Fishing_Rod

Good Day! I have over many years purchased several spools of the BassPro Crappie Maxx in 4 pound mono. Interesting line for sure. It has virtues of being strong with a small overall diameter when compared to other 4 pound mono. It is rather stiff, not to the point of not being usable. It works reasonably well for some applications. I've used it on both spinning reels and spin cast reels with reasonable results. Due to the stiff quality you do have to be diligent not to twist it up too much when spooling it on. It does relax some with exposure to water and heat (angling here in Arizona there is plenty of heat). I have not looked at where it was manufactured. I have used it for over 10 years and they have been fairly consistent. I don't use a lot of this line but I do use it. I posted a 5 pound large mouth bass I recently caught in the recent catches thread. That bass was caught using this 4 pound BassPro Crappie Maxx spooled on a Zebco 33 Micro. It was tough enough to hold that beast as it thrashed about in the tree limbs and then later going and holding in deep water till it fatigued. It can come together nicely as a complete successful package (angler, rod, reel, line, bait, and a well tied knot). Good angling! Cheers!

Good Day! Just a recreational angler here and I'll share my $0.02 worth. When shopping I will do a tap test and feel the difference between different rods. My personal preference is using ultra lite rigs so sensitivity is an important factor to me. When doing the tap test I will gently touch different available surfaces to determine the rod's ability to communicate to me. Usually I'll gently poke at one of the hanging products nearby, something that is not a hard fixed object. I can compare how much of the contact force transmits through the rod. Realize this sensitivity aspect is only one factor in selecting a usable fishing rod. Action, flexibility, is also important too. Unfortunately these are often competing qualities so you've got to find your happy solution. I say this cause you may find a really sensitive fishing rod but it may not cast as well due to limited flex, typically found with fast action rods. On the other end of the spectrum you can get a medium or slow action rod that casts really well but it is harder to feel a subtle strike. You'll be more focused to see the strike due to rod tip movement. Good Luck, hopefully happier shopping! Cheers!

Good Day! When angling from shore being stealthy is helpful. Use a relaxed smooth and quiet approach. Startled fish typically don't strike a bait. Many times I find I don't have to cast far. I do have be precise with my casting as I have to make the most of the situation. So for me I'll select a rig that allows me to be able to put the bait within a few inches of my intended destination. Generally I also will use a slightly longer fishing rod for some additional casting distance. Rod length is one of those competing qualities. Too long is a chore to transport and maneuver along cluttered shorelines. Too short doesn't allow enough leverage to reach some destinations. Here the challenge is simply getting to a position where you can access the lake, safely. The reservoirs here in Southern AZ have limited easy shore fishing access. So you have to put in some effort. I have used segmented backpacking rigs assembled when I reach a fishable locations. Just realize when shore fishing you don't always have to send it too far to find fish to taunt. Good Luck! Cheers!

Good Day! Here in SE Arizona there are some distances to travel and occasionally terrain challenges too. The closest lake is roughly 32 miles away but that takes a 50 minute drive if conditions are favorable. Many of the other lakes and parks are usually a two hour transit. Driving up to central AZ (PHX metro) takes over three hours). Some of the remote streams (for small mouth bass) require high clearance 4x4 vehicle capable of moderate to advanced off road capability. So it does take additional time to get there and back. Oh the remote locations have no services (cell phone or other). Additional challenge added to these adventures. Usually for day only trips about 3 to maybe 3.5 hours transit is the reasonable limit as that only leaves you about that same amount of time to fish and then depart for a reasonable return time. Obviously it would be nice not to have that transit burden. However, these are 'adventures' and there are things worth doing. I will admit I do put a lot of mileage on my family truckster goofing off taunting fish. Cheers!

