thediscochef

Big game only recently took a back seat to the yo-zuri super braid for me, that stuff is quiet and really strong. Little memory after getting wet. But I have a 330yd spool of big game always handy near my spooler.

Big game is surprisingly great for its price. I preferred it to the super8slick v2 of all things.

I like the 1/8 a lot for the slower fall rate and compact presentation options, opens up some finesse type actions that are tougher to get at slow speeds with heavier lures and will outfish others at a heavily pressured pond. I don't own a pot but this whole thing has me thinking I should get one. The lures I've made work really, REALLY well on the slow retrieve I prefer with a chatterbait, but they do circles when I try to bring them in with speed. They catch fish, though, as well or better than the zman micros when fished slow. Eliminating a split ring using a flat eye jig made a huge huge difference. As Marling Baits would say, "It's offishial"

This is the chatterbait head of my dreams...if it's 1/8oz My only reason for getting into making chatters was to make a micro with an actual baitkeeper... The thick lead base hasn't caused me any issues on the ones I've made and they work well, much easier to make the ones I do than it is to find chartreuse micros and they punch through weeds better. I've found the offshore angle stand-up jigheads with the open eye hook eliminate a split ring and retain the action I want. Always excited to try something new though

StewMac makes great guitar luthery products. In another life I did luthery. And the next life after that, I worked with industrial coatings. I now run Audio for TV but the coatings knowledge remains. The best thing I've found so far is the Sally Hansen Extreme Wear Nail Clear. You can brush it on thinly and it dries fast enough that your original paint won't peel or liquefy. I caution only one coat though, as additional coats make it more brittle instead of less brittle and will eventually cause peeling. One layer of color may also be added. Give both 36 hours of cure time before use or it will still be soft. I like to add gold glitter over my chartreuse, red flake over my green pumpkin, plus a clear. It is important to note that the clear will dull over time, but the integrity of the coating is intact. I've never understood why lure companies couldn't find a way to use a surface tolerant epoxy or something like that I understand the micron thickness becomes an issue with most immersion epoxies but a rustoleum 9100 series clear coat or something like that would really make a huge difference albeit the costs would likely be dramatically higher with diminished profits on longer-lasting lures.

I'm shorebound for the most part but I started with jigs and finesse fishing so those are simple. Big swimbaits and stuff like that are relatively easy to maneuver but I don't use them because I like catching all sizes of fish and would rather catch quantity over quality. crankbaits have always caused more trouble to me than they've been worth and unless I get one that floats or just doesn't go beyond 4 to 6 feet I wind up leaving them in the hydrilla or rock pile. Plus I hate working with treble hooks so...

Smart

Might try doing a weight test with progressively heavier dumbbells before you spool it, if it breaks at 2lb you save some time and hassle though I read you like to spool/unspool so maybe just spool it on up? I feel you on the spooling/unspooling though. If I lose more than 10 yards of my braid I change it, those extra 10 yards of line on my spinning gear is generally the difference between reaching the reedline or not. But with proper equipment spooling and unspooling is really quite fun and there's nothing like fresh line.

I'd contact the manufacturer, they usually like to handle these kinds of things.

The only likely issue I forsee here is the style of weave used to make the line, plus perhaps the size of individual filaments used. Could make for a really noisy, weak, inconsistent, or insensitive line. However it could work and I'm all about experimenting cheaply...I await your results.

I have a large collection of soft plastics that I give and take from, only so much will fit in the fanny pack at a time. All of them taught me something about swim action and fishing different actions differently, which is worth something to me. But yeah sometimes I look at The Box™ and realize I could have a whole replacement of my favorite rod/reel combo with what's in there. It happens.

Almost all of my gear is 6.2:1 spinning on 7 foot. I've never owned a baitcaster as I hardly ever throw anything over 1/8oz. I'll probably get one someday when I start getting into live baits or larger baits but for now my gear allows me to catch some heavy fish if I hook them (19.1lbs blue cat is the max so far on my bass tackle), but also the ability to fish for dinks through thick reeds and land at least something when others aren't. I think if I were on a boat I would likely want a baitcaster and heavier tackle but I'm almost exclusively on the shore for right now.

I'm partial to 4 carrier braid personally, my most recent discovery has been the Yo-Zuri super braid 20#. very quiet and retains color very well. I use the yellow, the blue, and the green. I use green P-line Flouroclear as a leader either in 10, 12, or 20 pound variety depending on location. It's my absolute favorite leader material, but I would never spool it as a mainline. That seems like a recipe for a very frustrating day. The breakage hasn't really been a problem for me unless I rush my knot tying or cast with a compromised leader. I use double uni and palomar knots and it holds just as well as any fluoro or mono I've tried. The only time I use true fluoro is when I'm fishing rock piles. I've not tried any of the P-line braid but the Yo-Zuri has effectively ended my search for braid at the moment after trying several others. 832 is very good, my favorite among the 8 carrier lines that I've used.

