RipHair

How do you compare their support vs other manufacturers? Anecdotally with various rod companies and also MHX they have a no questions asked, just $25 or whatever replacement, maybe a bit extra for shipping. Whereas I found with them, they seem to be pretty discriminatory on identifying if it was a defect and if not then the process was a bit less clear.

Well, I ended up breaking this rod when a darn bass at the end of last season... Got a replacement tip sent out and redid the tip. At the same time I ended up hacking off 2" and stuck another butt cap on it. It's now a 6'10 and a mighty nice one at that. This was also the rod I posted about before where I thought I was smart putting the barest amount of epoxy on the guides. Well, I added another coat to them all to make them whole. I think it might be interesting to share that the relative ERN and AA changed a bit after hacking off 2": The rod when it was 7'0 had these measurements (taken from another thread): AA: 83.1 IP: 609g ERN: 20.92 Now it looks like we have: AA: 79 IP: 572g ERN: 19.7

Well, I ended up breaking this rod when a darn bass at the end of last season slipped outta my hand, dropped and broke the tip... Got a replacement tip sent out (thankfully it's a 3pc, would have sucked to strip everything off then redo it whole) and redid the tip. At the same time I ended up hacking off 2" and stuck another butt cap on it. It's now a 6'10 and a mighty nice one at that. This was also the rod I posted about before where I thought I was smart putting the barest amount of epoxy on the guides. Well, I added another coat to them all to make them whole. Looking forward to fishing this! I redid

Yeah, order a poutine! Yup it's why I put pickerel/walleye in the title to get accommodate both Canada and US folks. I fished some lakes in Maryland for bass and the d**n chain pickerel kept hitting my lures - got pretty annoying after awhile in fact. Indeed they are like pike basically but real Canadian pickerel are amazing eating. Even Costco in Canada sells frozen pickerel filets haha.

Was on Stoney Lake in the Kawarthas.

I figured the clamshell had a specific reason if they went through all the trouble to make it but it is a bit annoying having a bunch of these in my money bag. I removed the clamshell from one of my rage toads bags and will see if it has any effect over time. Just a bit curious though why the rage brand would need it but the horny toads doesn't?

You're right: I already have a SB841-3 built and it's not very light at all. I guess I'd be looking at the SB720-4 in the Rainshadow RX6. Anyone have CCS specs on this guy?

Hey all, well after ned rigging with my AT841-3 ERN 13.7, AA 77.3 and CCS 346g I'm ordering up the Shimano Aldebaran BFS XG reel and was curious what a good and true BFS rod specs would be to pair with it. The AT841-3 is really nice but unsure if it's really BFS and if not then looking for suggestions on blanks I could use. I guess while we're on the subject, any idea what spec range is considered to be BFS anyway? I think we'd want a relatively high AA above 78 to help with hooksets with ned rigs and other finesse plastics. Plan on pairing with 4-6lb FC.

I bought a bunch of rage toads and shads and they are in a hard plastic mold but horny toads aren't and I'm wondering if I can lose some rigidity in my money bag by just sticking the toads in the bag loose?

Happened to me last night while fishing for pickerel off a drop off in a channel connecting 2 larger parts of the lake. I was probably only 20-30 yards from shore and there was at least 150 yards behind me they could have chosen to pass. Funny thing is there are tons of rocks where the drop off is he was only a few yards from bottoming out. As he passed he also waved at me and the look on his face said he probably had no clue what he was doing. Some people literally have no common sense. Right behind him a fishing boat came to pass, slowed down at least 80 yards away and passed slowly behind me.

I was picking the birdsnests out like I do with braid so yup it's completely on me.. Anyway without braid backing and just FC the line seems to sitting much better which is also helping with the backlash frequency.

Doubtful as the break happened deep in the reel past my max cast. I think the most likely culprit are the birdnests as others are saying. I spooled straight FC on and so far no nests and no breaks but will keep an eye on it. Also got my brother to bring up some Tatsu 12lb in case.

This rod is working pretty well with pretty much everything I'm throwing at it. I haven't tried a weightless wacky 5" senko yet, if it can handle that then this will probably be my main workhorse. The heaviest I tried throwing was a magbass swimbait with a 6/0 weighted jungle hook. It causes the rod to pretty much load to max but I still throw it out there. I may need to build something slightly more heavy for these heavier applications.

This rod was pretty fun pulling in a 3-4lb pickerel up in NE Ontario tonight. Caught using 8lb tatsu FC, 1/8oz VMC halfmoon ned rig. I think as was suggested this is best for ned rigs and other thinner hooks but I may give 5" senko wacky's some more go.

