walleyecrazy

My number 1 reason is the sound they make. It drives me nuts, and isn’t something I want to listen to every time I cast.

I'm sure we have all had moments while out fishing where we have almost gotten hurt in one way or another. I had one while fishing the other night, and it got me wondering what you all may have had as far as close calls. Mine from the other night came while bank fishing while standing on a culvert pipe at dusk. I was using a 5" super spook, and had probably one of the biggest pickerel I have ever seen explode on it about 30 yards out. After a brief fight I went to pull it out of the water by lifting the line with my hands as I usually do on this culvert pipe. I got the pickerel about a foot out of the water when the spook came free and flew back in my direction. I'm not sure how, but I was able to get my head turned in the split second it took between the lure coming free and it smacking me in the cheek. Lucky for me the lure must have hit me with the hooks facing away from me, because I managed not to get hooked by any of the three trebles. I just stood there and laughed at myself like an idiot for about ten seconds while thinking holy crap that was close to hurting pretty bad.

ned rig, spinner bait, and a spook have been my top producers my last few times out here in NY.

Appears to be Lew’s hyper mag reel on a Cashion Elite rod. I can’t say 100%, but that looks a lot like the logo on my Cashion rod.

I can't say that I truly have a favorite brand. I have rods from a good number of manufacturers. I will say that my current favorite rods are my 7'6" ML/M Daiwa Tatula Elite AGS, and my 8' H Leviathan Omega swimbait rod.

Turn your brakes up, and keep your casts low is the best advice I could give for casting into the wind. A nice low sidearm cast will help keep the wind from catching your line quite as much. This will help stop the lure from slowing down faster than your brakes can slow down the spool. As mentioned above too, some braking systems just handle this situation better than others. I have a few of the Daiwa Tatula SV's that I can cast without issue directly into 20-30mph winds.

If I am fishing around a lot of vegetation or snags I use the lifted jigs EWG ned heads. I've had good luck with them so far.

Their packaging of rods is definitely less than ideal. I ordered a 7'6" Daiwa Tatula Elite AGS through them earlier this year. It arrived in an extremely flimsy 2"x2"x8' carboard box with no padding whatsoever inside. The rod was just in the plastic bag and rod sleeve that they usually come with. Much to my disappointment I opened the box to find the rod snapped into 2 peices. It was amazing to see a rod of that price packaged so poorly.

I bought a new rod to use specifically for chatterbaits this year, and think I have found my ideal chatterbait rod. I am using the Dobyn's Sierra 734c. It is listed as a fast action but is really much more of a mod fast, which is what I want for a chatterbait rod. The rod seems to have the perfect balance of tip and backbone for fishing a chatterbait.

I don't know the brand, but it was a clear chartreuse curl tail worm some time around 87'-88'. I was pretty young, but the fish I caught on that worm was actually what got me hooked on fishing.

The only rod I have broken so far was a Shimano SLX last year. I had my daughter out kayak fishing with me, and the wind happened to pick up while we were out. She was struggling with her kayak so I was focusing on helping her back to the spot that we launched from. While helping her get her kayak up on the bank I unknowingly jammed the tip of SLX which was still sitting in my rod holder on the side of my kayak into an overhanging part of the bank and bent it enough to snap off about the top 8" of the rod in 3 different pieces. The funny thing was that I was so relieved to just have her safe and back on the bank that I didn't really care that I had just broken my rod.

Take a look at the Daiwa Tatula elite TAEL721MHRB. It's a 7'2" MH regular action which basically amounts to a mod fast, and makes for a pretty good top water rod in my opinion.

I've had great luck with them. My most productive color has been bone. I typically will fish them very early morning or at dusk with fairly calm water. A very slow retrieve seems to be the most effective. I've also tried the crazy crawlers, but find that the Pompadour has much better action so my crazy crawlers have just sat in the tackle box not getting used.

I have been using that rod as my jerkbait rod this year, and have been really happy with it so far. I think the regular action on this rod is basically the equivalent to a mod fast action. If people are comparing the regular action to a Dobyn's fast action I'm thinking it must be to the Sierra line. I do think it compares pretty closely with the fast action of the Dobyn's Sierra line which are a little slower action than the rest of the Dobyn's rods.

I loved my Daiwa Coastal TWS that I got a few weeks ago so much that I decided to give the Coastal SV a try next. Something tells me I’m going to like this one just as much. This is replacing a Curado 200i that I have been looking forward to getting rid of.

My current favorite is my 7’6” Tatula Elite AGS ML/M paired up with a Tatula LT 3000. I’ve been using this setup for Ned rigs, small tubes, and small swimbaits so far this spring and have so far been very impressed with it.

I guess great minds think alike ?

Mat perch, though the finish doesn’t hold up too well if you catch any toothy critter.

My ideal chatterbait rod for most situations is a 7’3” MH mod fast used in conjunction with 15-17lb fluoro. I like having a little more bend in the rod during retrieve than a fast action would give me. I am currently using a Dobyns Sierra 734c which funny enough is labeled as a heavy power fast action, but is actually more equal to a MH power mod fast action. The only time I usually go to a fast action rod is if I’m fishing around a ton of grass where the fast action helps me to better rip the bait through any grass I contact.

He was probably using the line size more so to control lure depth than anything. Most pros do a lot of changing of line diameters to help them really fine tune where their lures run. Jacob Wheeler did a good video on this a while ago where he tested with a crank bait and showed the difference in depth he was seeing on the crank bait with different line diameters.

My wife's grandfather was like that. He couldn't have cared less if he ever caught anything. He just loved sitting by the lake with a fishing pole and relaxing.

While the true “best” knot can be debated, the best knot for you will be the one that you can effectively tie. For me it’s the Alberto. I can tie it quickly and consistently without an issue. I haven’t seen any failures from it yet, so it’s the one that I always use.

I use almost nothing but the Zako now. It just seems to have the perfect shimmy to it. I get more fish with that as a trailer than with any other trailer I have tried.

Mine is definitely a jerk bait, and within the last year or so a vibrating jig.