fin

It took me a long time to learn the importance of cleaning and greasing the drag washers. The thing that always kept me from doing it was never having the 'special grease' I thought I needed. Then one day I heard you can actually use any grease, and once I saw the difference it made, it was like a light coming on. I'd still like to have some grease that's made for that purpose, but I never think about it when I'm ordering stuff. I used to back off the drag, but I was always forgetting, and forgetting to reset it before fishing and losing fish because of it. I think it would take a long time for a felt washer to become so compact and hardened that it didn't function. Like years. Tank?

Love Academy, hate their website. They rename Zoom colors, and the pictures aren’t great, so it’s really hard to tell what you’re getting sometimes. They call this one “green medium 06”. It took me forever to figure out why I couldn’t scroll to the bottom of the list of colors. There’s no scrollbar, and if your cursor isn’t in exactly the right place, it won’t scroll. I was going to get a spool of PowerPro 10# Hi-viz yellow, and I saw a picture of it, clicked on it, added it to my cart, and then saw it said 15# in my cart. They don’t have 10#. They’re not out, they just don’t have it period. I still ordered enough Zoom stuff to get free shipping. ?

Definitely a Stanley Ribbit. I think that one has a pearl-colored bottom? I used to have good luck with those back when my lake still had some lilypads. It's not easy to get them rigged just right so that the hook stays in place, and being able to get a good hookset at the same time. That plastic is tough, which is good for durability, but it makes setting the hook harder when it's already tricky with topwater. That hook is not terribly oversized, it could work. That looks like maybe a 6/0. I guess they hooked it in the chin and then in the back. I think I used to use a 4/0 or 5/0, depending on the brand of hook. I used to go through the crotch, but that hook looks too long for that.

Looks like Walmart to me. They have spinnerbaits they sell for $1 (I think they're still a dollar) that have that same type of rubber skirt and that same color combination. I'm no expert on buzzbaits, but I assume it would swim like a normal buzzbait, only the body would be pointed down at an angle. I would just bend it back into the correct shape. The hooks on almost all the Whopper Ploppers I've ever found were in good shape. Nice trap. That toad is good too, on a keel-weighted hook. On that hook there, it would flip over.

Yeah, just drill a small hole and then refill with hot glue, or epoxy to make it permanent. Problem is, my spook jr sounds like a one-knock, which would require a pretty big hole. You'd need to rig some kind of plug, like a wood dowel, for the hole. My spook is silent, and my puppies are silent.

I'm thinking much more, just to get rid of it. You've already replaced it, anything above that is a bonus. I know if I was in your situation, just having it sitting around would bug me until I did something with it. I doubt anyone would buy it, but maybe someone who repairs rods, or someone like @MickD might. It was like $150 new? I'm thinking like $25-50. It would have to be really low. I still wouldn't buy it at $25, myself, but if I had the rod, I wouldn't be able to just throw it away either ?

Since you've bought a new one now, maybe try to sell the broken one on the BR marketplace as a broken rod at a severely discounted price. You might not be happy with a repaired rod, given the history, but someone else might love to have it.

There are old threads here that discuss lures that have been unsuccessful for users, but rarely are they unanimous. I think you may be looking for a simple answer to something that doesn’t have one single answer for everybody. It’s never as simple as this is ‘good’ and that is ‘bad’. That's why there are thousands of lures to choose from. When I first got back into fishing, I started with the cheapest stuff I could find and I learned along the way why I needed to spend more for this or that. I had more time than money. If I had more money than time, I might have done the opposite - start with the best and skip the learning.

Yeah, it's probably possible to catch fish on them, but that's true of a lot of things. Especially in unpressured waters, wherever that paradise is ? The crankbaits and the minnows I've tried didn't swim as well as other similar baits I have tried.The lipless works, but also doesn't swim as well most others and the color choices were very limited. I don't see the savings being worth that. I've never tried the popper frog. There's obviously nothing inherent in the brand name to make the lures not work, of course. If they work for you, enjoy. If you're sold on them, I don't think there's any more specific reason anyone can give to you to not buy them. Like @Darth-Baiter, I have plenty of nice lures that won't catch fish, so I'm not going to spend time or money on something like OT.

I would clean very carefully and put a coat of clear fingernail polish on that. Those spots where it bubbles will likely flake off otherwise.

The same way I pronounce Daiwa - wrong ?

