Dash Riprock

As best as I can tell, there aren't many weeds in this lake. I know weeds - the reason I haven't fished the Ned much until now is that the creeks I usually fish are super mucked up and I have to keep everything off the bottom. I know what a weed snag feels like, and this isn't that. And I agree with you about weed guards. Those have never really worked for me on other presentations.

I think they were 1/10. Not 100% sure but they were pretty small.

I believe I have some of those, I'll give it a try. Right now I'm using the standard Z-man shroom heads, I think. But, I don't think the problem is with the hook grabbing something. I think the jig head is getting wedged between large rocks. Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I don't think I have any football heads but I did buy some Morel heads from Seibert's a while back, basically a flatter, wider head as compared to the "shroom". Would those work also? That was going to be my next step before switching to the "tiny child".

I recently started using a Ned rig but I keep getting snagged on the bottom. Rocks, I think but maybe debris. This is an old rock quarry with a generally sandy bottom but occasional patches of "stuff". I'm fishing from the bank so I'm not sure what's out there. Is there a trick to this that I'm not aware of? I don't have this problem with weighted Texas rigs. I'm thinking about switching to that "tiny child" rig to hopefully avoid the snags, but it seems like that will affect the action of the bait. Thoughts?

I didn't think I had it that tight. I adjust them so the lure falls freely but the spool stops when it hits the ground, then make my adjustments with the brake control. I thought that's what you're supposed to do (I realize some Daiwa's are different).

Not quite the same, but I took a new-to-me used Curado K out one day and couldn't prevent a backlash no matter what I did. At one point I took the sideplate off and noticed that the latch wouldn't quite close all the way when I put it back on. I figured I'd done something to ruin the Curado. Finally gave up and went back to the truck and got my spinning rig. On the way home I suddenly remembered that on some reels, you have to loosen the tension knob before you put the sideplate back on, otherwise it won't close properly. Once I got home and did that, sure enough the latch clicked closed just like it should. No problems since, although I never did figure out why I couldn't get it dialed in initially that day. Maybe I'd taken the sideplate off the trip before and forgot. I don't know.

Yes. I was in our local Academy today and the SLX came up as $54.95 on the price check. There was no sign indicating it was on sale and it's full price on the website (which shows them all as out of stock even though my Academy had around a dozen on display). I price checked a few other rods and didn't see any noticeable discounts except on a couple of H2O Express models. The crankbait aisle had a bunch of "clearance" tags on the rack, appeared to be mostly H2O Express models. I didn't check closely but it seemed most of them were $1-ish off regular price.

Ha, I was in there today for a non-fishing item and wandered over to the fishing aisle because of course you will. The salesman kinda whispered to me that H20 Express rods were 30% off. There were no signs of anything being on sale that I saw. I'm not really in the market but out of curiosity I took a couple of Shimano rods I've been halfway thinking about over to the price scanner and they came up at 20% off. Resisted today but will probably succumb to the monkey by the weekend. Wow, a Lew's Tournament Pro at $111 is as good as it gets. If I didn't already have one I'd jump on that.

Same. I hate it when I read posts like this.

Good question, I don't know. I assume you'd rig it horizontally but I've never fished one.

I was looking around the Grandebass website earlier and noticed they were having a 25% off sale. Not sure how long it's good for.

They seem basically identical with the exception of the hook slot in the Yums. They're interesting worms, I look forward to trying them.

Kind of a newb here, need advice. I recently picked up a couple packs of Zoom Ultra Vibe speed worms and a couple packs of Yum Thumpin Dingers. These are the ones that have the short stubby curl on the end, as opposed to a flat paddle tail. I recall seeing somewhere that these should be rigged with the point of the tail facing down. I can no longer find where I saw that. My confusion is this: The Yum Thumpin Dingers have a slot in the top where I assume the hook tip is supposed to fit. However, if you rig it that way, the tail will be facing up. Am I missing something? Does the tail face up or down? I will primarily be throwing it on a weightless T-rig, maybe occasionally with a light weight when the moss isn't thick. Mainly swimming it or buzzing it on top of the water in creeks and ponds from the bank. Thanks!

I have the opposite problem, but that's because I'm a bank fisherman and all but one of my rods is 6' 6" or shorter. Most of the time the rod cover pulls down too far and gets tangled in the hook keeper. I don't know exactly what brand(s) I have but the sizing seems to be inconsistent.

