Attila

Hi everyone, I've recently taken to swapping out stock trebles from the crankbaits that I buy. Wondering what you do with all the trebles you swap out? Attila

First lure I ever threw was a Rapala Shad Rap Size 9 in perch pattern. We used to camp on Rice Lake and there was a huge weed flat there and it was about 6ft deep. I would throw the lure into clearings in the weeds and the largies would hit it as soon as I turned the handle. Thirty five years later my confidence bait is any bait that I throw, but I do love throwing a topwater.

Thanks! Surprised me, at first I thought a small smallmouth had grabbed the bait as it jumped up and into the dock but when it came out I saw it was a rock bass...fishing, full of surprises!

Shakey head fishing is new to my arsenal this year, but based on the results I had over the last couple of days, I think it'll play a role in a lot of my future angling adventures. I was throwing a black 1/8oz VMC Rugby Jig with a 6 1/4" Berkley Havoc plastic in the June Bug pattern. After watching a few videos of Ike using the bait I cut off about 1/4" of the worm so that I could rig it flush with the jig head. I was quite impressed with the durability of the bait as it held up well after fighting several decent sized fish, and the added bonus is that you can apply your own scent to the bait if you so desire. I fished it without as I just wanted to practice skipping the rig under docks and it still resulted in quality fish.

Opener for me is about getting the rust off, so I take everything with me and practice applying them all in different locations and situations to see what the fish will react to the most. Thanks to different weather patterns over the last few days, I've had the chance to fish all the lures in my tackle bag and have done well on all of them. I have also gained a lot more confidence in my casting abilities, in particular my ability to skip lures under docks.

I use the Plano 3700 guide series tackle bag. My utility boxes are broken down as follows; 1 x topwaters including poppers/walkers/frogs 1 x jerkbaits 1 x 3/8oz crankbaits, squarebills, and chatterbaits 1 x spinnerbait/buzzbait/flipping jigs 1 x finesse baits ie hair jigs, shakey heads, drop shot paraphernalia, assorted small worm hooks size 2/0 or 1/0 1 x assorted light cranks weighing 1/4oz or less 1 x ultralight tackle I put my chatterbait trailers, senkos, and shakey head plastics in the back mesh area. Everything else has a place from pliers to scissors to a couple of spools of fluoro for leaders. I also keep my face shields in the bag.

While I use an XF for my walking style baits, I've heard good things about the Daiwa Tatula Elite Signature Series bass rods. A quick look at the Daiwa webpage shows that they have a MH R crankbait rod designed by Takahiro Omori that has the same action as the topwater/jerkbait rod designed by Randy Howell. The rods retail for $179.99 over at Tackle Warehouse. Cheers.

Was practicing my shakey head presentation and had this decent rock bass hit right beside a dock.

Nice fish there @A-Jay, love how feisty they can be. Jerkbaits?

Hit the lake for bass opener in zone 17 and ended up with this musky, gave a great account of itself on my crankbait setup.

All good. Water is higher than normal.

@Scarborough817 Dude zone 17 opened this past weekend....you mean you didn't get out? I was working this past weekend, so I went out today and caught them on spinnerbaits and square bills.

I'd love to fish with @A-Jay for a day. As well, there's a couple of great sticks up here in Canada that know our water really well. People like Gord Pyzer, "Big Jim" McLaughlin, and a close personal friend named Danny Dunn. It'd be an honour to learn from any one of these gents. As far as Elite pros go...first choice would be KVD, second would be Ike, and third would be Edwin. The sentimental choice would be dad...he's still alive but mobility is a real issue for him in his old age. We used to drift around in the canoe plunking worms for panfish and bass in between weed clumps...those were some really fun times.

Think of the Carolina rig as more of a search rig that covers the deeper water spectrum on ledges, etc. whereas a drop shot is more of a technique to use once a concentration of fish has been located, similar to a Texas rigged plastic that is thrown once fish are located via squarebill or spinnerbait. Hope that helps!

