Bdnoble84

Thanks, I’ve seen those, seem interesting. Spoonplugger, I’d be very interested in knowing more about the setup you mentioned. This is all new to me, so I’ll take any info I can get

Looks like a good choice, thanks. I’m not sure what To do for rod guides. I know I don’t want to skimp. But I’m also not sure on sizes, designation. I see a eye chart I’ll refer to that. What eye would you all go with for a light, responsive rod that doesn’t break the bank

I’ll check em out on mudhole

I am looking to get into rod building. For my first build I want to build a versatile small stream smallie rod that is my go to when I’m only carrying 1 rod. Rather not get super long, 6’8” would be max with 6’3 to 6’6 ideal. What I want it to work with will range from neds and finesse jigs and dropshot/ wacky to dt6s and #8 x-raps. Majority of the time it will see some sort of hairjig or Ned or finesse jig. This makes me want to lean towards a ml Xf type blank that starts at 1/8 or 3/16. But I do want enough rod to not overload it if I slap on a crank bait or smaller spinner bait. Feel is probably the most important handling characteristic for me. One last thing, I don’t want to break the bank on the blank. 50-60 would be a good ballpark

As stated earlier, manufacturer designated line test specs are inconsistent. It is part of marketing. Some brands use line test designation similar to braid line test designation. (50lb breaking strength braid has a 12lb dia.) same with some manufactures mono/copoly. They may post a breaking strength of 12lbs, but really the breaking strength may be 15. What they are really. Referring to is the line dia is equivalent to 12lb mono of some sort of percieved standard. secondly as mentioned above, so much of landing a fish is dictated by your ability to fight said fish, not the breaking strength of the line. What heavier line does is give us a larger margin of error around cover as well as allow us to be more hasty in bringing the fish in. there are so many confounding variables in fish landing beyond line strength that it would not be feasible to go through them all. pits fishing, not catching. There is a lot of trial and error to eliminate variables and determine what works best for you. Plus experimenting is just fun. Try big game if you are curious. The risk is a lot less than you think and you might just find a new favorite.

I fish smaller streams and I find current to be the name of the game when the water temps rise. Either burning spinnerbaits across riffles/rapids, or working swim jigs, Nero rigs, frogs, ploppers in the eddys, current breaks

First I’ve heard about this. Congrats to Joe. I’ve had a small obsession with that record since I was a young kid. I even wrote a story in 3rd or 4th grade about breaking the record. (I was brainwashed young). It is hard to believe that that’s the first smallie taken over 7lbs in our state. I think Wisconsin’s record is 9 to 10lbs. There are there streams and rivers in northern Illinois I’ve always thought could support a 5-6lb Bass.

Along those same criteria lines, I have an ugly stick lite casting rod in medium action that is super forgiving and gets a crank attached regularly. Not sure how the new elites compare. for 10$ more I’ll pick up a fenwick eagle. Or look at the cabelas line.

I’m out this round. Short on time and materials

There are several weedless bass jig molds that would fit inside a tube. If there is a style u like, you can just mold without the weedguard sovthe jud will fit inside the tube.

What kinds of baits are u looking at?

I used to use nightcrawlers all the time, but there are so many carp I gave up trying to catch smallies on them. As a sidenote, carp eat crawfish too. Talk about disappointing, think you just ran into a big catfish, only to find out its a 5-6lb carp.

Thanks Derek

I’ve been back at spinnerbait making, i downsized my wire to .031, which im going to be doing alot more tuning but wanted to experiment with diff wires. I’ve also been making the finesse rabbit craw jigs, i’ve had some luck with them the last couple weeks for fish on a craw bite.

If we do it jan/feb time frame I can do the organizing

I’ve been to the rockford location since it was rebranded and wasnt really impressed by anything i saw.

Did i miss something, am i interpretting this wrong or are you saying im not courteous on here? Thank you smalljaw for the advise. Really appreciate the help. Hopefully thatll work because the smallies are going to start magnetizing to spinnerbaits now that we are getting some warmer weather.

Do beads or other spacers have any influence on blade spin

Thanks guys for the help. I have a feeling if i play around alittle bit, im going to find the clevis is the issue here. I just used some random ones id bought for walleye harnesses. Im pretty sure they are #2’s. So i will start there. I had consulted that chart for the other stuff i bought jigman, so odds are the clevis is the issue. Ill let u know what i figure out

Thank you for the encouraging words. No chance im stopping lol. When i have time im going to have to experiment alittle. Next time i place an order to barlows ill have to consider the bender. Ive looked at it before but i was on a budget when i purchased the wire and what not. I will say i think im on the right path with the poisontail spinnerbaits. They have seemed to stabilize well in current so far. But i havent been able to test that fully due to the issue with my tandems. Answering jigfish10 my spinnerbaits are 3/8 oz and and blade is #3 colorodo. the inline is a #5 blade with a1/4 bullet. Dont have any pics of the spinnerbaits, will have to post later.

So an update on this tie style. Really cool in the water. Very ultra slow drop. Looks like spider legs when sitting. When i pull them through the water the make a nice big umbrella like profile shape. Havent cought anything yet on them but that is more just to do with high and muddy water conditiins

So i have been using some of my spinnerbaits and i am having trouble with the tandem blases. The colorado on the clevis just planes along. The blades are 3 and the wire is .035. Couldnt tell u what size clevis is. Could this be an issue of clevis being too tight. Had the same issue with a #5 clevis on an inline

I’d be interested if we did this later in the fall. Life is too crazy currently

Are those round rubber?