fin

What was that?

@ChrisD46 the slippage is what you occasionally get from just following the basic instructions. It can also unravel as the end of the braid frays, but there are things you can do to prevent/eliminate both problems. Some tips: On your first 7 wraps, make it long, like 3". On your second 7 wraps, make them very loose. When you wet and cinch the knot, hold both the main fluoro line and the fluoro tag end in one hand, and the braid in the other. (That's one thing illustrations are not very clear about) The knot should cinch very smooth and easily. If it doesn't, it's a sign something is wrong, and you should retie until it does. Before trimming the knot, add 1-3 simple half-hitch knots to the braid end. (I learned that here. It prevents the knot from unraveling as the braid frays) If you have micro-guides, add one half-hitch to the fluoro before trimming. (This will make the tag end point towards the reel instead of the rod tip, so it doesn't catch when casting.)

Some people see knots as a problem they don’t want to deal with, they just want to fish, so they want what is easiest. Some people see them as a challenge, and take pride in a skill that is developed with experience. Deciding which knot is “best” is kind of a personal choice. Technically, one may be the strongest, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the best knot for you. I haven’t noticed anyone putting down the FG, other than saying it’s hard to tie on the water. I don’t think I’ve ever even tried to tie one, period. I use the Alberto, and it was pretty easy to learn how to tie one, but it took me a long time to figure out how to tie one perfectly every time. I go through leaders pretty quickly using 10#, so I tie a lot of knots. I don’t have a lot of incentive to learn how to tie an FG, but I’m not opposed to learning it. One day I might. I think they were just making a joke. They are agreeing with you.

? That's the voice of experience and honesty.

Since you mentioned this, I've noticed that if you pull on the tag end very gently while holding the loop with your other hand, it seems to pull out any twist, so you don't have to wait for it to straighten itself. And like you said, no danger of unraveling. I've just started doing this, so I may be wrong, but so far it's worked well.

I can see how someone who is not a fisherman might think that is fair ?

You mean they didn't replace the ones you sent in with their original color?

Good to know. I'll throw it some more then when conditions get better here, which could be any day now. I guess once I hook one I'll be able to see how far that body will bend back. I noticed the video on Lunkerhunt's site shows one hooked in the gills, or close to it.

Ne'er.

Try finding a short MH spinning rod. I was looking for a MH worm rod a while back to replace a Cherrywood that broke. I prefer a shorter rod for bank fishing. I didn’t expect that to be hard to find, but for example, Tackle Warehouse has nothing in 6’. At 6’-6” they have 9 choices. But go up to 7’ and they have 31 choices. If you go shopping around, it’s hard to find a MH spinning rod in stock, period. Stores stock what most people buy. I get that, but it would be nice to have someplace to turn. I eventually bought a 7' M.

I found one of their 1/4 oz frogs a few days ago, and I noticed that even when you squeeze the frog flat by the hooks, there doesn’t seem to be enough room between the hook and the body for any fish lip. I don’t see how a fish could get hooked on this thing. They could bite deep enough to get past the barb maybe, but not down to the curve of the hook. You’d have to kind of pull back on the tail of the frog and then squeeze down really hard to get it flat enough for that. I guess it might be possible, but it doesn’t seem likely. I’m just curious if anyone has actually landed a decent sized fish with the smaller frog. I’ve had a couple of their 1/2 oz frogs, and they got bites immediately and hookups were as good as any frog. They worked great until the legs got pulled off (which was pretty quick).

Can you really know that for sure though? You could be totally missing them and never know. It might just be that you're getting more bites overall, which makes sense. Logically you're getting a little more sensitivity from the t-rig, and the fact that you're hooking them deep in the roof of the mouth could be a sign that they have it before you are feeling it. Still, free-rigging is better overall as long as you're not gut-hooking them.

I've learned that it's sometimes best not to puzzle over things too much in fishing. There are things that seem impossible to understand/explain that make a huge difference. Sometimes you never figure it out, and really, who cares if you keep catching fish? It sounds like you're getting more weightless fall (slower fall) than with the t-rig, and that's what accounts for the success. The difference is in the amount the weights slide on the line. It seems like a Carolina rig or pegged weight like 12" from the bait would work as well, but maybe not.

