Hook2Jaw

Kdu, I don't and probably won't know how good the Tatula Bass cranking sticks are, but I will know how good the Tatula XT 7' MR is in a few days. I got the graphite stick instead of the glass.

I'm truly loving my Daiwa Tatula Elite 6'9" Skippin' Jig Heavy Fast. I've primarily been using it as a frog rod, and it's proven itself to have enough tip to launch a frog and walk it effectively as well as give said frog or jig enough velocity to act like a river rock. Past the tip, it has enough backbone to drive frog hooks beautifully, and sinking a single jig hook is butter. Cheaper than that, I can say the 13 Fishing Fate Chrome 7'1" MHF has some excellent tip for skipping as well!

The Lexa 300 I use on my Daiwa DXSB 8' for swimbait fishing isn't fished that often by me, but when it is, that reel is my favorite.

I like the look of those tunes, @roadwarrior! I've never thrown a tube, and a shakyhead might give me some confidence with them.

Net. Bait. T. Mac.

Tizi, if you had to throw ⅜ and ½ ounce squarebills and medium depth cranks as well as ⅜ and ⅝ ounce lipless, which XT stick would you choose?

Snapped my squarebill/⅜ lipless/medium crankbait rod this past Friday, looking to replace it while Tacklewarehouse has their labor day sale going. How is the Daiwa Tatula XT 7' MHR? Can it toss a ⅜ ounce squarebill accurately? What are it's true low end and high end as far as weight goes? I'm currently considering it, the Medium Tatula XT Graphite cranking rod, and the 13 Fate Black 7'1" Medium Cranking rod. Any input is appreciated.

@JediAmoeba, thanks, man. Do you ever have any problems with hooking those fish? Along that same note, does the decreased IPT hinder landing them?

I think I done messed up and posted this to a forum that isn't bassresource.

FG, at the house prepping or on the kayak. I'm a tree man by trade, knots are easy.

I don't have scupper holes large enough to get the bass through.

This question could have been placed in a multitude of subforums, but I decided to plop it right here in the middle of things. I recently visited Lake Blue Ridge in North Georgia, and had an absolute blast dropshotting a few spotted bass off my sonar. I was hoping for my first smallmouth, but I digress, back on topic! My sonar is 32" from the center of my kayak seat, unlike a bass boat where one would be able to drop on a sonar bass from the front of the boat. I've noticed every fisherman drop shotting off their front sonar directly beside it to the hardest returns, but my current dropshot rod is 79" long...or, 6'7". My bait is a good distance away from where the hardest returns are showing. Would I be absolutely insane to move to a 29½" Medium Light or Medium powered ice rod? Would I be crazy to string an inline ice reel on said ice rod? I've already thought of the positive points of both, with the rod I could more accurately present my bait to the hardest returns. With the reel I could slow the fall of my bait with the spool tension and increase bites on the fall. I've also thought of some negative points. The ice rod won't be able to move as much line on a hookset. The ice rod won't be able to catch up if the fish decides to run towards me, and the reel with a slow 2.7:1 17" IPT won't help much either. Help me out, BR. I think I'm either onto some enhanced sonar dropshotting from my kayak or I've gone crazy. Which is it?

With my toolbox filling up since I joined this forum and the list of techniques I can fish has grown, these types of questions become harder and harder to answer! Had some phone issues and ended up posting and editing my first reply too much. My presentations for that time period would be a ½ ounce jig, a ⅛ ounce shakeyhead, and a jerkbait.

This thread has finally convinced me to open up my new website. Www.crawfishresource.com coming soon!

Good stuff, ess. Another suggestion I'd like to add with heavier hooks and heavier cover is to avoid texposing the hook point. Why? I'm already swinging hard on my set when I'm fishing a Texas rig in hard cover and don't get hung up nearly as often when my hook is within my plastic. I personally rig mine just under the plastic.

