Ogandrews

Either is going to be fine for spinnerbaits but the chronarch is going to be vastly better for lighter baits imo. Almost every single bass baitcasters I own has a regular curado K on it and once I get them dialed in I can’t remember the last time I backlashed one. The dc might be a little better for heavier lures, but in general heavier lures are a lot easier not to backlash so it’s kind of a wash. I don’t own a chronarch mgl but have used my buddy’s on at least 10 trips and it’s a big step up from my curados. If I ever stop buying more tranx for musky/pike setups then I’m for sure getting one for a light weight setup. It is a good amount more expensive but the best reel Shimano makes for heavier duty bass stuff in my opinion is the bantam mgl. That reel feels like an ultralight tranx but as smooth as you can ask for from a smaller baitcaster. It is more money but if you really want an amazing reel capable of heavier duty use than the bantam is where it’s at. On a side note, has anyone here used the chronarch G here? I have always wondered how it compares to the mgl. They are the same price and look to be almost identical mechanically besides the spool, so I’m curious if there is any advantage to the non mgl version.

Yea it’s a $30 difference on a mid 200’s reel so not a big difference. It’s a great reel but you’ll be happy with the curado too

If you don’t mind me asking were you upstream or downstream of pepin? I fish pool 4 all the time and it’s cool to see someone else on this form hitting it. I’m going to be taking my new boat out for the first time around wabasha this weekend and I’m hoping to get into some better action in the backwaters around there. Last few times I’ve been out it has been super slow. If their not moving down there I will try some of the bays at the head of pepin and upstream toward redwing. I mostly target pike when I’m out there but I’ve seen some true monster bass for Minnesota around wabasha. Would in no way surprise me to see the new state record come out of some of the backwaters downstream of pepin. I am pretty disappointed that I won’t be on vermilion for opener this year. For the last few years my family friends have had a 20-30 person walleye and pike tournament. Everybody throws in $20 and the biggest pike takes half and the biggest walleye takes the other half. Won biggest pike every year I have been in it. I know I shouldn’t but it’s hard not to go up there when I have the entire week after fishing opener off, I feel like the north woods are calling my name.

Fished a private pond today that was technically legal to fish for bass here in Minnesota. Got 14 bass in 2 hours in 44 degree water temps. 1 was on a finesse swim jig and the rest were on a 1/8th oz shakey head with a fat baby finesse worm on it. The shakey head I fished painfully slow, close to a minute on each cast but they were thumping it right were the soft pond bottom turned to rock. Nothing big, best one was around 3, but it felt great to set the hook. Other lures I would use this time of year would be a jerkbait, finesse swimbait, a hair jig, neko rig and a tube.

I think it’s awesome that pretty much the cheapest lipless on the market is pretty much the best straight retrieve lipless on the market. It’s definitely not meant to be fished slow on bottom, but my god is that thing good on a straight retrieve around grass. Caught some close to 40” pike on the black/gold color and it stood up to the teeth. Like everyone else said hooks need to be changed but that goes for pretty much any bait.

I know sieberts is a sponsor here so I might get some flack for saying this but i really prefer dirty jigs over everything else. I have used sieberts swim jigs and although they are good, I think that dirty jigs are better. Come through grass better, better colors, better skirts, better bait keeper and better hooks. This is my opinion and I know a lot of guys love sieberts, but I have a lot of confidence in dirty jigs and they haven’t let me down yet. Also I don’t know if there is a swim jig on the market with as strong of a hook as the no jack and the California which share the same hook.

For really light stuff I use a dobyns Sierra 733 with a curado k 40lbs braid to 12-20lbs leader, for medium stuff I use a dobyns Sierra 735c with a curado k 65lbs braid to 20-25lbs leader, and for really heavy flipping and for punching I use a st croix mojo bass 7’10” heavy with a tranx 300 65lbs braid straight. Technically it’s a swimbait rod but it’s more of a finesse musky rod/ super heavy flipping stick rated up to 4oz. That rod has some serious horsepower with a tranx 300. I have also used a more moderate lighter swimbait rod with a tranx 200 65lbs braid and that worked well too, kept fish pinned well.

Honestly I don’t really pay much attention to rod power and I especially don’t pay any attention to the lure weight rating. I have two 7’10 heavy swimbait rods, one is a $130 Cabela’s rod and the other is a st croix mojo bass which is 140 I think so very similar, same length and claimed power. Both are rated 1-4oz. The Cabela’s rod feels like a piece of cooked spaghetti trying to cast anything over 2oz and casts lures 3/8-1 oz like a dream. The st croix rod doesn’t really load up with anything under 1.5 oz and I have comfortably fished 5 oz musky jerkbaits and plastics with it. I have a dobyns 735c that is called a mag heavy and it is a softer rod than a lot of medium heavies I use (not a bad thing, a Sierra 735 can throw so many different lures well it’s an amazing rod). There are endless examples of this being the case, and even more with lure ratings being wrong. Generally I find that companies keep close to the same power per rating with their rods in their different lines. I think it is quite important to try to get a rod in your hand before you buy it if you can, will really help you gauge how heavy or light the rod actually is.

