Gus Heinze

Thanks for the replies and information. I'll look into the recommendations, I've not heard of Fuego, so I'll do some searching online. Thank you! Here is my middle one using his spinning rod this evening, he was SUPER HAPPY!

Does anyone have any experience with some of the rods and reels from a company called "Favorite" it has different rods, reels, combos, etc... they seem more entry level priced but the strange thing I've found is most of their items are sold out. So I'm hoping someone that has them can comment on them. They do have reviews on their site, but sometimes it's nice to hear reviews from sites outside of the one selling the items. I have some young future fisherman and 1 future fisher woman, so I'm in the market for inexpensive gear. I did a search on here for sick stick and favorite but couldn't find any reviews. https://favoriteusa.com/powered-by-favorite/sick-stick/sick-stick-casting/sick-stick-casting-combo.html

Thank you for the information and video link. I only dream of being able to catch fish like that, sure makes it look FUN and easy.

I bought one of these at my local Walmart after watching this video review. It's a Lew's Hank Parker Speed Stick. They sell a crankbait version and a frog-rod version. It's only $39+tax and seems every bit as good as a Berkley Shock Rod. I put my Lew's super duty SD1XH that I picked up on sale at Academy for $139. Not saying this is the ideal rod/reel combo but theh frog-rod for $39 is a steel if you ask me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64Y02G5NKzU&t=223s Edit: sorry forgot to mention it's no 7'2", it's 7'0"

Still trying to learn more here. In an effort to pair reels and rods what is better in this situation? 7.1:1 reel on a 7'0" MH (lure weight 1/2-1oz) or 6.4:1 on a 7'0" MH (lure weight 1/4-7/8oz) what I'm asking is it better to use the 7.1:1 reel on a larger lure vs a 6.4:1 or should I reverse that? Am I splitting hairs here? Seems like my lures don't range that much anyways most of mine seem to be 1/4-5/8oz

Ah ok, thank you sir.

That went straight over my head, what do you mean by 15 or 17? Sorry newbie here.

LOL I thought the same thing after I posted it, been laughing all weekend. It's amazing how there's 0 backlash! "Never to young to learn a bait-caster." Good guess Emma's 2 & 1/2 has a great time going with us, enjoys the water, wants to go swimming and lays on the dock with her stick she found (see stick next to her) sticking it in the water saying, "I'm going fishing". I guess to her that's what it looks like we're doing holding our rods near the water "going fishing". When the fish are caught she wants NOTHING to do with touching the fish, she did once and kept saying, "yuck, wipe my hands?" She'll probably be the next future pro. LOL

Thank you, it's a good one, Tatula CT 100HS, on a Tatula rod. I like it, so far Lew's just fits slightly better in my hands.

Wow that's fast no? I thought 8.0:1 would suffice for my Frog setup. Do you have rod you like for the 9.3:1? I'm sure the Pros and experienced can tell a difference but I'm thinking at this stage I don't know if I can see/tell/feel a difference between 6.3:1, 6.4:1, 6.8:1 seems like splitting hairs. Similar to my Tatula that is 7.3:1 I seriously doubt I could tell a difference between that an a 7.0:1. I'm thinking I could tell a difference between the 8.0:1 and the 5.4:1 the rest maybe not so much. I was more thinking of getting different reels or reel/rod setups based on the lure weights to give me more variety, maybe have like a light and heavy crankbait setup, or a light and heavy worm setup.

Not sure on price range, I'd say $200 or less for the reel. I'm kinda partial to Lew's. I like the 2 Super Duty I have, I like how the spool tension knob clicks, not that it makes that big of difference but I like it , seems more fine tuned. Out of the one listed above, I have 3 Lew's, 1 Bass Pro and one Tatula CT 100HS. The Lew's fit my smaller hands nicely. the Tatula seems to cast smoothly but feels slightly larger than the Lew's. The Bass Pro is also a good one, was my first seems slightly less refined and harder to dial-in to prevent "professional over-run"....black-lash LOL What do you mean by "finesse setup"?

I come from golf where I bought wedges to fill gaps in my golf game yardages. I'm slowly learning about bass fishing and have a few tools in my "tool box". Currently I have: Bait-casting: Frog setup: 7'0" MH lure weight 1/4-1&1/4oz. 8.0:1 reel (not sure on the rod "action"). Worms & Jig setup: 7'0" MH 1/4-7/8oz Fast action rod. 6.4:1 reel. Crankbait setup: 6'10" M 3/16-5/8oz Fast action rod. 5.4:1 reel. Spinning: I mainly use this for live bait: worms, minnows, etc... 6'6" M 1/4-5/8oz with a 5.0:1 reel. I also have (not sure what/how to set these up): The worst case is these are back-ups and something my kids can grown into once they're old enough for a bait-caster. 6'6" MH 3/8-1oz Fast Action with a 6.4:1 reel. Maybe a backup or 2nd setup for worms & jig?? 7'1" MH 1/4-7/8oz Fast Action with 7.3:1. Maybe a good one to add since it fills the gap I have from 6.4:1-8.0:1?? 7'0" MH 1/2-1oz (not sure on action) no reel, NEED A SUGGESTION? Since I have some reels and rods left over do y'all suggest a mixture of fluorocarbon and braid? Currently I'm running brain on all my reels. Thanks for any tips/suggestions/help. Gus

Picked up a handful of these today at my local Academy. All H20 Xpress baits are $1 off from 3/7/2018-3/20/2018 at my local store. This makes some of them $1.99, after the discount. Can't beat that deal anywhere.

