Lucky Craft Man

Hey Jim, I have the Viento matched up with a G Loomis IMX 7' Medium Heavy Rod and use this for my worm/senko rod. It is a great reel. It's very smooth and casts a mile, but I will be honest, I don't use the twitching bar much (especially when dead sticking senkos). I prefer to twitch the bait with my rod tip and not the reel. It's an interesting novelty to have, but I wouldn't buy the reel for the twitching bar alone. I would buy the reel for the fact that it is such a good reel. -Steve

I use a 5.2:1 reel for my crankbaits and it does a very good job with shallow and deep. Obviously, you do have to reel in faster then you would with a 6.2:1 reel for shallow crankbaits, but it is not as if you are reeling in out of control. Plus, you will thank yourself for getting a lower ratio reel when you start throwing those DT16.

I have both the Pflueger President and Bass Pro Qualifier. I really like both reels, but I would go with the Pflueger President. It seems to be a little more sturdy reel that will last you a longer time.

To be more specific, I am looking at the Cabelas XML 7' Heavy action rod (which is on sale for $99.99) or the Cabelas XML Ti 7' Heavy action rod (sold for $179.99), which has the Titanium Recoil guides. This rod will be used for fishing frogs in the slop, carolina rigs, and for lighter swimbaits (like storms wild eye). Someone mentioned the G Loomis frog rod, which I liked, but was wondering how it would be for swimbaits. The Cabelas Rods are rated up to 2-1/4 oz lures, while the G Loomis Frog Rod is rated up to 1 oz. I am a big fan of Cabelas XML rods and I have many of them. I was wondering if sepnding the extra money for the XML Ti is worth it. Thanks for any advice I receive.

The rod I am looking at is 7' long, Heavy power, fast action, but for $80 more, I can get titanium guides. So I was wondring if this was worth it.

I was thinking about purchasing a rod with Titanium Guides. I would use the rod for frog fishing. I though that the titanium guides would stand up tp the abuse of fishing heavy slop with braided line. If anyone has used them, please let me know what you think. Thanks.

I have a lot of Lucky Craft Lures and my favorite and most used is the Pointer 100SP in whatever color you like. If I had to only choose one, that would be it.

I found a Pinnalce Tara baitcaster that I forgot I had (I estimate it was sitting away in a box for 8 years). I took it apart, replaced the drag washers, clean, oiled, and greased it throughout. It works as if it were brand new. Smooth as can be and casts a mile. I also have Pinnacle Lucille spinning reel that I use for Steelhead, and it works great as well. I have nothing but positive things to say about Pinnacle.

Well, someone makes both of those reels.

HPBB, I sent you a PM.

The same thing happened to me when I was trying to take apart an older BPS Johnny Morris Reel. I couldn't figure out how to take off the handle since I didn't have the schematic. Then I noticed it looked a lot like my Pflueger President baitcaster's handle. I got the schematic for my Pflueger President and lo and behold, they turned out to be very close to the same reel. Now I use my Pflueger President schematic for both reels.

I caught my PB smallmouth bass using the baby brush hog on a drop shot rig with a 1/0 drop shot hook through the head of the lure. I don't know what made me try the brush hog on a drop shot, but I'm glad I did, because it worked well.

I know it has been a question that has been asked 100 times on here about what line do you use for plastic worms. My question is a little more specific. My set-up for Senkos and other type worms is a G Loomis IMX with a Daiwa Viento reel. I have always used braid for worm fishing, but have been thinking about adding a flouro leader to the braid (so the leader can sink with the worm instead of offering resistance that comes with the floating braid being tied directly to the worm). I just worry about the knot at the connection point of the braid and the leader decreasing my casting distance and accuracy as well as doing any damage the guides on my rod. Does anyone have any experience using a leader with worms and if so, would you mind offering me some advice on the matter? I am also thinking about just switching to flouro or mono line altogether, but I do like the sensitivity and abrasion resistance of the braid. PS Sorry for the boring post, but this is a question that I need some experienced opinions on.

I just bought my first G Loomis rod (IMX - 7' MH). I like to have my rods balanced right at the reel where I palm it and this rod is slightly tip heavy. I was thinking about getting a little bit of lead tape used for lures and placing it around the plastic cap at the end of the butt section, but I don't know how durible this will be. Do you guys have any ideas how I can balance this rod without placing one of the those huge rubber end caps that Bass Pro sells? Thanks for the help.