I’m going to go on a limb and recommend a chronarch mgl or G. The curado dc is a great reel but I’m not sure the dc makes a big enough difference in most situations to warrant it instead of a higher end standard reel. It is still an amazing reel, but I think the the chronarch mgl is a little more amazinger

The sensitivity and balance is going to completely outweigh the extra weight over say an nrx or a conquest. While musky fishing I throw 12-14 oz rods with 12-16oz reels with lures up to 16 oz for 12+ hours a day and you get used to it, there is no way you should get tired using a rod in the mid 5’s. I’m not saying that to make me seem so tough or something I just mean that weight is relative to what you use. Once you are used to using a rod that size than that is the norm. A musky rod feels normal to me, most bass rods feel like toothpicks when I’m fishing them which is part of why it’s so fun for me.

100% braid to a leader but I almost always use mono as a leader. The supposed advantages of using floro as a leader are vastly outweighed by the benefits of mono in my opinion. Stronger knots, less memory, much more shock resistant, more stretch which is a good thing when using it in combination with braid, just as abrasion resistant. The only time I’m using floro is if I’m using a jerkbait and I think floating mono is going to mess up how it suspends, or if I’m using 60-130lbs floro as a leader when pike and musky fishing. There is not a big enough difference in line visibility to make floro worth it in my book. Unless you are in 30+ feet of visibility, mono is not going to get any less bites and even in that situation I don’t know if there would be a difference. The shock resistance is a huge benefit of mono, especially on hard hook sets in cover and when you have a big fish thrashing next to the boat. That extra stretch can really help keep fish pinned when you are throwing braid that has practically no stretch. Not to mention how much cheaper it is.

Hate to state the obvious but most big rivers are going to have dams on them, and wherever there is a dam there is going to be a big home downstream of that dam. When I was limited to shore fishing I spent a good amount of my time fishing around dams because they always held fish. With how you are describing the river I would assume that the fish are still in a late winter pattern which means they will be in one of the biggest holes of that stretch of the river. Dams are great for shore fishing because they provide you with a lot of different depths and different fish holding structure for different parts of the year. If you don’t live close to any dams on that system then I would try to find some rip rap that is close to deep water, up here that will hold fish this time of year as it gives the fish a natural transition as the water gets warmer.

I don’t have a set length. I usually trim a bit off to start, a little longer than the body. If I start getting short strikes I will start trimming them back more. I have actually gone as far as complete getting rid of the legs and have had some of my best days ever frogging with legless frogs. Getting rid of the legs will give it a little more of a rolling action when you walk them and give the fish something different to bite. I have also had a huge amount of success with the booyah buzz frog, their knockoff if the fish teckel sprinker, after the paddle tail got bit off. I have never seen a frog walk as well as that bait once the paddle is gone and it has super short legs. I don’t think it is as good as the teckel for its intended purpose, but my god is that a great frog once the tail is gone.

I like braid to a leader for all my cranking. I especially like it with squarebills where I burn and stop them a lot. With the lack of stretch of braid, the lure stops right when I stop reeling as opposed to floro or mono where it will keep moving a bit as the line unstretches. I always use a leader, I believe they make a difference and even if it’s only 10lbs floro or mono it still gives me a better chance at not being bit off by a pike or musky.

Don’t underestimate the maxtoro. Although I usually write off reels with plastic frames, the maxtoro I have has actually lasted 2 full seasons of me using it to burn blades while musky fishing and is still working. Burning blades puts easily 10x as much stress on a reel as you ever will swimbait fishing. You can find them new on eBay for like $70. Another solid option is a Shimano Cardiff 400. If all you are doing is throwing smaller swimbaits than a regular sized bass reel is fine. If you want to save up your money and get something that will last you many seasons get a tranx you won’t regret it, I have 4 between the 300 and 500 size and they are my favorite reels I own. a couple of my musky buddy’s have tried out the bigger kast king reel and have been extremely disappointed with it. If you want a cheap low profile reel get a maxtoro on eBay. for a rod I would recommend against going with a musky rod, they are meant for musky fishing not swimbaiting for bass. They usually will have much too fast of a taper for most swimbaits. If you want to mostly use jig hook swimbaits than I would go with a st croix bass x 7’10” heavy, I use that in the mojo bass line with a tranx 300 as my finesse musky rod. If you want a more versatile rod I would get a dobyns fury 795 or an 806.

I have actually had a couple awesome days doing this because I ran out of whatever I was using at the time and a horny toad was the closest thing I had in the boat. Didn’t get as many bites but all I got was quality fish believe it or not I have actually flipped a regular hollow body frog on a 3/4 oz pegged tungsten weight. I made a bet that I could out fish my buddy with a river2sea bullywa using it like a punch bait than he could with whatever lures he could. He ended up beating me 3 fish to my 2, but the 2 I caught were both over 4lbs. I wouldn’t go out at do this on purpose, but it did almost win me a bet.

