Tackleholic

Three which come to mind. In a boat alone on a dark night, Hayward Wisc.; kept hearing a soft splash, splash. Finally hit a spotlight and there was a bear about 3 feet away, must have smelled my Walleye. Sleeping alone in the woods, in a WW2 Jungle Hammock, a Bobcat screamed, sounded like it was right next to me. Bank fishing late at night, two Racoons got into a fight; sounded like people were being murdered.

I only use microguides when using no leader. From all the replies, general opinions are for smaller diameter line, larger eyelets, and/or learn the FG knot. I'll try, but know I won't like it; especially learning the FG knot. Thankyou everyone.

Relating to baitcasting with 30# braid and 15-20# leaders. I use an Alberto Knot and I'm pretty good at tying and trimming it. Sometimes that little catch of the knot going through rod guides will cause a backlash. A fresh leader will typically be the length of rod tip to reel, getting shorter with each re-tie; I replace them when they reach about 3 feet, and it seems a backlash is more likely to occur with a short leader. Do any of you experience this and do you have a cure?

Triple willow or quadruple willow when around lots of tiny shallow shad. Only problem is sometimes the bass bite only the blades.

Thankyou for all the ideas; I will try them one at a time and post back when I find the solution. To begin, I have swapped out the front treble on one lure. That lure already had short shank #2s and I could not find a shorter shank so I replaced the front with a #2 wider gap. Happened to have the exact hook on hand that FishTank recommended.

Photo?

I used that line in 4# and 6# for years; the only reason I changed is it had more stretch than I wanted.

Happened with me too. Really sucked.

I have some belly weighted hooks by Davis, had them awhile, that seem to be lighter wire than most.

All good with a Zillion; why confuse things by going shotgun. All is good with a Zillion, why confuse matters by by going shotgun? All is good with a Zillion; why confuse matters by going shotgun? No need to feed the bait monkey.

That's a start.

You will surely learn.

Twice I paid Guides so they could go fishing themselves. They rigged up my friend and I with the same lure as on his rod, then they ran the trolling motor and made the first cast to every target. I never hired or referred either of them again.

I bet you will like the left hand retrieve once you give it a chance.

Not used in close to 40 years? Sounds like something I would do.

Agreed, I used to have the same problem. I now use a golf score counter and simply give it a click each time I catch a fish. When I get home, my OCD takes over and I record everything, I do mean everything, about the day. 100% agree.

Interesting, Bankc; I never would have thought about a longer hook.

I've watched weigh ins on my lake where fish obviously have the bends and are released belly up with no attempts to fizz them; makes me very angry. It is also my observation that tournament participants who do not call this lake Home, care much less about needlessly killing fish than do the locals.

I have a lot of wake baits, but yesterday I was throwing a Berkley Wakebull and 6th Sense 4" jointed whatever the name is. I have the problem with most wake baits due to the straight up and down short lip; sooner or later that front treble hangs up on the lip.

I fish a lot of wake baits; prefer them to most forms of topwater. The only downside I have is the front treble often hangs up on the lip of the lure, especially in windy conditions. Do any of you change out the stock front treble to a shorter shank or even a single hook to prevent this? I would like to hear about your modifications, if any. Thanks y'all.

Took it out today for a trial run, paired with a Zillion SV. Did not try it with a jerkbait, instead I used a couple of small cranks that I would only throw on a spinning rod; it bombed those lures way, way out there. Impressive! If you want to sell your rod for the same $75 I paid for mine, I'm in the market for another.

That brings up another question : Are the Edge Rods by G Loomis comparable to the original G Loomis rods? Is Gary Loomis really designing them?

Found a Loomis rod in a garage sale today, felt like a good jerkbait rod, bought it for $75; can't find anything wrong with it except a couple nicks in the cork. CBR783 6'6" medium Crank Bait Series mod-fast action, bronze color. I tried to look it up on ALF, both new and used rods with no luck. I'm curious for any info.. I really like the action and think I got a good rod for a good price.

I used 15# Trilene for years but became suspicious of it having too much stretch; at times when I was forced to break off, it was extremely difficult to do, also missed too many bites on long casts. I finally bought one spool of Sniper 16# to try and compare. There was no comparison; I'm now all in with Sniper.

Lots of good advice given, I could add a couple of "maybe" suggestions : Be sure your drag is tightened down. Shorten your monofilament leader or eliminate it. Also, heavy cover jigs are generally intended for short flips, pitches, and casts; if you are making long casts, your hookset percentage will probably go down.