I don’t get the free-rig. What is supposed to separate the bait from the weight? I can see how they would separate on the initial fall, especially in deep water, but once you pull on the line and the bait bumps into the weight, from what I've seen, they stay pretty close together. In moving water, like a creek or river, I can see this working. The force of the water stream could separate the bait from the weight. I can imagine if you had a super-buoyant bait, the buoyancy of the bait could pull them apart, but once you add the weight of a hook, most baits aren’t much more than neutral buoyancy. If the bait and weight don’t separate, I don’t see the advantage over a Carolina rig. At least with the Carolina rig, you know your bait is separated from the weight. What am I missing here? Obviously it is working very well for you. ?

It's worth $2. Used to be able to get Academy lipless for like $2.50, which were way better than the OzT but they cost a little more now, I think.

I've found that same color Googan jerk before.

You lost me there, but verbal descriptions alone of how to tie knots have always been difficult for me to follow.

If you’ve ever gone to cinch the knot on a San Diego Jam Knot and it doesn’t cinch smoothly, I’ve found that adding a simple step prevents that from happening: Before you pass the end between the lines as shown in the picture, release your hold from the first loop, and instead just hold the main line. If there is any twist at this point, the line is now free to untwist itself. Then carry on with the knot as you would normally. This will produce a smooth-cinching knot every time. I’ve found that when these knots don’t cinch smoothly, they are more likely to fail under heavy load. I’ve been using this knot for a few years and finally just figured this out. I’ve never seen it mentioned in instructions. I’ve been doing this for a couple weeks, and it seems to work very well. I’m using 10# mono, I don’t know how well it would work with heavier line. It might unravel when you release your hold from the loop.

I’ve bought a few stick baits when they were on clearance for like 75% off, but I don’t think I’ve ever caught anything on them, maybe one or two. I’ve never dedicated much effort to them and I doubt I ever will. I just don’t care for them.

Got my order and everything was the color I wanted! I was so expecting it to be wrong. Their system is still messed up, just not messed up so bad I had to return the order.

I’d like to believe that kind of manufacture still exists - that things are being manufactured with the intention of being passed on to the next generation, that parts are being made for the long term, that designs are standardized so parts are interchangeable, but I really don’t think what the future looks like. I’m not sure that’s even what the present looks like. It’s more like, ‘if it breaks, buy a new one’. I guess there will always be collectors, to some extent. With the way technology in fishing has changed so rapidly, it’s hard for me to see why someone would want outdated technology, like things that were once state-of-the-art that now seem way too heavy. Maybe it’s because I’m not buying stuff in that price range, so I just can’t see it.

The Daiwa video I watched recommended putting the grease on your finger and thumb, not the washer, and then like you said, massaging the washer between them. Not very difficult, but okay, thanks for the reply, to each his own, I was just curious.

Having never used Cal's or grease made for drag, I can't say how normal grease compares, but I'm not sure we can really know that Cal's isn't just a normal grease, we just have to take their word for it, right? Regular grease doesn't seem to stay greasy/smooth very long, or at least it seems that way to me. I might just not be putting enough on it. Clean-up is pretty simple in my experience - just a little mineral spirits. Any reason you use oil instead of grease?

I got my shipping confirmation from Academy, and it shows two items that are supposed to be black, according to the picture and the item description, but the confirmation lists one item as Mardi Gras (watermelon green) and the other as Pumpkin Chartreuse. Customer service can’t do anything until I receive the package a week from now, and then all they can do is give me a refund for those items after return. The CSR was really nice and did all she could do to try and help and escalated the issue, but I imagine nothing will change. I’ll still get free shipping and 20% off the other items, so I’m not crying. I just don’t think I would ever place another Zoom order online with them. I don’t know any way to assure what color you are ordering from them. The real name of the color doesn’t show up in their system until it has shipped. Crazy.

I was curious how that Longbill Spot swam, so I dug up a video. Spoiler: swims like a floating lipless, sort of.