Good Day! Great advice presented that I concur with based on personal experience. A bead helps greatly to protect the knot from being hammered. I found a package low cost of glass beads (rounded, melted for that sort of smooth look like a miniature doughnut) at the local hobby store jewelry section. On very light weight applications I've have used a glass bead occasionally as a weight. I have tried the palomar knot in the past. I found it could withstand high tensile loads. It didn't do so well with high shock loads. That compelled me to seek and experiment with different knots to meet that high load with occasional high shock loading. What I have found are bulkier alternative knots tend to cushion the shock loading better than the compact knots like the palomar. I generally use lighter strength mono lines and wanted to share my findings. Good luck in finding a workable solution. Realize you just need enough input to pin them, save the rest of the line strength so you can get them in and pose for that glorious selfie. Cheers!

Good Day! Even more fall fishing fun had at Parker Canyon Lake this weekend. I have been so fortunate to make the most of this fall season. In each of the past three weekends I have caught and released a 5.2, 4, and this weekend a 5 pound large mouth bass. Here is this weekend's trophy large mouth bass catch with release. I put the yak aground in a small cove to hold it in place from the breeze so I could relax a bit from paddling. While against the shore, I put a cast across the small cove to a near by flooded tree. The first cast using my little Zebco 33 micro using four pound mono landed near edge of the tree branches and produced a nice bluegill. Feeling a bit more ambitious I decided my next cast would be a precision effort putting the small soft plastic multi-legged crappie bait on a jig deeper into the tree between a couple of branches. Hey, better lucky than good, right? Yes, it landed where I wanted which was deeper towards the center of the tree. I felt a small tap when it bait settled in the roughly 1.5 foot shallow water. Cool, another bluegill. I'm going to need to haul back on it to get it out of the branches. Yeah, right... The rod totally loaded up and the fish on the other end was upset with me. It turned and went even deeper into the tree branches and other floating stuff. I could see branches moving from it bumping into them. My little Zebco 33 micro was screaming with the drag ripping line through the extremely strong surge. Oh crap I've caught another catfish. I thought that initially as the surge was strong and unyielding. Fortunately it didn't last as long as I thought a catfish would pull. During the pause, I managed to wind in a few cranks before it changed direction and moved out of the tree. Lucky for me the line didn't snag on anything as the fish moved to the deeper water of that cove. At least there I would have more of a chance of bringing this to a successful conclusion. Even just getting to see it would be cool. It pulled and stayed deep for the longest of time. You are only able to apply slight leverage when using this ultra lite rig. So basically I am just an audience member to this show. The fish managed to stay pinned to the small barbless jig. I got my first glimpse at about three meters from the yak when it rolled and headed back towards deeper water. I saw the big broad side of the fish and realized then it was no catfish! Golly! It does seem that the peak of intense fall catching fun has passed in the past couple of weeks. Fish were not as aggressive as they were in past weeks. I suspect the cooler temperatures influences this. There are still plenty of fish that are willing to play as long as you are able to make precision casts presenting baits near them. A very good time out there. A nice mix of top water, suspended, and deep presentations produced these results. All fish were caught using smaller, less than 3 inch, soft plastic baits on ultra lite rigs with four pound mono. Good fishing (catching), Cheers!

Good Day! It depends what your particular goals are for "casting". You mentioned the injured shoulder and that is a key point. If you look at casting from the perspective of a pivot point you can help to figure out what can work well for you. Example: At one extreme there are those that try to use their shoulder as the pivot point where the whole arm is involved with casting (along with the length of the fishing pole). Others use the elbow as the pivot point. This is where the elbow is held in a single position and all the action rotates at the elbow. You can simply hold the arm still and simply pivot at the wrist too. Each pivot point serves different casting styles from long bombing to short distance precision presentations. Realize how much effort and efficiency you want to put into a cast. It is possible to use very little (arm, wrist) motion input into a flexible rod to load up and rebound a nice roll cast. Just one of the reasons it is really popular with those that fish for extended periods. You don't want to exhaust or injure yourself with too much dynamic repetitive motions. There are plenty of video references out there on the internet showing some really impressive effective and precision casting being done. Over the years I've managed to find more fish using more precision casting rather than the long bomb casts. I find it is about conservation of energy, mine! Good Luck, Cheers!

