BrackishBassin

All my frogging is done with an Abu Garcia Black Max. Catching them in deep pads, like forests of pads. Never had an issue getting them to the bank. I think it’s a 6.3.1 ratio reel but don’t quote me on that. If you’re looking for a cheaper high speed reel, have you considered the KastKing Speed Demon? I haven’t fished with any of their stuff, but lots of guys on here have nothing but good things to say about them.

Check out Free Fly stuff. Just got their hoodie. Really, really like it. Much more comfortable than the straight polyester stuff.

Anyone have any experience with Breakline sunglasses? Had a pair of Costas bite the dust, and I’m looking for an independently owned company to buy my next pair from. Their warranty sounds amazing...almost too amazing. I also see that all the older reviews mentioned them being made with Zeiss lenses, but their website mentions nothing of the sort now. Thanks!

Tackle Warehouse has the silent versions, if that’s what you’re looking for.

Lead, like many other heavy metal contaminants, tends to cause problems over time as it is accumulated in the body. Just like any other heavy metal, your body can flush it out given time. The danger comes from it accumulating too quickly for your body to get rid of it. It’s especially dangerous to developing bodies that don’t have the capacity to deal with it (children). I’m not crazy about avoiding lead, but I also don’t put it in my mouth and wash my hands after handling it. In my mind, it’s easy to avoid ingesting it. So, why not just avoid it? Do teeth work for crimping down weights? Sure do, but a pair of pliers work just as well, and I always have them with me when fishing. The ‘we did it and we’re fine’ thing just doesn’t work for me. People didn’t wear seatbelts ‘back in the day’. Guess what, people died. Be smart and live longer.

At my loca spots, I haven’t noticed a difference between GYB and other stick baits. In fact, my local fish seem to prefer other brands, and that’s just fine by me. I did have one amazing day with the GYB senkos (baby bass/white), but I’ve never had a repeat. It was really weird conditions (just after a torrential downpour, pitching Texas rigged weightless into the water running into the pond), so maybe another bait would have done as well. Just never had the opportunity to test it out.

If you want to go even cheaper, a 4000-5000 size reel (Battle 2, BG) and a GX2 or Ugly Stik Elite will handle all those species you mentioned plus bigger rays and smaller sharks without any issues.

I use GX2s and the Ugly Stik Elites for saltwater stuff. Both work great. A MH GX2 with a 5000 on it should be able to handle pretty much anything you manage to hook up with. A little heavy for all day casting though. Especially with that large of a reel on it.

She smashed an Arashi Crank-wake. Only have one, but already ordered a couple more.

Caught one decent sized bass (definitely under 5) and didn’t have a scale. Never again. I actually carry two now. A digital and spring style. Just in case.

Not sure if this is allowed to be here, or if I should have put it in one of the regional threads, but I couldn't help myself. New PB, baby! Didn't get a length measurement (left my tape at home like a dummy), but the scale wavered between 5.54lbs and 5.66lbs. Hard to keep her still to weigh and take a photo of. Already swapped the profile picture over to feature her. Complete photograph below. Wish I had someone with me and/or a better way to take photos. She wouldn't even fit in the frame with my arm completely extended. Anyways...Woohoo!

Think about the behavior you’re describing. If the bass are jumping out of the water, they’re more than likely chasing something under the water and popping out due to the speed they’re chasing it. I’ve never seen a bass jump out of the water when hitting a topwater. They may splash, thrash around, or just suck it under, but never seen one jump until it was hooked. I’d go with a lure that mimics a bait fish that you can keep close to the surface, but not on top of it. A weightless fluke seems like a great suggestion.

It’s my understanding that the patents involved with the Chatterbait cover not only the blade but also the way it’s attached to the jig. So, it’s not just a matter of having a different blade design. You’d have to come up with differences in the way it’s anchored to the jig. There’s actually an article on this site dealing with a court case they won involving the way the blade anchors to the jig.

I haven’t had any issues yet, but I didn’t start fishing them hard until this past summer. They get scraped up (What frog wouldn’t?), but they held up fine so far. No perceptible decline in performance.

Never tried any of the KVD frogs. They’re not really available locally, so I didn’t even think about checking them out. If you end up liking them, let me know. Can’t ever have enough frogs.

I own two Battle IIs and don’t have the issues you’re talking about. They’ve caught everything from bass to the biggest ray I’ve ever seen locally and have zero issues. I’d contact Penn and ask them to make things right. Especially if they ‘serviced’ it and it’s worse now than it was new.

I have both Spro and Booyah frogs. I prefer the Booyah and it has nothing to do with price. Throwing them in the same pond over a period of 5 days this past summer, I had a much higher hook up ratio with the Booyahs. Was it variables I can’t account for? Possibly. But I have confidence in the Booyah frogs now and the Spros just sit in my box. Maybe I got a ‘bad’ batch, but the Spros seem to be much stiffer in the body than the Booyah frogs. Which could account for the lower number of hook ups I got fishing them. I do wish that I could get pure white Booyah frogs though. I’d like to try painting/coloring some myself so they’re completely unique.

The Daiwa BG has really great reviews from everything I’ve seen. If you want to stay near that $100 price point. Can actually be had for less, if you look around.

Very much the truth. Learned it. Lost a few jig heads (saltwater) getting it right. Haven’t looked back since.

I’ve seen this question asked a couple of times. Even asked it myself once. Came across this while looking for ‘saltwater’ baitcasters. The last couple of lines were especially interesting. http://fish.shimano.com/content/sac-fish/en/home/products/info/news/easy-baitcaster-cleaning-after-saltwater.html

I’ve been using more EWG hooks lately, but this year I might try going back to regular worm hooks. There’s lots of bottom vegetation where I fish. 1 caught fish or snag in some grass and the Tex-posed hook becomes exposed, snagging grass every time I cast it out. Gets annoying after a while.

Caught a majority of my crankbait bass on that very same bait in the same color scheme, bit more red though. Lost it to a pickerel. I wasn’t a happy camper.

Are lipless a good bait when the water is that cold?

We’ve done this dance before. Took people half of the thread to realize the brand was being discussed. Guy did a tear down of their reels. Same parts as Shishamo and KastKing, but double the price of KastKing. Actually swapped all the parts around to make 3 completely ‘new’ “Frankenreels”. It was a long video to watch, but definitely interesting to see. End result of his tear down was that they’re not worth the money that’s being charged for them.

Legitimately asking here, not trying to start anything. What would be the comparison to a Tatula CT in the Shimano line up? I was looking at getting a reel before Christmas (finances didn’t allow it) and it seemed like the Shimanos at similar price points (had CTs I could have picked up for $89 shipped) didn’t have quite as good of reviews. I understand their higher end stuff is comparable, but what about the lower end? Thanks!