1simplemann

Thanks for the tip! I just bought some at the $6.99 price! I called a buddy and we made a bulk order.$250 gone just like that but at that price you just cant pass it up.. LC makes and awesome jerkbait and their cranks aren't half bad either.

SmallJaw, You might know my partner. He grew up fishing the Susky. I'll find out this weekend if the fluro helps. I feel the whole key is that I'm not in the strike zone as much. I've tried the weight thing which does help but then I'm snagging the bottom more. If we're not on the river, I stay right with him most of the time but on the river in the wind he gets me every time. As long as I'm catching, i don't mind the score card but I was getting frustrated when I knew the fish were there, biting and I couldn't buy a bite.

No love for improved clinch? It's all I use. No complaints.

PR, From the vid's I saw A Mart uses multiple knot. Alberto,albright, uni-uni FG knot etc. I have tied them all. I prefer some sort of Albright for speed and dependability. The FG is one knot that I can't seem to get the hang of. I can tie it fairly well on 30 or 40 lb leader but can't seem to tie it on anything under 20. It takes me so dang long to tie it that I generally don't mess w/ it anymore. As far as being in MT, who da thought that the bass fishing could be good here? I just kinda hung my rods up and concentrated on bowhunting. Not sure why but it was definitely a mistake. Picked em back up again after a Florida vacation and realized what I was missing. I started looking hard at what MT had to offer and discovered the Missouri River north of where I live is an amazing smallmouth fishery. But the biggest discovery which may be the best "sleeper lake" in the US is Fort Peck Reservoir. Over 100 miles long and not a soul in site. Overall it is an amazing fishery in itself but the smallmouth are hardly touched. Our state championship had 2 day ,10 fish limit w/ 2 guys over 45 lbs! The guy that came in 2nd caught 27lbs on a practice day including a possible 7lb 'r and one under that. He let em go. State record is 6.8 lb. The lake has exploded since the high water of 2011-2012. I predict the record will be broken this year. Things are looking good for the few of us bass guys here. You mention soft braids. I use Fins XS which is 8 strands and is very soft. I use it because the noise going through the guides bothers me. I wonder if a stiffer braid will help? I have some PP somewhere and will gladly put up w/ the noise if it help my ratio. Tight lines, Rob in Montana

Paul, Look up Aaron Martens favorite shakyhead. It's a bassmaster clip. Basically he prefers to start w/ a leader w/ the knot just above the reel and NOT past the bail arm due to the knot catching. Makes sense to me. Catt. Come clean? Well, we fished along a 300 yd stretch of rocky shoreline. We started in the middle. He went his way,I went mine. We met back up an hour later, compared results and then fished the same hole side by side. At the time, we met back up, it was 4:1. In the next hour it became 12:1 and finished 15:3. Clean enough for ya? The 20 mph wind seemed to trigger the bite because as soon as the wind died so did the bite. As far as adjustments, I'm not too old to learn a new thing or two cause after the butt whoop'n I took on Sat. i figure I need change something. He was over for dinner tonite and agreed that the fluro was probably the difference. we'll see this weekend. Tight Lines Rob in Montana

Allen, my index finger is on the line but thanks anyway. Paul, I'm going to be setting up two reels this week. 1 all fluro and the other w/ a long leader but not past the reel. Probably 12-13'. I did some research and watched a video clip from A-Mart and he mentioned that a leader past the reel causes line lay and casting problems which is something I hadn't considered. Both should help get that bait down and stay down. As far as reducing the bow, that is something i always try to do by anchoring in the current, casting up river and upwind so I'm not cross wind or current.Right now I can't do that because at the present time, I don't have an anchor system set up on my kayak. I removed the old one but that is another story. I honestly don't feel that I was distracted because for the 1st hour we were seperated by 100-150 yds and we had no idea how the other was doing. I would say on a normal day it runs 3:2 in his favor but 15:3 was highly unusual. I started looking at the differences in our setups because on a calm day I usually stay right with him or at least close. I 'll try both setup this weekend and report back.

WRB, I do use spinning gear. He does use a baitcaster. I have always used spinning gear since it's what I started with. Is there a difference in sensitivity? If so then this could get expensive cause I don't own any BC's! ( I do have a lot of spinning gear which my wife will attest to. She says I have far too many rods. If she only knew what they cost LOL) As far as the "V" goes, all I can say is it was almost impossible to see. Wind, current and glare made it extremely difficult to see. My friend wasn't seeing the line move either. According to him it was all feel. I'm going to try a few different things this weekend. I'm going to use a much longer leader. 10-15' Typically I use 3-6". It was kinda hard to see how much of a bow he had but he did agree that even he wouldn't be able to feel crap w/ as much bow as I had. I have a feeling BB86 may be right and my bait isn't getting down to them or isn't staying down w/ them.

I was thinking this same thing. 6-8' is the longest I've ever done. 20-30' leader should cast OK especially w/ my knot.

Just thought I'd say hello from Montana. Moved here 16yrs ago to pursue my bowhunting interests. Kinda dropped the bass fishing thing for a long time. I used to fish every day after school back home. Here, trout and walleye are king. They weren't my cup of tea so just wasn't as interested. Recently picked the rods back up and having a blast. Discovered kayak fishing, and the little known but plentiful smallmouth fishing this state has to offer.Also as a bonus the northern pike fishing isn't too shabby either. Tight Lines Rob in Montana

I'm using 15 lb Fins to 10 lb fluro. He's not seeing the bite IE the line moving. The line is already moving because of the current. He claims he can feel the bite and /or the tension on the line and therefor sets the hook. Myself, I know tension he speaks of as I can feel it on non windy day. On a wind day casting cross wind and cross current there is a 10-15' bow in my line. I can't feel crap. I'm just not connected to the bait. I bumped up the 5/15 jig heads and that helped but I snagged the bottom way more. Only thing I can find out is that fluro sinks and braid floats. I'm really scratching my head on this one because generally I can stay with him and generally the only time he out fishes me is when we're throwing tubes in the river especially on windy days.

My partner consistently outfishes me in the wind. He uses all fluro. I use braid to fluro. Fishing 1/4 oz tube bait for smallies in the river .Same bait ,same hole 15 to 3! I have a big bow in my line and can't feel the bite. Rod tip down, and short cast help but He put on a clinic yesterday. At one point it was 12 to 1. Is it the Fluro? or is he THAT good? E2 just killed em in the wind on jig in the Classic. There's gotta be a way to feel the bite. Thanks in advance Rob in Montana