Mbirdsley

As far as I am aware this should be my last major reel purchase for the year. I bought this Shimano SLX HG DC in 8:1. To go on the rod I built a couple months ago I’ve done a lot of equipment upgrades this year. A pro revo rocket round reel, a tatula 150, and now this slx dc reel

Going to try and get into lipless fishing more. So I picked up 3 lucky crafts. In the stock photos the ghost minnow and the aurora ghost wagasaki didn’t look so similar. Seeing them in reel life and they are very similar. now I just need to build my deep cranking /lipless rod 2ndly my shimano slx hg DC came in the mail and looks good on my 7ft mh rod that I built a couple months ago

The action changed on the hot and tots when storm was bought out. They used to be the go to summer walleye bait on the Saginaw bay for trolling. Now they are just a mere shadow of their former selves. They have been replaced by the flicker shad/minnows and by bandit walleye deep divers

I buy a lot of my tackle through eBay vendors any more. Most of the time I have it within 3-4 days. The exception to this is if I’m ordering from the west coast or South Carolina. I dunno what’s up with S.C but, feels like it’s always a 10-12 day wait to get packages from there if you want hooks, lure making components, or terminal tackle lure parts online is always at my door in 3 days. fish USA is usually 3-4 days. tackle ware house takes forever to get here since they are located in cali

From the still frozen north. with the exception of the perch in my hand the perch were ten plus inches. The pike came on a tip ups. Should have kept the fatter one as I didn’t realize the lake had special regs for pike under 24 inches. im itching for the water to go soft. Itching to get after bass

Thanks for the heads up. Honestly that is the route I’d rather go. Right now I’m focusing on walleye stuff. I just got my state sales tax liscense. After tax season I’ll get with our tax lady about the form 740

I have all the legal paperwork filled both at the state and federal level. Been just smoothing out all of my processes. Been fun so far. A lot of local people mainly that I know are excited about it. Best perk is getting stuff at whole sale.

What’s the difference between a cut tail and a curly/ribbon tail worm?

I don’t mind EWG hooks on jigs. I make my own poison tails and they work pretty good . I’ve never cared for them at all on a t-rig with the exception of t-rigging a tube.

depends on the year if it’s spring I’d rather be shallow casting deep. Summer being deep and riding the bank down. If it’s a slower slopping bank and vegetation on the shallow side I’d rather stay on the shallow side and go down it. If it’s a steep bank with no vegetation I’d rather the boat be on the deep side. Cast shallow with the crank kicking up sand than have it drop off the bank. casting parallel is always a good option.

Like said above I throw tubes on jigs from 1/16-1/2. I don’t believe I’ve ever thrown the 1/2’s though. Those were for a situation on a certain lake I haven't found my self in yet like +30 feet deep. I used to throw them on a MH spinning and still consisted finnesse. I’ve down graded though m/l and medium spinning rod. I’ve had most success on 4.0 inch tube for smallies and large mouth. I’m thinking of getting smaller ones for this spring though. Definitely interested in the maxx scent tubes

Yes my fav flat sides are spro’s. the little John DD’s boated a lot bass and other multiple species for me this last year 1 spro little John DD’s 2 strike king flat sides 3 Berkley fritz flat sided 4 I’d kinda consider the DT series aflat sided crank. Spring time crank at a minimum. I was just browsing a *** article on Facebook about flat sided cranks and stumbled upon the rapala OG’s. Those look interesting. On the smaller side. I may look more into those

I just ordered this delux kit from TJ’s tackle here in Michigan. It comes with a 2 fluid beds, 2 cups, pump, and and a spray gun. For spraying powder paint. Should help with making my jigs look better. like the disco collars I can get to look good on round head jigs just dipping. On the bass jigs due to I think the more complex radiuses and angles. Hopefully the fluid bed makes it work better. this will be almost ten years of making jigs and other tackle. With not working as many hours I’m kicking around the idea of a hobby business but, being 100% legit. I just feel I need a little bit more research on where my niche would be. I’ve had a couple false starts in the past. I feel good about it this time.

They 3 day shipped 4 decals too me. I guess I can’t loose that many hahaha.

Batson /rainshadow is mailing me a new rod decal free of charge. That’s nice of them

When yo-yoing do you let the lipless fall all the way to the bottom. Or just let it fall a few feet mid water column and start retrieving again ?

I like mid 5’s gear ratio for my regular crank reels. I don’t throw square bills a lot but, I like being in the 6.4-6.8 gear range

I don’t own any slx rods. However, when I see them in the stores I pick them up and play around with them. I don’t know if I’m drawn to the color or what but, every one I’ve picked up I have been impressed with. I think the slx 7ft4 heavy rod is better than my st.croix Bass x 7ft4 heavy rod.

Yeah it came as a kit. I’m not really a fan of the double footed guides after this build. My 7ft 4 heavy bass x has them also but, done in black thread so I don’t notice them as much. I’d probably do single footed past the 3rd guide next time on a similar rod

Depends if there is no cover than a tube jig with exposed hook is the best way. If there is cover or weeds than t-rigging it is the best way if I’m rigging it with a tube jig. I’m usually using a very steady and slow retrieve so it ticks or scoots along the along the bottom. I may give it a hop or sweep of the rod every no and than. It will kick up sand clouds this way Texas rig I’ll pitch or flip it. Usually I’ll hop it more and a bit faster retrieve

I just saw an add for these on face book. Are these new? I don’t seem to remember seeing these before. D&R sports center is where the add came from. D&R is owned by the Van dam family and is located in Michigan. Supposedly they have special colors that nobody else has. Wonder what the difference is between the regular KVD jerk baits are and these. I guess I’ll have to get some to try out. Seemed priced about the same as the other KVD jerk baits. Wonder if Elite just means better hooks ?

Thanks. I didn’t realize that it would match my slx reel until half way through. I may buy another slx to put on this rod. If I went that route I want one of the better slx reels, may even look at the DC version

Rods done !!! It is a 7ft mh rain shadow RX6 fast action bait casting rod that I will use to throw bass jigs from 1/2-1 oz ( realistically probably only 3/4 of an oz). I could also probably throw frogs on it . Nothing fancy with the wraps just blue with silver highlights. I’ve got some $150-$200 rods and this one is definitely already one of the best rods I have. Feels great in my hands. It was done before. However, I had to strip the last 3 guides along with epoxy because, I had applied way to much towards the tip. I lost the decal to put on the rod. Trying to contact the mfg to get another. Definitely one of the most frustrating and rewarding things I’ve built/assembled/put together. It’s not perfect there are some things I need to get better at

Short answer. No

Right, If a hard bait comes with good hooks from the mfg IE spro , lucky craft, mega bass, 6th sense etc etc I’m not going to waste my time changing hooks. However, if they don’t come with good hooks to begin with IE strike king, rapala ( I guess there Vmc’s which, I still swap) or any other myriad of hard baits I swap out to mustard 1x short 1x strong triple grips. I started doing this 3-4 years ago. Since I started swapping bad hooks out for the mustads my hook up and land % has went way way up. I also hate rusty hooks. Every stock strike king hook has rusted on me. 1x strong usually prevents hooks from being bent while using pliers or getting tangled in the net. I guess in the end stock hooks don’t have to swapped out but, at the very least the stock hooks need to be sharpened.