An Outdoor Guy

Sorry if its been asked before but I'm wondering how often should you clean your reel?? Is there a rule of thumb for cleaning or is it just like gun cleaning? (clean after every use no matter how little)

BAHAHA!! I do this every freaking time I go fishing! I just spent a couple hours going through everything and have come up with this solution. I have my "main" backpack with everything I own in it that I will leave in the car and only bring if I'm going in a boat. and I now bring a draw string backpack that I have 1 Plano 3600 box filled with every bait that I use minus soft plastics. and 1 gallon freezer bag of worms and half a freezer bag of ribbon tails and one senko bag of mixed trailers. seriously this is so much better than carrying my massive backpack full of everything I own I rarely use my spinning rod anymore now that I have a medium fast baitcast rod that throws basically everything my spinning rod does. even weightless senkos. so now I'm down to 2 rods, a MH/F baitcast and a M/F baitcast.

Well I spent all day today fishing and I got it down after the first two hours!! I'm casting all the lighter lures that I was having trouble with!! exept the rapala HJ8...oh well ill throw that on a spinning setup. The problem was me you know that routine we all have when we go fishing? we throw certain lures on certain rods first. well mine just so happens to be a Medium heavy/ Fast rod throwing 3/8 - 1/2 oz spinner baits and chatter baits. well anyhoo, It was my muscle memory, thinking I was still holding a medium heavy throwin big ol baits once I got my muscles trained to the medium rod I was throwin them just fine. A nice guy also saw me struggling at first and when he came back to load up his boat he sprayed my line down with some KVD line conditioner. It helped my distance and the line felt much more...malleable. definitely going to have to get me some of this. Anyways thank you all for the help and advice! once I need to re spool I'm going to do so with 12lb.

7' medium Duckett ghost spinning rod with a lews mach 1 spinning reel. 20lb braid to a 12lb fluorocarbon leader I know that i can throw these light lures on that but I am trying to get rid of the spinning setup all together. that's why i got the medium bait cast rod. but the more i think about it the more i realize its probably not going anywhere

I have been using the roll cast as my main way of casting and I love it! I would like to know when you cast out on a roll cast do you point your rod at the bait or keep it pointed to the side? ive been keeping it pointed to the side with good luck and accuracy but i know the law of physics says that I should point it at the lure to keep the resistance down. As for trying to break 12lb fluoro, I haven't purposely tried to break it but I keep talking myself into using 15lb. Fluoro is new for me, I am a strictly braid fisherman but I decided it was time to give fluorocarbon a try. so far I love it. I have 12lb Berkley vanish as a leader on my spinning setup, 15lb on the above setup, and 50lb braid to a 17lb fluoro leader on my MH/F bait cast. when I want to switch to frogs or top water I just cut off the fluoro and go straight 50lb braid. I am amazed at what's available on the market now a days. when I was a kid there was only mono and braid. hell i didn't even know what a bait caster WAS back then

your right I know that, I was just testing out to see if I could cast them. sorry about the confusion man. the rod will be used for jerk baits (HJ8 size and up) light jigs & spinner baits, texas rigs, square bills, lipless cranks, and other cranks. I chose 15lb line because I think its a good "all around" line weight. I would go 12lb but I feel like I would like I would get more use from 15lb. I am one of those people... I do think that having both centrifugal and magnetic brakes help cut down on backlash. if all else fails I was going to get a new reel that had 6 centrifugal brakes and a magnetic braking system...

well from what I'm getting so far I'm thinking its the rapala lures...and my line, I don't want to go lighter than 12lb though because I fear of breakoffs... but if it needs to be lighter it needs to be lighter. ill get some 8lb copoly and see how that does. I did get the light jitterbug to cast without a backlash but it didn't go very far. about the same as a spinning setup. should I expect this? or should it be casting farther than a spinning setup? and you guys are right about being new to baitcasters. its my first year. iv had 2 since may (lews mach 1 and lews carbon blue speed spool) and it took me 1 day to get it to cast properly with the heavier stuff. nice and far with only about 3 backlashes. not to shabby for my fist time with a baitcaster wouldn't you say?

I have a 7 foot, Medium / fast bait casting rod with a lews carbon blue speed spool, spooled up with 15lb seaguar red label. the rod says lure weight is 1/4oz-5/8ox. I'm having trouble casting the 1/4oz lures. (rapala, jitterbugs, ect.) I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong? I keep getting backlashes. could I be "whipping" to hard on the cast? my reel is setup properly and so is my drag. I just cant get these light lure to go far without backlashing. any help is greatly appreciated!!

This is basically my exact setup, only difference is the line and what I keep in my bags/boxes, you don't think all that is a little much?? I've come down to bringing what you have mentioned here and an extra draw string bag that I will put the stuff I'm using for the day in. I'm going to try for 1 Plano box and 1 gallon bag of plastics (probably worms). and 2 rods. I'm trying to get rid of my spinning setup and replace it with a M/F bait cast but I don't think its going to be very good throwing light stuff. This is what I'm shooting for in terms of a load out!! I have way to many senkos just in different colors....same for ribbontails...and everything else I have lmao!