Good Day All, Ultra-lite angling is my primary method here in SE Arizona. Usually it is a 4.5 - 5 foot ultra-lite action pole. Four pound mono line, usually the low cost Zebco bulk spool on a 500 series Shimano reel. The low overall weight and balance allow for comfortable accurate casting all day long. Most of the time I'm tossing a 1.5 - 2 inch curly tailed grub on 1/32 oz jigs. It works well for multi-species catching. This past weekend out at Parker Canyon Lake the monsoon rains have brought the lake to full pool. The fish were all over the newly flooded areas so being out on the yak and casting to structures produced a lot of action. Occasionally you do significantly larger fish. All are fun on ultra-lite gear but some are exceptionally fun! Pretty happy to be on-line with that type of content. Yay!

Good Day All, I recently was able to find and procure a set of the Ozark Trail 7 inch aluminum fishing pliers. So far they have provided good utility. Comfortable to use and reasonably good quality. More robust than using the stainless steel curved jaw hemostats when dealing with bass lures rather than small trout flies. The side cutters work well too. My understanding that WD = Water Dispersent intended for use with electronics. Limited lubrication application. Not recommended for angling due to toxicity. Kinda stinky too. Cheers!

Good Day All, I started angling using mono. Back in the day it was Stren or Trilene. Then when braid became available I tried several types. I soon realized all the extra fun involved with using braid such as grooved out line guides. The high cost was just one of the factors that brought me back to mono. These days ultra lite fishing using low cost Zebco bulk spool mono in four pound. The fall fish catching is on here in SE AZ. Small two inch curly tailed grub on a 1/32 oz jig worked about all the newly flooded structures. We are grateful this year's monsoon season has brought several of the regional lakes back to full pool from being several meters down for so long. Here are a couple of the noteworthy fall fishy fun. The weather is lovely and so is the catching! Four pound mono works rather well. Cheers!

Good Day All, Something fishy out there in this fall weather we are having here in SE AZ. A great time goofing off at Parker Canyon Lake. Our seasonal monsoon brought PCL up to full pool after being several meters down for some time. There is a break in the rainy weather with enough time for the fish to get comfortable with all the newly flooded shorelines. So catching was awesome! Upper double digit taunting, catching & release, of small sunfish and other fish species. Using ultra lite 5 foot on 4 pound mono with a curly tailed grub on a 1/32 oz jig. Easy and accurate casting amongst all the flooded shrubs and plants while floating the yak from one spot to another was very successful. The yak attack on the lake was great till you get hauled into the trees or branches from hooking onto a larger stronger fish. The channel cats wanted to play quite a bit too. Rather tough to get them pose for the camera. They can get rather wiggly while waiting for the timer to count down. Of course the large mouth bass were willing to play too. Most were yearlings but then there are those that are exceptionally fun, exhausting, and thrilling. A friendly bass angler was near by to watch the drama unfold as I dealt with this one hauling me and yak into a tree and me being the hot mess trying to keep tension on the barbless jig while paddling single handed to clear the mess of the tree and low branches to finally get it clear into open water so I could simply tire it out and get a look at it and get it eventually into the net. Yeah, the jig slid out right after getting it sort of into my smallish landing net. It took me a few minutes to sort it all out and recover. They provided their scale to measure it at 5.2 lbs. Good fall fun! Have an awesome time out there. Just let's be careful too! Cheers!

Four inch curly tailed power worm with a 1/16 oz bullet weight, texaposed with EWG hook. I had been working the weedless worm around various rocks doing the cast and drag. I caught a few bass that way in the triple digit heat. I was then inspired to swim that bait by another large rock just to see what would happen. It was swimming just under the surface, enough to create a visible wake. That is when a bass darted out from the adjacent rock and rolled on it. A spectacular sight! Better yet my geriatric reflexes are optimally tuned to simply wait for the load on the line before responding. Fantastic when it call comes together. Cheers!

