ElGuapo928

I fish them like a suspending jerkbait. They suspend around 3’ to 5’, and can be a winner any time fish are being lethargic and not really chasing. While largely considered a “winter” bait, they work pretty much year round.

Only things I’ve seen that really caught my interest were the Strike King twin arm spinnerbait and the Snag Proof “Zoo Wag” (Frog/Jitterbug hybrid).

Spro “Fat Papa” is pretty similar to the Arashi 5. Also check out the Bass Mafia “Fugitive”. I feel your pain - I always liked the Arashi cranks. Shimano Macbeth was pretty close, but I think they’re discontinued also.

Don’t discount them as a cold water only bait - they’re an absolute killer year round in pressured water. A few years ago I won a summer night tournament (and got my PB Rainbow Trout) throwing a silver/black Shad Rap.

Since the last “update”, my iPhone gets that message about half the time coming here.

It’s rained at least 5 times this year!!!

I’ve been using Yozuri Topknot 16lb for a few weeks now and I’m liking it - takes a beating and very economical. InvizX gets the nod for the lighter (10 and 12 lb) tests.

Check out the outlying areas for storage too - sometimes driving 10 or 15 miles out of your way can save you a couple hundred bucks a month.

There are a lot of solar chargers on the market, or there’s the option of an inverter power supply. I’ve charged my batteries off the inverter a couple of times in a pinch, but never have tried it on a consistent basis - should theoretically be no problem, but I don’t have any real world data on it.

Mine has lived outside under a cover for nearly 40 years - long as you keep a good cover on it and keep up with maintenance, it should do just fine.

Not sure about the Bantam….with the Revo it just took some careful prying to remove spool bearings….they are a fairly loose press fit. Get a tube of the 660 Retaining Compound - when it cures it will restore the original fit.

New spool is the best fix, but if you’re comfortable with taking the spool assembly completely apart there are alternatives. I’ve got an old Revo that had this same issue - spool was over bored by .0008” and lost the press fit. Being both a cheapskate and a machinist, I took it apart and put some Loctite 660 retaining compound on the shaft - it’s been working for 10-12 years like that now.

I’ve only thrown the 7” and 9”. Of the 2, the 9” came closest to a decent action, while the 7” were just dead in the water.

These should be a Grade 5 bolt, not a Grade 8. Grade 8’s have a tendency to fail/break under a shear load, where a Grade 5 will bend prior to failure.

Same here. Got a Flag 150 sitting on my desk, just haven’t had the occasion to throw it yet.

I wasn’t too fond of the Nessie’s action. Didn’t fish at all like a glide, only wanted to dart in one direction and rolled over bad. The only retrieve I could get it to work with was just burning it.

I bought a pack of the Berkley weedless wacky hooks (3/0) and tried a splitshot rig for these in the brush. Worked pretty good with the small baits (Atom Bomb here), but wouldn’t be enough hook for the bigger ones.

I’ve put a lot of money into this fight over the years. My favorite are the Flambeaus with the removable cups instead of dividers - fairly cheap and really easy to work with. https://www.amazon.com/Flambeau-Outdoors-WP5015TT-Terminal-Slim/dp/B0C6B87ZTJ I was using the Ryugi “Hook Keeper” accordion things for a while, but found that they are better suited to the bank/pond bags than the boat - me and ziploc type seals just don’t get along, leading to too much time lost. I’ve also put together a little 3500 size box with just a few of the hooks/sinkers that I use all the time and keep it on the front deck - much faster than pulling out the big boys and less likelihood for disaster when the wake boats decide that I need to do a remake of “The Perfect Storm”.

Dobyns Fury 705CB has probably the best action/feel of any crankbait rod I’ve ever owned.

https://www.mikesreelrepair.com/vx318-02-handle-assm/?srsltid=AfmBOooqSU5fuZYyzGEEBLPuuu63P-W56QhBJ4MhXGv-ThrbhyyPO_1j There’s quite a few other different parts suppliers as well, I just like Mike’s website for easy searching by part number.

There’s quite a few different vendors with replacement knobs available. I’ve had mixed results replacing the knobs - sometimes they work great, other times they never seat quite right (or fall off while reeling in a fish). They do have those slip on silicone covers, but they get loose and become an even bigger annoyance. I prefer replacing the whole handle when possible - as the Tour Edition was a pretty popular reel, it shouldn’t be too hard to find one. I looked it up for you: P/N VX318-02 Mike’s Reel Repair shows it for $36.86

I envy those who can paint a picture with words….I lean more toward either excessively literal or trying to extract a laugh out of it.

I wish they’d bring back the G Finish across the Pradco lineup again!!

Virtually all of mine are some variation of a threadfin shad - g finish, chrome, translucent, solid.

Toss the leader altogether for deeper running. The thinner the line diameter, the deeper a crankbait will run and the better the action it will have. Don’t worry too much about the shock absorption effect of a leader - just back your drag off a bit. Unless your leader is 20 feet long, the amount of stretch you get for the purpose is negligible at best.