CrankFate

I don’t know, if you ask me, lighter baits are more about the rod than the reel. A softer, thinner, lighter rod usually gets down to lower weights with most reels. I regularly switch rods from under 1 ounce, to 1 ounce, to 2 ounces to 3 ounces. You can usually get these 4 weights out of almost any baitcaster just by switching rods.

The best reel is the one that matches your rod, hands and fishing style best.

I use a 7 speed reel for almost everything. Especially crank baits. If you fish a floating crank stop and go, the really fast swim after stoping and floating up usually gets anything that might bite interested in biting. It only takes one crank to get it ripping through the water. You can also skip it on the surface like a frog with a faster reel, which gets the fish that spend their lives looking up.

Dark color under armor cool gear type shirts work. But only if there’s at least a light breeze and only if you sweat just enough to be constantly evaporating as much as you sweat. Once the breeze dies or you stop giving off a little sweat you’ll cook. I have a few in blue and dark blue. I also have speedo rash guards that are dark blue almost black (from the days before underarmour). When I wear these, it’s fine all day, but as soon as the sun goes down and the wind dies, it gets too hot. It’s a strange feeling because when the temperature goes down at night, you actually get hotter.

Was looking at them today, but passed because the look almost identical to the Havoc Pit Boss, which I recently got a bunch of. They have to be good.

Another BPS crankin stick 7’ ML. A few packs of soft plastics. A slingshot with 3/8” BB’s (the kids wanted it). Crawfish trap, to catch the crawfish my son said had reddish orange tails with black stripes and blue claws. Polarized sunglasses for the kids. And a small sheet of $2.00 bills (while sightseeing in Washington DC)

Almost all rods are overrated. I plan on picking up another ML crankin stick 7’ on my next visit to BPS. Realistically once you get to $200, there is no benefit to a more expensive rod, except that it makes you feel better. Nothing wrong with that. Sometimes I feel better buying more expensive things than are necessary (most of the time). But all of my favorite rods cost less than $175.

Drag upgrades are a big plus, especially when thicker washers tighten up the tolerances. But it was not necessary on the Tatula I just got....

I agree. At least, to some extent. The problem is the value of reels is plagued by diminishing returns. The higher you go in price, the less you get for each bump up in price. It doesn’t matter if you buy upgrades or buy a higher end reel. Either way, a shallow spool is, IMO, the best bang for your buck upgrade there is. Because for most fishing, line capacity is overrated. I personally like upgrades, because out of the box reels are just too tame and limited when it comes to throwing very hard with thin braid to get distance. But it’s not for everyone. Mid to upper mid priced reels are usually the best way to go for most applications. The worst thing is thinking you need to spend $50-$100 more than you want to get a good reel.

Well...the postal service website www.usps.com had the same warning. So I think we’re OK.

Aaaaaaah! Just do it. From the beginning. Using about 3/8 or more. You’ll get it in now time, then just dial down the weight.

I got one of those big ones recently. They are really nice looking fish when they are over a pound. They look like the fiberglass mounts with bright plastic looking colors. They don’t even feel like a real fish when they get that big.

I never caught one there ?

I don’t know. I have rarely seen frogs in the wild. Even when you can hear them everywhere. This includes fishing in some 15 or more states when I was a kid. The only thing I do know is when people say “find the bait find the fish” it’s not always true. Sometimes bait will set up shop where whatever eats them doesn’t go.

Your best bet is to stick it out with the braid. Use 10 - 20lb test, but ignore advertised thinness. Get the roundest line you can find. If it’s square or jagged, pass and find something round and not overly thin. Thinness is way overrated for casting.

Did it 2 weeks ago when my DIY spool broke on a very hard cast. And it was a handmade custom designed lure

Do something different. Fish at night. Use a real worm weightless. Use completely different colors that are embarrassing and fake looking like hot pink. A lot of people look to match the hatch. I think better than that is to find out what these fish’s favorite food is and match that.

I come from NY, where the law is brutal and violent. I intend to kill every snakehead I see.

I’m fishing 20+ year old spools. Some hold up better than others. IMO the very old Stren Original holds up best over time. I have a very large Tupperware type storage container about 2’ x 3’ x 2’ filled with spools of line and reel parts. Spools of Izor, Diamond line, P Line, Spider, Berkeley, Seaguar Fluoro, Triple Fish Fluoro, yozuri Fluoro to name a few all show no changes, they are all completely fishable even after years and years in storage.

Thumb rules. The no backlash claims usually mean subpar casting distance and as soon as you aim far and throw hard it’s to the birds.

Service? I consider myself pretty OK with reels and small parts. And they always work as they should when I put everything back together. Maybe that’s because there’s no way in hell I am taking something like that thing off. God bless you if you remove and reassemble T wings.

I broke my aftermarket spool (from obscenely high RPMs and a cheap rubber retainer) casting close to twice as far as the kids with cheap reels with my tatula. And some of them were using spinners. And I was casting under 3/8. somethings not right here. I was still able to cast mine just as far without the inductor on the spool and basically no brakes without backlash, even with orange seal Boca bearings. I almost always pull the slack line off the spool after my casts to make sure I don’t bury slack in the spool, though.

This is why I hate the internet. Heres another state that says kill them. Florida. https://www.fws.gov/fisheries/ans/pdf_files/snakeheads.pdf south Carolina — keep it do not release http://www.dnr.sc.gov/invasiveweeds/snakehead.html Another one that says it’s illegal to release. Texas. https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/exotic/snakehead.phtml Ill stop here. I did check Virginia. VA does not require killing or make them illegal to release.

I have only caught a handful of small mouths in my life. Only one was intentionally. Literally one. And I located, but never caught, more smallmouths than any other fish in the water. If your rod is soft and the drag slips, they won’t break the surface. The tension on the line, drag and rod gives them the leverage to break the surface. Fishing style has a lot to do with it. I consciously keep the fish from breaking water. It’s easier to do when there is less backbone in the rod. But I never caught a smallmouth on a long cast in very shallow water. And I see how that would make getting airborne easier.

Yes they can and do. I’m in NY and here’s the regs https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/fishguide.pdf I could not find a state with snakehead regs that does not require killing all snakeheads. I checked over a dozen.