Here's what I use to get the temperature at various depths. Available at Fish USA. Vexilar Deptherm Depth and Temperature Gauge

I was about to respond with the same answer as @A-Jay, glad I received the notification of his post! lol

All the waters that I fish from shore here in the Kawartha's are very accessible to the public. Matter of fact, I'm never more than a 30 second walk from the car...lol When it comes to what I'll pack, I try to tell myself that I'll just take a couple of combos each time but who am I kidding...lol One MLXF spinning combo for shakey heads and wacky senkos rigged with 6lbs fluoro, medium fibreglass baitcaster with 12lbs fluoro for small to midsize crank and spinnerbaits, a MF spinning combo for jerkbaits, a MF baitcaster loaded with 30lbs braid solely for walking style topwaters, and a MHF baitcaster that I use for frogging, pitching, and any texas rigged soft baits. So that's a total of 5 combos that I have with me when I head out. Now, if I'm going out with a specific pattern that I want to fish, I'll head out with the applicable combos and leave the others at home. Case in point, I just picked up my MHF baitcaster combo for frogging/pitching/texas rigged baits so when bass opens I'm going to take that combo along with walking style topwater combo to give them a good workout and make sure that I can get familiar with their nuances. As for what to carry them in, it's really not a requirement for me. However, if I did have to, there are several rod carriers available on the market that'll do the trick. Hope that this makes sense...lol

First and foremost, welcome to Bass Resource. I would first definitely use some type of line conditioner on the line before spooling up as it will definitely help you with the overrun issue. The second possibility is the power you're using to throw the bait. What type of bait are you throwing and what does it weigh? The reviews that I've read on this reel indicate that people are able to cast long distances so perhaps the spool spins a lot faster than others to get the extra distance. As such, you may have to thumb the spool a little bit to to ensure that it doesn't spin so fast as to result in a backlash. Final suggestion would be to change your line. Seaguar is my go to, and I'd use AbrazX around cover and InvizX around light cover or open water. Cheers!

Would never think to use it on braid. Personally I run PowerPro Super 8 Slick so have no need for the braid to be more slick in hopes that it'll increase my casting distance. If you're looking for more casting distance, may I inquire as to how much braking you have setup on your reel?

I was looking at them earlier, thing is, we have a lot of musky in the waters that we fish and while it might get some bigger bass I think it'd stand a better chance at getting bitten off. That said, it'd be interesting to fish with one.

Hi Boomstick; you mentioned this in your first post, and based on that I'd go with the 7'1" MH R as you'll be throwing spinnerbaits and swim jigs more often than crankbaits. The same rod can easily handle crankbaits and topwaters too in the event that you throw them. Cheers, hope that all the info provided was of help and that you enjoy your purchase!

Thanks to @A-Jay and @J Francho for sharing their insights into the northern waters, really helps me understand a lot of the water I fish! In the Kawartha's I find myself throwing a topwater or jerkbait for bass as a search bait. This season between tournaments I'm going to be experimenting with a spinnerbait as a search bait as well.

Can't say that I own one, simply because my go to topwaters up here are the Rapala Skitter Pop and the Strike King Sexy Dawg Jr. After those two it's all about the Spro Bronzeye family....

I can appreciate most people are on a budget, I'm in the same boat. I find that when I'm facing a major purchase (like this one was) I spend a lot more time looking at how I fish and the lures that I'm hoping to use when fishing with this reel. I fish a lot of light baits, and always have. The reason for this is because I became a light line specialist over the years while fishing very highly pressured water. Admittedly I'm good at throwing a baitcaster, but I just found my skill diminished when trying to throw those light 1/4oz baits. With the SV technology, I'm looking forward to now having some extra assistance which should allow me to throw those lures. In the end, the extra cost was worth it - for me. You would have to decide if it's the right choice for you and make a choice at that point. Cheers!

While my glass is rated for lures down to 1/4oz, I haven't yet thrown any that light. I was waiting for a baitcasting reel that would give me more control over the lighter lures and the distance that I need to cast in order to cover the water that I fish. Not to go off topic, but I think the Tatula SV TW is the solution I was waiting for. I've picked it up and am waiting for our bass opener (June 17) to really give it a good workout with my lighter 1/4oz baits. I expect the glass rod will handle things as well as they handled the 3/8oz lures, allowing for a proper loading and ensuring that the lures aren't ripped away from the fish before they're actually taken. This will then allow me to use my 6'6" MLXF Procyon solely for finesse fishing lures like shakey heads, spybaits, etc... Cheers!