GetFishorDieTryin

I got a bad spool of #15 a couple years ago. It never broke in midair, but it would break at half the pressure it normally takes to break #15 Inviz.

Most of the bottoms of the lakes around here are too soft to grind a cranks, as soon as you touch it the bait fowls with algae, but there are some sections of gravel that can grind a crank on. I like to bounce them off laydown and wood, but my favorite place to run a crankbait are lily fields before the pads grow in completely. The roots make for great structure to bounce a crank off of. If im fishing straight grass. If I'm throwing a crank in grass, I like to use one with a round bill. I think he round bill comes through grass better, but if its sparse a SB will work fine IMO.

Around here the yo yoing bite is the best in late winter to mid march because the shallow water warms so fast. There are so many different shapes, rattles, ROF and sizes that you can generally find one to fit the conditions. When the water is still in the low 40s I like a slower falling trap. As the water warms Ill use traps that sink faster. One I've found that really does well is Duos Nitro Vibe. Its not super thin like the Apex or G fix. The nitro is wider and much better to fish slow, but you can still burn it and whack em too. I like the TN 60 over the LV500. They both sink fast, but the TN sits nose down and works well when fished like a jig in the winter. I want to check out the LV and RTO 150, but its on a gigantic list of baits that I want to try.

Prespawn for me is broken up into at least 3 periods, early, mid and late prespawn/early spawn. The baits and way I fish them changes dramatically after mid prespawn when the grass really starts to come in and the bite windows get much larger. Early spawn jerkbait/trap/bladed jig combination In midspawn squarebills/trap/spinner/bladed jig and pitching starts to payoff In late pre/early spawn it starts to get hard to fish trebles in some places, so a swimjig starts to take the place of a squarebill around pads, the bladed jig almost replaces the trap and T/Free rigs get heavy use. On the finesse side of things small swimbaits, shakey heads and neds will be mixed in all year.

To me fazlite is as serviceable as alconite as a material, but alconites cost a little more so they are a little more desirable to most. Yes, the whoa son! is from RM lol.

5" senko T rigged Frog/Toad buzzbait swimjig spinnerbait

If I had to pick just 5 Finesse swimbait 3" easy shiner on a 1/16 head ned rig suspending or very slow sinking rattle trap chatterabit fished very slow jerkbait

Oh yeah, its very nice. Daiwa makes a graphite M+ XF that is supposed to handle 1/8-1oz, I would think that would be perfect, but its a 300$ Tatula AGS

Guides definitely effect the performance of the rod. The lighter the rod and the better the balance, the more sensitive it will be. I got my first rod with AGS guides and I feel like they make a difference for slackline sensitivity. The tradeoff is durability. I have more confidence in Ti Sics/Torzites to take damage and still function, but time will tell.

I rally like the TW brand over more expensive socks. The retention band makes a huge difference, and the bottom of the socks never unfolds so it goes on and off very easy.

Great for spybaits if you use FC, 7'10 starts to get long when you have to drop the tip to bottom trace with braid. Hair jigs Shad raps Tail spinners Grubs/small swimbaits at distance

Ive been trying to find a rod like that too. Like a XF light MH or M+. I have some mediums that are good for light jigs to 1/4oz, but they lack the mid and lower section power to be really good with 3/16 T rigs. I grabbed a 7'2 MH m1 because a lot of people said it was more like a M F, but tis definitely a solid MH power wise, its just light in the hand and the action is slower F, but definitely still F.

You want the best quality blank you can get, and a light guide train really helps too. The actions should be fairly stiff. When you use rods that have a soft tip, you lose that slack line sensitivity that you really need. IMO you don't need a long rod to make long casts and anything over 7'2 you start to compromise some of that slack line sensitivity because of the COG of the blank, especially if its a M power instead of ML. A light reel, like a Vanford or Taula LT will help greatly with sensitivity too. A tightlining rod is kind of like a SH rod IMO. You want to get the best rod you can because the more sensitivity you have the more advantage you have. I guess with FFS you know what's going on anyway, but weight and casting performance of the rod is vital as well.