Kinda surprised to hear this. I'm terrible at knots but even I have a hard time messing up a Palomar. I've forced myself to learn the uni, clinch and a few others but when I'm on the bank and have to retie something I almost always chicken out and default to a Palomar. My only complaint with it is it ends up with quite a bit of tag, a/k/a wasted line, but I've learned by experience not to skimp on the size of the loop so that's pretty much unavoidable. I try to make sure the loop doesn't cinch up on the underside of the hook eye but other than that I've never worried too much about any crossover. Should I?

I don't fish a drop shot rig very often so I've only tied a handful of these, but it's fairly intuitive and idiot proof, which is the main thing I look for in a knot. You can't really mess up the direction the hook points, so you don't have to futz with it at the end like I did when I tried a Palomar drop shot.

A lot of guys here seem to do this and the logic makes intuitive sense. I tried but I struggle with it. It seems "unnatural" to me even though, like you, I also set up spinning reels left handed. It's hard to explain - I feel like I can't make a smooth rotation of the handle with my left hand, like I'm jerking it or something. It makes no sense because I don't have that same problem with spinning reels, so I guess it's just an ingrained mental thing at this point. Maybe go to one of the stores that has sample reels set up on the display handles and find a lefty to crank?

The Tatula line in particular is very confusing. Even the official Daiwa website doesn't really tell you all the differences. I was kinda like you a couple of years ago. Although I did own an older Garcia Blue Max baitcasting combo, and I'd gotten relatively proficient at it with certain baits, I mainly fished with a spinning reel. Decided to upgrade and ended up getting bit hard by the reel monkey, and next thing I knew I'd collected 4 or 5 different baitcasters, one of which was the Tatula SV TW103. btw, as if this wasn't confusing enough, there are two Tatula SV TW's out there often labeled as the same thing. Mine is the more recent release and other than slightly different cosmetics, I couldn't tell you what the differences are. Anyway, it's a joy to cast and it's nearly idiot proof, clearly my favorite among the others (a Lew's Tournament Pro, Shimano SLX, and a Tatula CT) although I try to work them all into the rotation. I mainly fish from banks with lighter lures like weightless worms and as long as I don't make a jerky cast, it handles them just fine. My problem is that I seldom get a chance to cast without fighting various degrees of brush, so I can't ever really just relax and "swing for the fences", or experiment/practice different casting angles. Ironically, I've found myself drifting back to the spinning reel lately and debating whether to hang on to all these baitcasters. Oh well. I think I got mine on a Black Friday sale for around $150. It's money well spent.

As best as I can tell, the Shin knot and the Albright are nearly identical. The only difference that I've been able to see is that he holds the main braid line away from the flouro while he wraps, which means the wraps are only around the flouro, not over the braid itself. Makes it a little thinner, which is good. Don't know if it's stronger, but I'm sure it's strong enough. Having said that, once I did the Lefty Kreh I never looked back, at least not for leaders. It's just too easy.

Yep, same here. It's become my go-to ever since I saw that video. I can do an Alberto/Albright if I have to (also that Shin's knot which is similar) but I have a hard time holding the wraps in place for some reason, and more than occasionally I do something wrong and it doesn't hold when I tighten it. The Lefty Kreh is simple, intuitive, and pretty much idiot proof. I haven't messed one up yet.

I've got a couple of packages of Fat IKA's I've been meaning to try, just haven't gotten around to it yet. I'll make it a point to tie one on next time I go out. Thanks!

I like weightless Texas rigs, mostly with trick worm styles but I've had decent luck with the GrandeBass ribbed styles also. I'm mainly a bank fisherman and the ponds and creeks I fish are usually full of muck so I have to keep things off the bottom. I try to work in some wacky rigs but I haven't had enough success with them to justify the boredom. I kinda got seduced by baitcasters a couple of years ago but I'm starting to drift back to spinning reels because it's hard (for me) to throw weightless rigs consistently on a baitcaster.

Ha, I saw that same video on the okuma epixor and have been fighting off the monkey ever since. I have absolutely no use for another reel of any kind. I'm sure I'll succumb the first time I see it on sale.

Thanks for the heads up! Just ordered a 6', it rang up at $48.88.

Yes, the Tiny Child Rig. That's what I was thinking of while reading the description of this one. I've been wanting to try that but haven't had a chance yet.