T-Billy

It's all fun and games until.......

Love the ejection seat!!! Buckle yer chinstrap!!!

My Grandpa used to tell me that when I go fishing, the sucker's on the wrong end of the pole. ? Honestly, he wasn't wrong... Yup. All three of my girls can shoot circles around their brother. Especially with a pistol.

I think the pro's use the tackle they feel will do the best job of converting bites into fish in the boat. Sometimes I'll fish heavy cover and adjacent structure in open water with the same bait, on my flippin stick, with straight braid. Guess I'm an idiot. My low IQ is probably the reason I can't understand why some of you "experts" feel the need to call people names for doing things differently than you.

Stupid rigged tube. Beaver on a flipping rig with a snelled straight shank. Let 'em fall on a slack line, both will spiral. Both get lot's of bites for me. Flippin rig is better in gnarly tangles and grass. Stupid tube excels in chunk rock.

WRB nailed it. It's all about how the bait loads the rod. Heavier baits will get your MH rods casting like that medium. We tend to be a bit more accurate with shorter rods, but having the bait weight matched to the rods power matters more IMO.

? Somehow I knew this was coming!!! I thought of you as I was posting that.LOL.

I have that Feather ML. Way too soft for the baits mentioned imo. I use it for neds.

Yep. I ain't fishin for money. Sometimes I wanna catch 'em like I wanna catch 'em. Some baits, I just don't enjoy throwing. I won't throw a jerkbait unless I can't get bit on anything else.

The Tharp. Better quality seat and Fuji K Series guides are worth the extra $30 IMO. I've had no issues with my Lancer or Cobb rods though. I think the Tharps offer the best value in the Ark lineup.

That sounds like something a n00b would say. ?

Thanks @FishTank. I appreciate your input brother. I'm not worried about extreme distance, but I throw a chatterbait alot, so good distance with less effort is definitely a plus. I'm happy with the BB1, but as you mentioned, it can be finicky about brake settings for sure. I'm looking forward to taking the Zillion for a spin.

Bought. I have the Do-It 3" and 3.5" ripper, and a 3.8" Impact Fat mold.

I've been shopping around for another chatterbait/spinnerbait/swimjig reel, and had settled on a higher end Lew's, but was still undecided on which one. My BB1 has been excellent for chatterbait duty, but I wanted to try something different on another rod. I've avoided Daiwa because of the T-wing. I'm a fan of the KISS system and the T-wing just seems an unnecessary "feature" that complicates maintenance. Anyhoo... Curiosity got the best of me and, I surrendered to the JDM monkey this morning and ordered a 7 speed Zillion 1000 TW HD from Digitaka. Hard to say no to a $400 reel for $280. Daiwa Gurus, should I not be happy with it out of the box, are there other longer casting spools that will fit it?

Straight to the gas chamber with no due process. Taking police brutality to a whole nuther level. ?

Praying for Y'all.

The bait matters too in how much force is required. The reason I prefer that Sweet Craw over other beaver style baits is it's thick body and lack of a hook slot. It holds the point of a flippin hook really well and allows me to fish it clean through dang near anything. The flip side of the coin is that it requires a heavy action rod and braid to drive the hook home reliably. I've tried fishing this rig on my Tharp "Moneymaker" which is a Mag MH in lighter cover because it's lighter and more sensitive than the flippin stick, but it sometimes just didn't have enough oomph to get the job done. With the flippin stick, I can often blow the bait clean off the hook.

I re-melt them and make them into paddletails with a tail again.

Say it LOUD!!! Say it PROUD!!! ?

Open water, I come tight and sweep into 'em. Pitchin cover, I come tight and try to throw 'em over the boat. This actually costs me some small fish that come off as they're sailing through the air on a slack line. I don't sweat those. I hit 'em all like they're 5+, because sometimes they're 5+. Ya never know until you crack 'em. With big fish in cover, ya gotta drive that big hook home and get 'em coming your way in one motion.

May not be possible in MN, but there's lots of places it is. We're always ice free by late March in my neck of the woods, and the water won't hit 50 until late april. I'd just like to see the pro's fish some tough cold water conditions a tournament or two each year. It'd be interesting to see how they approach it.

Today was even worse. Second day into a cold front, with 15mph winds gusting 20+. Really limited where I could fish. Four bites in 5hrs. I put ONE in the boat. Little one pounder had my chatterbait choked. Missed another chatterbait bite. Had two come off with the Trigged sweet Craw. One came off when I let up pressure after wedging it's head up against a limb. It was about 2#. Dunno what happened with the other. Good hookset, it blew the bait clean off the hook. Big fish, the rod loaded up deep into the blank, then pop, back came my empty hook and 3/8 tungsten at 100mph. Sometimes you're the winshield, sometimes you're the bug. Today I went splat. OP: Solid advice above about downsizing. Another option that works well for me when it gets tough is to get deep into the nastiest wood tangles I can find. The bigger, thicker and brushier the better. Heavy action rod, 40# braid minimum, and straight shank flippin hooks. Anything less will get your heart broke. Here's a couple examples of what I'm talking about. Fishing the perimeter won't cut it. Ya gotta pitch deep into the thickest gnarliest parts. That's where the fish are. Right where most folks won't dare put their bait.

I wish they would. I'd love to see some northern events shortly after ice out, or late in the fall when the water's in the 40's. Most wouldn't be big numbers tournaments, but we'd see some giants caught. I like that idea.

Contradictory terms IMO.

Yep. I load the rod with the hookset and winch on 'em. Lift up, reel down is for bigger fish like musky and catfish. Braid with F, XF, MF. Using a rod with appropriate power for the hook size eliminates ripped mouths.