MassYak85

I actually use it as a leader in 6, 8 and 12 lb with 15lb yellow 832 as mainline.

In the spring there were a couple days ice was forming on my graphite rod and it did fine. Most materials will be more brittle at colder temperatures but I'm not sure the temperature range we fish in gets low enough to be of any concern. If you can cast a lure without it bouncing off the water I would think your rod should be fine.

I usually get some when I am at Bass Pro, which hasn't been too often this year. I like them a lot, no complaints.

I don't think that's too heavy for 50lb, have you considered using a shock leader? Also, I'm not sure if yours is custom painted or not, but twitch'nNinja's don't retail for 55

What was the swimbait you were using and how heavy was it? 50lb would be too light if you are throwing 10 inch hudds, but would probably be fine for something like a wooden shellcracker.

Can't wait! That early season black ice is always fun to fish.

Also, where do you guys buy tying materials. I have some, but not enough to do the patterns I'm thinking of like a bluegill or perch.

Yea I want to try a few feather or hair ones for the colder water and if I like doing it enough might start with some other types. If I end up with anything nice I'll post some pictures.

They aren't even tungsten, that's what makes the price completely crazy. They are charging you 8 bucks for the feathers pretty much. The standard shock blade is half the price. I have a starter fly tying kit and might try my hand at a few jigs over the winter, it would be a lot cheaper than a lot of these hand tied ones available online. By the way @Janderson45, do you know any tungsten bladed jig companies? I haven't seen any and have been using the revenge viberator, which is lead, and I haven't really found anything to replace it with. I guess I could always try putting a blade on a tungsten swim jig but I also haven't found a tungsten swim jig I like yet.

To be honest I don't think that issue is the result of using the wrong type of reel. Like others have said, spinning reels won't be exempt from issues that could result in the same thing happening. What size braid are you using and what weight was the bait you lost?

http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Fenwick-AETOS-Casting-Rod-72-Medium-Heavy&i=878501 Tatula's can also be had for under 100 if you look around.

I almost bought one of those, they look amazing, but at 15 bucks a pop I decided against it. Also, I am still somewhat confused about the lead law even after all this time. I have transitioned all my sinkers over to tungsten or brass, but IMO the law isn't super clear about the different types of lures. It calls out lead bass jigs ("jigs which are painted, "skirted", or otherwise covered with rubber or other substance.") as not okay. But the it also lists examples of lures that ARE okay, like spinnerbaits. I just don't know where they draw the line. Does the addition of the blade excuse it, or it technically still a jig. And where does that leave things like underspins? Which are basiclaly spinnerbaits with an inverted and much smaller wire arm. Interestingly enough they also say weighted flies are still okay. I have some flies, and there's a point where the difference between a lead fly and a 1/32 hairjig are almost the same thing.

@fissure_man Now THAT'S the kind of explanation I was hoping to hear from someone, props for taking the time to write that out.

I mean, Teflon (PTFE) is less friction resistant than the metal of the bare hook, but the force of friction of the hook shank against the fish's flesh in the case of hooking a fish is basically negligible when you consider how many magnitudes greater a force you are putting into your hookset. As long as the hook point is sharp I can't see this realistically ever having a tangible effect on your hookup rates. The forces at play are just much too small to matter.

Yea that makes sense, thanks. @Team9nine Those kind of technical analysis always interest me. Stuff like what you did, knot strength testing, etc.

Thanks for the tips! I have heard of stitching before but never really gave it a go. Not sure if I'll get a chance this season though. Looks like temperatures are going to start staying in the thirties during the day time next week and onward. Some skim ice might start forming on the ponds I fish before I even get done with finals. Fine with me though. If I get to ice fish over winter break I'll be pretty happy.

What's the Teflon supposed to help with? Just curious.

Nice fish! If we had a decent pike population around me I might target them instead honestly.

I used the FG exclusively for like a year, and like Darren said, it grew to be too much of a pain to tie, especially on the water, that I decided to try other stuff. The Alberto is still very thin and has great strength and relatively easy to tie. To be fair to the Uni to Uni I do still use it time to time if I need to quickly tie a leader on. My issues have come mainly from using it with t-rigs. I've broken off fish on some pretty hard hooksets. The leader knot broke before the lure connection which I didn't like.

Others may disagree but I hate the uni to uni. I've had knot failure issues with it, I don't believe it ranks very high in leader knot strength tests either if I recall correctly. I use longer leaders so I don't want a swivel bouncing through my guides. I have recently grown to like the alberto as my favorite leader knot. FG is good too but is hard to tie. Try a some different knots out though. Ultimately the best connection knot is going to be the one you feel most comfortable tying.

I got a couple of those Keitech Mono Spin Tungsten jigs to try a few weeks back. You guys ever tried them. I have one rigged on my spinning rod right now with a little 2" craw and it looks awesome but I haven't fished it yet.

Lol now I'm curious about the physics behind all of this

The only time I really care about line visibility is if it's a presentation where the bass might come up to it and examine it for a decent amount of time. Almost any moving bait I could care less. For stuff like wacky rigs, dragging something slowly in clear water I'll use a leader. Whether it actually makes a difference I haven't tested it enough to know, but it gives me a little more confidence in certain situations and that makes a big enough difference for me to keep doing it. As for steel leaders. I used to use them with certain things when pickerel were biting a lot, and I caught bass with them. I would just say don't use them if it's on a lure where it will effect the action like a suspending jerkbait. Of course if you have pike you may not have a choice. Also, don't take any of our word for it, try both. If you don't see a difference, don't switch. If it aint broke and you are catching fish, who's to tell you what you are doing is wrong?

x2 on the yellow braid, switched to it this year for spinning, probably won't ever go back.

Braid to fluoro leader. I like to see the braid on top of the water and watch for any twitches, and the no stretch hookset. Plus with a really slow falling presentation I feel like line visibility can come into play if the fish are being picky, I'm usually not too worried about that but it's one of the times I make sure to. I have 15lb braid on my spinning rod and then usually an 8 or 12 lb leader depending on the cover and thickness of the plastic (thick plastic --> more force to expose hook --> heavier line so I don't have to worry). Open water with something like a weightless trick worm I go 8. Weightless Stick-O's around cover get 12.