PTasker15

Hey Y'all, I'm wanting to head up to Milwood Lake, Arkansas this saturday before the cold front comes in. So far the forecast for that morning is in the 50's, up to the 70's by midday. Partly to mostly cloudy. The water temps have been in the mid-high 50's and will probably remain the same. Pretty yucky colored water but that's normal Milwood. Although I am unsure when the heavy wind comes in, we are expecting upwards of 15 miles an hour that day as of now. I originally planned to fish cypress trees along a creek channel leading up to a protected spawning flat. Locals have been doing good doing similar on other parts of the lake. Is there anything y'all would do differently with the clouds and wind? I would think that they would no longer hug the trees given the conditions. I do not get many chances to fish prespawn, so I'm still a little green.

Hey all, just looking for opinions here. I've been getting into K9 Line lately. Love their fluoro and x9 braid. FIgured I'd make an order for some more, and wanted to replace the Yo-Zuri on my Topwater/Swim Jig/Chatterbait rod. K9 makes a x9 40lb braid with a diameter is .23mm, which is less than most 8lb monos. In other words, crazy thin. When using 20/30lb braid of other brands in the past, I've had huge digging and backlash issues compared to 40/50/60lb braid, so it seems "too thin" to be used on a non-bfs or non-spinning reel it seems. I'm sure I'm wrong so I'd like to hear what yall think. Alternatively, they make a x8 45lb braid for the same price that has a .30mm diameter, about the same as 12lb and sounds significantly manageable.

On a side note, I hear that skipping a jig is one of the harder things to skip from others? That's what I learnt skipping on, found it easier than most lures I tried when I started.

Anyone do any dock skipping with frogs? I'm pretty skilled with skipping jigs, senkos, flukes, etc but am having trouble skipping my BOOYAH popping pad crashers. I've heard people having better luck with SPRO Bronzeyes and Strike King Sexy Frogs "since they are flatter and weigh more". Can anyone attest to those skipping better who are more experienced? Or any tip for skipping frogs around that might differ from other lures.

A Daiwa 100 is similar to a Shimano 150 in terms of line capacity, size, and feel (except for the tiny 90mm handles, which I like). The Daiwa 80 is more of a Shimano 70, very small reel for finesse stuff, borderline BFS IMO. I own both Daiwa and Shimanos; Fuego, Tatula, SLX, Curado. Love them both equally, but, Daiwa ever so slightly has my favor for the braking system. When you change to another lure, all you have to do is remember a number. Shimano, you've got to remember how many you had on/off, what your fine tune dial was at, etc. Once you get it zeroed, it's amazing, but takes a minute longer than a daiwa.

Dobyn's is a phenomenal brand. The Fury is also, an amazing model. I would personally recommend the softer 734C since I believe it would load up more than the heavier 735C. The 734 will fish like most any Medium-Heavy out there, and would be my top pick for football jigs and C rigs. For me, the 735 is ideally a frog rod or heavy cover rod (flipping, grass, laydowns, docks). I personally use mine for skipping, pitching, grass flipping, small swimbaits, and A rigs. It's not a complete broomstick though, and will still load up pretty decently. Just not decently enough for me to want to use it as an offshore rod.

I'm a big hater on lews rods, but the KVD is actually decent for the price -not stupid heavy (actually very light) -consistent tapers -feels nice in the hand -balances well -decent blank and components great rods, especially for the amount of models offered

Hard to pick one personally for that price for deep divers but I'll throw a few good ones out there Look for (in my opinion) 7 foot 3 plus Mod-Fast or slower (moderate preferred) Composite or glass blank 13 Fishing DEFY 7 foot 9 Crankbait rod (~80) Shimano SLX 7 foot 4 Glass Crankbait rod (100)

Hard for me because I'm willing to try new things readily just to feel a tug dislike: ned rigs does it work? yeah. is it fun? sometimes. Just pretty uninteresting. Rarely finds its way on my spinning rod unless they are that off. can't stand: chatterbaits despite the second largest bass I've ever caught coming from one, they don't stay on my rods long. Just feel there's so many better lures, also don't like them around grass where everyone uses them. seems to get gummed up way too easy. Hard to pick a can't stand as I do somewhat like a chatter at the end of the day, but it's more of a last resort. would rather a spinner or swim jig. Doesn't work - Jerkbait. Worked one time, missed fish. Never again. Haven't thrown much though, because they seem to waste my time and I can catch more on something else.

Nichols Sledgehammer Swim Jig, 3/8oz, JT's Chartreuse Shad with a 3.75" or 4" Strike King Rage Swimmer Paddle Tail. 1. super versatile. Skipped under a dock, bounced around rocks, thrown in a lily pad field, swam over a laydown, works almost everywhere. 2. 3/8oz + trailer is easy to bomb 3. The paddle tail significantly slows the fall, more like the fall of a 1/4oz swim jig 4. Different from most people throwing a craw on a swim jig 5. swim jig (free space)

thats the one I kept seeing in my store. Ill check both out. If it good enough for father Rojas, its good enough for me

Hey Y'all, I've been getting into frogs and am looking into larger frogs, but can't find many, and when I can, there are no reviews. Anyone throw larger than normal frogs? What do yall think? P.S, we have huge bull frogs here which I have seen get crushed. No doubt larger frog lures could grab the attention of bigs.

