GetFishorDieTryin

HItenna Silky and Gosen are awesome, but very expensive. Been using Almight since Feb and really like it. Lots of people complain that it was breaking too easy, but so far its been great for me. I really like it for BFS. X9 is a good budget braid that can be found anywhere. For casing gear, I like 832. It can cut vegetation, knots really well and takes a beating. I have a spool, but im not going to put it on a reel until I wear out what im using now. I really like #10 TCB. Its slick, casts really well and handles great. How you like it so far? Is it similar to any other braid?

Ive used hundreds of those Gami EWG hooks and countless other styles of Gami and have never had one break. It took nearly 20 years to get 1 that was defective. I had set the hook and gotten a couple feet of line in on a decent fish when she had just come unbuttoned. After getting my rig out of the water I was shocked to see the 3/0 EWG hook was just about straightened. I should have saved it, or at least taken a picture of it. I was using braid, but it was #10 on a 6'10 ML DS rod. The rest of the 3/0 EWGs in the pack worked fine. I guess the defective hook wasn't tempered properly or something. I do a lot of jetty fishing. The tog, sheepshead and fluke hold tight to the rocks. You contact rocks every cast and hang up often. There are some brands that have hooks that have reached parity in terms of sharpness when compared to Gamakatsu. Hayabusa, VMC and Owner all make outstanding products. Out of all the brands Ive used, Gami hooks hold their point significantly better than the rest. When it comes to complete failure, breaking at the bend or shank, its usually one of several brands. VMC, Trokar, BKK, Mustad and a few others use a very hard steel. While that hard steel is great for maintaining a point and rigidity, it has drawbacks. Where some hooks can flex without sustaining damage, that harder thicker wire is brittle in comparison. The Gami EWGs are made of a fairly light wire. That lighter wire has good penetration, is a little stealthier, the lightweight doesn't affect the sink rate or hinder action and allows you to use lighter gear if desired. 99.9% of those hooks will bend without breaking, so long as you fish it reasonable cover and or use an outfit that isn't too heavy. The Gami EWG is one of, if not the most popular hook on the market. That wouldn't be the case if they aren't great hooks. If you want to stick with Gami hooks, go with the slightly heavier wire G Lock or Superline EWGs. When I used them extensively, I would bend the hook, so the point faces a couple degrees higher than the line tie. Sometimes I would bend the point a few degrees to the left or right, essentially making it a hook with a slightly offset point. You improve the hook up % by bending the point to the side slightly, but it also increases the chance of a gut hook. If you want try a new hook, there are great options. Decoy KG 25 Ichikawa Muscle Wide Gap Hayabusa 956 Ryugi LT Offset Worm Hook or Infini Offset Wide Gap Worm Hook

Ive tried a lot of different leader materials and most of them have at least 1 quality that they really accel at. Yo Zuri HD Carbon is good. It's dia is considerably larger than everything else I use, which has to be taken into account. The outer layer is very soft for a FC leader, which gives it excellent knot strength, probably the best out of any FC leader Ive used. HD Carbon also has THE BEST spool design ever. Its small, thin and the soft covers make the line easy to access, but keep the line neat on the spool. When I run out I save them and fill them with other leader material. P Line Shinsei was a surpirse to me. Its dia is larger than what im used to, but its got some great attributes for a leader line. Its easily the stiffest leader ive ever used, which can be good. I like using it for walking baits, as I dont have to up size my leader to keep it from fouling the front hook. Its great for picking fluke and tog out of jetties or pilings and it holds up to teeth very well. Seaguar Blue Label is the leader that started it all. While its not the flagship leader anymore, its still an outstanding leader overall. Its dia is very small. Its outer layer is hard enough to deal with reasonable abrasion. The knot strength is great and its a very sensitive line. Even today, #15 BL is roughly the dia of most #10 leader from its competition and in many cases its till more durable. Those super thin leader materials are great, but that comes at a cost. A tiny nick or rash in thin line, like #8 Gold Label is enough to cause a failure. In open water I think Gold Label has its place, but as an angler who favors jettys and bridges to find fish, Blue Label will ALWAYS have a place in my surf bag. Grand Max is somewhat new to me. I still havent had a full season on it, but I like it so far. Its a thin leader with a surprising amount of abrasion resistance. That abrasion resistance does come at a cost as its rather stiff and I feel like it hurts knot strength a tiny bit, but not enough to change how and where I use it. This is my go to leader for bottom tracing with minimal weight for weakfish and big fluke. I can use a 3/16 head on a 5" jerk shad and keep it 8' down in 9" of water in the inlet within a few days of the new moon, all while having a great connection to the bait, due to the sensitivity of this line. Its small dia is a double-edged sword in that you need to be conscious of any incidental contact with the jetty. The line is tough, but barnacles are nasty things and the smallest abrasion can turn into heartbreak in the blink of an eye. It is costly, but we only get so many casts. The only leader that I really have nothing good to say about is Vanish. There were 0 redeeming qualities about it. Ive heard some guys who know their craft swear by the heavier stuff, but after my experiences with it, I have no confidence in it whatsoever.

