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TW has Biwaa baits on sale. Does anybody have experience with the Biwaa Seven Swimbaits? I've thought about pulling the trigger on one of these in the past, but have always been reluctant bc I fear they will not cast well like other segmented hard swimbaits I've purchased. Wondering if these cast well.

That is a really cool set up! If fishing alone in my 12 ft jon boat, I'll carry 7 rods maybe 8. It gets a bit cumbersome at times. But, I'd rather have the right set up handy if that's what the bass are keying on.

I always carry 2 - 4 rods when bank fishing. If I have really good bank access I'll take 4 - never know what they might be biting & good to have a little variety of baits & presentations. It's kinda a pain, but worth it if the fish are being finicky. If bank access is limited due to overgrowth, bushes, etc. I'll still take at least 2 rods, usually a shakey head set up & a topwater.

I picked up the same exact whopper plopper at bass pro a few weeks ago. Also grabbed 2 different colored skitter props as well. Looking forward to fishing them this spring.

I agree. My experience is the fish bite better with a ripple on the water. I could see using for sight fishing tho. I'm pretty sure this wouldn't work for calming stormy seas. I gotta call shenanigans on that statement. Calming a slight ripple on the water is one thing, calming big storm waves in the open ocean is another.

I picked up one of those Shimano Nexave reels at our Academy last week for $20. Don't really need it, but couldn't pass up a Shimano marked $40 off. I really like using these low end spinning reels for bank fishing/pond hopping. No worries if I beat em up really bad.

Yeah. They both played well. Maybe this will hush the Romo peanut gallery. Gonna be interesting to see how things go down the stretch. Also, just heard Dak was selected to the Pro Bowl. I'd imagine Zeke was selected as well.

We had freezing fog in the area this morning. Yeaaa! That was fun. Glad it's supposed to start warming up.

Dak def looked a lot better this week. Hate his only TD pass was called back on a holding penalty.

Palomar knot. I use it for braid & fluoro. Don't really fish with mono anymore, but plan on trying mono again soon. Def wanna wet it really good before cinching the knot, especially with fluorocarbon. I slober all over my fluoro knots before cinching down. Lol.

I got a couple of Redeyes and Baby 1 minuses that look like that. And they still catch fish.

Happy birthday! I too am appreciative for the good advice in the short amount of time since I've joined the forums.

Yeah and you bout to get another one. Lol. I'd love to be able to fish year round.

Big +1 on this. Redeye Shad can be money with this senario.

Yeah, been brutal. How bout how we went from the 70s in the area on Sat afternoon to the temps we've had yesterday & today? Crazy! I really do not like the cold. I'm really considering moving to FL. ?

Well, when you said grass in the lake, the attached pic is what I imagined. That's a place I used to fish A LOT!!! Full of grass and lily pads, all matted on top. But after reading some of the posts in your thread more closely, sounds like most of the grass in your lake is on the bottom. Looks like you're getting a bunch of good advice either way. So good luck in the spring when it warms up. ?

Let us know how they do. I'm a big fan of poppers. I do really well with skitter pops and pop Rs. Experimented quite a bit with the KVD splash this summer & had good luck with it too. I've actually got a couple of inexpensive H2O express poppers from Academy & they've done pretty well also.

Yeah I think I might have seen or read about some of those comparisons tests too. If I remember correctly one of the things I read was that mono will actually recoil or bounce back so to speak, but fluoro does not once it's stretched. I know personally speaking, fluoro to me just feels like I get a much better hook set. But, I've never really used higher # test monos before. Like 14# is the highest. Now I did have some major issues with some of the first fluoros I tried 10 yrs ago, like Berkley Vanish & Transition. Holy Cow did I have some break offs with it. ? Think it was just like you said, a little nick in line & poof - break off! Finally had some good luck with P Line Halo, but that stuff was stiff & hard to manage. I liked Trilene 100% fluoro, but now it seems harder to find. Finally, I've settled on the Invizx. It's not too expensive, easy to use, and I've had no issues with it. It's the only line I use for cranking.

I've been using the regular Power Pro for 10+ years. Thought about trying the Super Slick when it came out but read quite a few comments on other forums about issues with it breaking. Have you ever had this problem?

Welcome!

I'm excited about trying the Big Game. But I'm gonna have to graciously disagree about about the stretch & sensitivity. ? Just about every fluoro I've used was more sensitive and seemed to have less stretch than the monos I've tried. As far as sensitivity & holding the rod, I palm my reels with the line directly lying on my index finger in constant contact with the line. But I've never tried Big Game, so it might make a believer outta me. At the end of the day, won't really make much different when fishing topwater. I'll see the bites. I just want a good quality line that's got good knot and tensile strength & won't break the bank.

Very nice! That's making me wish I'd bought a few before they sold out.

Hey Catt, I always thought one of the so-called touted advantages of fluoro over mono was that fluoro is more abrasion resistant. At least it seems like I've heard many a pro say that. As for the sensitivity, my experience has been that fluoro is way more sensitive than mono. I've been using 12-15# Invizx the last couple yrs & really like it. Last time I tried to use mono for soft plastics, man I felt like I couldn't get a good hook set it felt so mushy. Think I was using Trilene XT. Mostly I use braid for soft plastics. Usually have one rod with 15# fluoro for fishing weightless senkos and flukes - every now & then for some reason the added sink rate from fluoro seems to be the ticket over using braid. It's also good for weighted swimbaits. Same issue I had with XL. Stuff casts great, just too many break offs.

Well, it looks like Big Game is getting the most votes, both in terms of performance and price. So I think I'll give it a try. As for the argument over the definition of what makes one particular line a mono and the other a co-polymer, I couldn't care less. (And I'm a chemist ?). When I asked the original question, I think everybody knew what I meant.

I've never used Bagely lures before. I've actually only gotten into serious cranking the last couple of yrs. I just picked up a couple of Bagely shallow cranks a few weeks ago at Academy that were on sale. Looking forward to trying them this spring when it warms up.