txchaser

Should be able to see a screenshot of the map, but the raw map files won't be readable without some specfic software. On the lake level, hbird has a depth offset that you can adjust, I don't recall the name of it. I think it's included. Garmin has it too but at least on the echomap you have to have the add-on/mapping card which is kinda expensive. If the mac cant read the card at all and you can't see any files, I'd try it on another computer. I'm almost 100% sure the file format is a standard format like FAT that is readable on every platform.

PB was early june which is late postspawn/early summer for us. PB2 and PB3 were both early prespawn, 56-57 degree water so late Feb.

6" 3oz soft swimbaits mid column or about 5' over the bottom And if they are in the top 10fow or so and it is warmer, a bladed jig. Seriously.

One thing I forgot to mention and I guess it is too late to edit. The Huk Creek Channel have some stretch in them and the Simms don't have any at all.

Some good testing on the water today, including some big fish stress on the system. I replaced the bobber stop with a rubber ball (Jethro's I think) designed for protecting knots on c-rigs and punching. It might have helped. But I think I found the real issue. I was checking the line near the hook, and checking it ahead of the bait. But I wasn't checking the whole line, and I was missing the 1.5-2 inches in the tube. It was getting ragged out pretty fast, even just from casting. I checked it a lot and that was the only spot getting abraided. Anyway I think I'm good to go now, I just have to make sure I slide the bait up enough to check the part of the line in the tube. Thanks again for all the help with my line-through rookie mistake.

Among some other replenishment items from the TW sale, I got: Smash Tech 7" gizzard shad line through. Looks just like the one I saw floating on the water the other day. And a pack of 10" Lunker City Fin-S-Fish Both of these are kinda standard, just really big. We will see... these big fish on my lake really like munching gizzard shad presentations so I'm trying all kinds of stuff.

@Catt always talks about rate of fall. Might be a situation where a heavier or lighter nail weight would get you a different outcome.

I'll add my current favorites for summer in Texas. Hat: Boonie hat wins out over ball cap in the big summer. Like having a portable shade tree. Shirts: Huk Icon (not X) - it is the new model of the icon x and it has thumb loops in the sleeves which is a really big upgrade for me. Active cooling is real and makes a real difference. Anetik and Huk A1A are tied for shirts when there's a decent wind but it's hot. Pants: Anetik ultralight pants are cooler by far than the others, but kinda fragile. Tied for #2 is Huk Creek Channel and Simms Ultralight. They are both great, fit is a little different. Probably personal preference on which one you will like. Pick up the pants you think you are going to fish in and try to blow through the fabric. Many of them are treated in a way that wind won't come through, which is no bueno in the summer. Gaiter: Anything light that has active cooling. Last I checked columbia had the best one here. I'm not a fan of many of the brands (including huk and simms) as they dont breathe well - the material is too thick. Gloves: Outdoor Research with cooling dots. Socks and shoes: Lightest socks possible, paper thin. Most breathable shoes too. I've tried various flavors of sandals and tevas and it's just too dang hot. All of these are terrible in the high 60's and great over 80.

7" daingerous gets bit, swims great. Huge fan of the line through/top hook - I actually thought it was a fixed hook like a bacca burrito when I bought it.

unfortunately this is across multiple brands and individual baits. It's worth checking as I can't recall if this is across two rods or just the one. It's always down by the bait though. Yeah I'm going to try that this weekend and see, since it's the one thing I can change immediately. On moving to mono or invisx, it's really not a bad idea at all, because this is unsustainable . I'm reminded that butch brown uses invisx for his monsters. Yeah getting more meat in between the sleeve and the knot vs just a stopper has to help. I might try some of the jethro bumpers I have for punching. Little big, but would at least let me test. Thanks everyone for all the thoughtful feedback.

Haha yeah 100%. I'm lucky to live in the *** fish, and except for some offshore stuff, it's definitely a combat style fishing - it's always either heavy weeds or timber if it is less than 15fow. Amongst the people I fish with some of them think I'm nuts at 15 and 17lb line. If I had to guess, I catch a lot of fish on a bladed jig so they get a lot of volume, and many of us have snaps open up from time to time, even if just to the partial open position. I should probably check it after I catch a fish, but I am just checking the knot and the line. So lots of chances to fail in my case. Funny thing is I use 25lb paperclip style snaps on most cranks and have never had one bend even a little bit. I still think that split ring had to have been a catfish, probably just rolled it off.

It casts well on a st croix legend x MH-R 7'6" and it doesn't feel overloaded. It doesn't feel like a 2oz crank - maybe 1.5? Just a big deep crank like all the others.

Well, I spent all day Saturday on a spot less than 75' long, because I saw a gill bed complex there on sidescan. Would I have found that spot anyway? Maybe, I was fishing main lake points in the wind, and that's where it was. I used to find a lot of submerged timber or brushpiles that you had to know were there or see on your electronics, and they tend to get a lot less pressure than anything visible. Mapping always helps too. If you are going to do sidescan, I'd rather have a used helix 9 than a new helix 7. Much more useful if you do end up with a boat. If you are paddling, don't try to get something you can use on a big boat. Go for "it has a map and can tell me how deep I am" - like inexpensive 5"

What's your water temp right now?