If I had to pick 1 worm for everything, it would be an airtail.

I really got away from fishin flukes in freshwater, but I started throwing them in the late 90s for stripers and weakfish and never stopped. If I had to pick 1 bait to catch everything and anything in SW , Gulp Jerk Shads would be an easy decision. Ive become a big fan of the Duo Versa Shad as well. The action is awesome and they hold up really well. The 3" Versa Shads knock em dead in the fall and winter.

While I don't catch a ton of fish on a JB from mid spring to mid fall, the way they can turn a cold school with lockjaw, hot really quick. In the winter the majority of baits im throwing are fished painfully slow and the JB is a nice changeup where I can work them somewhat fast and still get em. It doesn't happen often, but the days when the fish are keyed in on JBs are unforgettable and represent many of the best days, number wise, ive ever had on the water. So, I would have to say JBs are my favorite, but there are quite a few other ways to catch them which I really enjoy. Jig fishing is really fun. You can pitch or drag them and they produce good fish. I really like fishing squarebills or shallow flatsides in lily root patches or stump fields in late winter. bladed jig bites are a favorite of mine as well. Late Feb early March, the bladed jig is such a versatile weapon. I start out fishing them like a jig, low and slow. By mid-march the fish are willing to chase and react. The bladed jig doesnt just get numbers, it gets quality as well. Although it similar to grinding a crank along the bottom, grinding a bifflebug across a hard bottom is a blast. The hits are violent and I rarely lose any.

-Xzone Deception/ MB finesse: If you essentially want a trick worm profile with more buoyancy the Xzone deception is pretty much spot on, other than being .5" shorter. Its made of that great Xzone plastic. The head is wider and rounded when compared with the Trick worm, which is nice for nails and SHs, but the nose is narrow enough to give it good action when fished like a floating worm. Xzone makes a fat version too. I think its made more for SHs and Nekos than a floating worm, but im sure it would work. -Hags Flatliner: This worm is similar to a trick worm until you get to the upper portion. The head is the widest part and the worm tapers down to a tail that's similar to a Trick, except its got a sharp angle on the top, to give it some action. For SH and neko especially, the wide head hold nail weight well and screw locks well without blowing out quickly. The entire worm is buoyant, which really helps in a SH or T rig, as you can just shake slack and the entire worm will move. -Bizz dizzy diamond/dizzy fat: The DD has a traditional floating worm style profile, with a double tapered head that ends at the egg sack. The nose of the worm is slightly pointed, yet wide enough for weights or screw locks keepers. The tail is unique that its shaped like a flattened spade. I really like Bizzs' plastic because its super soft and buoyant. They aren't the most durable bait, but they hold up really well for being as buoyant as they are. I also like the strong scent they have. Bizz makes a Mag DD, which is 7.5" as opposed to the 6" DD. The only difference between the 2 is size as the shape is just upscaled. -Black Label Hollow Point: HP Finesse, HP Fat: The hollow point has a similar shape to the Flatliner and DD, with the fat head and tapering body. The difference is that the HP has a bulbed tail with a point. Theres an air cavity which ensure the tail will float and the bulb has concave shape on the bottom, similar to SKs worms. There are 3 iterations of the hollow point. The standard Hp is 7", the Finesse HP is 5.7" and the Fat HP is 6". As far as bang for your buck these are hard to beat. You get 16 in a pack with the HP and Finesse HP and 10 per pack with HP Fat. -Rapala Janitor worm: This worm is a hybrid design. The lower end and top of the head are ribbed. The underside of the head is flat down to the egg sack and ribbed below. The egg sack is designed to hold an O ring in place without sliding. While not being completely flat on the bottom, it darts and glides really well. I like that they come in a clam shell to keep them straight. -Zman Finesse/Floating Worm: Thes Zman finesse worms come in 4.5 and 7 ". The profile is almost exactly like a Trick worm in width; it's just .5" longer. The TPE material floats like cork, which is good and bad. The floating worms have no salt in them at all, which gives them extreme buoyancy. Although they catch fish, the floating worms have so much buoyancy they don't look natural. The finesse worm is the same exact mold. Unlike the floating worm, the finesse worm has a small amount of salt in it to give it some weight. The salt makes it just a tiny bit less buoyant than the unsalted floating worm. Despite the salt, the finesse worm still has that unnatural buoyancy. Despite the unnatural buoyancy these worms catch fish. They last all day and my favorite part is that you don't need an O ring. Try using a wacky hangar or neko hack. I

