softwateronly

I don't snell often but the uni version is the only way I do it. As a san diego jam knot user, it's definitely the name and my intense jealousy of persistent 74 degree weather. scott

Last year was my first go at it, so it's still evolving. In the clear water I fish, it became my daylight more subtle large swim jig. I started catching on a 18-20' flat with sporadic weed clumps and kept it tied on. I'd chuck it and tightline it to the bottom, then give a quick 1-3 reel turns and tightline that back to the bottom. Grabbed a couple dragging it over a hard sand bottom as well. I also found success working downhill on breaks with inconsistent weedline heights, letting it glide then popping it free. @WRB gave a great tip to use a cps spring w/ a piece of cut trick worm to ride the hookpoint texsposed to help keep it weedless. Used both the 5/8 and 3/4, gonna try a 1/2oz for the shallower work this year. No giants, but consistently decent 2-4lb fish, even got a nice walleye. I liked a longer MH rod, and the bites are unmistakeable. scott

I'm using 8 strand with, normal for me, fg problems, maybe 8/10 tied correctly the first time. Check your winds and technique, it will work. The alberto knot is my on the water, cold fingers knot, when I can't seem to tie the fg. scott

Those look like winners to me. Curious on the overall size, if you need to replace the swimbait, that's a relatively long shank compared to the swimbait body. scott

Awesome. Hoping to get to that point someday. I grabbed 3 2-piece jdm major craft rods. With the dollar to yen, the jdm standards, and free shipping I feel like a whole new world opened up for cost effective, quality gear. Lookin forward to catching with them. Tomorrow looks like my first real opportunity. scott

My favorite bait porn!!! scott

Same here. Work is still killing my free time, but when the time is there so is my gear. The build quality fishes like a one piece to me, feels like a great decision so far. scott

Are you the new bait monkey? This site is expensive! Seriously though, that's great to know. I put my HD on a tequila bacarrac and haven't looked back. If I wanna switch it up, that's where I was thinking. The 6oz reels just felt off to me, probably just a personal preference. Great rod though, absolutely has the perfect action for fishing jigs in cover. scott

When I used the Palomar more frequently I’d go around the hook eye twice on straight braid to put more friction in the system. Not positive it was necessary but was easy enough and never failed. Currently, I prefer San Diego jam for terminal knots. scott

I agree with Tom. Slow sink or Med sink work better for me. I have better luck with swimmers that float more than glides. scott

I would think it would be perfect. The only trouble I get into is with the freestyle on bombed out casts and quick/early bites. With that much line out, I've had better results with a XH getting a good hookset. scott

I had one day with a 1/2oz deracoup in early March this year. Water was in the high 30's and it got smoked by a fat 4ish lb bass that I lost at the canoe, operator error turning her head near the boat. About 5 casts later, it got smoked again but this time it was immediately followed by the all too familiar tink of getting bit off by a pike. Fished the rest of the day with only one other fish on a blade bait. I'm not sure I'm gonna get the opportunity to try it again before the bass move up, but I'm definitely looking to have one ready for summer open water schoolers and for the next cold water period. Because of my lost fish, I'm definitely looking into line-thru versions like @Catt posted. scott

If you're leaning dobyns, the champion 706cb is pretty unique. I prefer faster rods for bladed jigs, but this does spinnerbaits, cranks, and small glides really well. scott

The Kaera is a little frog, I don't know about the cashion, but the 735xp is just ok to me. I can work it fine, but my casting distance and accuracy were subpar with 50lb braid. I prefer throwing the kaera on a MH now. I broke the tip on my 734xp before I had a chance to try it out there. scott

A little reel chop or pause goes a long way for me on a swimjig. I’m guessing it gives a little extra skirt flash and also looks like a vulnerable or fleeing bream. I seem to do better on straight retrieves with a swimbait only. Obviously it doesn’t cost much to do both retrieves with either. scott

Fish an expensive jdm hardbait without leader. That'll surely find them for you scott

I recently grabbed the MC Days 702X as a 2 piece travel rod. I haven't gotten much time with it yet, but it's exactly what I had hoped it would be and would be a great option. Action and power feel quite similar to a megabass Tequila Bacarac for a quarter of the price. If a 2 piece interests you, they are cheaper straight from Japan, one piece burns you on the shipping. Benkei https://www.digitaka.com/item/29/6/5/4560350818176 Days https://www.digitaka.com/item/29/6/5/4573236260358 scott

I certainly don't know the answer to Q1, but I can confidently say that the san diego jam knot has worked for me on big baits without failure. It is easy to tie correctly and has all but replaced my other direct to lure knots. When using really heavy line, 4-5 turns is plenty, all other line gets 7. scott

I recently branched out to more Diawas from shimano, zillion and alphas. 30lb braid to 16lb fc 100 with a fg knot passes through fine. I’m very happy with both diawa and shimano. scott

I prefer to fish 6-7” beasthook baits on an XH because the 7’7H was sometimes not getting good hook penetration. The first third is soft, you really need to reel sweep set in most circumstances. I don’t pitch flip often but when I did I had no trouble getting good hook sets in the 10-15’ range. scott

I use it for Arigs, deep cranking, 6” swim baits on a jig head, hair jigs, flutter spoons, swim jigs, small glides, and pitching. The mod/fast action is great but it comes with slightly less sensitivity than a 7’6MH, so I don’t love dragging jigs on it. All my exprides are the A series. scott

wondering as well, the solid tip with a feather(ish) backbone might be a winner. Also, a 7’4 version for boat fishing seems like a nice touch. scott

https://phenixrods.com/product/classic-bfs-casting-rods/ scott

A big fan of straight black coffee, and went full bougie. High quality, whole bean, light roast and making a two cup, pour over, twice a day. The taste and caffeine level have all but ruined me from buying a coffee from all chains and most shops, cold brew being the sometime exception. scott

This might not be something you want to put time into, but a well tied fg knot is my favorite braid to mono/floro connection knot. I don’t know what your specific situation is, but really thin braid can dig in and cut the harder coatings of some lines. Though I haven’t heard of that happening with a uni to uni connection. scott