Sifuedition

I wonder if crawfish with more red could lead to orange in the fish that eats a lot of it? Flamingos get their pink from the shrimp they eat.

I've found three reviews already where the cosmetic cover on the thumb spool release broke off. That's a little worrisome. Everything else seems to come up aces, though. Edit: Multiple comments on the external SVS dial being stiff to turn, as well.

I didn't realize the new Curado is already out. Reviews do look good. I'm a little surprised at the 11 lb drag. The Lew's Orange Crush is a 14. Not really sure what is "normal" anymore on a baitcaster, though.

I have a 20+ year old Shimano Curado. This is from when Academy Sports first started selling them in Oklahoma, 20+ years ago, just after the Chronarch came out and brought the price of the Curado down. It is currently on a 6'6" Falcon rod that was nice, in it's day. The rod is still in good shape. However, having bought some new rods, I'm loving the distance I get with the new "normal" 7' rods with the longer handles allowing a better 2-hand toss. I have a total of three baitcasters and 2 spinning. Lew's Orange Crush - 7' M-F Abu Garcia Black on All-Star 6'10" M-F cork handle (cheap combo to test left-handed retrieve) Curado on 6'6" short-handled Falcon M-F Mitchell 300 7' spinning Lew's Orange Crush 7' spinning I'm looking to replace that Falcon rod. I don't have a boat (yet), so I do mostly pond/bank fishing. I still feel I should be buying an all-around rod, rather than technique specific. Another reason for thinking all-around is the break on the Curado. While it is still functional and I can still cast it well, the difference between a light T-rig and my biggest swimbait is a surprisingly small turn on the break. I have to tweak it back and forth in that small zone a bit to get it just right. I suspect this is due to age and it not really functioning 100% right. I may find I need to replace the reel sooner or later and I have no idea what direction I will go at that time. Due to uncertainty on the future reel on this rod, not sure if I should commit to a technique specific rod. These are the two I am looking at currently: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Denali_AttaX_Pro_Series_Casting_Rods/descpage-DAPCR.html?from=basres https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/St_Croix_Bass_X_Casting_Rods/descpage-TCVB.html?from=basres 1. Should I be looking to start building technique-specific set-ups? 2. Should I at least look to a MH, since my other two are medium? 3. Of the two linked, any input that might help me decide? I LOVE the carbon fiber look of the Denali and online reviews seem to be solid, but looks catch fishermen, not so much fish. The St. Croix is a brand name that can't be argued with. (On a tangent, rumor mill is that Shimano is supposed to be giving the new models of Curado a make-over to get them up to par with these old original models that have been so be-loved. If they deliver on that, I may just update to a new Curado.)

Finally caught something other than dinks at one of my local ponds. The trick, for today, was a lipless crankbait fan-casting out to deeper water. Multiple bottom lip hooksets. I think they were deeper, but came up vertical to hit the loud bait, causing the lower lip to be nearest me and the bottom lip hooksets. I think with ponds, it will vary from pond to pond depending on the depth and available cover. If it is available, I think they do go deeper.

I was throwing a lipless crankbait in a pond today. Caught four on that bait. Of those four, three were hooked on the front hook, but in the bottom lip. Bottom lip hooksets are so rare for me, this seemed really weird. I mean once could be chance, but three times makes me think something is up. Fishing in a pond with a lot of bottom vegetation. All of my hits were 10 yards or more from the bank. My theory is the fish were deep, came up fast to hit it and immediately turned to dive back down. In turning, they presented the bottom lip facing me, causing the lower lip hooksets. Can anybody confirm this scenario is likely or have a better fit?

The number of posts is irrelevant. And since you ask, I merely have already spotted a frequent poster whose tone I will not accept. It wasn't even on one of my posts. Rather than risk a confrontation if he comments on one of my posts, I'll prevent any such situation in advance.

@Glenn I wouldn't want to block you, and thank you.

Sorry, I wasn't sure where to post this question. I looked through the faqs and did a search. I also looked for an admin type of forum to post this to.

I think this is your answer. That's the typical thing I look for if coloration is not clear. Largemouth are called that specifically due to the jaw when closed being under or past the eye. Smallmouth it will be in front of the eye. If the coloration looks very largemouth, but the jaw does NOT extend under/past the eye, it is most likely a spotted bass.

