Russ E

october has been good to me until this week. the local lake just turned over. I was skunked there for the first time yesterday. it was like the dead sea, one small bite, with no hookup. I am assuming it was a sunfish.

I agree that it is usually best in clear water. If the fish are not biting it can also save the day in stained to murky water. More so on lakes that are always stained. My personal best largemouth came from a murky lowland reservoir on a super fluke. When the water is clear, I use natural colors. In stained water I use one of two extremes. Either a very light color like chartreuse or pearl. Or a darker color like junebug.

Everyone has their own opinion. I have fished a super fluke or sluggo for 30 years. Years ago it was my go to bait in tournaments. 99% of the time it is on a 7ft. medium/ fast baitcaster, with 14 pound sunline sniper fluorocarbon. I don't use swivels or trailer hooks. One thing that varies is the hook. If fishing shallow i will use a fine wire 4/0 ewg hook If I want to go deeper, I will switch over to a 4/0 heavy wire hook.

I have worn glasses with snapon sunglasses for years. the one problem I have with them is if you get spray from rough water, it always seems to go between the 2 lenses and you have to clean the glasses and snapons. here in kansas it is nearly always windy and you get a lot of spray when cutting across a lake. I decided to buy perscription sunglasses this fall. we will see how they work out.

When you start getting older, the low gear ratio reels are a lot easier on your wrist and hand for bigger baits.

just got the email. estimated delivery is next march. I am way too impatient for that. Guess I will just buy another 8.1 to 1 Fuego next time they go on sale.

I mentioned the fuego, because of the price . it is hard to beat in that range. I own a couple. Personally I use a gen 4 Abu Garcia revo sx in 6.6 to 1 gear ratio for cranking heavy spinnerbaits. It is built like a tank. It runs around $150.00. If you are patient it goes on sale once in a while for quite a bit less

Nearly any $100.00 reel would work. I would not go much higher than 6.3 to 1 on the gear ratio. Any higher will wear out your hand and wrist with jumbo spinnerbaits. In that price range I prefer the diawa fuego.

If I am using eagle claw hooks, it is the laser sharp needle points. Don't care for Trokar for the reasons stated above

I agree they usually work better in clear water, but around here 3 foot visibility would be considered crystal clear. Jerkbaits still work well in our stained water when it gets cold. I just make sure they have rattles and use bright colors like clown or firetiger. For reasons unknown pearl also seems to work well in dirty water. One good thing about stained water is color choice becomes less critical. the main thing is finding a highly visible bait. My favorite jerkbaits are Duo realis,Yozuri, Smithwick rattling rogue, and H2O. for deeper water I use the KVD deep diver. I own more H2O. Mainly because they are a lot cheaper. They are advertised as floating, but they suspend just as well as the others.

Number of blades is not the main factor in rpm. blade pitch is what determines how fast the motor will turn at WOT. a higher pitch is the same as a higher gear ratio. Sounds like there are a lot of unknowns in the new motor. a different lower unit gear ratio, would definitely change top speed. If it were my boat I would try a prop with one or 2 inches lower pitch. That would raise your rpms. It may or may not increse top speed, but it will give you better acceleration. some shops will let you try a different prop. they will hold yours, until you bring it back. they will also reccomend a prop, if you tell them what is going on. I am not a mechanic. I am just speaking from my own experiences. I am sure others with more knowledge will chime in shortly.

I agree. I don't use screwlock hooks when texas rigging. I always cut the end off when threading onto a shakyhead.

I don't start out that way, but after a few fish I often remove the head to keep it on the hook. If you look at most bullet sinkers they are not flat on the bottom. Don't think it matters either way.

Largemouth Smallmouth Walleye Sauger White bass Wiper Flathead catfish Channel catfish Crappie Bluegill Green sunfish Warmouth Drum Carp Rainbow trout Shortnose gar Besides one crappie trip, everything else was caught bass fishing.

I had one break fighting a fish. another had the ceramic ring fall out on the tip eyelet. I gave up on them. they were good for a while, but did not last. I have 2 cheaper vendetta rods that are still going strong after 3 years of hard use. They are not as sensitive, I use them for spinnerbaits and chatterbaits.

if you want to try copoly, Suffix Advance coply is a good line. I started using it ion my jerkbait and crankbait rods. so far I have been impressed. low stretch. very good knot strength. good abrasion resistance. and very manageable. not much memory.

It is not an actual copoly. It is flouro carbon coated mono. I had a lot of knot strength issues with it. Multiple breakoffs with hooksets. Some people love it.

My 2 choices for sub $100.00 reels are, diawa fuego and bass pro shops pro qualifier. I have 2 pro qualifier reels I got on sale for $50.00. (they are usually $99.00). So far I have been very impressed for a low cost reel.

With fluorocarbon you definitely get what you pay for. saving 4 or 5 dollars is not worth it to me. there are a lot of things that can make you lose the fish of a lifetime. I do not want crappy line to be one of them. you can save money by putting a mono backing on the reel and only using 75 to 100 yards of fluoro. cheaper fluorocarbon lines usually have terrible knot strength and strange breakoffs. Lines I will no longer use are: seaguar red label spiderwire ez-fluoro berkley vanish p-line fluoroclear vicious fluorocarbon lines I have had success with: sunline sniper ( my favorite) sunline shooter sunline assasin berkley 100% fluorocarbon seaguar invis-x seaguar abras-x seaguar tatsu (probably the best overall, but extremely expensive) there are othe lines available, but I do not have any experience with them.

Paca chunk

^^this. I have used some cheap reels in my life. I have never seen a spinning reel have issues from twisiting or binding. Cheap baitasters are a different story. I would bet it is the bail line roller. In the past I have had troubles with bad bail line rollers especially on low end reels.It was not noticeable until under a load. Like when fighting a fish or retrieving a heavier bait. removing the bail screw and lubing the bearing or bushing usually helps. if that does not help, you either have to live with it or buy a better reel.

^^^this and wakeboats. It is interesting how a reply to a 9 year old thread strikes up a conversation.

That is a jumbo bullhead. For all the reasons @Bluebasser86 mentioned. I have caught plenty of flatheads bass fishing. They seem to have a taste for crankbaits around here. They look quite a bit different than your fish.

It isn`t bad, but it has too much stretch for me. Generally I use flourocarbon for Texas rigs, weightless flukes and jigs. I seem to get better hooksets with sunline. It also feels more sensitive to me.

I own 3 different kastking baitcasters. 4 sharky and 2 speed demon spinning reels. for the price range they are quality reels. Can they compete with my Tatula's or revo's? No, but they are a decent reel for filling your arsenal, without breaking the bank. Everyone kastking reel I own was bought on sale. Amazon and e-bay occasionally has crazy sales on them. How long they last is yet to be determined. one other quality reel that has crazy sales is the bass pro shops pro qualifier. they are usually $99.00 I have seen them for $50.00 a couple times.