Bass Rutten

Anyone fish the clermont chain on the regular? Me and a friend fished Mineola Sunday from 8-3 and caught 3 total fish, tough day. Water viz ranged from about 1-4 foot visibility, light winds, weather was nice though, recreational traffic was actually fairly light. My only catch was on a berkley frittside 5 jr crank, missed a few others with it, and also missed a massive blowup skimming a swimjig over some emergent grass. My buddy got 2 on a senko, one was a chunky 4 pounder. Could use a little direction, we're headed back this weekend.

Yes everything was pretty dry, just had a very thin coating of grease on them, pretty typical daiwa. Have not made a single cast yet, but with the improved gears I expect it to feel smoother under load than the previous gen tat. It could be my imagination but it feels a touch more compact than the previous one, I sold it off last year so no side/side comparison. It's going a on rod for heavy pitching/punching/frogging with braid, it will be tested.

Edit: Nevermind, brainfart, forgot to twist it, fire away with the jokes.... I like to clean and oil the bearings and grease the gears on new daiwas, I Just received the reel this afternoon and got off the handle side stuff just fine, but the non- handle side plate just won't come off, I fully unscrewed the brake dial screw but it just won't budge. I put a screwdriver in the little slot at the bottom rear and pried a bit, but didn't want to damage the plate, I also pressed on the inside of the spool outward and nothing. Anyone ever had this happen? Am I missing something, it feels glued in place. Any advice on how to get it off is appreciated.

5/0 works for me...

I used to cast for kings out of lake Michigan in the 90's/2000's, mostly in Waukegan off the rocks, and southern Wisconsin. If you can swing a small purchase bps has their fish eagle salmon rods on sale for $40 right now, I’d get the 8’6” mh. If not, run what you brung. It’ll be mostly a spoon affair, you should easily be able cast some 1/2oz spoons with the 703, the longer the cast the better, I started with a 7' m/f bps bionic blade before upgrading to a 8'6" ugly stick. I’d go with 30lb braid tied direct and a reel with a good drag 3000 or bigger. Smaller kings shouldn't be an issue, a large fresh one might hand you your lunch though, early season kings can pull like freight trains.

Nothing is as snagless or fun as topwater lures (assuming minimal surface vegetation). Toads, whopper ploppers, buzzbaits, and spooks will cover water with a minimum of fuss.

I fear not the man who has casted 10,000 lures once, but I fear the man who has casted one lure 10,000 times -Bruce Lee, Watahhhh!

Ideally you don't want any loose wraps, or they should all tighten and change color when cinching, otherwise I cut and retie. I can't imagine any good coming from having your knot move under the shock of a hookset.

You should either use a small piece of dowel or some thick heavy duty gloves to wrap the braid around when cinching, braid and bare hands will not apply sufficient pressure. I do 3 half hitches before trimming the leader and cannot ever remember one failing.

Can anyone think of a very popular and effective technique whose action is almost identical to the rolling action of an original rapala? One that perhaps involves a jighead, and a minnow shaped bait? Coincidence? Things that make you go hmm...

I've always considered the rod as the heart and soul of a setup. As of recent years though the reel has become a closer second after delving into bfs and better quality reels in general. I'm not to picky when it comes to lines, I could probably work with most but I've settled on x-braid for my lighter rods and yo-zuri hybrid on the heavier powers.

I use yozuri hybrid over mono because it's lower stretch and a little more sensitive than mono due to it's fluorocrabon content. It also has better water absorption resistance, better uv resistance, and it just flat out lasts longer. It has the reputation of being hard to handle because they greatly underrate the lines strength. If you select based on actual beak strength and/or diameter it handles as good or better than most monos ime.

fishermap.org

Thanks for this post, always on the lookout for new ned baits. Just picked up a pack of black/blue, it's smaller than I anticipated. Weighs in at 6.8 grams paired up with a 1/32 owner blockhead jighead and casts just fine on medium casting gear. Haven't fished it yet, just did some practice casting in the yard. Should be a nice addition to the ned arsenal, can't wait to try it out!

These applications scream medium heavy/fast to me, since you're already on team dobyns the 704 seems about right.

Right on, going try them out on some deeper sparse weed lines, hopefully the head shape will help them come through without plowing.

I've had some of these sitting in the tackle archive about 5 or 6 years now and they've never been wet. Are you throwing these around Florida, and what trailer do you like with them?

Love my daiwa feider 69ml jerkbait rod. Great reel seat/ergos and under 200.

The first four get the majority of water time due to effectiveness and rigging versatility of plastics, and also being primarily a finesse fisherman and co/backseater. Like most I'm constantly changing and evolving but these are currently my most used among many more... Finesse Worm 6-7” - Strike King, Netbait, Robo Finesse Worm 4” - Strike King, Zoom, Robo Ned Worm - Z-Man TRD, SK Zero, X-Zone Soft Jerk - SK Caffeine Shad, YB D-Shad, Keitech SI Small Jerk - LC 78, Duo 77, MB X80/Nanahan, 110jr Topwater - EG JT115, MB DogX, LC Gunfish Crankbait - LC 1.5, DT6, Shad Rap 5/7 Chatterbait - Z-Man Evo, Jackhammer Flipping Jig - SK Hack Attack Fluoro, Structure Finesse Jig - DJ Compact Pitching, Molix Kento

Did you compare by diameter? 6lb P-Line cx (.21mm) is actually thinner than 4lb yzh (.235mm)

The heck yall doing? I use 10lb, 12lb, 15lb straight, and 6lb and 10lb as a leaders (about 20ft). Trilene or uni knot exclusively, fg on leaders, pay close attention to my knots, lubricate well, cinch tight, test knot before using. Been rock solid all the way around for me, can't ever remember having an issue since I ditched p-line 5-6 years ago, guess I'm lucky. Dangit just jinxed myself.

With the newly added hyperdrive gears and available for just over $100 the 2024 tatula 100 seems like a no brainer for froggin

No issues here, been using it for years because of the knot strength. I wouldn't give up on yzh, bad spools happens with lots of line brands.

Ned rig, flickshake, dropshot. As far as why it's because the popular tournament lakes I fish around central Florida get pounded harder than a cube steak in a southern diner.

I have 2 of the newer elites too, and strangely my Feider jerkbait/topwater rod has gotten way more use and is in perfect condition with no scuffing on the foam, but my Tak cranking rod barely has any use and looks scuffed and used, purely cosmetic though.