Ryan N

Thanks for sharing everyone. I almost forgot that the mono backing is used to grip onto the spool if you don't have any spool holes. So maybe just a couple of turns of that would suffice. To clarify, I meant filling the spool with braid only as much as your maximum casting distance, not filling the spool the entire way, to reduce weight for BFS.

I use half a spool of cheap mono to braid main line, I've been doing this since but It makes me wonder, isn't the majority of what I have spooled (Mono) wasted weight? I'm concerned in terms of BFS, you want the lightest spool weight possible so having a backing makes no sense. Having a full spool means your gear ratio means what it means, but I have a high gear ratio so I can sacrifice a bit of speed for an easier casting experience. What are your thoughts?

Update: My 15 wrap fg knot slid again, on a jig hook set. I retied the knot with 20 wraps and cinched tightly wrapped around pliers. Contrary to what I said, all wraps seem to be hard and not loose, which is a good sign. Made the half hitches and finishing knot tighter than last time. I’ll keep you guys posted if anything happens.

Yeah, I forgot to cinch down the line after the first hitch knot. My bad everyone, false alarm. So what you do is grab the main line with one hand and the tag + leader on the other and pull as hard as you can to get that knot firm, this is what does the finger trap effect. If there are too many wraps once you get to the cinch step, the earliest wrap won't be cinched at all. And if the knot is too long, it may get stuck on the guide sideways, seen it happen.

I'm running 30lbs braid to 15lbs fluoro, is my fluoro too thin for the braid to grip onto? Whenever I watch FG knot videos, the fluoro they have is far thicker than what I have. Yesterday I got snagged and tried to pull it through but the fg failed. When tying, I did 14 wraps, 3 half hitch knots and a rosotta (I think?) finish.

Let's shift away from politics for a second and agree that it's HOT. Hot for us anglers, and hot for the fish. I've never had such tough fishing conditions down here in Florida. At best I'd catch a couple of dinks with Ned rigs and flukes. I'm pretty sure the heat has drastically reduced the population of big bass in my area, I just couldn't get anything bigger than 2 lbs.

Yeah when you think about it, the time to redo your leader and use more flouro is better than losing a lure. I’ll keep this in mind Everytime i see this mentioned it makes me cackle, I’m sorry it’s just my wording is bad I do but they don’t bite artificial. It’s only when my blue gillin

This is something I learned from experience, but I would set the drag depending on lure weight and hook size. If I'm running finesse tackle like 1/0 hooks, I want my drag a bit lighter. Frogging or glidebaits of course need some tight drag.

For me, Flukes are guaranteed to get bit. And it’s weedless as well, so you can throw them in the nastiest areas. Only bad thing is soft plastics are exhaustible and I go through them pretty quickly

I’ve tried not waiting for the line to move (feeling for a bite) but the fish can feel the rod pressure on the lure. Where I live, the bass are incredibly finicky and if I can feel them, they can feel me. So it’s best I have a visual indicator rather than catching slack to feel twitches.

Yes it was curled, but it’s still a knot issue. I was using improved clinch which always worked for me. I’ll try a uni knot and see if i have the same issue

Glidebaits are a pretty rotten rabbit hole to get into.

My phrasing is god awful, I mean they snapped off as in the knot gave way

What I'm reading is a bit contradicting. I thumb my spool on the hookset because I usually have my drag pretty light (around 2 lbs) because I want the fish to run and take line if it's big enough. This has nothing to do with the reliability of my gear. My main revelation is that I was always hook set from slack, instead you should pull into the fish to drive the hook. Ignore drag, knots, and hook sharpness. I went out to the pond recently and put my drag pretty tight (Around 5lbs), caught a fish relying on the drag but I noticed the poor fella had a huge hole in his mouth. So in conclusion, I'm going to still run my drag light and thumb the spool on hookset, but drive the hook in and try not to get too excited.

I see. I'll set my drag that tight and see how it works. Also no slack hooksetting. Speaking of which, I was watching a youtube video and they had the same situation I did lol.

I see. What about drag, do you thumb the spool while setting?

In other words, set the hook not from slack but a sharp gradual set. I usually do this for treble hooks but for those 3/0 hooks I believe I need the leverage of setting from slack. Someone said it was a knot problem, so maybe I'll try another knot.

When I set the hook, I usually press my thumb on the spool to not let the drag slip since the hookset force is greater than pulling the fish in. But recently I've snapped two 3/0 EWG hooks on instances where I suppose the fish was huge and therefore didn't have any "give" when hooksetting; It felt like a brick wall. It wasn't a snag because I could see line swimming away. My setup is 30lbs braid to 15lbs fluoro. The breakpoint was an undone knot. What do you guys do? Do you thumb the spool when hook setting or rely on your drag to hookset?

That's exactly my experience with flukes. The gamakatsu looks interested, I'll give it a shot.

Caught this short stubby guy, the biggest fish I’ve caught in weeks. Bass in my pond are incredibly finicky and I needed to find a true weedless lure with the presentation like a ned rig… The fluke!!! First time tying one on, it got slammed 3 times and landed one.

In my experience, marine grease is awful. Specifically, Lucas Marine Grease. For some reason it doesn’t hold its viscosity and gets thin quickly, causing a loud retrieve.

I used Cal's Tan and Daiwa's Reel Oiler; It's pretty dang smooth. Thanks for the help guys.

Now, you offered helpful advice but it's obvious you meant to be a condescending *****; ruined our mutual understanding. Words of advice, nobody will listen to what you have to say if you beat them up about it. Simple as that.

Alright, only because I want to match name brand gear together 😁

Sensitivity isn't determined by a rod's cost but rather by its rod action... With that logic, you'd love a 30 dollar, fast-action Ugly Stik since you could feel everything on it. But I thought this was about: Okay performance-wise, I would MAYBE consider buying a parabolic bending rod that bends throughout the whole length. These rods can "improve" hookups by ensuring the bass eats the lure whole before you can feel it (Which goes against your cost = sensitivity rebuttal). This is useful for fast swimming baits where you'd often rip the bait out from the fish's mouth. But this is an extreme use-case scenario that can be compensated for by paying attention to your retrieve.