Darth-Baiter

I started off with the Daiwa Procyon AL in the 2500 size. it was glued to my hands in the early days when I learned how to dropshot. I still have it. super reliable. I take it to Oklahoma and haul in giant stripers with it. fun. I think I paid $150 for it...twice. (it does sink with a Phenix rod..rather quickly)

I have both the Bantam, and the Curado 150 DC. well, I had the Curado, until my friend Trebuchet'd it into a beautiful Mexican lake (last week). therefore, I am now TELEWORKING today to greet my FedEX dude/dudette to receive my NEW Curado MGL 150 DC. I considered it good enough to order another ASAP. they are really different. I use the Curado for moving baits. something I want from that is to simply hurl them as far as I can. nothing will send a LV500 further to cover water better (in my hands). a deep diving crank is going for a long distance trip sent from the Curado. I dont love the weeeeeee sound that much, but I ignore it. close distance casting to cover, any of my reels can do that. after my Curado went sinking, I put the cranks on the Bantam and I lost a lot of distance. I still got fish, sure. but nowhere was I throwing those "did you see that?" kinda casts. and because of the wind, I had the brake at #3!!! it was flat out flinging them. #2 would be insanity. I have backlashed that reel, so it isn't magic. I considered a Scorpion out of Japan, but nah...I am good with the Devil I know. they both (Bantam/CuradoDC) seem to weigh similar to me. but I dont do that balance a rod on my finger thing at all.

d**n. I’m sorry to hear that!

I crushed them w the Grass-Piece in Mexico. I almost cried when I snagged and lost two of them. One left! I had 1/2 oz ones and with a thin trailer it was fire. I like how the blade jiggles on any movement. Not the case w a chatter bait because the line is pulling the blade. I think it sinks horizontally. The fish would hit the moment I started the retrieve. Not immune fed to snagged tho. If I’m being honest. My friend matched me fish for fish w his Picasso spinner baits. (Great version). I took one and dropped it into my bag.

is it cancer? jeez..i scanned the thread and i certainly hope it isnt. i hope you feel better soon.

i've seen plenty. trail jogging i saw a shredded turkey. i asked a park ranger coming up the hill about it and he said that was what he was looking for, and could i lead him. YUP. he then said, "this is a mountain lion kill"... me: wait..wuut? i am an avid outdoor person. spent a lot of time bowhunting. i've had them come to my turkey calls. (i stand up and try to look badass ASAP) i play it smart and move on. i do know most of the time i see one, it is running for its life from me. my bowhunting friend had to arrow one that was crouched and stalking him. he said, "okay cat, one more step and i am shooting you" cat took one more step. ZIP!. he said the cat did a summersault 20 feet in the air. wardens showed up with dog but lost the wounded cat in the rough mountains.

Same answer. Drowning. I know I can flip my kayak back over and climb back in. I practiced repeatedly.

I think a good old fashion drowning kills more boaters. All answers above can put you into the water.

soft plastics.

somewhere that required a float plane to take me and land me on that lake..and pick me up a week later. I'm not touching the time-travel aspect. my wish is enough of a pipe-dream. or Brazil. 1 week of Peacock bass fishing would change me for the better profoundly.

around my parts, the Vision110 is the go to jerk bait. same goes for the LV500. I think my friend is the only person I know that uses a different lipless offering. I used to catch a lot of fish as a kid with a silver rattle-trap. success since then has been lacking. until recently. everyone was always telling me, "yank it thru the grass". which did nothing but float a big question mark over my head. until recently. I found myself fishing deep water, with what I think was 1-2 feet grass. I cast out as far is a could let it sink until the line slacked..then I just picked it up a few feet and let it sink. it was crushing the bass!! I had a rod with enough backbone to just jerk it up thru the grass. like I was stroking a jig. I think I am going to experiment with lipless more. I cant imagine a spring time application. is there? it is so snaggy.

I personally try not to boat flip. usually not a problem from my kayak. I have several line cuts on my hand now. from boat flipping and catching the line. ouch. I didnt want the fish to hit the deck. I didnt always succeed. I do what I can. my fishing is sucky to the bass on every level anyways. hahahah..

your spelling seems okay to me. when it counts, I type or write slowly to spell correctly and to confirm proper grammar. spell check is king. if I had to do a resume these days, I would run it through any one of the AI things. this thread I took more as a humble brag..hahah..he got a sponsor!!! YAY. I am my own sponsor, which in my own way I am way proud of. I was off to a very rocky start in my youth.