So you need two things to do what I'm suggesting. But if you have a decent spinning combo, you should take $10 of that and: 1. get a zman chatterbait micro, either black or chartreuse 2. little box of bass pro split tail 3" stick-o in Summergill. 3. Rig it with fins vertical and get rid of the skirt. 4. Enjoy catching largemouth.

Zman makes TRD Crawz in motor oil and greasy prawn that have been big sunfish and juvie bass catchers for me this year on a ned

Yeah that would likely be a Toledo Bend trip or an excuse to go to Florida ? which would give me the opportunity to do some saltwater stuff too. Also thinking Port A for red season...

2021 is my first year really fishing on a regular basis and is therefore my best so far. But it's been a great year overall if not a little bittersweet. Dad passed in January and I inherited his gear; I finally found work that lets me fish anywhere from 3-10 times per week back in the spring. There's been some frustrating moments and difficult lessons but I have a lot to be proud of considering how I started. Since I started jig fishing from the shore in March, I've landed 67 fish over 1lb across eight species, albeit only one bass species. Most have been largemouth or blue cat. I set personal best in Hybrid Gar (37.8lb), Largemouth (5+), Smallmouth Buffalo (10.8) and Blue Cat (19.1), with the cat being a water body record. I've also had a segment of three weeks skunk, several heavy fish lost, and much frustration. I'm about to go register my little jon boat and I have an engine on the way for it, so that I can finally get off the shore for a while. I found gear that works really well for what I do, and now it's more about using the stuff than getting the stuff (I'm always looking for good vertical tail baits still). The places I fish are popular and regularly pressured and it would be nice to find some friends with bigger boats or private ponds - somewhere I'm not having to watch where I cast to avoid the lines of others. I'm excited about 2022 for so many reasons - boat, less learning curve, etc - but most of all I'm booking a fishing trip somewhere out of state. I haven't decided whether I want to go to in search of double digit largemouths, my first ever smallmouth, some inland salmon, or white sturgeon. But whatever I choose...it will be posted ?

Sometimes what gets me excited about fishing again is taking a break from my usual species or bait to learn something new. I also get a kick out of combining gear that wouldn't normally be paired together. Eventually you stumble onto something that works, and then you get to figure out why. Sometimes experimentation or fishing for a totally different thing is just what the doctor ordered. Carp fight HARD and are a lot of fun. But with all things that you have a choice in doing, fun should be the main objective. What I would give to have the old man to fish with again. Always a good time, always a goofball. I always outfished him, except our last trip. He smoked me, which makes me smile.

My first ever trip I caught a 5lb channel cat on a rebel popr with a heavy worm weight on it to drag the bottom. I then went three weeks skunk ??

Googan is king in the marketing world right now as far as I can tell...I see them all over the place. Doesn't help that I live about five minutes from their HQ. I'm not personally a fan of their plastics, they tear really easily and get beat up pretty quick. Then again I'm used to indestructible (by comparison) ElaZtech so my opinion my be flawed.

Honestly a lesser appointment would have been moved but this was important and involved money. It was also like 90 degrees here that day and it would have been an absolute disaster in the back of my Civic. ? I catch 5-10 pounders out at that spot pretty regularly during five day spans that have a full or new moon in the middle, so we eat good size cats pretty regularly I am also generally catch and release 99% of the time, I'm mostly here for the rush of catching and handling oh on a positive note though, I did finally catch some largemouths yesterday. I had to lose one fish for every pound of that catfish before I did though. Hopefully my karmic debt is paid ?

So I caught this on the last cast of the day - I needed to leave for an appointment so I took pictures and tossed her back. I didn't have an ice chest or a safe manner of transport either. Coulda fed my whole group with that thing...

I am a spooky ghoul, LOL!

This is the last fish I caught...three days and four trips ago. I wish I'd had my buddy with me cause we could have had it certified as a water body record for Blue Catfish. Since then...I've been skunked the last two days...had 17 fish spit my hook. 17!!! One of which was a Gar I managed to get half onto the bank before it snapped me off. I feel like I'm never going to catch anything again, makes me want to pull the remaining bits of hair I have left

I've often found that sometimes it's the things you "shouldn't" do that work best on off days. I rig finesse plastics on 1/8oz chatterbaits and catch stuff like I did today: