Junger

What colors were you using? Do you think it died because of the tail action on the Culprit? For that jig hook, is that just a built-in wacky weight and you wacky rig the worms?

Edit: Oh I just realized you're looking for a spinning rod. I just bought the 6'8" Lew's Speedstick Custom Plus Topwater, it's my first Lew's rod and I'm impressed with it. For me the biggest thing I wanted was a shorter handle, and this Lew's is 6.5" from the trigger to the butt. It's 6' from the front of the reel to the tip. It's a ML/F and has a soft enough tip for popping, but just fast enough to make walking easy as well. It's rated for 1/8-1/2oz lures, but I find it to shine more in the 1/4-1/2oz range. I can fling a 1/8oz Teeny Pop-R, but there's no rod load and it's all momentum. I've only taken it out for once after work, and I'm 3/3 on LMB hookups so far and will be fishing it a lot more tonight and Sunday.

To me, no difference in performance between the Zillions and Tatulas. What I think you get is SiC guides, a little nicer finishing, and a limited lifetime warranty. I mean, if there is a difference in sensitivity, maybe it's just me that doesn't feel it.

The Zillions have been discontinued in favor of the Tatula Elites. I have the ZIL731MHFB, ZIL721MHRB-G, and ZIL741HRB. I paid $120-$160 for those at clearance prices, but I would not buy them for more than that. The regular Tatula's are just as nice and can be had for about $100-$120, I'm not certain if the blanks are exactly the same, but they share the same technology (SVF, X45). I have the TAT691MLRB, and TAT6101MHFB, and I really can't tell the difference when I pick one up until I look down at them. I think the Aird-X is an even better value at $50.

Daiwa Aird-X is an amazing rod for $50 (or less), but they only have models which would cover jigs, worms, and frogs.

Got a new popper rod and took it out to Lake Needwood for some topwater action this evening. I've never done that well here, but I didn't feel like fighting 270N traffic to get to Whetstone to try out the rod. Lots of people fishing the bank when I got there, so I started casting and moving. I managed to catch 3 dinks on an Evergreen OB Smash Shad/Magic Gill. Took 2 pics, the other one I let a kid release it by the rental boat ramp. The new rod is a Lew's Custom Speedstick Plus 6'8 Topwater Special ML/F. I'm loving it for poppers, it has a short handle and soft enough tip. No more banging my forearm, and walking is even easier than my mod/fast Tatula. I'm using mono with it for even a little more give. It's rated for 1/8oz, but really loads 1/4oz and up better. Nice sunset, never gets old.

I haven't fished it yet, I'm still rounding up the arsenal of cranks, so far only 2 Evergreen SH-3's (1-3ft). It's a new technique for me honestly...I used to only bank fish so cranking = lost lures 50% of the time, but I'll be throwing them on my small bass boat soon. Is your Tatula G noticeably thicker than your other rods? My Zillion is, even compared to a Zillion 741HRB. Zillion 721MHRB-G on the left, Zillion 741HRB on the right.

Just curious, is the thickness of your 735 glass rod thicker than your other Dobyn's?

I'm interested in this thread as well. A couple days ago I posted about the Zillion 7'2 crankbait graphite vs glass versions and got no response. The best I could find out is Tackle Tour's review that the Tatula blank, which should be similar to the Zillion blank. http://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwatat721mhrbg.html I ended up getting the Zillion 7'2 MH/R-G version, because if the tip section is glass, it SHOULD be softer than graphite, which is what I wanted however I don't have both rods to compare so I am not certain for sure. I will say, the R-G version of this rod is heavier than my other Zillion/Tatulas by a couple oz's, and is noticeably thicker in diameter of the blank. It almost looks like a Heavy or Mag Heavy rod, but it's a MH.

Tatsu is the easiest FC I've ever used, I've had no line memory issues with it. If you consistently use it, and keep it in the appropriate environment you'll be OK. I prefer FC over braid when cover is not an issue. If you use thin diameter braid on a baitcaster, you'll probably get some digging in.

I bought the 6'8 Jerkbait W&M Skeet Reese Tournament rod. I returned it before I fished it, but initial thoughts were that the guides were flimsy and cheap. The reel seat was interesting, a front and rear trigger grip, but it also felt like pretty cheap plastic. I also bought the 6'8 KastKing Speed Demon Jerkbait rod for about the same price. The Kastking guides looked nicer and sturdier (fujis), and the blank was lighter than the W&M. There was a significant difference in the thickness of the blanks too, the W&M had a thickness like a fiberglass rod and the KastKing more like a graphite rod. No opinion on sensitivity on both rods, but the action seemed appropriate on both rods. I returned both because they both had longer handles than I wanted for a jerkbait rod. For $50 though, I think the Daiwa Aird-X beats both of them if you can find the right action/power that you want, since there aren't many versions of that rod.

Do you lube the pinion gear to the main gear? Just wondering, I'm new to reel mechanics and I think I'm going to try and start servicing them myself soon.

I have a Penn Battle II 3000 with 30lb Power Pro braid, no issues, and a Penn Battle II 2000, which had 15lb Power Pro had some issues. After casting the 15lb Power Pro, it would sometimes not lay onto the spool and the line would have loops falling onto the spool body. I changed to 10lb Power Pro and it happens a lot less. No issues with mono or fluoro though.