My PB was on a buzzbait at a little after noon in early June in Texas. In fact I think the 10-2 bite might be big-fish o'clock. Go to where you know you can catch fish in lower light, then instead of casting at the shore, just cast the other direction. Not kidding. A lot of times they don't go very far, they just pull off to the next stopping place to chill out mid-day. And you can find brushpiles, weeds, dropoffs, etc just fine dragging a texas rig around.

+1 on the zebco bullet or omega. Totally different level of quality than the old plastic ones. And if you can swing the MG versions they are a lot lighter. The non-MG bullet is " Reel Weight (oz): 13.9 That's a lot for me, much less a kid. On the spinning reels, penn, pflueger, daiwa, okuma, lews etc are all fine and some are in the mid $50 range on amazon. Shopping around a little here is worth the time. I can't see a reason to buy a kastking vs others I mentioned. Generally though this space is going to be pretty competitive and unless it's a sale, the given price points will likely perform very similarly. To your question about spinning reels on baitcast rods, no. But spincast reels work great on them. And split grips are entirely preference vs any real functionality. If you are asking about two-piece rods, yeah they work fine. One caution - you are going to want to replace the line on the spincasters within the first month. It's marginal stuff. Just get a spool of 8 or 10lb big game, it'll last you a long time.

Try burning it really fast. If that doesn't work, try a meaninfully different color, like chartruese instead of white-ish.

This is kind of a giant wall of text, but maybe helpful. Also a Keitech Fat Swing Impact on an owner flashy swimmer, or a floating/suspending rattletrap might do something for you. And those are pretty easy to try out.

Thanks, much appreciated. Sounds like I end up using the mag spool there anyway because the zillion HD just feels like a perfect fit above about an oz anyway. I have a couple of applications that the BFS-SV could be fun on, so that's a new one for the list. Bummer about them only happening on closeout - I'd buy ten SV-boost if I could get them at a "not $100" kind of price. Any thoughts on the 'maybe a sticky inductor' question?

I've been experimenting with not replacing the snaps on Jackhammers as I've started fishing with a little lighter line (15lb tatsu) and a mod+ rod, so I thought more give would keep me from needing to do it. Anyway the results of the experiment so far - partially opened snap way way too often, and the final straw was horsing a mid 6lb fish into the net caused it to open up completely and sling the bait. Bait landed in the boat (yay) fish landed in the net (yay) but the snap was comically wrecked. It takes about as long as tying a knot now. Just do it if you have any chance at bigger fish. The owner 72lb is a little big, but it's a beast, and some people like the decoy. But for the bladed jig and the crosseyes, and probably the mini's too, just do it. Failed experiments are useful too I guess. On the other hand, I have jackhammers that are now on their second replacement skirt and they still work great. Maybe even better as I think they get a little more subtle as they have been beat to hell. I did have my first one get fully retired this year though, and it was a new one. It got so beat up I couldn't get it to run straight or consistently even start up. I think it worked out to 10 cents a fish so I think I did ok.

2-3oz line-through swimbaits, 22lb tatsu, having breakoff problems. Double San Diego Jam knot, four or 4.5 wrap (five won't cinch cleanly at this line size) freshly-spooled line no split ring (split ring was making it worse not better so I cut them off) bobber stop above the knot to reduce impact (helped some) Happening on both 7" daingerous line through and 6th sense hangover, fast sink in both cases. Hasn't happened yet on the big defiant, but I don't fish it much, the tail is too stiff to slow roll and I need to boil it. Never happened on a cast, occassionally on a hook set but that might be gar. Happened stuck in a shorline reed with a pull that was in no way enough to break the line under normal circumstances. Happened on a couple of attempted boat flips (to my hand, not the deck) on 4ish lb fish. I know there's a lot of impact on the knot especially on long casts vs lob casts... I'm usually covering water vs target casting with them. I retie what feels like reasonably often, but not after sub-5lb fish. Obsessive line checker though - they often get the hook deep enough that they abraid the line. Options: 1) retie even more, seems ridiculous but if that's what it takes 2) try a rubber bead instead of a bobber stop 3) different knot, maybe SDJ doesn't like the top-down impact? Other ideas?

Seems like a better fit here than starting a new thread: 1) do spools ever go on sale? I'd like some extras but at 1/2 the price of a whole reel it's hard to want to buy them 2) I have a zillion that maybe has a sticky inductor? Getting mid-cast fluffing or backlashes even up in the mid-teens setting on the magnet. It's like the reel has gone wild. Managable with thumb but definitely not working right. Manually pulling out the inductor it moves just fine so not totally stuck. But it behaves very differently than the other zillions both JDM and USDM. And I have a second one that kinda felt like it was doing the same thing this weekend, but not nearly as much. What's heavy line and lure in this context?

The Duel Hardcore 7+ is responsible for my best big fish deep cranking days ever. I fish it slowwww. Anyway the $5 duel thing just put a hurt on me, I have way more sizes and colors now. Interestingly some of my fav colors were not discounted, maybe not going away completely?

Ok that's fair. I'm three weekends into testing the ChatterShad and so far it is catching quality fish for me. I'm mostly fishing a bladed jig for bluegill eaters so I like that profile better than the spike profile. It is a bit of a PITA to get on the bait, but once it's on there it's a good 20-40 fish situation. It's been good enough that I just bought four replacement packs in "the Deal" which is one of z-man's best all-around colors.