybe the put a couple redundant AR bearings in there in hopes that at least one of them catches?

I have a Megacast combo. It's not great but it's good enough for the price. It was my main rod for a couple of years I caught lots of bass, and a few carp and catfish around 5 or 6 pounds it handled them fine. I only once got a hook in a fish that it could not handle. I was throwing a spoon downstream of a dam trying for crappie, walleye, or anything that would bite. Something grabbed it a and started running hard, I cranked down the drag to try to slow it down but it just kept taking more line. It took all of my braided main line and I was into the backer and close to getting spooled. So I clamped my thumb on the spool and tried to turn that fish but he just kept going. Then the line went slack and I reeled in my spoon with a hook that had been straightened. I have no idea what it might have been but I was out gunned that day. Anyway I have since got more expensive gear but still use the Megacast fairly often it's a bit harder to get it tuned in on the settings than a lot of my other reels but once you get it dialed in it casts well enough. I probably would not buy another one but I have no regrets for buying the one I have. At the time it really was all I could afford.

Some people like to cut them down even shorter to whatever length stores easiest and mount an old reel with braided line and tie one of those lure retrievers to it.