I love popper fishing, it's an efficient way to present a lure in my opinion. I hardly ever lose a popper, there's no doubt if you get a strike or not, and it's so entertaining to watch the lure get inhaled and taken under. To me, poppers either represent dying or fleeing baitfish, and those will determine how you present the popper. Popping - To me, popping or making the lure "bloop" is presenting them as dying baitfish and I prefer this 90% of the time, it is an easy snack for a predator fish and you can keep it in the strike zone for a long period of time. The action on your rod should be slight jerks on slack line to give the lure a "bloop", how hard you jerk can determine how loud it pops, with some other factors involved, such as water chop and wind. I think slack line works the best because you're accelerating the line with the jerk and all the force hits the lure at once, which in turn forces the water to move very quickly through the cup of the face of the popper. Spitting - To me, spitting the popper, or a walking the dog motion represents a fleeing baitfish. This works when the fish are more active and you also need to cover more ground to find that strike zone. Some poppers have less cup in the face, and are made to spit more than pop. I jerk it on line with no slack in it to get them to spit. Contrasting with what I said above, you're accelerating your line and the lure at the same time so it's continually moving water through the cup face instead of all at once. Each lure takes different action, so just keep practicing, watch some Zell Rowland youtube videos for tips, and keep at it. Good luck!

I'm not any kind of fishery expert, but I have a neighborhood pond that only has bluegill and brown bullhead catfish. Both fish species in there are stunted and max out around 4-5" because no one harvests them. The water is too disgusting to consider harvesting them, so the LMB fairy may visit the pond in the near future to naturally remove some of the stunted fish.

Catch some bluegill and live-line them and go for the bigguns in that pond!

Anyone know what the difference in these rods is other than what they're made from? I have the MHR-G (got it for a great deal), and I am not sure if it is a composite, or partial glass rod, but it's about 6.5oz and somewhat tip heavy. Would the MHR-G have a little more bend before the backbone than the graphite version? I also presume the graphite version would be a little lighter and more balanced as well. I'm going to get into crankbaits and will probably start with some shallow 1-3ft crankbaits first. I'm just trying to figure out what characteristics the MHR-G would have that would be more, or less beneficial for cranking.

If there's not too much wind, I'll always consider throwing a popper. To me, it's the easiest way to fish. 1) You hardly ever lose a lure, 2) There's no guesswork if you have a bite, 3) it's probably the most exciting way to fish. I look for fishy spots, such as structure, shaded points, transitions, etc...basically anywhere a bass would be just hanging out during the day and not actively feeding. Put a popper near them and it either gives them an easy meal or annoys them. Hit up Whetstone for an hour today at 3PM before a golf lesson and got two decent ones, one just over 2lbs, and another probably just over 1lb. I had another one that hit the Evergreen OB just as it hit the water and I wasn't ready for and didn't get a great hook up, it had too much slack and jumped and spit the hook. I feel bad that I keep posting Whetstone bass, but it's just so convenient to everywhere I go around 270. Maybe Needwood next time I'm running errands.

OK so this is my new favorite topwater: Evergreen OB Magic Gill, the colors on it are even more impressive in real life. Got my new PB within minutes of throwing it.

Went to Black Hills with my dad and my youngest son this afternoon. After waiting for what seemed like an endless line of kayakers, I finally put the boat in around 4:30PM. It was partly cloudy, hazy, with little to no wind. Last time I fished this lake was when I was about 12 years old and we fished from the bank near the bridge overpass using minnows. So really I had no idea how to fish it for bass, so I just started around the right side of the lake from the boat launch. Hit the first cove on the right, saw some shaded areas and some laydowns and started to work that bank. Continuing with the topwater theme, I threw on a new popper I got yesterday, an Evergreen OB in Magic Gill. Almost immediately got hit and took it under, it was a good size and I was trying to work it with the rod, it jumped and I evidently gave it too much slack and it spit the hook. I'd guess a good 2-3lber. Good sign for poppers though so I kept going around the cove and the next spot was a secondary point with grass to the left. I threw onto the point, huge pops with long pauses and the OB submerged and disappeared instantly. I knew it was a good fish, and it turned out to be my new PB, 4.92lbs. Got another hit on the popper and tried to let my young son reel it in, but by the time he had the rod in his hand, it jumped and spit the hook. After I had my fun, I tried to get my son on some fish by using the fish finder...we had stopped and gotten a dozen minnows, half of which died not long after I put them into the bucket that had an aerator. Left around 6PM just when I know the bite was about to get hot, it was now totally cloudy, just a tick of wind, and lots of top water activity. Can't complain, had an amazing afternoon with my dad and son.

When you see the frog get hit, don’t set the hook yet. Instead drop your rod tip down toward the water while reeling in the slack then set it hard. Also try working the frog fast or slow and figure out how they want it.

I've had a lot of success on topwater poppers at a post spawn lake from the bank. Throwing them out at 45 degrees, and what I've noticed is that most of my hits have come within 10 feet of the bank. It's most definitely post-spawn so they're not on beds, so I think they're following the lures in from farther at a drop off or point, and hitting it on a long pause near the bank.

Taking one of my boys fishing afterwork, and she's taking the other to swim practice, so it's team work there. Not getting a round in, but I have a lighted range near me, so I'll go there after sunset and hit a bucket with some beers. If I went fishing and played a full round, I'd be gone for 12 hours!

I took a long hiatus from angling until recently, and one of the first things I did was buy a couple of the Mepp's combo kits. I grew up fishing those, but I never really recall catching anything with them. I bought them mostly out of nostalgia, but when the bite is tough, I throw one on and I can get something to bite nowadays. I also remember my dad having a bunch of spinnerbaits, the jig/bass sized ones. When I was a kid, I always thought that there was no way something would bite that, it was just too big and didn't look like a minnow or worm. I need to visit my dad and rummage through his tackle, I'm sure he has some oldies but goodies hidden away.