biggiesmalls

Thank you for the response J I fish ponds probably 99% of the time - so the depth never gets into the double digits, and usually doesn't get over 5 or 6 feet (Best guess). So deep divers aren't necessary - I don't have a use for anything that dives deeper than 4 or 5 feet. I'll look around for a rod that fits the bill of what you described - haven't found anything so far but I'm going to continue to look

Thanks for the reply. Wouldn't you want a slower retrieve reel, closer to a 5.4:1 or something for cranks, and closer to a 6.4:1 for spooks? I was thinking something right in the middle (leaning more towards 5.4:1 since I fish cranks a bit more than spooks) would be best for this. Now I am looking for a good 6'8" or 6'8" medium mod-fast rod to do the job. I don't think there are any good factory-made models that are around $100 or less. I might buy a MHX blank and have my buddy do some work on it (he's building me a shark rod as I type this).

Well, I have abandoned my idea of carrying one rod and one rod only for bass fishing (downgrade from six) - I don't think I can make do with less than three. I'm already set on two of them: 7' medium light (fast or extra fast) spinning rod 7'3" medium heavy (fast) casting rod That will cover all of my finesse tactics (wacky rigs, bitsy bug jigs, pond magic spinnerbaits, weightless flukes, etc) as well as my heavier tactics (frogs, texas-rigged worms, etc). However I still need something for spooks and squarebills, maybe with a lipless crankbait on it every once in a while. For that, I was thinking of getting a rod that's about 6'9" with a medium power and a moderate-fast action. Would this work well? I am going from using an extra fast spinning rod for spooks and a moderate casting rod for all my crankbaits, so I don't have much experience fishing both baits on one rod. What would an appropriate reel/line be for this? Thinking a baitcaster around 5.7:1 and 17 pound mono - would 15 be a better choice? Tight lines, Drew

The Stik-O's and the Gambler Aces look like good baits, with the Stik-O's being about 36 cents regularly (30 cents since they are on sale now) - and the Aces being 54 cents a piece. I think I'm going to try out the Stik-Os, they seem to be the best for wacky rigging (aside from the Senko of course, nothing can beat a Senko). I might order a pack in Watermelon/Red Flake and a pack in June Bug, both 4-1/4". I'll pair them up with a 1/0 wacky hook and some elastic rings - hopefully they can get me some nice bass around here

@RoLo the only thing I'm not a fan of with the Ace is the lack of major color selections. I'd prefer something that comes in red/red flake if possible - meaning Senkos or Dingers. Are you able to impregnate plastic baits with salt in any way?

Is there any way to impregnate baits with salt? Thanks for the response

My only concern about the nose hooking is the bait getting shredded pretty quickly. Anyone use 2/0 EWGs with floating worms - or should I stick with straight shank hooks (3/0)?

Darn, they don't have a red/red flake color of the Stik-O's! Anyone use dingers with the same success? They seem to have good reviews on Tackle Warehouse but I want to make sure that people on here are using them. I'll only be wacky rigging with these.

Okay, perhaps I should pick up some 2/0 EWGs instead. Those are what I use for t-rigging Baby Brush Hogs as well.

Thanks for the reply. They are 4-1/4" according to BPS. Should be a good size to use - I am currently throwing 4" red/red flake senkos and they are slaying here. They're on sale for $4.63 a pack right now which is basically 30 cents per bait... compared to 73 cents per bait for a Senko. I have a ton of BPS cards stashed in my wallet, I'll probably order some in watermelon red, black/blue, and a bright red color. Not sure if those are the actual names or not but they're my go-to colors for plastics so that's what I'll test them in.

Okay, I THINK that I might as well try out either some Yum Dingers or Stik-O's. I don't fish money tournaments - I fish "gentlemen's tournaments" with buddies, but that's about it (biggest fish, most fish, etc). I don't have a boat nor do I know anybody with a bass boat so I am mostly fishing small ponds just for fun. Between the two, it looks like the Stik-O is the preferred lure. If I was going with 5" senkos, should I go with the 5-3/8" Stik-O or the size closer to 4" (forget exactly what it is)?

What hook do you all use for the Super Fluke Jr (4")? Thinking of picking up some 3/0 straight shanks. Will also use them for floating worms in the 6-7" range. Tight lines, Drew

Great ideas from this threa. @MDbassin and @Crestliner2008, I will definitely have to give those a try. So no matter what I use I will do some kind of O-ring or similar to connect worm and hook. However, should I continue to pay for senkos? It seems very divided (yes, I have used the search feature) about whether senkos are really that much better than Dingers or Stik-Os. I certainly don't like paying $7 for a pack of Senkos - but if I'm going to have a lot less fish with Dingers of Stik-O's, I'll keep doing it. If it comes down to Dingers or Stik-O's - which would you prefer?

