Sir Shamsalot

Sooooooo.... who wants to point out that we're all either on a PC, tablet, or smartphone on an internet forum trying to become better fishermen? Cause back in the day, we measured water depth with a stick, bought one rod/reel for everything, and Benny Hill was totally awesome till mom caught you watching his show.

I don't have the two actual rods to compare. My LTB spinning has the same guides as the Extreme your looking at from what I can tell and I have zero issues with them passing an FG knot 15lb braid to 8lb FC.

My buzz-bait failure stems more from using it just a few times with little immediate success. I used to be like that with spinnerbaits. Having put some serious quality time into it, it's became a goto lure for me. It's the bane of having too many lures with you. If there's no immediate success, you switch to things that work for you instead of having the patience to learn something new.

So far... a buzz bait.

I've never seen this guys channel, buy I do 100% believe that the best piece of fishing equipment I ever invested in was a $1 notebook and a $0.50 pen. I've maintained a fishing log/diary for years which I re-read pretty often. I do multi-species fishing, and it has helped increase my catch numbers tremendously.

Depends on the tournament and the lake I think. There's a local tournament where everyone lines up at the deep end of the lake. The hat goes off then all the boats make a 20 minute run to the other end of the lake where it's shallow bedding grounds. Then they make the 20 minute trip back to the deep end of the lake for weight in where the catches are released. Then they complain the lake just isn't what it used to be. Personally, I don't fish the spawn, but I don't mind if others do if they immediately release them. I do have to say that the lakes where they have a closed spawning season have been some of the funnest lakes I have ever been on.

I remember watching a show or documentary on this. It pertains to deer hunting as well. With less culling there less available food and nutrients resulting in higher numbers of smaller sized game species. I think they need to plan a fish fry or two or three. Then I would recommend a restock of bait species along with a biannual stocking of rainbow trout.

You're not alone. I put 30lb PP braid on a Curado K, and cast after cast, it just dug into itself. I'm no novice when it comes to putting braid on a reel, but there was something really wrong. Then I came across a forum where another guy was having the same problem. According to the replies there is a lower grade of PP out there that's flatter and is a pain to work with. I've used PP before without issue. I remember buying that particular spool from Amazon, and thinking at the time that it was a cheap buy. Since then, I've gone back to good old 832. I admit my eyes aren't what they used to be, but I can read 832 from 10 feet away on the lable.

Excellent point. The OP has stated that he owns 2 other MH rigs and a SLX DC. Looking at what that DC does well we can provide a better recommendation. He was looking at possibly a medium rod which I myself wouldn't like a DC for. IMO DCs work better for reaction baits so maybe a crankbait or spinnerbait rod in a given series would make for a better choice?

Here's some of SC info out for their new rod coming out in March. https://stcroixrods.com/pages/new-st-croix-rod

I've kinda wondered that myself, but I hear it as a selling point. I think it's suppose to transfer sensitivity through the blank better to the hand because of the one piece design.

There's no more lifetime warranty that I'm aware of. 15 year transfersble warranties seam to be the new norm, or atleast that's what my Xtreme came with. Everything said, SC is coming out with an SCIII+ rod very shortly, it's price is supposed to fall in close with the Avid line, and better balancing. It's supposed to be a composition of the Legend Xtreme Blank and the Mojo/Avid blank. New info on it drops again today. As far as the SLX rod. I got mine for $20 when I bought my first SLX. So you can find them with combo sales. However, for some strange reason, it bothers me when a manufacturer will let a rod sell 70-80% cheaper than its normal selling point. It's performance for me has been okay. I would rather have another Bass X over it.

I'm looking to purchase a reel for jerkbaits+. I'm aware of the differences between the USDM and JDM 2020 Metaniums. That said, would the JDM version be worth considering over the Aldebaran 50 for its increased capacity, sensitivity reasons, and available higher gear ratio? I know the Alde is significantly lighter but I'm also looking at using this rig for shaky heads and possibly more. I also have larger toothy critters in my waters.

I use the 4" Gulp Crawler Worm on a small jig head in hard to find chartreuse and swim them like a minnow. Catches everything from largemouths to rainbow trout. The problem is that they're hard to find. When I do find them, oddly only at Walmart, I buy them up. Based on that, I have faith the 4in minnows would work.

You really have alot of great choices here at this price point. The Abu Winch is a great choice, I caught alot of fish on cranks using mine. The Curado K is a performer. The Daiwa SV TWS. The same can be said for just about any reel here. I have a Lew's Tournament MB in 5 gear that just gets it done. As long as you're just talking cranks, a 5 or 6 gear reel is fine. I look more at IPT and like that 23ipt when selecting a crankbait reel. Currently, I'm using an SV 6 gear, several Elites, and that MB on my crankbait rods.

You can go to the St Croix web site and sign up for their updates via e-mail.

For this price range, I would have recommended the older SV TWS that you can found between $150 and $199. Swap out the handle for a 100mm one. You get a higher tested drag poundage, a reel weight close to 7oz, and brakes you don't have to remove the side plate to adjust.

Having read the latest email, they're calling it an SCIII+ and the price point looks to be around the Avid line. The email did address better rod balancing. So basically it seams in performance, possibly weight, and pricing... Mojo/Avid < New Rod Line < LTBass/LTW For now yet subject to change. More yet still to come.

I'd retire on the Trent River system in a heart beat.

I watched the new video this morning as well. As a Croix fan, it definitely has my interest.

Roland Martin's Helicopter Lure... not because it wouldn't catch fish cause it actually did, but it would make mincemeat out of your line.

I've have a few boats. The first of which was an old leaking Alumacraft. When the water got high enough in the boat to where it was an issue, we'd fire up the old Evinrude, start down the lake at about 10mph, and pull the plug from the inside. The water would just get sucked out of the boat. Now, I've never have had to do that with my bigger walleye tiller or bassboat (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!), but wouldn't the same physics apply? I have forgotten the plug at the ramp... a few times, but so far I've heard the gurgle.

I can't answer which smell would be effective there. I can say there was 3 of us in a boat just drifting and dipping grubs in the water. The 2 guys that used it (myself being one of them) walked off the lake with 7 keepers between us in about an hour, while the guy who didn't and ranted about how useless the stuff was got skunked.

Is Smelly Jelly a consideration? Certain SJ products have really produced for me.

I was having a difficult time choosing a reel to add to my newest H/F rod for jigging. I've been staring at the Bantam, the Zillion, the Metanium, the Steeze A TW, and the Aldebaran. I finally decided with the Zillion based on weight and hopefully being able to skip cast then long cast without making adjustments. I watched the TA YouTube video and that solidified my choice though I'm having the "What if's" after ordering one.