I was, it came with a little tiller trolling motor which I had my buddy run today while I fished for a bit. Had no issue with it

I have used both a peddle and a remote a lot the last two seasons on my dads boat when I’m up north with him, as well as both on a bunch of my friends boats and I just really don’t like having to take my hands off the rod. So many situations where I’m making adjustments every couple seconds when I’m trying to fish lay downs or specific spots like that, seems like it would be a huge pain with just a remote. I still am definitely considering the pd given the price difference but I would need to get a peddle eventually. A remote wouldn’t be bad at all when musky pike or walleye fishing where it’s not so much a spot on the spot deal, it’s just the situations I talked about earlier where it would be more of a pain. I had the boat out for a bit earlier today and it was as stable as I can ask for with an aluminum 16ft boat. I was actually surprised how well it handled the waves, had around 2 foot rollers on the basin of the lake I had it out on and I felt comfortable the whole time. Granted I have been fishing out of aluminum boats my whole life and am used to how they handle in rougher water. Definitely not a real big water boat, but for the size and what I bought it for I’m pleased with how it handled it.

I have had some great success early in the season. The river I fish the most is a shallow fast river that is too shallow for anything but kayaks and canoes. Right around when the fishing season opens up I will usually get into a pretty good bite right below riffles and feeder creeks. It’s not usually as good as when the water warms up, but I can usually get into them pretty consistently. Mostly they are in slower deeper water that has current near by this time of year, but not in their true wintering holes anymore. My number one bait this time of year would be a small keitech on a 1/8-1/4 oz jig head depending on the depth and current. Another bonus is these spots usually have some really aggressive post spawn walleyes, although they are at their skinniest of the year they are aggressive and usually get some of the biggest fish of the year by length this way.

I’ve used a terrova also and I have been pleased with it. I don’t need my boat to be perfect I just want it to be useable for as much of the season as I can. If I want to upgrade Over the winter it’s not hard to sell a lightly used one and upgrade

Here is a picture of a newer version of a sylvan that is set up similar to mine, although mine has a little bigger casting deck and a little less of an area in the back. Looking at it you can see there are 3 different tiers of platforms. The small platform at the very front tip of the boat that is level to the rim will be where the TM is mounted. When it is stowed it will sit close to parallel with one of the sides of the boat which won’t take up a bunch of room. With the motor being mounted on a different platform than the casting deck I don’t see how it will take up too much room. The peddle will take up about 1x1 foot of space but there is still plenty for me to fish from. Most likely I will be the only one fishing out of the front anyway. I’m not trying to come off as arguing with you, hopefully this gives you a better idea of what I am talking about. You can see the hole in the casting deck of the boat pictured where you can put a seat in the bow, mine was set up pretty much the same although the proportions are a little different.

Yea I kinda misunderstood you when I originally read what you said. I get what your talking about, I guess growing up here I’ve been in deeper hull boats my whole life so that’s what I’m more comfortable with

Went out trout fishing today in a small river that has a bunch of trout streams that dump into it. Usually this year I get some really big browns in the river itself. I went out and fished one of my favorite holes on that stretch of the river and instead of catching trout like I expected I got the two biggest walleye of my life. First was 26 and the second was 27. Both were caught snapping a bucktail jig off bottom. Fought so well in the current. It’s out of season here in Minnesota until May 9th but if you catch something on accident you can take pictures. I have never caught and never even heard of anyone catching a walleye out of this river before, huge surprise to me. 26” 27”

There is plenty of room for a seat I just prefer not to use one, I fish pike and musky more than bass and can’t imagine trying to figure 8 baits while sitting down. I like having as much room as I can, which is a big part of the reason I went with a tiller instead of a console. If I take it out to walleye fish I’ll probably throw the seat back in the bow. I’m not going to pretend it’s more stable than a true fiberglass bass boat, but I can guarantee it will handle bigger waves a lot better than if I had gone with the 16.5 ft tracker classic XL I was looking at. A big fiberglass bass boat is great in big water but a boat with a deeper hull like a ranger g22 or a skeeter wx2200 you see pro musky and walleye guys in is better for true big water like we have here in the north. Not that my boat is anything in comparison to those but i feel a lot more comfortable in bigger waves in something with a deeper hull. I started this thread right after I got out of my local fleet farm when I saw that sale, I talked about it in an earlier post the 80lbs ipilot powerdrive is on a great sale.

Like everyone else said go with the K. I would recommend going with the curado K over the SLX dc. The slx is a good reel but even with dc I think that the curado K is significantly better. I never ever backlash them and they are super easy to dial in as well we being a very well built reel. The curado will last you longer than a slx dc in my opinion and give you that same feel in the hand as a curado dc. The curado dc is a great reel but I don’t think it’s that worth the extra money over the K which is already a perfect reel for that price point. If you want to spend curado dc money get a chronarch mgl.