I am in the camp of go fishing at every opportunity. The provisions are that it be safe. Here in Arizona the weather is always a factor to consider. Fishing in the triple digit heat requires extra considerations. Now add our seasonal 'monsoon' weather and you are looking at the regional skies often to make sure you are able to reach safe harbor from the frequent thunderstorms. Rain is not too much of an issue by itself. The 70 MPH winds with the monsoon storms is another concern. Throw in the abundant lightning and you'll not be too motivated to be holding a fishing rod. I enjoy fantastic fishing most of the time. I have enjoyed some fantastic catching right after some gentle rains. I'm guessing the showers knocked bugs onto the water and caused a top water party. I didn't have a top water type bait but I sure worked that crappie jig (curly tailed grub) like a modest speed swimbait and caught all sorts of sunfish and bass cruising the surface just after the summer showers. Cheers!

You and your wife are in our thoughts and our prayers. All moments are special.

Apparently they also have Manley Fishing Pliers too.

I recommend the air blast solution. If you don't have access at home, simply stop by a local mechanics shop and simply ask. Another alternative is to use a business card to slide in there and hopefully knock out the debris.

Happy Friday! I'm just a recreational angler. I find it is really good to get rid of the skunk as soon as possible. I'm all about catching fish. Each opportunity is special. In the case of tournament angling, every opportunity to catch fish is vital and valuable to your success. As with other sports you are up against a clock so it if important to maximize your catching. You do this by simply angling as much as you can. I often see folk fussing about this or that. They are greatly failing to utilizing time with bait in the water. They are too concerned with other factors and missing the opportunities for success. You really don't get to select the fish you to catch, you encourage them to strike. So catch as many as you can so you can sort through the results. Ya gotta catch them first. Good Luck and have a great time catching fish. Cheers!

Happy Friday! I have used a variety of light and dark colors, with/without glitter, solid or multi-colored in the murky water lakes (ponds) here in Southern AZ and I don't have a strong conclusion to share. I typically fish on the shallower side, 15 feet or less. I do appreciate how effective the TRDs, standard and big, work when used on the jig head or weedless. I have been using the weedless configuration more as I snag less while still hooking up. Throwing the weedless configuration is more carefree when working about structures, rocks, overhanging branches, reeds and etc. The standard TRD size has been more effective than the big version in generating strikes. I hope this helps. Cheers!

Good Day ArtificialLureCaster, and et al., Congratulations on your efforts in learning the bait cast reel. I can empathize with you on so many common areas. I am mainly a recreational ultra lite angler. I am not all that invested in heavy equipment but I do want some level of capability. So keeping things at a low cost is helpful and a restriction / constraint I’m willing to live with. I purchased a low cost, sub $50 USD, reel from our local large retailer. It seemed of reasonable quality when compared to more expensive, within possible budget options. Basically it was good enough for my intended use and level of use. So lessons learned to share with you and others in a similar situation. I understood that there would be a learning curve. That being said I did use low cost bulk monofilament line and started at 15 lb. I eventually after learning to smooth out my casts have moved down in size. I have gone as low as four pound mono but that was problematic, not for the backlash but the tendency to catch the lip of the spool. I currently use six or eight pound mono. The other thing is lure weight. I have realized due to the inertial mass of the line and spool the combination of a soft plastic bait and 1/8 oz jig or weight is about the lowest reasonable, usable to me. I don’t have to be too cautious and diligent and still have some reasonable casting accuracy with usable distance. Heavier lure combinations are no issues as they are easier and more forgiving to user error. I applaud and encourage you to continue your efforts. I found it was easier to set my magnetic brakes at 70% or greater as a starting point. I also adjust the spool tension knob at just tighter than when you detect lateral axle movement. It was easier to practice casting with the heavier magnetic setting as it would not go as far yet I could easily adjust down as confidence built. This for me was better than dealing with the repeated delays of clearing the reel. I get more quality casting practice to experience the reel’s handling qualities. Also due to the inertial mass mentioned I found the release point needed to occur earlier in the casting arc than with using spinning reels. Yes, as others have mentioned you have to adjust the use profile for each type of reel. You still swing about the same arc you just have to adjust your starting point back adjusting the release point so the bait will land where you intend. Lastly I found due to the bait cast retrieve ratios being generally much faster in bringing line than spinning reels. I had to relax my cranking pace along with frequent pauses to generate more lure interest resulting in higher catch rates. I was simply moving the bait too fast. I wish you much angling enjoyment with hopes of gratifying fish catching! Cheers!