Thank you sir, I'm mostly from the bank, this helps me get started.

New guy, looking for more information. So I'm working on building my tackle. I've been reading about different squarebill crankbaits and I see one in particular by Berkley the Pitbull. It comes in multiple colors but 3 different sizes. 3.5 depth 1/4oz 5.5 depth 3/8oz 7.5 depth 5/8oz My first question is, if you were only going to buy one since I'm starting out wouldn't the 7.5 cover all the depths? The next question is, since I know I'm wanting to get a variety of colors would it be better to get a variety of colors in different sizes or go really crazy and get multiple colors in multiple sizes? Thank you for help/tips/suggestions. Gus

Went out today with my kids, tried a few different lures mentioned in the above posts. No such luck did a have a few bites on a smaller jerkbait. We had a great time, the owner of the land suggested the kids use hot dogs??!! I'd never heard of such a thing but they put little pieces on a small hook and it was bam bam bam one right after the other. Some of them were decent sized panfish, about twice the size of my hand. I didn't get to snap any pictures of them catching fish as I was too busy taking fish off one hook then the other. Have you ever heard of hotdogs for bait? It was amazing! They would use a small piece, for the money compared to worms I'd use hotdogs all day long, they keep (don't die like minnows or worms) and they are very cheap.

Thank you sir! It's nice to be pointed in the correct direction. I take my kids fishing, they use worms or minnows and catch fish left and right. I'm over there using a senko or something else....I'm fishing, they're catching. My wife says, "Why don't you just use a worm or other live bait?" I'm kinda thinking I like the challenge more, there isn't much to a real worm and tossing it in, only to have it hammered within 30-60 seconds. Maybe that makes me stubborn, but I like the idea of catching something on a lure.

I was watching a youtube video where Flair talks about organizing his tackle in different ways. Seemed like a good idea. He mentioned at one point when he was talking about his jerk-baits that he's now ready for spring fishing (when he was talking about jerk-baits, so I assumed jerk-baits means spring fishing??). I'm pretty new to all of this stuff so I wonder, are certain baits better for certain times of the year? What I'm asking is should I only be trying a few different lures depending on the time of the year, water temps, etc...? I don't want to be the silly person throwing the wrong thing at the wrong time of the year only to get skunked each time out. Is there a rule of thumb to this? Thank you for your insight and tips.

I did some research online and found this one, it seemed to have decent reviews. I was looking for a spinning setup to add to my bait casting arsenal. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LDYL556/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I paired it with this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OYIMVNI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I put 30lb Vicious braid on it, been using it for soft plastics and live worms, so far it's very VERY smooth. Rod seems very sensitive too. I know it's under the $120 mark you mentioned but thought I'd throw it out there. Happy Fishing!

Hello my name is Gus and I have a rod & reel addiction..... There that should cover the "addiction part" of the intro, my wife thinks I'm losing my mind I do all this reading online and walk around the house mumbling, "medium heavy, extra fast....medium moderate....6'6"....7'0".....what ratio? 6.4:1? 7.1:1?..????" She looks at me and thinks I've lost my mind! SO, that is my question, how do you pair a reel to a rod when it comes to gearing? I see in the original post different lengths and actions are used for different types of lures and possibly techniques. What I don't understand, and am I'm starting to get the feeling there is no 100% sure fire way to do it, but is there a somewhat standard rule of thumb? For example, I have a few rods and reels (keep in mind I'm a beginner and trying to learn as I go) Lew's Super Duty Speed Spool 6.4:1 paired on a 7'0" Berkley Lighting Rod IM6 medium/medium. I've pretty much been using this for soft plastics, Texas Rig weightless. I have 2 other reels, one BPS Pro Qualifier also a 6.4:1 (on a 6'6" BPS rod), don't care of it as much and a tatula CT 100HS which is 7.3:1 (on a 7'1" Daiwa rod). The Lews feels the best in my hand that is why I'm looking for a 2nd Lew's. I'm kinda wanting to get a Lew's Super Duty Speed Spool SD1XH 8.0:1 but have no clue what rod I should look to pair it with, I'm assuming I'd be using the 8.0:1 for swim baits and frogs (correct?) so would I want another 7' rod and if so what action? If not a 7' is there anything else y'all recommend action? And if it's not too much trouble explaining why you make those choices? Have I lost my mind and should I just stick with the one I like? I understand the gear ratio part of it but I don't really understand medium/medium vs medium-heavy fast vs medium fast...etc..etc..? I did pick up a spinning reel for live bait when I go fishing with my kids, I didn't go nuts but I like it, it's a Okuma Ceymar C-30, has 5.0:1 it's paired on an Ugly Stick Elite Spinning rod 6'6" medium 2pc. Thank you for any help or tips, back to driving my wife nuts with my 7.1:1 medium heavy fast mumbling. Edit: not sure if this will help or not but I am a Pond fisherman, currently no boat so my fishing is from the bank, not sure that matters on length but some videos I'd seen had mentioned around 7' being ideal, but I did notice some rods are longer like 7'10" not sure if those would be hard to use around the banks or not. Edit #2, I may have stumbled upon some help, for the other newbies like me out there: http://*/fishing/articles/beginning-bass-fishing/matching-your-rods-reels-and-line/

