BassinBrett

Hit the Mississippi today and caught a few little smallmouth. I think that will be my last trip of 2024.

I use them and they work. I like the 130 size the most. They have a lot of side to side flash.

I have used OSP Buzzin Crank and Daibuzzin and they are good. I just tried the strike king wake shad yesterday. It worked well.

I fished the Mississippi River today for about 3 hours. 2024 bass fishing is not over yet!

I am going to spend 5 days fishing for smallmouth in Sturgeon Bay, WI in May. Then the rest of the year I am going to fish the Mississippi and St croix rivers in my new kayak. completely off topic but I am also going to Colorado for 2 weeks and I hope to catch some trout.

I just upgraded the kayak to a Coosa X from Jackson. So I will be rebuilding everything this winter. Fist thing is to make a transducer mount for under hull transducer pocket. Then a new kayak crate.

CRB Micro Guide Bands are what I use for size 4 guides. They work really well near the tip top. https://mudhole.com/products/crb-micro-guide-bands?srsltid=AfmBOopT4KwXS520kZMrd3F4YJTU_hTU2BkEP9WXTRGDi50vT0AXdUW5

I have 2 Curado BFS reel and I have used 6 pound mono for top waters on one and 8 pound floro on the other for everything else. I have also used 10 pound braid to leader too. The 8 pound floor did not cast well with lures under 1/4 once. I will be trying 6 floor this winter on the Mississippi. I might try some 6 to 8 pound braid too.

Hey Shadow, good find. I just put in an order too after see this thread. thanks

Fished Mille Lacs yesterday and only caught. Fished near shore and shallow reefs and saw nothing. Saw some fish on side scan in 15 to 25 of water. The only fish I caught was on a Rapala DT16 near bottom. The water temperature was 57 I the morning and 59 to 60 in the afternoon.

I have a pair of Gamakatsu Micro Split Ring Plier that work really well on tiny JDM split rings. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Gamakatsu_Micro_Split_Ring_Plier/descpage-GMSRP.html

I have built 3 so far and have another blank wait to be built. I like them so far. I think you are looking at the SB 683-1(X-Ray LMX) blank. It is a nice blank and I have 2 of them. They make a nice top water rod for smaller poppers and walk the dog lures. 3/8 oz is the sweet stop for this blank.

I just started building rods and have used size 4 and 5.5 guides. What size and smaller is a micro guide? Is a 5.5 Fuji alconite considered a micro? The only down side to micro guide is for winter fishing. The smaller guide seem to freeze up faster.

I use MH and Heave spinning rod for several reasons. First is casting distance for covering more water. The second reason is for casting into the wind. I am not the worlds best bait caster so the spinning rod helps me a little. The third reason is like everyone else mentioned, casting light lures under or near docks.

I built the DS 721 as a BFS rod and I took it out for a few minutes this morning. I had 8 pound florocarbon on the reel so it is not dialed in yet. So far I think it is going be a good BFS rod. I I tried casting 1/8 to 1/4 oz lures and it is sling the 1/4 well. I hope changing to 6 pound line will help it cast the lighter lures. I bet it would make a great drop shot rod. I think the Ds 721 is like a medium heavy traditional bass casting for bfs. It is going to a good all around bfs rod.

I just got one myself for a BFS build. I will be gluing the grip and realest on tonight. So far it seem like a good blank for American style BFS.

How is the ds721 holding up? Any down sides?

I headed up to Mil Lacs Lake this morning and started out throwing jerkbaits. The water temp was 52 at 6:30 am. I got 2 good SM bass on a Megabass 110 LBO jerkbait. I caught a small musky and it broke the 110 LBO somehow. It now has a bunch of water in it and sinks. I switch to a pointer 100 and caught another SM bass. I saw lot of bass in the shallow reefs and they would not look at a Ned rig , drop shot, or tube jig. They would just swim off. When I left the water temps were 56 to 57 degrees.

I took the Kayak out on Sunday afternoon and the water temperature on Lotus Lake was 54 to 55 degrees. Ended up catching 2 largemouth bass on crappie jig.

The stock Curado has a IPT of 32. I think a lower IPT would be better for me. I am guessing that the Curado family of reels gears can interchange, but the is only a guess. Thanks Brett

All the Shimsno Curado I have and have seen are XG models with a 8.2:1 ratio. Is it possible to change the gear ratio on. Shimsno Curado BFS reel? Is there any thing internally about the BFS reel that would prevent changing gears? Could I order a different set of gears and change them? It would be nice to have a slower reel gear ratio at times for BFS. Thanks Brett

How do you like the Barton / Alps MVT Toray Trigger Reel Seat? It would be nice to have an alternative reel seat to Fuji that works well for BFS.

I have built 4 BFS with Fuji ECSM and I like them very well. The are easier to fit and install and hold the reel well. You would need a 9.5 mm size.

Well Mille Lacs is the place to go this year. That walleye catch and release regulation will take some pressure of the lake this year.

I have built 3 BFS rod this winter with NFC blanks. I built a DS 760-1 (HM) as a BFS set up and it is sweet. I also built a MB 661-1 (HM) but have not had a chance to fish with it yet but casting around the yard it seem like it has potential.