fin

I'm not hearing the drag clicking, so I don't think it's slipping. That's sort of the way I did it for years, but I set it where the line would just barely give when pulling on it by hand. The way you are setting it is a little dangerous if you get hit by a monster right at the last moment. After reading @WRB talking about using weights (like a plastic water bottle) to set the drag, it sounded like a more accurate and consistent way. I wanted to come up with a standard weight setting for my setup. 20 ounces feels good, but I'm wondering if that's too light. I'm using a 2/0 EWG thin wire. I agree with everything you're saying, especially about rushing the fish in. That's like chugging a fine wine. So with your drag set normal, if you hung a bag on your hook and put 2 16 oz bottles of water in the bag and lifted the rod, would your drag be clicking? (I hold the tip of my rod when doing this, just to be on the safe side) For me, a 20 ounce bottle of BBQ sauce was just about right. Two water bottles was way too much.

I think I’ve made the question too convoluted. What I’m basically asking is what is the minimum amount of drag required to set a hook, regardless of the line or rod.

I've read several of your past comments about setting drag, and they make sense. I'm glad you replied. My question in this case is more about the initial bite and whether maybe I'm missing bites because the hook is not getting set due to a low drag setting. I'm not concerned about breaking line or rod in this conversation. Let's say I was using 6# test. Then my 20 ounce setting wouldn't be very far off. Is the diameter of the line going to affect hook set? Not that much, I would think. Do you see what I'm getting at? There's a minimum drag setting for setting a hook, regardless of the line diameter or rod power. Would 20 ounces be below that setting in this situation? Too late.

I’m trying to get used to the drag on my new Daiwa spinning reel. I fish with 10# braid w/ mono leader. I usually set my drag so that like when a 3# fish is really fighting hard, the drag is clicking. 3# is about an average fish for me, when I hook something larger, I tighten up the drag on the fly. I wanted to see how much dead weight that drag setting represents, so I hung a bag on my hook and added weight until the drag started clicking. It seems to be around 20 ounces, a lot lower than the 53 ounces that would be 1/3 of my line weight. I’ve been missing some bites fishing with a worm with the new reel, getting the worm stripped from my hook in some cases. I’m wondering if it’s due to having the drag set too low, or if it’s coincidence. My rigging and everything else is the same as always, and I rarely miss bites on a worm.

The tail should spin very freely, with no resistance. If it doesn't, then yes, return/exchange it for another one.

I would definitely not add water to it. I'm not sure what kind of base the stuff has, but it isn't water. I've searched online to see if an MSDS or something exists, but never found anything. It's either non-toxic or in violation of some regulations, I'd lean towards the latter.

I've never seen anything in nature that looks like my most successful baits.

I pretty much agree with that, but it's tough to implement in your front line retail sales staff. The key there is to deflect to a manager or other person trained to deal with such matters that is authorized to use discretion. There are customers that know they can usually buffalo timid employees by making a scene, and those customers are not worth having. On the other end, some employees that lack experience can permanently run off valuable customers over disputes in very small sales. The beauty of ‘The customer is always right’ is that it's a simple maxim that any employee can grasp. Maybe it should be ‘The customer is always right, but a supervisor must authorize all exceptional returns’.

They're like a walking tackle box. I can cram everything I need for a days fishing in those pockets. Too hot for summer here though. This time of year I'm wondering how cool that middle eastern desert garb is.

There's no incentive to buy more than $100 though. Spend $200 and you're back down to 10%. Unless you can split up your purchase, like 2 $100 rods when you buy on two separate days. You'd think they'd learn... eventually. I consider myself very lucky to have gotten a rod from them well packaged.

What a weird sale. So it's 20% off if you buy a minimum of $50, and 20% off if you buy $100, but less than 20% if you buy between $50 and $100. Like only 10% off if you buy $99.