Thank you sir, still a newbie here, doing a lot of fishing, not a lot of catching but having a blast trying out different lures and casting techniques. I blame it on the heat I figure when it's in the 100s the fish don't want to move. I have been doing all sorts of reading online, watching youtube videos and learning as much as I can. So far it's been FUN. Update, went out tonight with my kids and worked with the Lew's bait caster, threw a 6" worm for about a good hour, had a few bites, no fish but more importantly ZERO backlash!

I'm new to baitcasting reels myself. I watched a handful of youtube videos. Here are my "beginner tips", keep in mind I've only been doing this a few weeks now. 1) I tied a lead weight to my line and put out some 5 gallon buckets in my yard and worked on my casting from different angles and distances. Liked it so much I bought some practice plugs at Academy for me and my boys to use together. 2) I went with braid, I have 30# Vicious Braid on 1 reel and 65# braid on 2 other reels. 3) I followed a youtube instruction when spooling them up with mono filament first otherwise he said the braid would spin on the spool. I put a few rounds of the mono filament on, then tied the braid onto the mono filament. 4) learn how to adjust the reel with the brake and then the tension knob, once you do that the bird nests don't happen much at all. 5) There is was a tip that helped me at first, since I've removed the electrical tape, but in the beginning I did a decent cast, 20-30 yards, then pulled out 4 arm lengths of braid, then taped a piece of electrical tape around the spool holding the rest of the braid in place, this way the birds nest never got out of hand. Once I learned to tune my reel to my lure I haven't had to use the electrical tape, I will use it again when I teach my sons to bait cast. It's nice b/c you can reel in over the electrical tape and cast away without worrying about the bird nest. 6) I like the braid, I've had a few snags, logs, stumps, tree limbs etc...and I can pull REALLY hard on the braid. I even had to wind a stick around my line to give me leverage and it bent the hook enough to release the snag. Lost the plastic worm, but line and knot held. I bent the hook back into shape and put on another worm and went back to fishing. There is now way other lines would have held up to that kind of pulling I was doing to rip the hook off the stump, that was on 65# braid. For the knots on my hooks and lures I use the uni-knot. I haven't done a lot of catching, mainly fishing but I've gotten 1/2 way decent with my bait casting. I went out this morning for about 3 hours, had MULTIPLE casts and 1 or 2 small bird nests nothing major. I'm still working on accuracy and distance but I like that I can flip and pitch plastic lures under over hanging tree branches and into tight spots that I don't think I could get my spinning reel into without a bunch of luck. I have 3 reels so far, it seems like it could get out of hand as I'm always looking at others online. -Bass Pro Pro Qualifier PQX10HD 6.4:1 paired with a BPS Pro Qualifier PQX66MHT 6'6" -Daiwa Tatula CT 100HS 7.3:1 paired with Tatula 711MHXB -Lew's SuperDuty SD1H 6.4:1 paired with Berkley Lighting Rod LR701MHC I've spent the most time with the Lew's as it seems to fit my hand the best. I also prefer the clicking noise of the tension knob, it is nice though that I can cast it as hard and as far as I want no thumb on the spool and it gives me zero backlash, keep in mind I have to set it to the lure I'm casting. I'm certain the other 2 reels would do the same, I just have more time with the Lews. I take all 3 with me each time but seem to reach for the Lews at the moment. The Daiwa seems to cast much farther and with ease than the Lews but the Lews feels better in the palm of my hand. To test things out I could switch the reels, it could very well be the rods making the difference since the Tatula is the longest of the 3. Anyways, I got sidetracked, hopefully you enjoy the bait casting as much I as do, good luck with your choice of line, I'm a complete beginner and I like the braid for what that's worth. Happy Fishing! Gus

Howdy and welcome to the board. Thank you sir for your service.

Aggieland USA, Bryan/College Station, 2 towns, 3 police departments to choose from (Bryan PD, College Station PD and Texas A&M University PD). There is also a State Trooper center here, I have quite a few State Trooper buddies that live in Bryan & College Station, they do travel a lot though all over the state. Also the Brazos Country Sheriffs Department. We have plenty of fishing here I go as much as possible.