Big Hands

I use #30 braid with an 8 or 10 lb leader with a 7-wrap Alberto knot on Daiwa baitcasters that have the T-Wing level wind. The knot will be considerably smaller with that rather than #40 with a 15 lb leader, and even smaller if you can manage to use an FG knot. Between 15 lb line doubled over and trying to go smoothly through the level wind and the casting rod guides (some of which can be pretty small) it's probably beating the crap out of that knot compared to what it would with lighter line (especially if you used a lighter leader).

Been out a couple more times with this rig and I am liking it a lot so far and have some additional thoughts. The drag is awesome, but it is definitely designed for more than 8 lb, or possibly 10 lb line. Even with 8 lb, I need to tighten down the drag (what feels like) pretty hard. I estimate that the drag's sweet spot is 4 lb to 8 lb line, and in that range it is sublime, smooth and well controlled. I don't think I would get one to use with a 10 lb or heavier leader. The first one being that there might not be a lot of great rod choices for the design intent of this reel. . . . . even from Shimano (at least here in the states). It's also possible that maybe I just don't understand how casting baits that are lighter than 'normal' stuff people are throwing. The rod I have it currently paired with fishes much closer to a M/F than the MH/F it's rated as, and I like it a lot, but I could see having a second rig with a slightly lighter power, but still a fast action that can drive a worm hook or small jig hook home. Medium/Fast casting rods rated for a 6 lb to 15 lb range (or no more that 8 lb test at the lower end of the range) and that are 7' or preferably a little longer are not easy to come by. Maybe that is because there hasn't been many reels designed for that niche. . . until now. I see a few more ML offerings, but many of them are mod-fast or regular action. And I'm pretty sure I don't want an XF action. Dobyns makes a 702c (Champion HP & XP) and and a 742c (Champion XP) that look like they may be what I will look for when I get another of these reels. I love the ease and accuracy of casting this reel, and would like to see if it can handle more of the tasks that I currently use a spinning setup for. I am currently using 8 lb Invisix, but I am planning to try some 15 lb power Pro braid with either 6 lb or 8 lb leader. After using braid (with either mono or fluoro leader) for most things recently, even fluoro as a main line feels pretty stretchy, and I am hoping that the super shallow spool will alleviate potential digging in that lighter weight braids can suffer from on casting reels.

I got up Saturday morning at 5:00 a.m. and was in line by 5:45. It was actually less crowded than usual. Truthfully, it was less crowded than usual, and I caught 8 bass before I left at 10:30 a.m. Then we had a rare night fun fish event the same night, so I went to that and caught nine more in gorgeous night fishing conditions. An excellent two-fer in my book.

I have an MGL 70 and an SV. The BFS Curado was noticeably better for me casting lightweight baits in my initial use. Maybe I am being a 'prisoner of the moment', but at the very least it was easier to cast the lightweight baits. I will need some more time on the water with it to know for sure. That said, I have fished finesse rigs on baitcasters since the 80's using mostly #6 mono. It can be done without too much trouble and many reels will at least get by. But in this day and age of very specialized rod/reel combinations, some may want to give this a look for that specific use. For me, this isn't something I plan to use to fish super-tiny baits, just 'normal' finesse-ish baits.

I picked up a Curado BFS/XG yesterday, and tried it out today. I paired it with a 7'7" rod from a local gun/fishing store chain that has their own house brand rods that is listed as a MH, but in reality fishes like a M. I have another rod from them that is listed as an H, but it fishes like a MH, which is why I had a feeling that I would be OK with expecting that a MH will fish like a M. I spooled it up with #8 Invisix and was easily able to get 60 yards on it. It took very little time to dial it in this morning, and it did eventually loosen up a little as the morning wore on. I started with a 4" finesse paddle tail texas rigged on a #2 worm hook and a 1/4 oz tungsten worm weight. Later in the morning, it loosend up enough for me to dial the spool tension in about five times, but only had some minor fluffing before I got it dialed back in. I could easily & accurately send that t-rigged worm as far as I wanted to fish it (well over 100 feet, closer to 120. I could cast it far enough to see the lettering painted on the spool through the line at the end of the cast. I planned to try a dropshot rig too, but they wouldn't leave the texas rig alone long enough for me to want to try it out. Tried five different baits and caught fish on all of them that I tried and used three different hook styles. I'm looking forward to trying some other baits on this rig like a weightless Senko and other finesse-ish baits/rigs. My first impression is that this combo is not going to be an all-around workhorse, but will be excellent at what it does, which is casting lightweight baits on light-ish line. At only 60 yards, I can easily get 3 refills out of a 200 yard spool. The drag was very smooth. I cranked down on the drag harder than I that I would need to, but it was super smooth even if it probably wouldn't be great for much over #10 or #12 line. The #8 Invisix seemed perfect for this reel. All in all, I am very pleased to have a rig like this to compliment the rest of my quiver. TL/DR version: Two thumbs up if you're looking for something that will easily cast lighter baits a country mile compared to reels like my SLX MGL 70, SV TW 103, Tatula 100, and a Curado 200 to name the other more popular reels I have in my collection.