Its possible. If i had to bet, I would think that SC designed it and either produced in in house or commissioned another firm to produce it. The shroud is very simple, not appealing to eye, clunky and just feels cheap. I have yet to handle one, but the reel seats on the X2 look like they're made of better-quality material and not as bulky. They refer to the X2 handle as 'Dynamix'. Not sure if that's just what they are calling the material or design or if its actually the name of a brand, I have no idea. The material on the Physyx seat is of much higher quality than the Mojo, but it still looks pretty bad. SC really took a gamble on both families of rods, as theyre producing full line ups of 15+ models for the graphite blanks and several glass option in the Mojo family. The blanks themselves, especially in the case of Physyx feel great. If they had a Physyx model with a more traditional handle, I would seriously consider buying one. I kind of feel bad, almost like I'm picking on SC, but its only because they were my brand for 20 years, since i was a kid. Some models may have been tip heavy back them, but everything was quality and they stood behind their product 100%. If you did get a blemished rod or defective blank, you could be certain that SC would do anything within reason to make it right.

The whole triangle grip. SC would like you to think that they solved a problem, except its a problem no one has had. Moreover, trianglular grips are decades old. A Japanese rod manufacturer tried them out on popping rods for tuna and other large pelagics. The issue was that they feel good in hand for a few minutes, but after fighting a fish that can really test you for a little while, the triangular shape leads to hotspots on your hand and cramping. I believe a couple companies may still offer them as an option for the small minority that like them, but many of their rods are built to order, so just about anything within reason is on the table, especially for the $ they charge. Obviously sore hands and cramps aren't going to be real a massive issue catching S/LMB. I'm just not sure why SC is marketing this as some patented game changing innovation. SC had an outstanding and iconic name/lineup with the Mojo family. I have to give them credit for risking the reputation and what was an established as well as very loyal/satisfied customer base on an out of the box idea. I really don't like the plastic they used on the Mojo trigon handles. The plastic doesn't have a very high-quality feel, and the entire reel seat is constructed of it, which makes it harder to justify the price IMO

IMO anything that you want to fall on completely slack line, like a senko, wacky, spybait or backsliding rig, I think spinning gear just does it better. I feel like shaky heads and some other more finesse techniques are a little better suited to spinning gear as well.

7" or 7'1 M F are super versatile squarebill/other shallow cranks and 3/8-1/2 lipless JB and poppers/pencils lighter football jigs 1/8-3/16 mojo rigs/free rigs mini evo/finesse spinnerbaits

nice blanks and guide trains, but the gimmickon grip really hurts them.

I wouldn't discount the arkie head. Theres a reason the arkie/casting style head is one of the most produced and popular heads on the market. If you only had 1 head to fish anywhere, most people would pick a ball or arkie head. There not all the same either. There so many variations of arkie style heads. Some won't do well in rocks, but they will do much better than an arrow shaped flipping style head which will wedge far easier. Football heads are good for rocks and hard bottom, but in soft bottom, grass or cover they aren't very good at all IME.

There are other things you can do to help minimize losses. Dont use braid. When you run a bait chatter over a laydown or through subermged branches, braid acts like a saw against the wood and digs into the outer layer. That makes it harder to guide the jig around potential snags that you can see. Slow down. When youre trying to get bladed jig out of a hazardous spot, do it a slow speed. The faster you take line in, the more that bait is going to roll. Use a loner/faster action rod. With a longer blank you have a little more directional control vs a shorter one. The faster action gives you a little more situational awareness as you can feel everything you contact with the jig. Try to use bladed jigs with a guard and or shorter shank hook s. (if possible) Using a creature bait or guard doesnt really make a big difference, but when used together, its a definite advantage. TW used to have the exclusive Zman bladed jigs. Those jigs didn't have the gigantic 5/0 long shanked hooks, with 4/0 being the biggest. (i think) It wasnt so much the gap, but length of shank. The TW custom jigs had a shank that is considerably shorter than any other bladed jigs Ive used. The shorter shank has les gap from the blade to the point of the hook. The blade is close enough to the point that it actually acts like a lip on a crank. Sadly the nature of a bladed jig, really makes them snag prone in wood, no matter what you do. You can try to "fish cheap" and avoid tight spots, but you're leaving fish behind when you do that.

Nice, TY. I thought it might be an Ima, they make a bunch of little 2.3 and 3" baits that weight nearly an ounce for fishing wash and inlets. Never fished anything from Imakatsu. It would be a spot profile match for peanut bunker. The weight fixed or does it use WT system?