I have not noticed a significant change in bass catch rates between the lakes / ponds that are stocked versus those that are not. This is just based on observations about southern Arizona for several decades. Usually the lakes / ponds are stocked periodically during the colder months. Historically some waters didn't get stocked with trout for various reasons, typically poor water quality. During those times the bass and sunfish would still play occasionally. While catching bass during the colder months does slow down, it doen't stop from my experience. I will say using ultra lite rigs, curly tailed crappie grubs on 1/32 oz jigs, or small 3 inch weedless worms work all year long catching bass, trout, sunfish, and the occasional catfish too.

First off I am a recreational angler. So my goal is focused on the recreation aspects. Casting and catch'n are what I'm there to do. So as other have mentioned, fish have been taunted at all portions of the retrieve from bait entry to exit. I tend to work the bait throughout the process. Unless compelled to shorten the process I'll work it through the whole length. The up close strikes tend to be startling and intense. It appears the fish know the bait is about no longer be available and it invokes the hit it hard and hit it NOW response. It supports that phrase, "better lucky than good".

I often reference the historic commercial with Jack Palance where he says with authority, "Growing Old Is Not For Sissys." I did recently spend time searching for a particular lure hidden away. So I can share empathy. Due to medical convalescence I am temporarily restricted to just angling from shore so I've had to simplify my kit dramatically. Fortunately the local fish are willing to play even with a reduced set of enticements. Yup, growing old with style! Cheers!

Good Day All, Over the years of trying different things to address that particular issue of spool flop. Lately I have resorted to clamping a screw driver for the axle. The handle acts as a bushing only engaging the area near the spool opening thus avoiding the flopping about. Additionally I offset by a few degrees from vertical which seems to make the whole process smoother, less opportunity for the line to jump from the spool. I can wind away at a modest pace while maintaining a consistent tension throughout the process. I use an old used water soaked sock to pinch about the line to provide that tension while reeling in. Cheers!

Since you are the customer you are to receive what you paid for. Any variation from that must be agreeable by both parties, customer and retailer. Suggest you contact the retailer and have them present options to you for consideration. Reputable retailers will make sure you are a satisfied customer. Good Luck! Cheers!

Just a casual recreational angler so I’ve got to be compelled with a significant reason to change things. So no I don’t just change out hooks cause they are not the right ‘brand’. I’ve not found a commercial bait yet that didn’t have hooks sharp enough to draw blood if you weren’t careful. So as long as they are sharp enough I’m good with them. Others have their reasons for changing out hooks and when budget and time permit, I hope it provides gratification. I’d much rather spend my time taunting fish using what I’ve got as it has demonstrated to be suitable for the task at hand. I have recently been experimenting. I’ve converted some of my lures to single hooks, away from trebble hooks. My intent is to minimize hook trauma while improving ease of hook removal for successful release. So far I’ve had good success with the few I’ve changed out. I realize there are some lures that don’t track well, or have the similar action with a single hook so it is not an absolute comprehensive conversion effort. I’ve found using soft split ring alternatives to be more of an improvement to hook up ratios than using a particular hook (type or brand). A soft split ring is a bit of braided line used to connect the hook to the bait rather than a metal split ring. Testing continues as it is a new year with a new fishing license. Bonne Chance! Cheers!