Bdnoble84

Yup. Hopefully its over soon. This is crazy. Im still working even with the lockdown. Hopefully lockdown contains it. Too many stupid people out there.

Ive been neding torn senkos, just havent thrown a spinner on with it.

Fell in love with this bait as a kid. I always have used a curly tail grub or crappie tube however. I definitely like the stick bait idea though

That makes since. That’s how I started fishing. I learned from my grandpa that rarely ever threw anything other than a blue and white 2” crappie tube. I got hooked on BASS in my 20s and that’s when I started trying more power fishing and baitcasters, all that stuff. I love fishing that way. Not that I can’t slow down, just its a lot more fun to burn a spinner bait across a riffle repeatedly, or hop a 3/8 oz jig and trailer through rocks and ruble on braided line and a mph baitcaster.

Why are you afraid of big baits? Big baits typically equal bigger bites. Even in small water. I typically start with something big and fish it agressively, then if i dont get bit, i can size down.

Check out @Smalljaw youtube videos. His work is awesome and extremely informative. His how tos have been invaluable to me.

Look good, did u hand tie the skirts?

Had that same thought when I saw his post. Time we looked at the bigger picture, and put things in perspective a bit. Fishing is a nice way to take our mind of real life for a bit, nothing more.

Anyone hitting the rock river or Illinois river yet. Had intentions of going to shabbona or Carlyle but those lakes are closed for the forseable future.

Its a true mf. Its a crankbait specific rod. Im going to try in alittle bit, i have 6’ 10lb xt for a leader. This line seems to have decent memory, so hopefully i get some good shock absorption. See what happens. I can always switch out if i dont like it.

Just started doing it the last couple years whwn i started making my own jigs. Especially swimming jigs. Last year i started tying a finesse cut skirt with rabbit zonker trailer. It worked on bass and northern. I will say i dont catch the numbers on these jigs but ive caught some really nice bass. Northern seam to really love them.

Im not worry bout them seeing the line, ill go 8-12lb mono or fluro for the leader, just concerned with ripping lips. Going to try 30lb braid. No sure if my rod is really soft enough since i broke 3 inches of tip off but i think im going to try it. Ill switch to fluoro or copoly if it isnt right

My thing is the feel i get with braid and being to cut through the water column easier. Im more just interested in other peoples experiences and what size braid they use

I was thinking about going with braid on my mh-mf shimano clarus cranking rod. Reason being im planning on doubling it for lippless cranks through the spring and kind of like braid for thwt application. Anyone fish medium diving cranks on braid/ braid to leader? Any suggestions.

I call it Bumblebee

if i need to fill in a gap or do something diff i just use plumbers putty to control where i want my lead. I know alot of guys use rvt

It’s not difficult, I used a dermal tool. I placed the wire where I wanted it then put a wood block on top of the mold and hit it with a hammer. The wire indented where I needed to channel with the Dremel

As previously mentioned u dont know until u try. I really enjoy making my own.

I love my poisontail mold. I have modified it to make spinnerbaits as well. They work great. 1/8 oz head is really good for hair as well

Thanks for the differentiation, that’s helpful. I’ll definitely be checking for thinness of material, potential leaks. Although for the price and what I plan to do with it, it’d take a decent leak to deter me.

I am looking at a 2man bass boat that is in rough shape, but sounds repairable. I am getting it for next to nothing. I haven’t looked at it in person yet but my understanding is that the top and bottom of the hull are separating. Will flex seal solve this issue? Not much experience with that stuff

When the water temps rise, smallies will locate themselves in spots the offer more oxygen, I.e. riffles, faster current areas. There may have been a bait presence u couldn’t see as well.

Gotcha, that makes sense

Thank you, I’ll look into that. I need to research the terms as I’m not sure what stripper guides, reduction guides etc, are. Have my guesses but I’d like to verify them

I have a couple rods with micro guides I get the concept fully. Only issue I have is I’m a braid to leader guy. So I have to get my fg knot perfect to maximize the benefits. I am interested in the lightest, smallest guides I can go with without breaking the bank. I.m looking to keep this rod build under 100 because I have to buy the rod building epoxy, line etc still So I think I follow what you are saying, that feel isn’t all about the rod, and if you are on a budget, you can make gains by paying attention to the fine details