For me, there's "crowded", and there's "OMG, this is insane crowded". We have parking for 500 boats (on a 2,200 acre lake - at full pool and it's down 45 feet now, headed for -120 feet) with both ramps running at full capacity, but they're lowering the water level 6" to 12" per day so they can work on the dam and about 1/3 of that capacity is not available due to one ramp being shut down. Strangely, holiday weekends in the summer season are usually only "crowded". There will still be a line of cars waiting for someone to leave so they can have a place to park by 10 or 11 am, but the line won't be half mile long, and most will get in eventually. I think the main reason holiday weekends are less crowded than normal weekends here is because they don't have camping and many want to camp overnight on holiday weekends rather than just heading out for a one day outing. There are no well kept secrets in a county with 11 million people, but it has been a relatively ignored phenomenon in the 30+ years I have been living here. Weekends will be jacked up from now through Labor Day and not much can be done about that. I will be doing most of my fishing on weekday afternoons until the fall. May still get out and mess around with the 'boating' and playing around in the water on weekends though if that's when the rest of the family can join in. All that said, with the 'situation' we have been in for the past year, there is no telling what will take place this weekend. I may sneak in for a few hours early each day, and we have one of the only five times per year that we are allowed to night fish on the 29th so I will be there for that.

Small aluminum fishing boats are fetching a good price these days. The 15 to 18 footers with 25 hp to 70 hp, and especially four stroke outboards. Sounds to me like a v-hull, rather than a jon would be ideal. Lund, Lowe, Crestliner, Tracker, and several others offer some good choices (in used boats because $10,000 doesn't go far enough in a new boat for what you have described). You can get more for your money in a fiberglass, but some have good reasons for preferring aluminum with smaller economical to own and operate motors. The good news for you is that you're in the east where there are plenty of good boats for sale. I recently spent a few months looking for a boat for me to upgrade from the 14' Valco I had been fishing from for the past year. I have storage constraints and didn't want something I couldn't store outdoors when necessary, so I didn't want carpet, fiberglass or upholstery that could be sun damaged. I was tempted by a few of the Tracker v series, Lunds, Crestliners, etc. but they tend to have carpet, and upholstery so I ended up with a relatively bare bones Tracker Grizzly. But, I looked at so many boats from all over the country, that I got a pretty good idea of what's out there. I ended up driving from California to Texas and back to get the boat I wanted at a decent price even with the travel cost figured in. I saw many 14 to 17 ft v-hull aluminum boats with 40 to 60 hp four strokes in very good condition that could be had for >$10,000 if you shop around and are willing to drive a little ways to get one. Craigslist was just an OK resource with Facebook Marketplace being a much better way to find good boats for sale.

I see it being a legit ten pounder. Not much more, but not much less either. Looks to be very close either way IMHO.

I have started fishing at just about every hour of the day. Can't do it many places here in California, but when I get to go to Texas to fish, it's not unusual to be sitting around the fire ring at 11:00 p.m. and look at each other and say, "Let's go fish for a while." You don't have to ask me twice. In fact, as soon as someone utters "let's go", I'm raising up to grab my rods. I love fishing in the middle of the night when we're the only ones on the water. I honestly don't know why more people don't do it.

I haven't seen an email invitation in my inbox. Has one been sent out yet?