I've wandered from the DS-rig for the past two years, but to tell the truth..I have YET to catch up to the numbers I got on the Drop-shot. that set up killed for me. (I got bored with it?, maybe) my setup exactly. 20 braid on a 2500 spinning reel. about 8 feet of 8lb flouro leader. (Daiwa brand). I use a #1 owner Downshot hook almost exclusively. all on a 7' Med Phenix Maxim rod. I tex-rig two baits. both green pumpkin colored. The Zoom Dropshot worm (Z-Drop is the name I think), or the 6" Zoom worm. 3/16th tungsten sinker cast out as far as I can manage. and let it sink. pick up the slack and sit there. maybe reel some, maybe jiggle gently. a bite feels like a TICK. any tick, I reel up and lift the rod back. it is usually a bass. my drop shot game turned on when I went to relatively lighter lines. and I have done a lot of it hiking in to a pond and casting from shore. heck...I am about to go Halibut fishing. guess what? I am going to Dropshot one with a Zoom Fluke. that is the plan. just a much bigger rig.

go cheaper maybe. I think the Med Phenix Maxim throws finesse jigs awesome. very sensitive. goofy looking (to me), but I still use the spinning version everyday out on the water. I bought several Maxims and leave them in Texas for my trips back.

10 pack from Amazon. till then you can take the line (from reel to tip section) and wrap it around the shaft and hook it on the first and biggest line guide. it really minimizes that jangled mess.

maybe. he fishes a lot and has maybe 40 reels. he gave me five of them when he switched to all lefty reel due to an injury. I passed them all along to my brother.. every trip together we do have a casting contest. distance and then accuracy. fun..he wins some, I win some. it was funny when he lost a fish. he went to set a hook and the knob on his handle came off, and he lost the fish due to the surprise. he had to tape it with medical tape. it was a good look.

I'm ruined. this was supposed to be a bucket list fishing trip, but I am already forming a bait list to bring next time. I know what to NOT bring as well. with recent Criminal activity at the other lake, this one got crowded when we were there. the fishing companies just loaded everyone up and brought them to this lake (some good stories from some of the transplants) . they dragged a few boats with them. despite that, there is still plenty of shoulder room to fish. we did find ourselves leaving earlier and earlier to get to the well known community holes. I lost some big ones, because I apparently get way way to excited with a big momma sucks in my bait. but I got so many fish in the size range that would make me happy here domestically. I did get a bunch of fish I called, "I can catch this at lake Berryessa" size. hahha..I took a lot of 4-5's and with my short bass fishing history, I was stoked. very very fun trip. food was okay, sleep accommodation were good. I didnt get sick. one dude got a big crank bait stuck into his back right between the shoulder blades. his partner unknowingly clipped the hook too short and we couldn't get leverage to take it out. he had to find a local doctor...I learned, that a human has really thick skin on the back. my wife saw my face picking me up at the airport and didnt say NO to my next trip...hahahha..LETS GO!! travel time is much more palatable that flying to the Amazon River Basin.... and thank you Mr. Gonzalez, my HS Spanish teacher.. I was hanging with my guide, communication wise.

I will probably go with the Devil I know, and buy a new Curado. it was pretty fantastic. a tad heavier, but I am okay with it. I see they have a Curado 200 DC now. kinda cool

my fishing bud took 100% Lews Reels to Mexico. I asked him why he doenst try the Big-2, offerings. (1)cost and (2)he feels Lews can hang in quality. he is probably correct on the first part (never priced Lews). on #2 it was comical. he would whip out a bait, and quite often, the bait would fly out and abruptly stop when the line got jammed up. he ended up taking his reels on shore at lunch to respool multiple times...and he brought 2 spare Lews which he dipped into on day 2. then he had to tape on his grip handles... I kept my mouth shut because that is what my dad taught me, growing up. I never had issues..I had the big-2's with me. I have one ABU in my garage. I use it to hold line. haha..like if I spool up my spinning with braid and the spool doenst fill up, I can put the line on the Abu, put some mono backer on the spool, and put the same braid back on. voila!! ABU for the win.

Thanks! Results were surprising. RIP to my Curado MGL 150. Dang it!

?

any reviews? seems like a good step up from my Curado MGL150 DC.

I sat down, and laid my rod down and out of the way.. I was frantically tying on a deep diving crank and was struggling a tiny bit without my reading glasses.. I hear a loud clack, and the line disappears from my pinched fingers. I look up befuddled and I see my rod (well, the guides-rod + my reel) sinking into the lake. "NOOOOOOOOO!" my fishing bud lost track of his surrounding and shut off situational awareness and had casted with too much line hanging off his rod tip. his crank, hooked my rod and basically flung it Trebuchet style into lake Picacho. that one hurt...hurt bad. it was a Curado MGL150 DC attached that rod and it sank fast as F. deep water. I thanked the heavens it wasn't my lucky Zillion or Bantam..and clipped a lure off and started tying the crank on a new rod. my guide tried trolling for my stuff, but it was a goner...the wind moved us off the spot immediately. I love that DC reel. it was my Oklahoma reel where I needed to "Surf cast" to the horizon for Stripers. and in Mexico, it flung a big deep crank so far, my guide would sometimes applaud in jest. in wind, there is no rival (in my hands). I might take this opportunity to upgrade to a Met DC but need to verify line capacity. (and cost). my friend wants to buy me a new DC, but it was an accident. he didnt do it on purpose..and my friendships hold zero grudges.. moving on! hahhaha..

Just get a touch closer to the target. Even if it means I’m putting in chest waders.