Hello, I am trying to decide which of the following I should do: Continue buying Senkos and also buy O-rings with them (I only fish stick worms wacky-style) Buy Yum Dingers (with or without O-rings) Buy BPS Stik-O's (With or without O-rings) Wacky rigged plastics are probably my #2 tactic that I use, behind frogs. Tight lines, Drew

Maybe their site is just screwed up, I've got $75 worth of gift cards to BP that I have yet to spend so I will have to do the new point-scale some time tomorrow or Friday and see what reel places the highest.

Where is everyone seeing the PQ's on sale for $50? I am only seeing the Pro Qualifier 2's for $100. I think I will get in and redo the point scale for this. I will be taking into account: Weight (range from 6.7 to 8.1, 10 points for every value below 8.1 ounces) Materials (not sure the point values on this one, will be full points for an aluminum body and half points for a graphite one, varying points for other materials) Number of Bearings (5 to 10, 25 points for 5, 50 points for 6, etc) Quality of Bearings (probably on a 1-10 scale, not positive on how I will do this yet) Price (since this will fit my purposes, I will be basing this on an $80-? scale, with an unknown amount of points for every $5 under the maximum, price will be the minimum price plus shipping for a NIB reel on eBay) I will post my findings here when I am done. I will also be factoring in the Pro Qualifiers, and I am not allowed to talk about the other two reels I am reviewing (I will still do them though since I am considering them for myself)

My bad, I did fish with an Extreme - the green one, not the silver. Based on my scale - the Pro Qualifier would earn 120 points based on price, 80 points based on weight, and 75 points based on number of bearings - putting it at a total of 275 points, putting it slightly above (but pretty much on par with) the Shimano Casitas, and slightly below the Orra SX.

I have fished a Pro Qualifier before, they seem like cheap reels to me for whatever reason - kinda like a toy almost. I would agree about the quality of the bearings and the materials used that make the reel so light - it's important to take those into account, if I were doing a full-on review that i had a few hours to set aside for, I would take those into account as well. However, for something as simple as this, I came to a conclusion in about 30-40 minutes, and I'm happy with it. After all, I doubt that there is one reel in that list that somebody would say no to fishing with.

I took the 14 reels I had chosen that could be purchased around the $100 mark (new or NIB), and ranked them on a point-based scale. This is something I have done before for fishing stuff, and what I tend to do whenever selecting something for a major purchase. I would consider this a somewhat major purpose, so with a little bit of free time I decided to do this with the reels. I ranked them based on weight, amount of bearings, and price - weights ranged between 6.7 and 8.1 ounces, bearings between 5 and 10, and price ranged from $80-$200. There were a maximum of 150 points available in each category. My results in order were: Lew's Speed Spool LFS - 380 points Lew's Tournament MB Speed Spool - 372 points Abu Garcia Revo SX - 348 points Lew's Laser MG Speed Spool - 340 points *** *** - 316 points Abu Garcia Orra SX - 300 points Shimano Casitas 150 - 271 points *** *** - 245 points Daiwa Tatula CT - 236 points Daiwa Tatula 100 - 180 points Shimano Citica - 180 points Daiwa Tatula Type R - 156 points Shimano Curado 200 - 144 points Daiwa Tatula HD - 116 points One thing that I did do was base the prices off of the new prices - not necessarily what you could get one NIB or used for. So in this case, a Speed Spool will probably be my reel of choice - either a LFS or a Tournament MB, the bang-for-your-buck difference is very minimal between the two. Whichever I find on sale or NIB first will make the cut.

I am in need of a new baitcaster. I need something in the 6.3:1-6.6:1 range, with a spool that can easily be removed and replaced. I on'y want to carry one setup with me, so I will be using it with 50 pound braid and 12 pound mono/copolymer. I have considered about a dozen reels or so, the ones I have considered (in no particular order) are: Daiwa Tatula Daiwa Exceler Shimano Curado Shimano Citica Shimano Casitas Abu Garcia Orra SX Abu Garvia Revo SX Lew's Speed Spool LFS Lew's Tournament MB Lew's Laser MG Speed Spool *** *** *** *** I will either buy from Tackle Warehouse or a reel NIB from eBay, depending on price. I would not like to spend a lot more than $100, and less than that would be nice. It will be throwing everything from frogs to squarebills to wacky rigged worms to spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, texas rigs, and pretty much everything else. Tight lines Drew

I think I am set on the rod I will be getting. However I am definitely not sure about the reel. The *** has been recommended by a friend, I was fishing his this weekend and I really like it. He's got a speed spool for $50 that I was going to buy, but it's only a 5.4:1 which wouldn't make a great all-around reel. I have another thread on choosing the right reel for the job.