I caught my personal best while fishing off the end of a dock for bluegill. I hooked a bluegill and when he got close to the dock, he went nuts. Then I saw this bass come from under the dock I was standing on and inhaled the bluegill. I opened the bail on my reel and let the bass take the bluegill into the adjacent weeds. After waiting about 1 minute, I set the hook. I saw the mouth of the bass open wide and the now discolored and deformed bluegill came out. The bass looked around and when he saw the bluegill floating toward the surface, he hit it again. So I waited another minute and set the hook again. This time it took and I pulled him in. He was 22.5" long and weight 6.2 lbs. I am happy to say he swam off in good health when I released him. So to make a long story short, I guess I caught my personal best on a live bluegill. What I find funny though, is that I spend all this money on nice bass rods, reels, and lures and I catch my PB on a crappy rod & reel fishing for bluegill...go figure.

Ahhh...good old Rapala weedless spoon. I have a tackle box full just of those (I went a little purchase crazy when I found out they weren't going to make them anymore). I use them a lot and they work great especially dragging them over extremely thick weed mats where the a snagless softbody frog doesn't have enough weight to alert the bass it is there. If anyone out there works for Rapala, could you tell me why you discontinued this lure? I might start a campaign to bring back the Rapala weedless spoon (though I do have a lifetime supply already).

The fishing magazines that I really like are In-Fisherman and Bassmasters (which have already been mentioned) as well as Musky Hunter, Saltwater Sportsman, and Fly Fisherman. The latter three magazines are very good if you are interested in either of thier topics.

ReelMech has a service like no other. I placed an order with him over the internet late Wednesday night. The order was filled that night, placed in the mail on Thursday, and was sitting waiting for me Saturday morning. I could not believe it. I also agree with Deuceu72, that baitcasting servicing book is great. It gives you some great ideas on disassembling and organizing your reel parts and really spells out what you should oil, grease, clean, or just wipe off with a rag. The book is highly recommended. I hope ReelMech comes out with a book on servicing spinning reels. Thanks ReelMech for the good products and service.

I love the Rapala Weedless Spoon and when I found out they were no longer being made, I stocked up wherever I could find them. The Speed Shad is another good discontinued lure. I was wondering what do you guys think is the best lure that was discontinued?

I was just thinking, what if you happened to catch the World Record Largemouth Bass on a Chuck Woolery lure? I don't know if I could tell anyone. Imagine your picture on the cover of Bassmasters holding up a MotoChug. Then you would be featured on Bass Insider on Saturday Morning being interviewed by Mark Zona. I could see it now: Mark Zona: "So tell us about that day." Me: "Well Zona, there was a crisp in the air as I tied on my Chuck Woolery MotoChug in Golden Tiger. I pulled the string and casted it out as far as I could over a submerged weedbed. As the MotoChug flopped around on it's own, there was an explosion in the water. I reared back an extra 2 feet to account for the activation string to be pulled out and then set the hook. As the Bass swam towards the boat, I couldn't reel in fast enough to keep up with the charging fish and I could feel the MotoChug automatically wiggling around in the Bass's mouth. I thought I was going to loose him, but thanks to the extra dull, no name brand hooks, the lure remained in his mouth. I finally got him close enough to lip and the rest is history." Mark Zona: "Well, that's an amazing story." Me: "It was Mark and I am glad to be among the 1,000,000 anglers who purchased the world's first motorized lure." Mark Zona: "Wait, this just in...your catch has been disqualified as a World Record, because automated lures are illegal to use under the IFGA. I knew this was a stupid story to do! Get this clown out of here! Chuck Woolery Lures!!! Where is my agent?!!" After thinking about it, I don't think I am going to use my Moto-lures, because I don't need the embarressment.

I like the Red Cajun line. Never had a problem with it.

Like everyone else said here, that is False. Though, I did hear that if you have mono on your reel and store the reel in a very cold place, the mono shrinks and could place a lot of pressure on your spool and damage it (especially if you have a wiffle spool).

Maltese Falcon, I am like you. I would spend hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars in the off season waiting for spring. I solved the problem by getting into ice fishing. Though I spent a lot of money on ice fishing equipment, it calms my spending down by allowing me to feed my fishing habits. Actually, ice fishing is very fun and I almost look forward to the winter (that is "almost"). If you haven't done it already, give ice fishing a try.

Can you believe I actually have 6 of these (all gifts). Everytime I go through my stuff I always say I am going to give them a try, but I never have. For some reason, I can't bring myself to use them. I just can't imagine any serious bass fisherman tying one of these on. Could you see KVD winning the Classic and attributing his win to Chuck Woolery's Moto Frog?

I found that Bass Pro seems to have a little more in the Bass fishing department (though, not much more), but Cabelas has a better fly fishing department. I also have both Bass Pro rods and Cabelas rods and I would highly recommend Cabelas XML rods. I have seven of these rods and I plan on getting more. They are on sale on the internet for $99.99 and well worth the money.