I use both. I fished mostly slipshot rigs for many years, and have probably caught more bass with it than any other technique I have fished. I also caught my first ten pounder on a slipshot rig with 6 lb monofilament line. I use a 3/32" rubber band tied in two overhand knots around the line for a stopper. Stops the weight from sliding better than anything else I have tried, yet can be easily adjusted and will slip before the line fails. But, I have found that there are certain situations that the carolina rig excels in, and there are times I can't get the casting distance with slipshot that I can with a full blown carolina rig. In my mind, I see at them as two different versions of the same technique, with the slipshot being the finesse version of a carolina rig. A heavy weight on a carolina rig keeps the bait in the strike zone of the weeds in the lagoon and produces better for me in that situation. It's also easier to fish in windy conditions. Recently, the bait that has been great for me on the carolina rig has been the Keitech Swing Impact in 3", 3.5" and 4", and the Keitech Sexy Impact 3.8" (a bait that people seem to have been sleeping on). I know that the Swing Impact is not really meant or designed as a carolina rig bait, but I tried 'em and they worked very well for me. If I lived in Texas like the OP does, I would try just about anything as a bait on a carolina rig. Those bass eat all kinds of crazy plastics.

I bought a Daiwa Fuego Medium/XF spinning rod (FGO721MXS) for my daughter to use last fall. I recently tried it for myself last week, using to 'try' top fish a dropshot. I say 'try' because I found it to be a fairly unsatisfying experience, and it has me questioning if I can find something useful for this rod to do. I have been considering a re-homing operation so it can be used by someone that knows what to do with it. Trying to cast a dropshot with 1/8 to 1/4 weight (and the wacky rigged worm) was like casting with a broomstick. I know I'll not be expecting her to fish with it, and I don't even really know how to use it for myself, so I'll be watching this thread for ideas.

I'll freely admit that I would not have thought to try that, but it's hard to argue with success. . .

I'd say that is at least pretty close. If you're hoping it was actually a ten pounder, I would say not IMHO. Nice catch though regardless of what it actually weighs.

Aha! Eso no es bueno!

Having been into fishing for as long as I have, this is the bottom line for me. Take reasonable care of a mid-tier reel, and it should last long enough that you'll have good reason to invest in a new reel that will work much better for you by the time it's ready to retire. I have found $100 baitcasters that work fairly well, but the $150 to $200 models are worth the premium if I fish often. If I only fished once a month or less, I think the $100 baitcasters would work just fine, and would probably not be a major limiting factor in my success.

Putting together a set or quiver of cranking rods was the goal. I have three of the Phenix composite X series (X-14T, X-13 and X-12) rods. I wanted the longer options for a bit more casting distance, and may still get an X-9 for the smallest crankbaits to round out the set. To me, while the Dobyns rods generally feel good, I usually find something else that feels a little better. They are almost always in contention, but just haven't quite found the top spot for me to throw down for any particular one. JMHO, and YMMV for your own very good reasons. A rod that works for me, may not be your best choice and vice-versa.

I live in Castaic, and have been having several good outings in the past month. Dropshotting 4.8" Jackall Flick Shake worms wacky rigged (no bobber of course) anywhere from 0 to 15 feet deep. You might try some small shad imitation crankbaits or jerkbaits too. I watched one of our locals stroke a few nice ones on a jerkbait last weekend. They are starting to chase bait on top, but I haven't caught any on topwater yet this season, but that should be cranking up soon.

Success for me with a Whopper Plopper (using the 110 and the 90) has come when the fish are actively chasing bait on the surface, and then casting past the boils and dragging it through the area where they were busting the surface. Blindly casting the WP has not been productive for me. The water I fish is not shallow flats type fishing, more like schooling fish over deep water, so that could mean a different scenario for others. The time of day hasn't been a factor unless that is when the fish choose to chase bait on the surface, and sometimes that can be earlier and later in the day. Your results may vary.

It stands to reason that it should be a priority for a brand's rods to pair nicely with their own reels, but the reality is not always that simple.

Check out this thread from last year: From what I have been able to figure out, the spool is designed to be tapered. They include washers so that those that just can't get past the idea of it looking like there is a line lay issue. I have been fishing a Fuego LT2500S-XH since last August and it does appear to have a line lay problem, but in use, it works fine.

Noticed that no one suggested returning the fish finder. New fish finder > Annoyed wife? As for the 'house mouse' well. . . . it appears that she has weaseled her way out of 'the circle of trust'.

From the (Castaic) lagoon, before noon. . . . All but one ate the dropshot (including the crappie), the last one ate the carolina rig in less than 15 feet of water. The upper lake and the lagoon are pretty good right now.

Carry a small, well thought out tackle bag. Always be observant of what's going on around you. React to current conditions. Only bring a few colors of baits to start out with. Light line if possible. Inspect your gear before you leave the house. Noise should be kept to a minimum. Always pack out your trash. Respect the space of fellow anglers. I've caught all of my biggest bass on artificials. Get out there and have fun! Read vertically ;~)