I can tell you from first hand experience with ALL of those that the Mach 1 is DEFFINTILY worth the money! it is by far my favorite setup. the rod is a bit on the chunky side in weight but the sensitivity and power is amazing. the reel is also my favorite. it has both centrifugal brakes (4 pin) and magnetic ones. As for the American hero. (the black and blue) the setup is by far the lightest of the ones you have mentioned. BUT it comes at a cost. you lose the centrifugal brakes in the reel. it is strictly magnetic. now that haven't bothered me any but I like to stick with heavier lures for this one. trying to cast lighter lures without centrifugal brakes can be done but you have to be good at using a baitcaster. also the rod is IM6 not IM8 like the mach1. the sensitivity is still amazing but I can tell when I'm draggin jigs that its not as sensitive as the mach 1 with the IM8 rod.

I have thought really hard about these!! I cant find them anywhere to see them in person though. I have lots of multiples so I'm thinking this wouldn't be great for everything I have but it would work out great with my terminal tackle. I do that to! but now its getting to the point where I'm getting really tired of carrying a full loaded backpack and 3-4 rods with me everywhere I go. Now I know I want to be prepared for anything the day can throw at me but seriously! carrying 30 pounds of tackle all along the bank can be draining! I mean after the day is done and I realize I haven't even touched more than half of my tackle I start to think...hmm I should downsize a bit...

So I'm wondering what kind of tackle and rods do you guys bring bank fishing? I feel like I have WAY to much tackle for a bank fisherman... I have 3 Plano 3700 boxes filled with tackle. and another one filled with terminal tackle. and 2 gallon freezer bags full of plastics.... along with 5 different rods. I have them all in my car at all times but I'm wondering what would you bring for banging the bank?? tackle and rods please. thinking I could get rid of the deep divers..DT6 -DT14, XD series ect. but I don't know...

iv seen that, I'm using the FG knot and I have loved it ever since. its super super thin and really strong. I have broken line and lures before the knot.

tI have 4 shadow raps 3 regular and one deep diving. I have only used them a handful of times but no cracks on mine. they are a little big for my liking as well. I see them as the jigs of the jerk bait world. they don't catch a million fish but the ones they do catch are really freaking big. that being said I like the HJ8 size. they are just perfect for me because I like to catch a lot of fish no matter what the size is. just remember to use 12# fluoro with the shadow raps because anything else makes them run about a foot under the surface lmao

I know it does suck I'm having problems with it because at first that was the knot I swore by. but the SDJ know has been holding up great so far and I can tie it MUCH faster than any other knot out there. I think I have finally found my all time knot. occasionally I will tie a palomar knot like when I'm using braid to a lure. and I have also started using the Albright knot for joining my mono backing to my fluoro mainline. it took a lot of time to find what works for me but I think I finally have it down!

I have also heard the palomar knot is a great knot to use as well. so far I have had good luck with the jam knot. no break offs or knots coming undone so far but then again today was my first day using it hahaha. ill tie up a second line using the palomar knot and see how they stand up against each other

thanks guys for the replies. I think I'm going with the jam knot. I'm extremely fluent in tying it and its really quick. I have never tried the uni knot because I cant tie it ill try to learn it though. it seems like a good knot to use when re spooling.

did what you said and it worked! puts a big hole through the plastic though... the only thing about adding the hitch hiker is that I noticed that the eye is at a different angle than the ones that come with the hitch hikers already on them. complete 90* turn.

Wondering what knot is best with fluorocarbon to lure/hook. I tried the improved clinch knot and it came loose. I'm thinking about going with a 6 turn san Diego jam knot. what are your recommendations?

So I got some weighted swimbait hooks from gamakatsu and I realized theres no hitch hiker for me to screw my bait on to. how do I rig my swimwaits on these???

I always always ALWAYS go with a high speed reel. mainly because I can always slow down if I need to. even on my deep diving rod I'm using a 7.1.1 gear ratio. its easier to slow down than to be cranking like a crack head when you have to speed up. that being said I would never go below 6.5.1 or somewhere in the mid 6's.

Confidence to me is going out there knowing that every piece of tackle I have catches fish, and all I have to do is figure out which one the fish want. (Color/size/retrieve) If I'm trying a new lure and I want to boost my confidence in it I will DOWNSIZE. get a smaller lure of what I'm fishing. Smaller lures means smaller fish but more of them. I started with a little jerkbait from rapala. the husky jerk HJ6. and now I'm up to the rapala shadow raps. the smaller lures buld your confidence because you WILL catch fish just not monsters. another good example. Chatter baits. Never used them till last month. got 4 regular sized chatter baits and 3 smaller ones. guess which ones have caught the most? yep. the smaller ones. still haven't caught anything on the regular sized ones but I'm still trying to gain confidence in them so I'm using the smaller ones for now.

that actually sounds like a great idea lol it wouldn't cost you a fortune, just gas money and depending if you have family there maybe hotel costs. Or if your a trooper like me make a bed out of the truck bed and have a soft top as your roof and sleep in your truck right on the lake! lol

Wow there are so many different answers here! I love it! I'm definitely going to be trying some different lures throughout the seasons now. Some I would have never even thought of. and really I'm more surprised that there are more people fishing in the winter than I would have thought!

your wife is right and so are you. it is true that the bigger the lure the bigger the fish you COULD catch. I have caught small blue gill and giant bass on the same size jerk bait. But the key word to bigger lure = bigger fish is OVERALL. you are more likely to catch bigger fish on bigger lure overall.