I don’t remember if I ever posted this in the found lures thread, but I once found an OT tackle box full of OT lures. Now I can understand if someone can’t afford better stuff, or wants to try the cheaper stuff out, but spending a lot of money on that OT stuff is very unwise in my opinion. Some people on this forum are set for life. Some people are struggling to get by and do what they have to do. The people that can afford it should support American workers and all the other good causes they can. If I had to choose between OT and not fishing at all, I’d choose OT too.

I think the consensus on this forum is baitcasters should be run without a leader. The best argument I’ve seen against leaders is microguides. I think some people make up arguments against leaders just because it’s easier to go without them. I generally run bright yellow braid to mono on spinning rods. I don’t use baitcasters much anymore, but I generally will run a mono leader on them too. I’ve got dark green braid on one baitcaster, and sometimes it’s just as visible as the fluorescent yellow due to lighting conditions. Funny how that works. Do what works for you.

Yes, I remember now. The San Diego Jam knot won't slide on the line tie like some knots. I found I got better action if I slid the knot down low on the line tie. Are you saying a spook would walk in a wider arc if you rotate the line tie to be horizontal instead of vertical? It seems like that would require a clip/ring. If the knot is stationary, it wouldn't matter which way the line tie was oriented.

I've found some baits walk better tying direct, but most walk better with clips or rings. I was comparing this last year. It does make a little difference with some. Can't remember which now ? Some spooks do come with a split ring, so I don't think it's designed to be used without one. (see Lurenet)

I used to have a lot of luck with that, but it's similar to the WP in that it worked great for me one year, not so great the next. Also, I get obsessed about whether the propeller is turning like it should on the torpedo. The WP is much more effective in that category. Torpedo is much more subtle though, and I don't feel like it spooks fish like a WP might.

I’m no expert, but I use that knot. My problem with it is I tend to twist the loop when I start to wrap the line around it. I think that makes it harder to cinch the knot. The Pitzen is probably better in that regard, in that it wouldn’t matter if it was twisted. I know you pull the tag end to tighten the San Diego Jam knot, and you also have to pull the loops towards the hook at the same time. If you only pull the tag end, you’ll get sort of a sliding loop knot. I’ve read some instructions that say pull the tag and then slide the knot down to the hook, and other instructions that say slide the knot down to the hook then pull the tag. I think sometimes I miss the bottom loop because I can’t see good and end up with a Pitzen by mistake. I’m using it on mono. I learned of it through @WRB maybe he knows the correct way to tighten it.

That's a good way to put it. I've always thought that, but never in exactly those terms. I've always thought the simpler a bait, the better. For an oversimplified example; a red and green bait will not do as well in the long term as a red bait or a green bait.

What number did you call, @waymont?

I don't really understand the need to walk a frog. I love walking baits, but the only time I've even tried to walk a frog is after reading about other people doing it. It doesn't seem natural to me at all. Walking is for imitating fish behavior. Frogs don't swim like that. The only benefit I can imagine is from the rhythm, which could resemble a frog's swimming stroke. A popping type presentation would probably work just as well. But I do understand the desire to accomplish what you set out to do, so carry on ?

Yeah, I've watched guys standing at the ramp with their boats in the water at sunrise jacking their jaws for an hour during the best time of day to be fishing. If I'm going to talk, it's going to be after 9:00.

Quoting can definitely get out of hand. It was really bad before they came up with the collapsed quote. If someone posted a lot of pictures, and then others quoted them, you'd get carpal tunnel from scrolling. I'd be okay with getting rid of the quote button altogether, so that the only way to quote would be using the selective method.

Not having to worry about getting hung up is one of the joys of frogs/toads. Being able to throw it pretty much wherever you want is one of the best things about them. A trailer hook would help, but also kind of ruin it, or at least it did for me.

Five seconds is a really long time. Do you mean you just count to five? Even that is probably too long. Counting to 3 probably about right. How many have you lost?

@Glenn You are deleting quotes making it hard or impossible to tell who or what the comment is referring to. I generally use selective quotes, but sometimes quote the whole thing. I don't necessarily do it to notify the user, sometimes it's to make it clearer what I'm talking about. It's a lot easier for users to simply click on the Quote button than it is for them to type the @ symbol, start to type a name, and choose a user. Maybe you could consider adding an @ button? Also, this is my first time seeing this thread, and I check in the site everyday. I only visit a few sub-forums. My point is, a lot of users probably don't know about this.