Jschen

Yeah I found it interesting as well. Guess I'll try using FC more often, always hated the stuff because it seems to get tangled a bit easier mono and braid. Having about 7' of leader solves that though.

So I did some fishing yesterday. Did some wacky worm and got a couple of bites. Threw on a 3/8 or 1/4 ounce jig with a trailer and was fishing that for maybe 45 minutes. This was all done on braid. I could see the fish from the bank but couldn't get much interest. I left the pond for about 30 minutes tied on 8# FC leader and casted in the same spots with the same jig. Caught maybe 10 fish. Maybe it was due to the difference in time but got me to wondering maybe it was the line choice? Most of the bites came from either swimming the jig or dragging it along the bottom. Also, did some fishing in Florida and a lot of the shop/guides said you have to use FC because the fish will get spooked by other line choices. I've always caught fish on braid but yesterday got me wondering if I could get more fish/bites with using different lines. Is there a guide for which lines to use with each type of technique? I'd think top water would be mostly braid and almost everything else would be FC? Of course braid for heavy cover as well.

Looking at the Fenwick Aetos 7' medium fast casting rod to add to my arsenal. Most of my rods are MH so I think this would be good for a crankbait rod? Anyone have much experience with this rod? Any comparison to the Dobyns Fury line? Probably pair it with my Tatula CT.

Sorry everyone I thought I had my settings to e-mail when there was a reply. I went ahead and bought the boat for $2,300. The motor seemed to run pretty good when we put a water muff on it. The owner didn't have much information on the boat as he had just bought it from an older gentleman a year before. The owner was a college student who came back for Easter weekend so I only had a limited time to make a decision. I wanted to get it in the water which he was happy to oblige but with limited time we just couldn't make it happen. I think the deep-v will be a good boat as I'm a family man and rather have my kids "in" the boat vs "on" the boat compared to a bass boat. The boat is a 1977 Mr. Pike deluxe 18' with a 1980 Merc engine. From the sounds of it I should look at replacing the trolling motor which I've been trying to learn how much thrust and how long the shaft needs to be. Since the fishing season is about to start I would only like to work on any safety issues of the boat and start working on fixing the boat when it's a little colder or have better plans on what to do. The owner built a platform to make it more of a bass boat in the front so that platform is in good condition. I've looked at some of the projects at iboat to get an idea of what I should do to convert this into a decent fishing boat. Does anyone have recommendations on websites I should read to decide what types of conversions I should look into for this boat?

So I'm looking for a first time fishing boat. Grew up as a bank fisherman all my life but being an adult now and a sport that I enjoy quite a bit I think it might be nice to have a cheap jon boat or better if I get a good deal. This one came up on craigslist and seems to be a pretty good deal, however a pretty old boat (1978). He's asking about $3k for it and from what I've seen on other jon boats that seems like a pretty good deal. From the photos it looks like it has been well maintained. What should I be looking for and asking? Little info: Just moved to this area so not sure about the lakes. Looks like most lakes in the area are between 100-400 acres with one 640 acre about 30 minutes from me. I'd probably like to modify the interior to make it more of a bass type boat with platforms. Would probably fish with a max of 3 people on the boat. The ad: I have an older 18 foot Lund for sale. It has a 60 lbs thrust trolling motor with two newer batteries. The motor is 50 hp and runs great. The top end is about 25 mph. I have built a raised front deck out of aluminum and plywood. The boat is clean and the trailer is in good shape.

I haven't found a lot of 2 piece casting rods and have heard they aren't as common here in the States compared to international. I have a Daiwa Ardito 3-piece travel rod that I haven't had much of a chance to use but seems like a solid rod. Other rods I've found are the Abu Garcia Veritas 2.0 and the St. Croix Premier.

I was snagged and I've seen videos where you bump the bottom of your rod to try to jolt the lure loose, that method has worked for me before. Guess that's not a good way of doing it and puts some real stress on the rod. Good thing it was a $30 rod vs a $100+ rod. Now I have an excuse to get a new rod though. =) I have a Daiwa Ardito travel rod that I haven't used much but used it as my replacement today. Can't make an assessment of the rod yet. At the moment I'm leaning towards the Dobyns.

