Reel

What happens if you get a real bad backlash ??

I'm insecure... I have two of everything.

I went fishing for smallmouth today and broke all these rules. I still managed to catch a good quantity of fish and some nice ones. Rules are made to be broken.

If you consider PEAK BASSING as catching more fish - Yes I'm at my peak. If you consider Peak as having more energy and fishing long hours with no problems No.

For me sensitivity is very important. But a rod is just a transmitter. It does not feel anything. The angler does. What you get with a more sensitive rod is a better transmission of contacts between the lure and what's under water: the weeds, the rocks, the wood, the sand, the muck and hopefully the fish. A more sensitive rod will help you if you can tell the difference. On another level, bite detection ( not sensitivity ) is somewhat different. Lots more involved here: sight, sound, even instinct.

I've got a shimano Canis baitcasting rod and a Chronarch MG reel that I still sometimes use, but this outfit has a special sentimental value. With it, I caugh my biggest largemouth ( 11 lb ) and my biggest tournament largemouth ( a 6 1/2 pounder ).

I remember, one year I bought some spinnerbait heads made from this kind of wire from Lurepartsonline. And like it was said, even if it was .035, I think, the wire seemed thinner for the same resistance. The spinnerbaits worked fine and I still have some from that batch that dates back 8 or 10 years.

I fish large rivers so east wind is the worst for me. I blows against the current creating those funny kind of waves that are no fun at all. Sometimes 10/15 mph equals 2 foot waves

Finding your own way is difficult. There is no security in doing it. You can't say: ''That's the way everybody is doing it'' . If you dont' catch, you can't say : ''the fish are just not biting''. You might spend days doing it and not catching fish. So this is how I go about it. I spend the morning in spots that I know hold fish using lures that I know will produce. I usually catch some fish doing that. In the afternoon, I spend at least a couple of hours experimenting : -Going to places that I would not normally go to ( and that others don't go to) and that do not fit known concepts for that time of year or that type of water -Using lures that have just come out or old popular baits from a few years ago or lures that are different. That way I balance success and familiarity with the unknown. Maybe you will find that there is no greater satisfaction than catching a couple of five pounders in a spot where there is nobody, using a lure that nobody is using.

I've had Humminbird units all my life and had no problems with high speed reading. With fiberglass boats ( transducer epoxied inside ) I could read at over 60 mph. Now with an aluminium boat and a transducer outside, I read the bottom as fast as I can go ( 55 mph). It's a question of transducer size and placement. Your transducer has probably come unglued.

I fish for bass in pike waters (Canada). I don't loose a lot of lures. Most of the time, in bass waters (shallow and warm ), you will find small pikes and they are not that difficult to handle. You loose a couple of lures a day to them, mostly jigs. Spinnerpaits, chatterbaits and jerkbaits are long and the line stays away from the teeth ( most of the time ) . In the waters I fish, the pike population is going down. Large pike ( over 8 pounds) are fun to catch.

I'm the opposite. I would like a setup for every lure I use. Example: light drop shot, medium drop shot, heavy drop shot. I don't buy rods by mail. That's a shot in the dark. Even at the store, without a reel, line and a lure on the rod, I feel I'm partly wrong about my choice about half the time. I eventually find the right use for that rod by using it in different situation with different reels, line and lure in real fishing situations. When I find the ideal rod ( for me) I don't think anybody could persuade me that a versatile seven MH footer would be the same.

Try putting one of the battery hand warmer in your breast pocket over your heart. That's where the blood congregates and it helps a lot.

Everything

There is nothing I like more than to chase the giant smallmouths of the St. ... River on 4 foot deep flats in crystal clear water on a windless, cloudless day. This is a real challenge.

It's not the tackle and it's not the line... it's the fisherman. When you use one type of equipment for one presentation, you get used to it and develop a rhythm for retrieves and hook setting. Change that and you see what happens. A lot of people use braid and MH rods for buzzbaits with success but that's what they use all the time. You have a rod, a reel and line that you have success with... use it. And maybe buy something similar to lend.

Fish where others don't.

I'm lucky. I have a boat with ACS ( advanced circulation system ) that uses fans and vents to take air from the outside and to blow it through the boxes. It doesn't take much time to dry everything out.

For this kind of situation I like the Jackall Rerange. It throws really well into the wind and it produces. I throw it with an Expride rod and a DC reel.

For the same price, why don't you just buy a Coike 17mm ?

For Shimano, the first baicasters in 100 size go way back to the first Bantam (1979). And there is no equivalent size between different makes. One company's 100 may be bigger or smaller than another company's 100. You can really only compare between reels of the same make.

I know I'm getting old when I have to rest between catching two smallmouths.

Exactly Decide what you want to do and what you can do, besides competing, before anything. You can even do something and send in a report with no strings attached.

I don't sell what I make so it's not about making money. It's about making what I want. I buy my components in small quantity. Just 10 or 15 years ago, I could make the same ones for 5 or 6 bucks, but prices have gone up for material.

I make my own most of the time so I've got an idea of the going price of lure components. Right now this is how I value the components: (the prices are rounded) 1/2 oz premium head and wire around 8 bucks Premium ball bearing swivel: 2 Blades (very regular): 1 Clevis, beads and acc. : 1 Skirt ( hand tied) :2 Time and talent : priceless Add it up and you are getting there. Thirty five dollars is not that far away for a store bought one. You might get some components on sale or some cheaper ones, some might say, but I like my spinnerbaits to last.