Russ E

The speed demon is a decent reel. It works well with heavier baits. I own one speed demon and one speed demon pro. They do pickup a lot of line in a hurry. One is used for whopper ploppers and frogs. The other is used for Carolina rigs. If you want to cast light baits the Fuego will do a better job.

I was comparing the reels according to how they handled in my hands. To me the mach 1 feels like a silver max. . I do like the BB1.

I never understood the obsession people have with them. I think their followers are usually kids. Whatever floats your boat. I have noticed others on this site have been ripping on them lately.

I have owned all of those except the slx. I have used the slx, so I will add it to the list. they are all functional, but this is how I would rate them: 1: tatula 2: fuego 3: slx 4: revo s 5: mach 1 While it is usually a little more expensive the Tatula is far superior to the others in my opinion. The magforce z brake is worth the extra money. the fuego is close to a tatula. maybe just a little less refined I have only uses an slx a couple times, but it felt like a solid reel. The revo s is not bad, but you can often get an SX on sale for about the same price. it is a much better reel. In my opinion the mach 1 is Lews version of the abu silver max. I own 2 that collect dust in my spare parts compartment.

I would agree with everyone above. Three years ago,when I bought my Ranger, I received a free one year membership to FLW and apparently a lifetime subscription to Bassmaster magazine. 90% of both magazines are advertisements. I was a member of B.A.S.S. 30 years ago. back then the magazine had more stories. I read the articles here because they have all I need.

Fury would be my choice, but it usually costs about 30 dollars more than the vendetta. The 705CB is a fairly heavy cranking rod. It works well for deep divers and squarebills. It is a little too heavy for smaller crankbaits. I own several Dobyns rods. have not had issues with any of them. I have owned four vendettas. Two of them have lost eyelet inserts.

Not many jigs work well from bank on weedy lakes. If fishing a weedy lake from shore I leave the jigs at home and use Texas rigged plastics.

That looks like the thermocline to me. don't know of many lakes, this time of year, that has a thermocline at 6-7 foot. In summer the thermocline runs about 12- 15 feet on most reservoirs around here. some clear weedy lakes it goes a little deeper.

if I am fishing around rock it is a football jig and a christie craw. the fottball jig comes through rocks better than an arky style. if it is around cover I use a Denny Brauer pro model jig with a paca chunk. I keep color simple. if water is clear I use brown or green pumpkin. If water is stained I go with black and blue.

if you plan on skipping and pitching the SV will be worth the little extra money. The SV spool makes it effortless. I like my CT's also but when switching back from the SV, it takes a few casts to get my thumb retrained.

Dobyns fury 734 or 735. If cover is heavy I go with the 735. Usually jigs or creature baits. If I am pitching weed edges I usually use the 734. Usually worms. I pair both of these up with a diawa tatula sv. With the 8.1 to 1 gear ratio.

I prefer a high speed reel for pitching or flipping. I want to pick up line as fast as possible, so I can quickly pitch to the next target. plus if a fish grabs your bait and makes a dash at the boat it is easier to catch up with it and set the hook.

It depends on what I am going after. if I am just out for numbers it can be more fun with someone else in the boat. If I am purposely targeting big fish being alone is better. I am more methodical when I am alone.

You beat me to it. Not just whopper ploppers. Crankbaits and jerkbaits are the same. My tournament partner used to hate treble hooks. He would swap them on nearly every bait. We would catch about the same amount of fish on spinnerbaits, jigs, and worms. When it came to crankbaits and jerkbaits I would smoke him. Finally after seeing the difference he went back to treble hooks. Not too surprisingly his catch rate went up. As fishermen we do not detect every swipe at a bait. Treble hooks help catch those fish. I don't know of any pro fishermen that replace treble hooks with single hooks. There is probably a reason for that.

I did notice they put rock walls int he back of the east cove and the very back of the lake . I assume that is to catch silt.. Maybe that will help clean the water in the future. The muddy water surprised me. Last time I was there it was pretty clear and I caught several fish.

The average size for me has been a little smaller this year. I have fortunately caught a few nice fish, but not as many as most years. I think several factors are at play. weather is probably the biggest problem. rain and flooding has most boat ramps closed on the reservoirs. One other factor for me is my Favorite lake made the Bassmaster top 100 last year. It still has big fish, but there are a lot more anglers to work around. With the larger reservoirs closed to flooding and the extra publicity, it is getting hit pretty hard this year. It was not on the list this year. Maybe everyone will forget about it and move on.

Fished Olathe this morning. Been a while since my last trip there. Lake is not currently in a good state. Water is muddy. About one foot visibility. Floating debris everywhere. The few fish I caught were very skinny. Only place I could catch any fish was very shallow in the water willows. Besides water willows, I did not see any vegatation in the whole lake. The thermocline was very distinct on my graph. Roughly 10 foot deep. The new recreation area is open. There were a lot of rental kayaks on the water. Not the quiet little lake I was accustomed to. Maybe the water will clear up when the construction is done. Until then I will be fishing elsewhere

Rapala superline scissors. they are less than $3.00 at Walmart.

I have honestly never feared the police. I live within 15 minutes of the worst part of the Kansas City metro. A good majority of the Kansas City Kansas police department live in my neighborhood. I am glad they live here. They are just normal guys that have a fairly dangerous job. I am sure they have to deal with unruly people on a daily basis.

May be a little off topic, but this thread reminds me of the local county lake. To fish there you have to buy a county Boating and Fishing permit. The state does not patrol the lake. only the county deputies. I get checked nearly every time I fish there, by the deputy sheriff. often times it is the same guy. They have never checked me for a fishing license or checked my livewell. It seems they do not care about the state regulations. all they care about is if you paid the permit fee.

He must be popular out west. I have never heard of him until this all came along. The negative publicity is getting him attention throughout the bass fishing community. After all of this attention, I suppose he will write his memoirs and make a lot of money from that.

What kind of mono filament are you using? not all mono lines are the same. as an example: 17 pound berkley trilene xl has a .015 diameter and is relatively manageable. 17 pound berkley trilene XT has a .017 diameter and is relatively stiff. you can use a line conditioner to make it more manageable. I use the KVD brand.

if you are fishing deeper than 10 foot 1/8 ounce will work fine. Shallower than that and it will snag a lot more than the lighter heads. Try it. If you snag a lot go to a lighter head.

you can use a round head , but the small mushroom head does not snag into crevices as often. One of the problems a lot of people have with the ned rig is using a jig that is too heavy. I personally use the shroomz 1/15 ounce 99 percent of the time. If fishing extremely shallow I will use 1/20 ounce.

they are both nice rods. It all comes down to preference. personally I use the 734 for worms and jigs. 704 gets used for chatterbaits and spinnerbaits