So my Berkley Lightning Shock casting rod broke today and I'm looking for a replacement. The lighting rod was a 6'6" MH. I fish from shore and looking for a versatile rod. The majority of my fishing is jigs, t-rigged plastics and chatterbaits/spinners. I will do some crankbaits and I'm still learning some of the other hard baits. My budget is $150. So far my research has pointed me to the Dobyns Fury 703c ($110), St. Croix Mojo ($130), IROD Genesis II ($150). Which would you choose and do you have any other recommendations?

Illinois got a couple of good fish last eeek but still a struggle to get them to bite. Usually have to cycle through a lot of different baits to get any action. Jigs have worked the best. It's still pretty slow - getting 2-3 bites in a 4 hour span which is pretty painful. I've gone mostly during the noon hour and come back between 430-6 with the same results. I'm bank fishing on maybe a 50 acre lake that's connected by a runoff from a larger lake and also exits to a river. i won't be able to fish for a couple of weeks and it will probably be too cold to go in mid November. Maybe I'll get lucky and there might be a nice warm day. thanks for the suggestions.

It seems like the bite has slowed down quite a bit since the fall season has begun. Here in the Midwest we're having that day to day weather - cold one day and warm another. I get a chance to get maybe 1-2 bites a day with a variety of baits. I noticed yesterday when I was using a super fluke that I didn't even feel it take the bait I just saw the line moving. I'm guessing with the colder weather they're a little more lethargic and might want a slower presentation. Do you guys have any advise on how to fish at this time? How about the use of noisy/water displacement baits?

Thanks for the help guys! I'll keep practicing. It is probably a mix of inexperience with the bait caster and FC as I'm having less problems with the mono. Sounds like I'm doing the leader incorrectly as well but no big deal right now.

You're probably correct on having too much of a leader line. I cut off all the FC and spooled some 10# mono and had very little backlash in the fishing I did today. Only problem today was the fish weren't biting for me. Going to stick with mono for now and maybe if the future I'll try FC again.

Thanks guys, I have the reel set up per instructions, bait barely drops with the tension knob, brakes are set to full even though the backlash appears to happen during casting and not when it hits the water. I try to tether the spool while it's casting but I still get terrible backlash. I am planning on throwing most everything with this set-up except for the finesse type stuff. I've been throwing crankbaits and jigs. Pitching senkos near the banks. I put on the braid for when I fish heavy cover - punching and frogging in weeds and lily pads. I put on the FC leader since the lake I normally fish at I do underwater baits and wanted less line visibility and have the line sink. When I bought the reel from BPS they did spool it with mono and I was doing okay with that. Maybe I'll just go back to mono or try a different FC. Maybe I spooled the FC in the wrong direction (I spooled it where the line was coming off the top)? I was throwing with just braid in the backyard and things seemed to be better. Maybe I spooled too much FC as a leader? I'll try a 15-20' leader and see if that alleviates some of my issues. Any other ideas would be appreciated.

I'm relatively new to the baitcasting reel and put on some 12# mono backing followed by PP 30# braid and then red label 8# fluoro last night. Went out this afternoon and was getting major backlash on cast. I read that baitcasters are designed for heavier lines and that maybe the 8# fluoro is too thin and digging into itself causing all the backlash. Does this sound correct? My setup is a lews tournament mb on a 6' 6" Berkley Lightning Shock MH rod. I use it for pretty much every presentation except finesse (ned rig and drop-shot). If I need to replace the fluoro what do you think I should use? Should I just cut the fluoro and go with the braid? Thanks

I'm kind of curious why some rod manufacturer's only list power and nothing about action. My Ugly sticks are medium power but nothing about the action, the thing I dislike about those rods are the flimsy tips make me feel like there is no control. The Berkely's are the same they list the power but don't talk about the action. Looks like I just have to make a trip to BP at some point and look around but gets pretty overwhelming when I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for. new2BC4bass - I retrieve with my RH. Thsoe Pflueger reels seem to be reasonably priced for someone new to baitcasting. I grew up on spin reels and all I remember as a kid was my dad's first baitcaster and he would nest that thing all the time and never saw the benefits of that type of reel.