CT Sam

Very good point and something I didn't really take into consideration. Thanks Tom

As unlucky as I am to be a resident of Connecticut, I am lucky enough to pass by Tackle Supply Depot on my way home from work. They are also out of a lot of things but have a pretty large selection and awesome customer service. Check out Tacklesupplydepot.com. From what I've seen in their reviews they ship pretty fast and all over the country.

Yeah I understand that but a spinnerbait is designed to look like a small school of baitfish. Typically you would try to match the color of the spinnerbait to whatever forage there is in the water and you would choose the weight based on where you want to be in the water column based off of where the bass would be chasing the baitfish. A jig doesn't look like a baitfish to us but we choose colors like "bluegill" to match a bluegill and the skirt puffs up like a threatened bluegill.

Of course I do but that's why I'm selling my Mustang. Every time I drive it I want to go 130 and blow donuts in the parking lot at work ?. But I have kids and responsibilities and stuff Oh shoot, I don't know where I saw 9lbs

It's a newer CT that I bought last year. I didn't really think that it would make much of a difference. I don't plan on doing much punching anyway. I guess it's like most things, manufacturers flashing numbers in front of potential customers trying to get them to buy things based on something they don't really need. I wasn't really looking to bump up the drag numbers by much, I was just curious if it was a possibility in case I ever do run into a situation where only having 9lbs of max drag would cause a problem bringing in a fish with 5lbs of slop attached to it.

I've been trying to fill out my arsenal this year for different techniques. I fish on a kayak so I don't have a ton of room to work with but I'd like to have about 5-6 setups with me. I just picked up a Dobyns Fury XH/F frogging rod (awesome rod for the money btw) and I decided to put my Daiwa Fuego on it. Seeing that it has an 8.1:1 gear ratio it seemed like a good choice for topwater applications. I want it to pull double duty for heavy cover jigging/punching but the Fuego has a max drag of 9lbs. I do have a Lew's reel that has a 20lb drag but in a 7.5:1 gear ratio. I'm wondering if there's any way to increase the drag with aftermarket parts or if 9lbs would be enough anyway. Any advice on pairing any of these up different would be appreciated. This is what I have set up right now: Fuego/Dobyns XH/F (frogging, jigs, punching) Team Lew's custom black BC combo MH/F (all around) *** Concept A/St. Croix Premier MH/M (cranking) Shimano SLX BC combo M/XF (weighted t-rigs, spinners etc.) Penn Battle 2/Abu Ike MH/F spinning (t-rigs, some finesse)

Thanks for the advice guys. I kind of assumed that the bigger ones would be eating the trout but I had nothing with me at the time that resembled a trout. plawrence53202

Those super flukes just get it done. I've done best with bluegill flash and white ice but ill have to try sungill. I'd assume that the forage in MA is similar to CT. I had a similar experience with Keitech easy shiners. Bought them thinking they're basically the same. Bass would hit the super flukes but not the Keitechs. My brother will go with me most times and pretty much ties one on and replaces when needed. Occasionally he'll throw a topwater frog if I'm getting hit on one. I need to justify the money I've spent on the rest of my stuff though ?.

I've been trying to get out on the water at least once a week this season and I've been really trying to broaden my skills. Up until last year most of my fishing was done with either Texas rigged paddle tail flukes, worms etc. and topwater frogs. So I've been trying to work on finesse techniques along with some other things including swimbaits. I figured one thing I should try to do is pick a spot and try to master it, so I've been spending a lot of my time at Miller's Pond in Durham, CT. It has some weed edges, steep drop offs, rock bottom, grass bottom, and ranges in depth from about 3 feet to 20 feet. Most of what i catch there is around 1-2lbs but I have heard of fish as big as 7lbs caught out of there. The place is stocked with trout yearly and I know there are yellow perch in there along with various sunfish. Saturday morning the bass were busting baitfish at the surface in about 12ft of water and I was throwing a 3 inch white 360gt swimbait and a golden shiner baby bucca at them. I could feel my bait bouncing off of them and all I got for my half hour of effort was one small half pound bass. I'm thinking I should get some trout and/or perch imitators. I know bass will eat both but I'm wondering if they'll go after either over other baitfish when available. And before anyone asks, I'm pretty sure they were bass busting the surface, there are no carp in that pond.

Welcome, from CT. I've been working on upgrading all my gear this past year as well. I spend pretty much all of my downtime at work researching. I can be a bit of a research junkie.

Hey everyone. New member from south central CT. Just wanting to make my introduction and thank you all for the information that I've already gathered. Using this forum for the last year or so has really improved my skills. I've been fishing since I was old enough to hold a spincast Zebco but it wasn't until a few years ago that I really got back into fishing. I do about 95% of my fishing from a kayak but my area is basically a dead zone so I usually travel at least 30 minutes to most of my spots. If anyone knows of any good kayak friendly spots in CT I'm all ears.