pathfndr2

Use sealed lights like all big trucks have. Any wire connections seal up with liquid electrical tape. Use heavy grease where lights plug into the pigtrail. About any auto parts store should have what you need. I get them from NAPA. For wiring I use what I call Rhino wire. Super tough outside coating on it. IMO thats about the best combination of lighting and wiring you can use.

My biggest was an 8ft sturgeon. 300lbs roughly. Off the bank, 15ft 50lb rated rod, Daiwa X50HV, 40lb test Big Game. Pretty spectacular when they jump. Fairly common catching these big hogs. Got some pics around here and will have to figure out how to post them.

My suggestion would be to go with the most realistic bait you have, downsize, and go slow, maybe even deadstick. Bass see things better when its brighter out and get more finicky about what they will bite.

Yep Taliesin, I agree with you. After more than 50 years of setting the hook its just not in me to not smackem when they bite.

I recently had the same trouble with a different brand. Tried about everything you have. Culprit was simply a bad bearing. Replaced the bearing and end of the trouble. Dunno if bearing was bad from the manufacturer or what. Inspection with a magnifying glass revealed a not perfectly smooth surface. Looked etched as if it had been subjected to something corrosive.

Am having the local pro's telling me #2 is about the biggest they use for the applications I mentioned above. Gamatzu Finesse and drop shot, Octopus, Eagle Claw L42, Owner Mosquito, Cabela's live bait, Tru turn, all were used. None of them liked the circle hooks because they seemed to miss to many bites, same as I observed. Hook size surprised me a bit but will give #2's a shot.

What would be your choice for a hook for wacky rigged weightless senko's and drop shot bass assasins? I used circle hooks the last time out for both applications and feel I missed some bites I shouldnt have.

I do know how to tie a surgeons knot and it does no better than the double uni. Being translucent and ultra small diameter, I was just wondering if anyone had tried chrystal without a leader and what the results were. Im talking any kind of presentation where the fish eyeballs it for a while not a reaction type bite. The only way I can think of to just try it myself is to rig two rods with the same bait, one with just chrystal one with leader and just alternate them all day. If there is an advantage in using a leader it should become apparant. Thought maybe someone had been there and done that all ready.

Hands down the rod is more important. I catch way more fish with my better rods. They are more sensitive plus are lighter which cuts down on the fatigue. Two inexpensive spinning reels I use are an Okuma Ignite and a Shakespeare Catera. $30 reels roughly. Simply put they work. I also fish for steelhead with these two reels. 12lb steelie rippin downstream puts the test to the reels for sure. Lots of good baitcasters in the $60-$100 range.

I agree but add white (usually two tone with black back) and Electric Blue. Sometimes they just likem.

Have any of you tried chrystal fireline? Wondering if it would eliminate having to use a leader tied onto braid with a double uni when line visibility is an issue. Leader tied onto braid gives me trouble breaking right at the knot. Im talking 14lb Stren Superbraid and usually 8lb mono leader. I am toying with the idea of tieing a small swivel or crosslock clip like I use on my plugs to the braid then tieing a short, 2 ft or so, leader to that. Dunno if the short leader would be sufficient for those finned buggers not to spook from seing the line.

Having just started using a baitcaster last year I can understand where you are coming from. Yep, first thing I did was cast low and to the left. Had to release waaaaaaaaay before I thought I should. Basically I just started making easy shorter range casts and increased it a little as it felt comfortable to. Ratsnests make kinks in mono then the kink can make subsequent casts more apt to backlash. My solution when I started was to use Stren Superbraid. No kinks to complicate things. Reading how to set up the reel was a lot of help but basically is a starting point. Lots of practice is about the only way I could improve my casting ability. I started practicing with just a bank sinker tied on the end of the line. Quick found out that when I went to something that was less aerodynamic and/or lighter that things changed. I went to using just a 4" senko on a hook. That seemed to be the best practice set up for me. Then there is wind, don't want to talk about that . Hang in there. It can only get better.

Duck tape??????????? : Most rods arent worth fixing no matter how "favorite" they are. If the manufacturer can replace the tip then that might be an answer. If its a one piece any "repair" that could be done would undoubtably change the action and then may not be a "favorite" anymore. Solution is to buy a new rod.

The rod blank arrived yesterday, now the fun begins. Just to make sure, according to the book I have by Dale Clemens, he says to have the spline on the underside for a spinning rod. I used the hand method of determining the spine. With the arc that is formed when the blank is bent the spine would be on the outside edge of that arc as far as I can determine from his book. He says to put the spine on the underside of the blank for spinning rods which would place the guides on the outside of the arc that is made while hand "spining" it. Is that correct? Quetion 2: What do you use to hold a small single foot guide in postion to wrap it? The foot isnt long enough to use a piece of tape. My thoughts were to either put 6-8 wraps directly on the guide foot to hold it in place or to go get some apporopriate size O rings. I was experimenting with different colors and styles of guide wraps and found that a carbon arrow shaft works wonderful for doing that. The diameter of the one I am using is .330 and the color is exactly the same as my blank. I got the rear handle about halfway down the butt setction before my arms wore out from grinding on that sucker. Im using a tapered reamer that I borrowed from my son-in-law.

Well, I have the SCIII blank acomin. Its a 6 1/2ft 2 peice 4-10 ML fast action. Being a 2 piece rod I am not real sure about how to determine the splne. Guess I will just do the tip by itself then put it in the butt in different positions and see if the spine changes. Spect the spine of the tip is the most important. I bought it as a kit from Cabela's and bought a set of Fuji single foot Alconite guides for it rather than using the standard "hardloy" set that comes with the kit. Im going on my first bass fishing trip of the year on Mar 17th. to Brownlee Reservoir(on the Snake river) Zippity do da. I wont have the rod done by then but still am looking forward to getting my line wet. I suppose its going to be jerkbaits and/or deep water Carolina rigged plastics in slow mo as the water temp is only about 40 degrees. Probably couldnt utilize this new rod anyway.