How do you apply your grease to your gears? I seem to have everything down, but can't quite get the gears greased. Some reels feel worse (gear wise) after I clean out the gummed up grease and add new grease. Very loud, sort of buzzing sound and feel. Too much? Too little?

Looking at one for all topwater and swim jigs. Maybe a 734? Texas, with 30lb braid. Called Dobyn's. Talk about customer service. They suggested 734 Fury.

yes, they're under the Rapala website and name now. Many rods, reels, and lures have been discontinued. My biggest disappointment was the loss of the Envy series which is a very sexy rod.

This would be my first St. Croix rod. Replacing my (new by the way) Lew's TP1B 7'4 Heavy because it weighs five tons and came in the mail with a crack on the handle which has grown after use. How is the cork? Anyone like/dislike it? Does it hold up? How does it compare to rods of similar price? Dobyn's Fury, Shimano Intenza, Daiwa Tatula Bass, etc. How are the guides? I usually use Microguide type rods and notice these to be a bit larger? Any complaints about that or guide durability? Guide durability is one of the reasons I ditched Lew's, so that matters. American Tackle and Fuji have done me well so far, so I assume this is good.

No. Rod locks down the reel very well, no shifting around. The handle is excellent, even when soaking wet in 40 degrees.

Yeah the P/F is coming to my Arsenal one. Also from what I understand, $180 tatulas have an aluminum frame and aluminum side plate on the handle side.

Does anybody use the Tat Elite here and can attest to what it has over lower tat models like 80, 150, 200, etc, or even over the new 100 model which includes all of the hyperdrive features found in higher-end models

That's my hope. I've serviced a few lews reels, doing small repairs like retention clips and some bigger things like a complete worm gear/line guide replacement and they've come out well. Lew's had to be serviced alot (for me), and these daiwa needed to be touched up out of the box, but I've yet to have to touch my Shimano Curado 200K outside of regular oiling. I really like that. Definitely my smoothest reel, quietest, and best feeling. Does weight alot, and brakes are a little difficult on me being a magnetic boy.

I found what it was after I opened it again the take PhishL's advice on where I should/shouldn't oil/grease. Forgot to mention. I did not seat the main gear back correctly. I pushed it down back into place (had removed it the first time around to get to the small plastic gear underneath). All my fault for the funny noise Not the best servicer, but I'm learning it decently. The teeth on the pinion and main gear are not damaged. As soon as the noise popped up, stopped. As far as smoothness, it was pretty smooth the first time, but with Phish's help, is quite smooth now. Functions normally now, as mentioned in my last comment.

That's how every Daiwa I've ever owned has come. Exceptionally dry, especially gear wise. Adding. A touch of grease to gears always helps and never has issues onwards. I took some advice from phish and now it has no issues. Just added some oil to places I didn't know were there, and cleaned up some stuff. Works with no issues now. Also, I understand Daiwa being a bit noisy, so the point it is at right now is perfectly fine. While there is a tiny gear noise, I attribute that to being normal. Everything works normally now and is smooth.

I recently received a Daiwa Tatula 100 6.3 and a Daiwa Tatula 150 7 something. Before I even looked at these, I heard that Daiwa tends to come dry. So when I got them, I: Oiled the spool shaft, sideplate/spool tension/main shaft bearings Greased the worm gear, main gear, pinion gear, and the tiny gears underneath them. Put them back together, and have some tiny issues. Tat 100 is just a little on the grindy side. Maybe the grease needs more time to work in, who knows. Just makes a buzzing feeling when retrieving. Similar to a reel that has been used a ton. Not much of a bother though. Tat 150 is where my biggest issue is. No buzzing, but it emits a higher pitched scraping noise, even with spool tension done correctly. Its very faint and not constant, but will screech for a second and then disappear for a few turns of the handle. I know that tats are not the smoothest or quietest reels on the market, and I can deal with that, but don't want to break something.

Same, East Texas here so we've got nasty. That was my plan for the Alabama rigs. Bought some Berkley swimbait hooks that are 1/8oz but beefy. I have a few 6th sense divine swimbaits I can cut down a little to 3.25 and mix it with rage swimmers or swimming caffeine shade. I use BasiX (in talks of a endorsement with Seaguar, fingers crossed) so my options are 15 or 20. 15 is somewhat hard to break, but would love 17 InvisX/AbrazX if I can get a good deal. Will probably buy a bulk spool this summer.

yeah I flipped it around and tried to bend the wire back into place and it finally gave. As mentioned, just made the whole setup a single colorado. But will remember that for next time.