Do you think that a 7'3" medium heavy (12-20 pound, 3/8-1 ounce) casting rod could do essentially everything? It's an extra fast tip, which should work well for everything except crankbaits - which I don't fish all that often. I think that if I had a baitcaster that I could easily change the spool out on (not allowed to talk about which one that is, but I mentioned it earlier I think) and I used 12 pound mono/50 pound braid, I could fish pretty much any bait I wanted - and as for crankbaits, I'll have to just fish them with mono, loosen the drag, and hope it works out. What would be a good rod for fishing wacky rigged senkos with? Could that MH rod do it well enough? If I could carry only two rods (bass rod and panfish rod), that would be cool. I could put a little more money into the reel as well in that case.

Thanks for all the responses. As far as my baitcaster - the Pro Qualifiers are $100 right now. If it helps anyone out - this would be the list of lures I use, in order of how often: Topwater frogs Wacky rigged senkos and other weightless plastics Topwaters (spooks and poppers) Texas rigged plastics, including hardnose snakes as well Then in no particular order, shaky heads, drop shots, crankbaits (squarebills and lipless, I carry one deep diver when I explore new ponds but have yet to need it), jerkbaits, jigs, spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits. I also enjoy using live bait at times - take a wacky hook, hook a tiny bluegill, and let it swim right out in front of some structure, it flat out catches fish. I don't think I missed any techniques that I do.

First post on here, but I've lurked and gotten advice via others' threads for some time now. I am trying to keep my freshwater setups down to three or less for this upcoming season (I fish March through October/November every year, with a few months of a break for going through tackle and since I don't like to fish when I'm only going to get 1-2 fish a day at most). I used to carry a "big boy" setup (meaning frogs, swimbaits, etc), a cranking setup, a topwater/jerkbait setup, a spinnerbait/chatterbait setup, a finesse setup, and then a single-hook setup (like jigs and texas rigs) - plus an ultralight setup for panfish. Yes I had a setup for everything (pretty much), but I realized that it wasn't too enjoyable having to carry seven rods and a big tackle bag down to the water every time - especially since I very rarely fish anything larger than 1 or 2 acre ponds. So, my goal is to get my total setup count down to three or less (and get an actual backpack instead of a tackle bag, since that bag isn't comfortable to carry). I sold my tackle to a friend who wants to get into fishing and has a ridiculous amount of money to do so, and after putting most of that money into my shark tackle (and a few other things), I've got a few hundred left over for freshwater stuff. I was thinking that I should start out with a good all-around casting setup. I am dead set on the rod - a No.*** BlackOut casting rod. Will probably go with the 7'3" medium heavy rod, since it's pretty much the best all-around rod specs out there (I'm like 5'3" so I wish the rod was a little shorter, but I don't think that 3" is going to make a huge difference when I use 7' rods regularly). The *** was chosen partly because of the AWESOME reviews I have seen on it, partly because TW has them on sale for $55 right now. Next step is the reel. I am thinking something in the range of 6.3:1 to 6.6:1 will be nice for fishing pretty much everything. I want something that I can get for right around $100 or less, and I would prefer new but don't mind getting something slightly used (ie close to new condition, just slight signs of wear). I also want something that I can easily purchase a spare spool for, and easily replace the spool in the reel while fishing. I plan on filling one with Yo-Zuri Hybrid #12 and the other with Sufix 832 #50 (so a copolymer and a braid). I have a good feeling that this setup will be able to handle nearly every kind of fishing I do (one thing about the MH, I can't think of a place I regularly fish that has what I would consider "heavy" cover - so my favorite technique, frogging, doesn't really require a pool cue to do). After that setup is put together I will probably get a spinning setup for finesse applications. My other favorite technique is senko fishing - so my rod of choice is most likely going to be the No.*** BlackOut spinning rod in 7' medium power. Reel will be a Pflueger Trion - I use one for panfish, it's the smoothest little reel for the price you pay (what is it like $40?). I will fill it with #8 Yo-Zuri Hybrid and be done with it. Finally for panfish, I will be buying a 6'6" 2-6 pound glass blank from Mudhole and sending it to a friend to have it turned into a nice budget panfish rod. I'm tired of only fishing like 5' ultralight rods, I need something longer to really get my baits further out there. I kept my little Pflueger trion spooled with 4# BPS mono, might go with #4 Yo-Zuri though - since my ponds have some of the biggest panfish I have seen anywhere in them. There's one pond that used to have a pair of big bass in it, my two PB's actually (5 and 6.5 pounds) and there's always a big redear next to one of them - and he's all of 16" or bigger. I've yet to hook him but he's going to be one for the photo album when I do. Sorry for such a wall of text, but do you think my setups are looking good? Any changes you'd do to them? Any that you don't think I need? I mostly fish with frogs, hardnose snakes, and wacky rigged senkos - with the occasional topwater, jerkbait, lipless/squarebill, spinnerbait, buzzbait, texas rig, shaky head, and even live bluegill thrown in there. I want to keep my tackle at the absolute minimum necessary to fish a wide variety of baits - if I only need one bass setup, then I'm even better off. Thanks