sal669

If you travel a lot to fish (tourneys or for pleasure), the side immaging feature is a great feature to have; it will show you quickly where to fish, eliminating unproductive water. If you fish the same waters over and over, you will probably use the side immaging feature for a short time (maby a couple hours) locating structure and sweet spots, mark your points (GPS), and you're done with it. I fish 90% of the time on Lake St Claire and a couple other inland lakes in SE Michigan ( I am talking only about lakes, but rivers would be the same thing) and don't feel side immaging would help me to much. I kinda know already when and where to fish.I study maps before I go to a new lake. I am happy with my Hummingbird 587ci combo. If I'd have lots of $$$, I'd travel more and deffinately get one with side immaging

The last 2 seasons, my jerkbait and topwater rod was the Avid AVC66MF. This rod is awsome. It has a good backbone and a soft tip that helps keep the fish hooked with those treble hooks. I don't feel any need for a better rod.

I have the Avid 68MXF (similar power and action); it has to much power and is way to fast to properly load with light baits : your casting distance will suffer and light line will breack on hookset. I deffinitely NOT recomand it for dropshoting, something is gonna breack (leader or fishes mouth)

I just love it when somebody says " I only use 1/8 oz weight with my soft plastics and so-and-so reel works great" Well, thats not 1/8oz lure !!!! It might be 3/8 or more if you ad the weight of the hook and plastic .Try casting a Rapala xr6 or a 1/8 oz Bitsy bug (without a trailer) for a day and than tell me that your reel works great with 1/8oz baits !! Most of the baitcasters work good with baits of 1/4oz or more. IMO, the reels that best handle lighter lures, available on the american market are the Sol and the Core (I am not sure about Chronarch, i never fished with one; somebody might want to chime in) The Sol vas discontinued at Cabelas last summer and at BPS at the end of last year, but are availeble at other stores. Tight lines

Both remind me of those catfish rods from Walmart...

Naahhhh...it's not that bad ! You'll survive !!! ;D

You are 100% correct. Let's say a 66mlf rod is marketed as "dropshot rod". Do you think you could toss some grubs on 1/8oz jigheadt with it ???? Or a slider head with a 4" finess worm ??? Or 3" senco ? Or a 6" worm weightless or splitshoted? Or,...... :

Did you mean SLOWER ACTION ??? A rod that bends easier and more into the blank is SLOWER than a rod that bends less and most of the bend is in the "tip" part.

Somebody should tell DB that ul,l,ml,m,mh,h,xh reffer to power. Action is defined as xf,f mf,m, slow,parabolic (or something like that) I am getting annoyed by all this confusion between power and action , especially if it's done by a ROD company !!!!! Rant.Sorry

2500 it the perfect size for bass fishing

i agree %100!!! Totaly agree. I'd rather fish with a neutraly balanced rod than a "tip heavy" rod. About sensitivity, IMHO it's more effective to keep your eyes and a finger on the line (or a finger on the spool) than shaving of the cork on the handle. I cast with 2 hands most of the time and just hate the feel of split grips... But hey, the companies are making good money with this gimmik (sp)

Naaaahhhhhh, he's not KVD...It's KVD's cousin ..

Raul, you pranckster ! Any bait I would through out today on my lakes would be "TOP WATER", till about the end of March....

6 med Steez for Trig, jig, wake and sppok... Hmmmm :-?

...What Wayne said !!!!

Avid AVC66MF Daiwa TD Sol 8# P-Line Fluoroclear For lighter stuff: Daiwa 66 MLF rod, daiwa Capricorn 2000 reel, 6# diameter Tectan Premium or 15# Power pro with BPS Fluoro leader

Might be a great spot for some big pike just after the ice melts !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It could hold bass, but I would look for them deeper, especially if the water is clear

Besides what the other guys said, here is my input: YOU MUST FIND THE FISH FIRST, THAN TRY TO CATCH THEM. You gonna spend time locating their wintering area. Good news: they gonna be in the same area every winter !!! It's not uncommon for the bass to compleatly "shut down" for hours ,in cold water situations. I know where their wintering area is in my home lake, so I was fishing the right area last fall, but wasn't bit for hours. Then the bites started and lasted for about half an hour to an hour. It could be 3-6 bites or a dozen; then everything shuts down and zero bites for the rest of the day. In 40-50* water I fish only in the afternoon (water has time to warm up a degree or two). Most of the active periods happened between 2 and 5 pm. It is possible that there were other active periods during the day, like in the morning, but I wasn't there. Most of my cold water fish are cought on jigs; a few on soft plastics, spinnerbaits, rattlers, crankbaits and jerkbaits. I fish these depending on the weather trend; if it's warming, I'll go with something faster. A droping temperature means "slow down" in my book. Very rarely do I use a C-rig, even though I know it's a fish catcher in cold water. On this setup i will use a 8-10" worm, Crawfish, fluke or tube in fall. In spring, I'll go with a Lizard most of the times."French fries" deadsticked for minutes work in early spring. Dropshoting might be a good option, too. Live bait is a good option to make them reveal their location, then you could try artifficials. Tight lines

I'm a loner , too. Nobody in my family fishes. I got the bug from our neighbor, when I was 5, and got "infected" bad. :DI tryed giving the bug to my wife and son , but they are immune to it...

I lowe it !!! That's the way to "separate the grain from the straw" It's easy to bring in big limits when the bass are in "suicidal" mood.

The St Croix factory (?) is located in Wisconsin. Why not suport your states economy ??? St Croix Avid and up are made in USA with lifetime warranty. The Avids are just a bit above the Crucials, in my opinion. True, they don't come with split grips, but I hate split grips... I am fadeing out of Fenwicks, with the exception of the 2 Techna AVs that I got at less than half price.( just couldn't pass up the deal)The last 5 rods I bought were Avids and I'm more than happy with them. I don't own Loomis rods so I'm not gonna coment on them. Tight lines, Alex

Go to a store (where they have these reels) with the rod you'll be using with it; mount the reel on the rod and see how it feels (balance, palming,etc) than make your own decizion .... Joke: You might wanna consider a Zebco 33

I use GM plastics and like them...

Lots of good advice so far. It's important to know if it's a warming trend or cooling (fish move shalower or drop back deeper) It's a small lake,you have time to go arround it a couple times a day and try different things. I would leave my rods on the deck and "fish" with my electronics for a while. Try to locate fish (bass or bait) and/or IRREGULARITIES; a creek chanel turn, a change in bottom content, a ditch in a flat going to deep water. Each of these will have fish on them at certain times; if you do the "rounds", you are bound to "stumble into something".Try shallower water later in the day . It's not that much "what bait" but "WHERE" I would start fishing a bit before noon and go till sundown. Interesting that nobody mentioned T or C-rigged "lizards" or deadsticked "french fries". They are a must for me in spring. PS: If you find them, make sure you mark the spots because they will be there every winter/spring and fall/winter. Tight lines

In my experience, the more beat up a lure is , the better it catche fish. ...or , the better the lure, the more beat up it becomes; and the more beat up it becomes , the better it catches fish, so it becomes more beat up...