07Rapala

I mean, the reason I like it is because I use it for a lot of things. It could possibly be my only rod for most of my smallmouth fishing, finesse jigs, ned rig, finesse swimbaits and drops shot. In a pinch you can use it for finesse crank baits and smaller jerk baits. Yeah, I caught a pretty nice ~18" smallmouth about 10 minutes before the break, so I know it wasn't damaged ahead of time, then I got this tangle, I can't remember how, but I think I was throwing swimbaits, so maybe a bad cast. Maybe I should have cut and retie, but I had a lot of line out, and the fishing was starting to pick-up and I didn't want to take the time, I thought I could get it out.

I have a 7'3" medium-light extra-fast St. Croix Victory rod, which I love, it is (was) my favorite rod. But this is the second of these rods that I've broken the tip off of. Exact same spot. In this case, I got my line wrapped around the tip and I was applying just a little pressure with my thump as I was pulling the line out and it snapped. This seems like a real weak point in these rods, and has me wondering if I should replace it under St. Croix's generous replacement policy. Would ponying-up for a slighter higher end St. Croix rod get me something stronger, or should I a similar configuration from another brand?

That actually helped quite a bit. Got a few good ideas from some of those Bass Master lists. Could use a few more though.

I'm heading to FL for spring break the last week of March. We'll be spending a couple days just south of Cape Canaveral, then I'll have a full day around Orlando while the rest of my family is at Disney ("I'd rather be fishing"), and finally 3-4 days around Crystal River. Up here in WI the bass only get so big, so I'd love to catch some BIG Florida bass while I'm down there. But I'll be fishing from my solo canoe. I have a preference for paddling and fishing more natural areas, but could tolerate some time on a busy/developed lake if it meant a better chance for bigger fish. So I'm wondering about... Fishing around Cape Canaveral / Coco Beach (was looking at St. John's River). Good fishing less than an hour from Disney. Waters to hit near Crystal River (the Withlacoochee River looks like a good paddle, but is it good fishing?) I may have a day or two to spend in N. Florida on the drive down/back north. Is there anything worth hitting along I-75 or over towards the Okefenokee? Thanks!

I'm driving down to FL for spring break, meeting the rest of my family who will be flying down. I have a few days to do some paddling in my canoe and fishing for smallmouth along the way. Can anyone recommend some quality smallmouth waters on or near this route?

One thing no-one has mentioned is: choose your battles. I live a couple blocks from a 3,300 acre. Live near the NE shore, and of course the prevailing wind around here is from the SW. So I may choose to launch at another part of the lake that keeps me out of the wind more, or a bay, or fish a stream instead if the wind is too strong. There's always someplace that works.

This is the best summary of the advantages of a bait caster. Thanks for that. Yeah, you know, not exactly a fly rod, but I did some trout fishing this summer with a light, moderate, maybe even slow action rod. The bait casting type of casting action was much more effective at tossing those tiny bits. What I have learned trying use baitcasting gear has made me better at casting overall.

I had 12lbs Gouken on my med-heavy, moderate (moving baits) rod, but I snagged something in the back of my boat and got the most insane birds nest and had to cut it out. Went to my bait shop and the best they had was Berkeley Vanish. Not sure if that's cheap or not. I don't love how fluorocarbon fluffs when I cast, the latter is worse for this than the former for sure, more memory. I think I've gone through 3-4 spools of line in 2 season because of how hopelessly tangled fluorocarbon gets when it backlashes. The other two reels have 9-strand braid, Suffix 832 I think. I had been reading about some of the pros and cons of various braking systems. I was trying to get a Lews Custom (not the Pro, I don't have that kind of money) this spring as I read it had very good brakes, but my bait shop's distributor was out of the Lew's, so I went with the SLX MGL instead.

I think one of my issues is that fishing from a canoe, I'm sitting facing forward in the boat, and I'm at the whims of the wind and current, so I'm not always facing where I want to cast to. When I've practiced casting on dry land, it's been much easier than sitting in the boat, and easier yet than in the boat trying to cast backwards at 45-degrees. Also, I live on a chain of natural lakes with a crazy amount of weed growth in the summer. So you either fish the weed line, or my solution for fishing amongst the weeds is to go with lighter lures that will settle on-top of the vegetation, rather than just dig into the foot of filamentous algae on the bottom of the lake during the summer months. So I'll only use at most a 1/4oz bullet weight, on a 10" worm for example. Most of the time I prefer a 8" worm with a 1/8oz or a swimming worm with a 1/16oz nail weight. Fishing rivers, I find the complexity of fishing in moving water makes dealing with baitcasters even more trouble. I had thought that medium-fast would have been awesome for dropping baits behind rocks and fallen trees, but I still get better accuracy with my spinning rod, plus I'm not working on a birds-nest while floating downstream towards who knows what. OK, point taken on the faster retrieve speed. I don't fish tournaments though, so I think it would be a marginal gain for me. Maybe I'll pick-up a Revo Rocket someday though. I really don't notice much difference between my 6:1 and 8:1 baitcasters. It does make me feel better that I have the right reel for the job though 👍. As for line twists, hasn't been much trouble, sure I have gotten a mess of twisted line ever couple of seasons it comes up (including 2 weeks ago) but not often enough for me to worry about it.