@bigbill "Do you know the depth?" No idea. "I would wait till the ice was on then poke holes to learn the layout of the bottom." Very rare to have ice thick enough to walk on in Oklahoma. "But now they have the hummingbird portable fish finder I use to find out were the drop offs are, flats, the depth, the holes." $250 is more than I want to commit to bank fishing, yet. I've been dropping too much already with new tackle and lures in the last two months getting back into it. $200 on a Lew's Orange Crush combo, $80 on a Mitchell 300 spinning combo, $90 on a left handed retrieve baitcaster (for testing purposes), plus probably $200-300 on lines, lures, backpack style tacklebox, fishing pliers, etc, etc, etc. Still considering a higher quality spinning combo. Something like that seems like it should come after the basics, which I should be about done with, but, I'm also thinking I need to stop the bleeding from the wallet, lol. Everything so far is good to me anywhere, in any style. That is very niche to bank fishing. While it is info I would LOVE to have...well, I've gone most of my life without it, so, I guess I'll have to continue to manage, for now.

Actually, it is the resistance of the water and/or fish gripping the bait that allows it to travel further towards you than it did away from you. The resistance "loads" the rod tip more than it did with the weight of the lure alone when you casted. Newton's third law. Edit: Sorry, didn't know if you were being facetious to be funny or if you were actually curious.

Sadly, I've tried senkos. This might mean these two ponds are just not very good. I haven't tried weightless, yet, though, so I guess there are still a few things for me to try. Also, I'm getting on tacklewarehouse in just a minute to get some cylindrical drop shot weights. All they had at my local places was egg shaped ones, which make a significant plunk when they hit the water, and these fish seem to spook. Also, when I got there today, there was a guy with his son fishing the steep side of the dam with live bait, but I don't know what kind. Didn't see them get a bite, either.

I actually picked up a very similar pack of inline spinners today and headed out there. Tried an orange/chartreuse for a while, but no luck. I guess to add to the list: lipless crankbait; perch - tried again, but nothing today Inline spinner; orange/chartreuse Small spinner; chartreuse Buzzbait; chartreuse Swimbait - softbody; shad

Crappie fishing from the dock with my grandpa. Took my shirt off and a while later, the wind picks up just enough to blow if off the dock. Tried to grab it, but, too late. It's sinking slow so I try to hook it with my line, but no luck. Dang, I liked that shirt. Two days later, jigging the docks and I hook into something big. On my light crappie setup, I'm worried about the 6 lb line. It's heavy, but not fighting much. I think it must be a drum. Finally get it about a foot from the surface...to see my t-shirt snagged on my tube jig.

9 years Army National Guard, deployed to Afghanistan.

I'm trying to figure out a new pond. I've been twice. Both times, I see very frequent soft boils that look the right size to be bass. Today, I watched an insect cruise across water toward the bank on the top. When it was about one inch from the grass, a fish finally took it. I see the most boils near the dam, and there is submerged grass in this zone that is very course. It looks like baby pondweed. This pond also has trees about two-three feet off of the bank spaced out about every 30-50 yards. I will sometimes see these soft boils near or under these trees, and a little less frequently, out in the very middle. The entire shoreline has a grassy edge extending a few feet into the water along most of the bank and sometimes moss in or near the grass. The water is fairly clear, as in not muddy, but visibility is not real deep. This is in Oklahoma and the weather has been variable lately, sometimes still in the 90's, sometimes in the 70's. We've also had some rainy days in the last two weeks. I don't have a thermometer, but I would guess water temps in the 80's. At a pond just two miles away, I have only been catching fish very near the bank, but this may just be a matter of structure. You can see the shape and even the shoreline trees on google maps https://www.google.com/maps/@35.5119565,-97.7325482,652m/data=!3m1!1e3 The dam is the far north portion. The dink was in the far southeast corner. I have thrown: rattletrap - one strike that missed and three or four casts later, I hung it up and lost the lure, need to try it again; baby bass colored spinner - medium size; white, silver spoons whopper-plopper jr; yoda color small billed, two hook jerkbait; live target small billed thin crankbait; perch wacky rigged drop-shot senko; pumpkin chatterbait; black and blue with black and blue craw heddon baby torpedo; black frog So far, I've had one weak strike on the rattletrap and caught one dink on the whopper-plopper on the opposite end of the pond from the dam. The dink barely hit it, which makes me think it was more of a defensive strike than a top-water feed. The rattletrap strike was when I first got there my first trip and would have been about an hour before sundown (6 pm-ish). The whopper-plopper catch was about 30 minutes after dark (8 pm-ish). I'm struggling to think what I should do to get some strikes. There are obviously quite a few fish in here. I was turned onto the pond by someone who said he's caught multiple 3-5 pounders here, which he said he caught on a whopper plopper by the dam, but I don't know what time of the year. The boils make me think top-water may be the way to go, but, so far, it also seems like I need to go more finesse. I was actually kind of surprised the senko got bupkis. Some of my thoughts; small buzzbait weightless senko plastic swimbait hard-body swimbait small squarebill What are your thoughts?