Yup this is in N.E. Ontario. Went out at dusk and used my lightweight rod with 8lb tatsu FC, VMC Halfmoon jig, piece of black blue flake senko and on the 3rd cast where I remember catching them as a kid I hooked one off the bottom. I knew it wasn't a bass and she put up a nice fight especially on this dinky rod. Was probably 3-4lbs and maybe the biggest walleye I've caught yet. Thanks for all the suggestions in this thread - gonna be fun catching more the next couple of weeks and might also target some muskies too.

Hard to say - I did suffer many backlashes but they occurred at maybe 20 yards when I was learning to skip with the weightless wacky. Both breaks happened at my max cast (let's call it 40yds give or take) + 4-5yds of stripping then the line literally just from stripping with no knots or anything literally broke like it wasn't even connected... Never saw this before except maybe in the 80s using 4lb mono I never replaced after 4-5 seasons! Anyway, I stripped the whole shebang off and managed to spool up a full spool of what I had left of the Assassin - will see if it happens again and I'll be sure to pay close attention if/where I get backlashes and how bad the line is crimped, etc.. Thanks for all the replies!

I rigged up 20lbs braid backing and 12lb Sunline Assassin FC on my Shimano baitcaster and at first I had way too much line and kept getting nests so I pared it back until it seemed fine. I also noticed when I stripped the line to the braid that the braid wasn't packed straight and tight and it almost looked as though there were deep channels in the spool of braid. I put the braid on fairly tight so I was a bit surprised by this. After a half day of use casting weightless wacky rigs and I noticed the FC was on too loose at the end of a cast I stripped a bit off and 2 separate times the line broke when I was stripping without any pressure or anything. It broke deep in the spool to where I didn't have any knots or nests as it much about 5-10 strips past my max cast. It's my first time using this FC and I'm not sure what to think about it. The spool is 8 months old and I spooled it up last night. Is this an expected issue? Now I'm stuck with about a max cast until I get to my knot. I think I may strip off all the braid to the bare reel and spool on what I have left of this Sunline Assassin FC. I'll order up some 12lb Tatsu in the meantime as I didn't notice this happening on my spin setup that has 8lb Tatsu.

Thanks for the replies. Of all the terminal tackle I have I actually don't have any ball or football jigheads the closest I have is a ned rig head, shaky heady and some halfmoons.I have cylinder drop shot weights as well.

I realize this is bassforums but figured I'd ask in case. I found myself on a remote island with a huge variety of terminal tackle and all manners of plastics from senkos, toads, swim baits, etc. Bass are hitting real nice but this location also has walleye/pickerel and I'm curious if senkos or plastics might work? I tried a 1/4 oz drop shot with 5" senko wacky and caught something at around 20' around a drop off. The fish got off when it surfaced no idea if it was a SMB or not but I'm gonna be trying again tomorrow around dusk.

I didn't spend enough time with spinning rod to make any sort of real opinion on the reel seat but for sure the rod is very whippy even with just a 5" senko wacky rigged. Also since it's so whippy with not so much backbone I'm wondering how well it will hook bass (I didn't catch one yet on it as I spent more time testing out the baitcasters). Will try this again on Monday to be sure. Just curious, is it the ECSM seat most people tend to like?

I'll finally be trying my builds out tomorrow. Just curious why you think I might dislike it so I can try to see what you mean?

I'm heading up to Canada tomorrow to try out my rigs and I'll snap some pics of my work. I'd be curious to see an example of your coats that aren't like footballs for references. I see your points completely and I appreciate the feedback. I also agree that in the end the epoxy doesn't weigh so much so in all likelihood my experiment was futile...

Funny I had once fished Candlewood lake with a buddy of mine in a 14' jon boat. Granted it was a Saturday or Sunday but I felt as though the whole lake was full of a bunch of people ripping around on their speed boats showing off. Many of them would rip past us a bit too close as well. I didn't feel as though it had a very good fishing vibe there. Thanks I can start researching that area as well. I used to fish as a kid around Skyline drive and the various lakes there but mostly from the shore. Are there many/any quiet, cabin worthy lakes you know of around there?

Black Lake looks really nice. I grew up in Ontario and it's about at the same latitude so I imagine it's pretty close to what I'm used to. Unfortunately though it's a bit far to get to from Manhattan.

I've fished New Croton Reservoir and a few others around the area but mostly on the shore. Curious what really good bass lakes exist within a 2 hour drive of Manhattan (without traffic) that people like fishing. Bonus if maybe it's a body of water with some summer homes/cabins I'd consider buying down the road as well. I hard finger lakes are nice but it might be a bit too far to want to drive to on a Friday after work. Looking mainly for LM/SM, pike is OK, doubt muskies are this far south but those would be good too. Somewhere also near some good trout rivers (Catskills I guess?) for when I want to bring out the fly rig.