Yep. Academy gets more of my money than anyone else, by far. They’re also closest to me, but even if they weren’t, they’d still be my first choice. A few weeks ago I was going to be close to a BPS, but after reading other members’ experiences with BPS in this forum, I decided to not waste my time there. Academy isn’t perfect. Their employees aren’t as knowledgeable as you’d find at a good mom & pop bait store, and the selection isn’t as complete. They might not know much, but everyone I ever dealt with seemed to really try, and I’ve never encountered anyone with a really bad attitude like you can find easily at Walmart. I’ve had trouble with Academy’s inventory system on their website, but even then, when dealing with the website people on the phone, they were helpful and not some robots or person in a foreign call center. They always make me feel appreciated, unlike a lot of businesses these days. I noticed last time I was there that it seemed like they were starting to stock more expensive baits and less of the budget stuff. I can see why they would do that, and if that’s what it takes to help them survive, so be it.

Lesson learned here is ‘Lifetime Warranties’ vary widely, and not only on rods. If the warranty is a selling point to you, you should read it before buying. I was surprised the first time I read some of those rod warranties too. Some of us that grew up with warranties like Craftsman tools take ‘Lifetime warranty’ to mean something different than the discount replacement programs offered for rods. In a way I guess you could say it’s a little bit deceptive, but it’s common practice.

Black Death Blue Kill Coach Hog White Zombie

It’s hard to know what’s out there and what’s not. When I saw that Cyberfishing thing from ICAST, it made me think it would be nice to have a tiny timer like that on my rod that I could set to beep at different intervals, like every 30 seconds or whatever. I get kind of tired of one mississippi… two mississippi… I know you can buy little kitchen timers for $1, but they don't automatically start over.

I once caught a carp with a Zoom motor oil worm which has a smell that’s very different than any other Zoom worm. I know that color has a different smell, maybe others do too, and that difference in smell is why some colors are more successful than others. Far-fetched, I know, but I don’t think anyone can say for sure about this stuff. Berkley says oil based scents only mask scents and are not attractants: http://www.berkley-fishing.com/Berkley-ae-fish-attractants-leave-the-oil-at-home.html

Be careful with fresh garlic in oil. I know you're not eating the stuff, but there's a risk of botulism which can result in paralysis or death. I wouldn't want to get it on my hands. I don't know if fish are susceptible to botulism, but it would be a shame if you were poisoning your catch. Same here. Just the regular powerbait stuff is nasty to me. I bought a pack on clearance and never use them. Sometimes I pass by fishermen in stores and smell fish attractants or stink bait on them. People who don't fish probably assume they have bad hygiene.

And 50% off sandals and water shoes. I'm not sure if it's online-only.

The problem with the swivel from my perspective is that I'm using a keel weight - can't slide the swivel past it. I've never had problems with the lead edge getting torn up, only the tail edge where the point goes through the crotch. But I don't have lily pads or much grass anymore, so that makes a difference. I got a lot more hits with the ribbit when I had lily pads.

That makes more sense than an underspin, because it doesn't hang down far enough for an underspin, but I think it's for stinger hooks. Owner sells stinger hooks. Looks like something popular down in Aus/NZ.

Textured skirting?

Aw yeah, I like that hook. I don't think it's wide enough for the Ribbit, but I'd like to know what that is. I've never used a parasite clip, so thanks for showing that. I don't think it's really necessary for the Ribbit since they're so hard and tough, but I'd like to have some for craws and stuff. My latest rig uses a c-pin in the frog's crotch for the keel weighted hook to go through, with a small bit of a plastic worm on the hook to keep the hook from sliding too easily. I've never tried the Ribbit Double Take hooks either. That may be the best way to go, but I always thought I could come up with something without having to buy a special hook. I've spent a lot avoiding it, lol.

I use mono and a uni knot. It stays on tight, it's clear, and it's easy to remove if I want to change. There's a few videos on youtube that show how to do it - just search for 'uni knot skirts'. Also use #60 O-rings. 1/4"OD x 1/8"ID x 1/16"

I've been fishing the ribbit for about 5 years and still been experimenting. It's a great bait, but finding the perfect rig that will stay perfect, and be "loose" enough to hookup is not easy. You're right about that bend for sure. It will start swimming faster and it also makes the head poke up and look more natural. Never tried that. Good idea.

What's the tie at the bottom for? Underspin?