Cody28

Super fluke Texas rigged is all you need. Ideally with a heavy wire hook to help cast it a bit further and to help it sink a bit faster giving it a good shimmy. Twitch pause twitch twitch pause (just mix it up). Little known fact this technique can even be done with a senko type worm. It will dart pretty good as well. Let it fall to the bottom once in a while to get that shimmy going. Works wonders in ponds like these. Secondary options would be a Ned rig light enough that it doesn’t get caught in the muck or a running either a bladed jig or swim jig above the bottom.

It is very large, but I like the Lew's Mach HatchPack. Holds 3700's and you do not need to lay it down to access the trays. It stands up on its own and unzips from the top. I used to have a plano which worked really well, but annoyed me due to having to always lay the bag on its back to pull out trays.

From experience, I absolutely love the St. Croix Victory 7'3" MHF and I always jump to state that whenever someone asks. It does just about everything well, but is my favorite rod for 1/2 oz and under jigs/swim jigs. It is much better than the bass x or the furry as it should be for the price. Its sole weakness, is that it does not throw weightless plastics well. It has a slightly more moderate taper than a true fast imo which makes it hard to load up very light lures for casting. What are you looking to throw on it?

Very very busy lake for pleasure boating. Largemouth bass only I believe and other species, but no smallmouth. I would take a look at lakes in Michigan (like Lake St. Claire) if possible or Lake Erie near the Sandusky or Buffalo NY areas. They are crazy good smallmouth fisheries and have guides that can take you out to the right spots.

I ended up getting the echomap. It keeps notifying me I knees to get a micro sd card on the Active Captain app. Any clue if this is actually necessary?

Does lakevu, which is preloaded on some garmin echomaps, cover smallish inland lakes? I mostly fish Portage Lakes in northeast Ohio, but also some bays off of Lake Erie. Money aside, I’m wondering if I should get the echo map or stick with the striker series.

Thanks!

I received the catalogue for the first time this year. Is this an event you have to go to or will these sales be online too?

Seems ideal since my dock is not near a power source.

I do like not love the bass x rods, but they are not representative of the company as a whole. Even the mojo bass are a huge step up from the bass x and they just keep getting better from there

I have really fallen in love with my St. Croix Victory rods for $200. They're light and much more balanced than previous St Croix rods I've owned. They have some interesting tapers though, so let me know if you need any advice on them. My favorite is the 7'3" MHF for overall versatility up to 1 oz., but the 7'3" HXF has a super whippy tip and firm backbone making it good for a wide array of lures. Do be warned tho it is a heavy rod only rated up to 7/8 oz because of that tip.

I have a small 14 foot boat that I built a deck on. I’m storing my trolling motor battery under the deck, so it is a pain to get to it to charge. I am also moving onto a small lake where I will be able to keep the boat docked in the water, so I would love to not have to take the battery out of the boat to charge. Is there any product that I can charge up and connect on the boat to charge the battery underneath? Really stretching here I know haha. Thanks for any input.

I’m really pushing it even looking at 300 bucks, but didn’t wanna spend 300 if 350 is a lot better. Not being able to get on the water is putting a hole in my pocket. Maybe I’ll keep saving haha.

Does anyone know if the Daiwa SV 103 limited is worth the extra money over the original version? I know there are are some cosmetic changes, but other than that what deserves $100 increase? In my mind, that price is getting close to the new zillion sv which might be worth a look instead? Both look sweet just want some opinions on them since I can’t handle them personally.

Hi. Sorry for replying to an old thread but I am very interested in the rip n chatter rods. I mostly fish 3/8 bladed jigs and since the bottom lure weight is 1/2 I am unsure. Do you have issues casting 3/8 oz lures with it?

Yes I do lol. My bad.

So in theory (since I can’t get it out on the water right now) which reel would you use for say a light jerkbait rod, the Curado 70 mgl with a 12 oz spool but smaller line capacity OR the Lew’s TP LFS with 10 oz spool and larger line capacity? Did I mention I’m getting antsy? Lol

If you’re worried about having to retie a lot you would want to go with the smaller spool size. In either case, when you lose line off your reel you’re gonna want to replace the spool so you get the correct amount of line back in per handle turn. This is going to occur at the same rate for both reels, but when you have to replace the line on a smaller spool you don’t have to use as much. Sorry if I’m just hashing up old news but I came across this while looking into these reels.

Anyone have an idea why the 70 size is $40 more than the 150 size? Wouldn’t the breaks be “worse” with less pins?

I'm getting ants in my pants since there is ice where my water used to be. Tinkering with my gear lead me to throwing spools on my scale which got me thinking. How much does spool weight really matter? MGL is praised for throwing light lures but my Curado 71 MGL has a 12.7 g spool, while my Lew's Tournament Pro (40 bucks cheaper and not advertised for light lures) has an 11.5 g spool. Is it the spool size that makes the bigger difference? Any thoughts?

You did not get a bad reel. I have 2 and I completely agree. Everyone tells me I'm crazy and they like theirs, but I do not. Its only good with heavier lures.

This ^^

Sounds to me like you want the 73MHF. The rod is weirdly more stout than the 71MHF, but loads deeper into the blank than the 73HXF which makes it very versatile. I primarily use mine for swim jigs, t rigs, and dragging footballs around, but it is also a great spinnerbait rod/swimbait rod. I use a mod fast rod for chatterbaits, but thats just me. The only thing it does not do well is toss weightless plastics. Something about the tip action does not like them.

I ended up sending it back and they replaced it with a rod with much worse cork (literally can push the handle together closing the loose gap in the cork). Feels almost spongey now. Plus the base of the eyes are popping through the resin leaving sharp edges. Idk what the heck happened. My other victory rod is the best finished rod I’ve ever get owned.

I fish almost entirely St. Croix, but also have some Lew’s. I have tried other brands, but really got hooked on St. Croix. Most of my Lew’s stuff was bought early on in my fishing journey due to it being readily available and low price for the quality. Still love the ones I’ve kept though.