I don't have much for exact lure weights (obviously head weight is only part of the overall lure weight), but here's what I got and what I throw with them: Shimano SLX XT 150 reel on Shimano Intenza 7'2", med-heavy, mod-fast rated 1/4 to 3/4oz, w/ 12lbs fluorocarbon: ranges from swimbaits with 1/8oz heads, to 3/8oz swim jigs, spinnerbaits, chatter baits, mid to deep diving crank baits. Shimano Curado 70 on Denali Attax Pro, 7'2", medium, fast (more like mod-fast), rated 1/4-5/8oz, w/ 20lbs braid: 1/8-14oz Tx Rigs, 3/16oz jigs and larger, senkos, heavier flukes (5" Caffeine Chad) or jerk baits. Shimano SLX 70 Denali Attax, 7'4" "Heavy Multipurpose", fast. 1/2 to 1oz, w/ 40lbs braid: I usually toss TX rigs with 1/4 to 3/8 weights, jigs from 1/4 to 1/2oz. I really don't think the problem is with the rods. Overall, I really like the Shimano Intenza and Denali Attax Pro, the Intenza seems to throw a wide range of weights really well and the Attax Pro is just whiny enough to work a jerkbait and pin in fish on a jig. The heavy Attax is just OK. I did try to buy the Daiwa Tatula SV that bulldog1935 mentioned, as I think its as the breaking system sounded better for the issues I am having. But my shop wasn't able to get it at the time, so I got the SLX 70 instead.

That's for sure. I guess what I'm saying is that my time to fish is limited for the foreseeable future, and I'm feeling like the baitcasting rods/reels aren't worth the effort. The only thing I feel like I'm missing out on is that super-accurate casting that is definitely going to take some time to practice to learn anyway. And not saying 'never' to bait casting gear, just not now, maybe in a few years when I have more time to fish. I think going to all spinning will make my life easier (since I can only cast modernly accurately with either rod type anyway).... unless there are other advantages I'm not seeing.

When I was a kid, I ruined plenty of soft plastics, and made a mess of a couple tackle boxes by putting the soft plastics directly in the box. So I always keep my plastics in bags now. But the other day I saw a video with a guy showing off his ned rig box, and he had all the Elaztech TRDs just sitting in cells in his box. Isn't that going to melt the box? Or has something changed with the plastic used for boxes and/or the lures themselves in the past 20-30 years that make this a non-issue these days? It sure would simplify my tackle storage.

TLDR: Baitcasters don't seem to be working well for me. Going to go back to spinning only unless you-all can convince me. About me: I fish mostly from my canoe (sitting), sometimes from shore, and 3-4 times a year on a proper fishing boat. I often lean towards finesse techniques, I fish some heavily pressured lakes, but I'm trying to fish rivers more. When I first bought a bait caster 3 years ago, I was fishing a couple times a week. Now it's once every week or two. I have some decent rods and reels (Shimano Intenza, Curado MGL, SLX XT, ect) so this craftsman can't blame his tools. I am much better at casting a casting rod now than I was when I started, but I still get frequent backlashes, and I can't cast as far as comparable spinning rods, and this is frustrating. I will say that using baitcasters has forced me to get better at casting since they are so touchy. I've learned to use less power and better form which carries over to using my spinning tackle too. I know baitcasters are suppose to allow you to cast more accurately, but honestly, with the drag of the spool, I have a harder time getting my lure to land where I want it compared to a spinning reel. Are there other advantages of casting rod/reels that I'm missing here? I know that I'm at a hard point in the learning curve, and it will get better with practice, but I'm not sure I have the time or patience right now to commit to working on it. It does't feel worth it. I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

Yesterday I was fishing with 2 different Z Man baits on a Texas Rig, their Elaztech senko style worm and the ProCraw. In both cases, I had numerous times that the baits ended-up balled-up on the hook, the sort of way it tends to happen when a fish hits but you miss it. But I never felt any bites and it seemed to happen a LOT. Is this a thing that happens with Elaztech baits? We do have a lot of weeds on our lakes here, so I could see it getting caught up in the weeds and maybe that caused them to ball up. Weather has been very stormy here lately, so I could also imagine there being some curious but very picky fish.

Thanks! I got what I needed!