NOT TODAY SATAN!

Had an issue with an Ark rod, didn't have a good experience at all with their customer service. They took a really long time and sent me the rod back loose with no padding in a tube. I take good care of my gear and the guy who inspected my rod said the rod was in outstanding condition, so getting beat up because the dude who packed it was incompetent or lazy is BS. St Croix had outstanding cust service. Its still good, but its not at all what it once was. 13 Fishing had the best customer service I've ever experienced. I had a rash on a rod i got from them. I sent a picture of it in, they told me to keep it and priority mailed me a brand new one for free. Unfortunately I think with Rapala being majority owners now, that may come to an end if it hasn't already.

It should be fine casting a little over 1oz. You can cast an overloaded rod without damaging it, so long as you don't lean into the cast too much. When people overload a rod and really try to punch the bait out there, is when most rods fold. As long as youre using a treble hook on it, you wont need too much extra power to set the hook.

Thats what I use on my spinnerbaits. Its got just enough action but the bait stays down. I miss the old ones that were scented.

Between the Tatula and Premier, I think the Tatula has it beat in every department other than possibly customer service, as SCs pretty good for the most part and I've never experienced Daiwas cust service. The Tatula is more comfortable in hand, particularly if you have a high grip on the rod.(all or most fingers above the reel stem) The New Tatulas are actually going with an A O guide instead of the Fazlites of the older model, which is a downgrade IMO. The 2pc Tatula will be slightly heavier than the 1pc, but Daiwa knows how to make a great multipiece rod. SC has certainly had some issues over the past few years. I was really sad to them change the guide train on one of the most well-loved rod lines out there, being Avid Inshore. IDC what kind of coating you put on SS, its not going to be as light or corrosion resistant as Ti. Some of their new lines are kind of gimmicky. The tri grip mojos are like a novelty. Its already been done before on big game rods to increase comfort on long fights. It was found the points of the triangle cause hotspots in your hand after prolonged fights, but that shouldn't be an issue with LM and SMB. One nice thing about SC is that they have dramatically improved the balance of their rods when you compare the current lines to ones made in the early 2ks. It really comes down to which one feels better to you.

Never been able to get 1 in my hands as no one has a full Okuma FW line around here, but I've heard they're a real sleeper. They went on sale last winter @180$, when I was in the hospital. Had my diagnosis been better I would have bought 1, but at the time I didn't know if I would recover completely or not. Was hoping to see the same sale on them this year, but no luck, so I wound up with an M1, which feels nice.

Yeah, I saw that a while ago, but I still have a bunch of top toads and a few double takes in the old packaging. The hooks are pretty good quality, and I think they might be owners, but im not sure.

Thats what i use

I was something pro something lite I think. Felt nice in the hand, size and shape wise. I liked the brake system on Met better, but I didnt want to mess with his brake settings too much. I think the color is mostly for product identity. 13 had success with it, but they were pushing a decent product at a budget price. Once you get to that upper mid-tier PP the bold colors don't seem to sell as well. I like some of Daiwas colored reels, the coastal looks great and so do their jigging reels.

Japanese rods are made to fit the lifestyle over there. Most people dont have as much room for storage, so the rods are generally 2pc.

Nice looking reel. Not to crazy about the color, but I don't hate it. Fished with a buddys Lews a few years ago that was nice. It was very light, 6oz or less, very small. It had a glossy rainbow-colored finish to it. I think it was magnesium, but it i guess it could have been AL. I had just gotten my first 20 Met, which is what i was subconsciously comparing it to in my head. I was surprised to see that it cost about 350$, not because I didn't think it was worth it, but its strange that my buddy would spend that kind of money on a Lews being a Shimano fan.

I know what you mean. They have gotten better. I really liked 13s composite rods, they were light and were well balanced. Came close to buying one, but since most of my crankbait fishing is SBs that I already have a rod for, I passed.