AdrianLP

They're fairly hard strikes in an area where Largemouth are abundant.

I use 5" Reaction Tackle plastic worms. They are 9.5mm in diameter (0.374016 inch). Last year I had been using 5mm VMC Crossover Rings with them and had no problems. I bought two more packs of 5mm rings early spring. With the same worms this year, I'm finding I'm losing a lot of worms. The bass are pulling them out of the rings! And it's not just one or two, it's two or three per 3 hour fishing trip! I'm not sure if the two packs I bought are a little larger than the 5mm they're supposed to be (I do have calipers, but I keep forgetting to take them with me to check the ring size), or maybe they're a bit softer than the ones I was using last year. What ratio of Crossover Ring size to worm diameter do you folks use? It's frustrated me enough that I switched to using plastic crawfish.

They're amazing! I tried them for the first time last season, and won't go back to O-Rings. As a very rough guide, I think you want 1mm of diameter per inch length of your plastic worm. So I use 5mm rings with my 5" worms. Of course if your worms are fatter/thinner, this may not be accurate. They're not cheap. Knock-offs are starting to appear on Temu for about 1/10th the price from VMC.

You can do the same thing using two o-rings. You cross them, put the hook under where they cross. The hook will stay perpendicular to the worm You can get 100 o'rings on Temu for $1.88 CAD (1.36 USD). You likely won't beat that price at a hardware store, and certainly won't beat that price at a fishing or sporting goods store. I also bought ChatterBait knockoffs for about $2 each (they come in packs of 4 and 5) from them. I bought a pack, I've had great success with them.

We're not saying it is

What if you just switched which hand held which?

Has anyone tried this method? It's very non-traditional, but it looks super fast and really simple.

My mistake, sorry. What you posted is about $100 (cad) cheaper than retail here

But they only have it available for pickup it Chicoutimi Quebec. That's a 6.5 hour drive for me, and it's not available for delivery. It came on sale last year also, but was only available in Quebec last year also.

Having the switch does seem very convenient. If I did not have it I suppose I could get used to it, but a real advantages would have to be pretty high for me to sacrifice the switch.

I'm actually parked right in front of SAIL (Ottawa) at this very instant. Apparently it doesn't open for another 45 minutes. That's a 19 hour drive from my house (which is also in Ontario) ?

I live and work in Ontario ? Why do some not have the anti reverse switch? I couldn't imagine that it adds much weight at all.

How do you live without it? If you over-reel a bit, how do you release line if there's too much tension to easily flip the bail? Example: When I'm not fishing, I will often fasten my leader or swivel to the hook keeper on the rod. For various reasons someone might turn the handle, bending the rod tip a bit. I would usually just flip the antiverse switch, real backwards a half turn, and then turn the anti reverse switch back on.

Given that I've had reels that are very smooth, with great line lay, and are fairly light, I wonder if I'd notice/appreciate any differences by buying an expensive reel. My old Daiwa Revros is only 7.4 oz, 4+1 ball bearing but is very smooth, and has good line lay. I bought it in a combo at Canadian Tire for only about $80 ($60 usd). What things might I observe with a more expensive reel, given that I've been quite happy with reels that are under $50 usd? I did have a KastKing baitcaster that I paid around $60 for, and when I upgraded to a Daiwa Fuego CT baitcaster it was a night and day difference. As long as I set the brakes reasonable on the Daiwa it very rarely gets a birds nest (even when it's windy), whereas the KastKing wasn't nearly so nice. But with my cheap spinning reels I'm not really observing any issues with them before an upgrade.

Thank you That's only $30 cad cheaper than what they retail for here though

Odd that the prices are so low. The miravel is something like $185 cad. And that site, with exchange I think was around $70 cad

The rotary tool I used was actually not a Dremel (it was the same thing minus the branding). It came with a metal filing bit. My Circle Hooks have quite thick barbs, and it only took about 15 seconds per hook.

Seems sketchy, that's about 50% retail here.

I really like my Daiwa Fuego CT (baitcaster). I can cast unweighted plastic worms on it, using 35 lb braid, a reasonable distance.

I cheated. I used a Dremel on my existing barbed hooks, and took the barb off till it was smooth.

And I'm not necessarily dead set on Shimano. Is there a better reel within the price range?

I MIGHT consider a Shimano Stradic, maybe. They're heavier, does the long stroke spool make it worth the extra weight?

I enjoyed my barbless circle hooks and barbless J hooks this season. I don't think I caught any fewer fish than I had any year previous (or it was not noticeably less if so). I'm glad I changed.

I'm considering treating myself again and buying a Shimano Miravel (3,000 size). The 7.2 oz weight appeals to me. Does anyone here own one who would comment on what they think of it? Are they nice and smooth to reel? This is about $180 cad, which is about as much as I'd like to spend on a reel. I also considered a cheaper 13 Fishing C-reed GT (I don't know why the forum censored this without the dash). My father has one. It's fairly light (7.4oz), very smooth, and $50 cad cheaper than the Miravel.

Ya, that's what I use. When tying the knot he's moving the leader (not the mainline). Here's the knot I used today: It's typical of my knots. It didn't break today, but I didn't do any crazy hard casts either. This is 12 lb braid to 10 lb mono.