It's a sword every which way one could imagine, and it will cut you on occasion until it becomes second nature. Research techniques, ask questions here, and practice what you learn. I suggested braid to leader to you because you have a limited amount of rods and reels and if you're like many anglers, you're going to want to use multiple presentations if you're not at the point already. My fine-tuned advice is to disregard every connection knot except the FG, or Fine Grip knot. It is stronger than most, if not all other knots, and the slim nature of the connection will help prevent damage to the guides on your rod as well as aid in cast distance because of the way it will pass through your guides. Use the appropriate line size for the cover and technique you're employing. My first recommendation for your setup is removing the 20# braid. It will probably be more headache than it's worth, because it will fray or plainly break much sooner than a heavier braid and the increased casting distance you'll occasionally enjoy will be negligible. My favorite braid has become Berkley X9, and if I were setting up a MH casting combo with braid to leader in mind I would opt for 40 pound. This line stacks on the FG wraps incredibly well, has no break in period for me, and is just good, affordable braid, period. With the mainline out of the way, you'll need to know what line for which techniques. Here are my other recommendations. Frogs : this setup can handle a top water frog and will get a fish out of most slop and cover. Tie your frog directly to the braid. Topwater : heavier poppers, whopper poppers, walking baits. Tie a 15# monofilament leader onto the end of the braid with the FG knot. The stiffer leader will keep the limber braid from tangling on the hooks and fouling your cast. Why monofilament? It floats and won't drag the nose of your bait under the water. Single Hook Moving Baits : these are spinnerbaits, paddle tail swimbaits, chatterbaits, swimjigs, etc. Tie on a fluorocarbon leader between 10-17# depending on cover. With swimjigs and paddletails rigged with a weighted swimbait hook in and around vegetation, straight braid is probably the preferable option. Monofilament is also viable for the aforementioned moving baits in the same line sizes. Treble Hook Moving Baits : crankbaits, jerkbaits, wakebaits and more fall into this category. 10-17# monofilament or fluorocarbon leaders, with mono leaders being my personal preference for trembles because of the additional stretch to prevent trebles from tearing free from the fish. Single Hook Bottom Contact Baits : 10-17 fluorocarbon leaders depending on the cover you'll be fishing in. These are jigs, worms, etc. One last thing, I don't often see it mentioned here often, but scale up your line or scale down your line depending on the size of your hook. As @A-Jay says, your mileage may vary. I'm sure my post will be disagreed as well as agreed with, but this is the best advice I can give for a person with one rig to enable them to fish multiple presentations with a level of fine tuning that doesn't involve buying a new rod for every single application. Go put some hooks to jaws!

I prefer to pitch with a jig on hard cover, which is my normal routine when I get into close combat with the fish. Wood, wood, wood. I will often switch to a Texas rigged craw or creature if the bite is slow, presenting a less bulky profile. In grass, I'm almost always pitching a Texas rig if I'm pitching.

A little twist of the hips or rotation of the shoulders will send a heavy bait a long way.

I absolutely cannot stand trying to drive anything above a 3/0 hook on monofilament or fluorocarbon on a medium powered rod. I'm more than happy to do so with braid to leader. If I were you and I had two rods to cover most, if not all techniques, I would learn a good connection knot. I would obtain spools of fluorocarbon in 6 and 8 pound test for ultra finesse presentations on your spinning rod. I would also carry 10 and 12 for the same spinning rod for heavier cover and heavier fish with other finesse presentations, or doubling up on a power technique to accommodate your baitcaster. With leader material for the spinning rod out the way, with the 10 and 12 fluorocarbon also crossing onto the casting setup, I would simply add 17 pound fluoro for heavy cover bottom contact with the casting rod. A spool of 15 pound monofilament will keep braid from tangling in the trebles of top water presentations. TLDR: 15 pound braid on the spinning rig with 6, 8, 10, and 12# fluoro leaders. 40# braid on the casting rod with 10, 12, and 17# fluoro for leaders. 15 pound monofilament on either setup for treble hooked topwaters.

I have yet to fall for hype, but then again I'm a person who feels they can catch fish pretty darn well with what I already have in the boat. I was catching fish on YUM Killshots before this Flatworm craze and will continue to do so.

And then put on the largest size screen possible for mapping, I'm currently running a Humminbird Helix 7 MSI G3 on my kayak. I have better than 20/20 in my left eye, and mapping is a tad hard to read. Big, big screen. You won't regret it after the initial expense.

⅜ and ½ ounce Booyah Blades for me. Single Colorado and double willow, they're becoming a confidence bait after years of thinking they didn't catch fish.

40# braid to 17# big game or 20# big game depending on cover. Bottom bairs get the heavier line and a longer leader, wakes and glides get 17.

I would love to see a thread with picture examples with your analysis on frogging!

Headed to Lake Blue Ridge this weekend and I'll be targetting main lake points. It's relatively clear and I'll be making casts towards swallow water, waiting 20 seconds, and bringing it back slowly. I ended up deciding on the ⅓. Thanks for your input!