Leaderboard

Tis the season! We had a pumpkin carving party at the neighbors house, complete with freshly made cider and doughnuts from our local orchard. Oh yeah and pumpkins from the patch. Fall is here and I'm liking it!

Here are the latest two jig colors for our Monthly custom color. Monthly Custom Colors We have also added 3 sizes in tungsten flipping weights. 5/16, 7/16, 5/8. Tiger Craw- September Pumpkin Craw- October

Got on a wide open Walleye bite today. Old Marble eyes were all over the lake and they were chewing ! A-Jay

Had a good evening catching several decent bass and this guy on a weightless wacky stick worm. Gave this old man a real workout.

He pretty much does what he wants. He's my buddy so I let it slide.

Before I purchased this reel, I did some looking and while tackle tour and another site or two had some write-ups on this reel, I didn't find a whole lot out there. So I'm going to do a little write-up to help those who were in my position. I decided I wanted to move to a baitcaster from my spinning setup. Being me, I wanted to make sure I bought good equipment. The plan was to swap out my Dobyns Sierra 692SF for a Sierra 734C. Well, that didn't happen (yet). At the time, I was trying to decide between the Curado K and the Curado 70. Well, my paycheck was a bit more than I expected, so I decided to splurge on the reel and picked up a Curado DC 151XG. Packaging I was surprised how plain the box is. When I'm spending this kind of money on a reel, I figured the box would be a little less non-descript than it is. Just a plain, black cardboard box with the name and model in silver font on top with typical reel info on the back. Inside, it was packaged well with a nice bubble-wrap pouch and assorted information such as warranty, exploded parts view and instructions as well as a little bottle of lube. Reel This is my first baitcaster, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. Shimano lists the reel specs as the following: Model PwrPro (lb/capacity) Mono (lb/capacity) Oz Brngs Ratio Drag CUDC151XG 20/150,30/135,40/105 10/120,12/110,14/90 7.9 6+1 8.5:1 11 Right away, I realize this reel is super, super light! Granted, I'm used to a 4000-series Penn Battle II at 12.8oz and metal construction, but wow - very nice! The reel feels super, super smooth as well. The left side has the star drag, which has a very satisfying "click" when you spin it, however something I wasn't prepared for was the lack of a sound when you pull line out against the drag. Coming from my spinning rod, I found that surprising. This side also has the spool tensioner, which is the knob next to the handle. On the right side we have the sideplate that houses the switch for the DC brake. The brake has 4 settings - 0 is Open, 1 is for minimal braking on the spool, 2 is for braided line, three is for fluorocarbon lines and 4 is max brake for windy days or other situations where you want max braking. I settled on 3 for my first use as I was using Berkley Super8 in 8lb (had to take it off my old Penn - long story...). I have to say, the DC system works! Granted, it takes some getting used to. It's neat to watch the spool and watch the line start to overrun but then magically it backs back down. Now, this doesn't work all the time - there certainly is a "sweet spot" when you cast as to how hard you can cast without immediately overrunning. I found that out the hard way. This was Suffix 832 15lb braid that I completely ruined by hitting the thumb release and letting the lure hit the ground. Had to cut the entire spool off and never got to cast it. -sigh- $16 down the drain... Performance I also really like the gear ratio. I typically use bullet weights with Senkos and Whopper Ploppers, so this fast retrieve actually helps me out. I can slow down my retrieve a lot easier than I can speed it up - also lets me collect line slack a lot quicker to prevent loose line on the spool. As for the drag, it worked well! Well enough that it helped me catch my first ever smallmouth on a Whopper Plopper 90! So, is it worth the $250? To me... I don't think so. Maybe if I had more experience with a baitcaster that I could see how well the DC system was working, I might appreciate it more and see more value in it. Is it a nice reel? Oh yes, no doubt! It's light, sturdy, smooth and everything you'd want - I just don't think I have the perspective to really appreciate what it does. For now, I'm reserving my total judgement until I can put it on the Sierra 734C in a few weeks. I cannot wait!

Been dinkin it up lately. Not much time to fish either with strange weather and other goings on. Last weekend made a poor Saturday fishing trip into a decent Sunday on Briery Creek. Sandy Res Saturday did her typical Sandy disappearing fish act. Marked bait everywhere. I caught 2 bass in 9 hours. My buddy got a decent one kinda early but it was same story for him the rest of the day. Couple dinks was all we could muster. Briery turned the weekend around pretty well. My buddy snagged a 5lber right off the bat, too bad it was short of citation size by 1/2”. The rest of the day we found pockets of bass in some shallow coves but not in others. And a few scattered around in deeper water in main lake. Both of of us missed hook sets on a nice sized fish which we assumed to be the same fish since it was on the same tree. Ive been fishing a Keitech 7.8 for about a year now off and on and had yet to get a solid bite on it until a 3.5lber smashed it! First fish on the big ol paddle tail, had to get a pic of that. The bigger one of the day, 4.5lber, came on a 4” Keitech, along with most of my other fish that day. This weekend a friend of mine got married Saturday and that meant no good chance for fishing. Today around 4:00 I managed to ease off the hangover and waddled my way to a pond about 15 minutes walk from where I live. Caught a dink, then made a cast to a lay-down tree top out in a cove in about 3FOW. Tiniest little tick and then the line started pulling. Set the hook and knew it was a good fish but she was swimming towards me so didn’t get the full picture until she came up just in front of me and flashed that big belly! She made a run under a log and dragged the line around across it for a few very tense seconds! Then I almost fell in the pond trying to get closer to the grass line so I could grab her! 6.0 pounds on the nose and she went 22-1/4” Citation baby! Fall is here and I feel the big bass fever!!

How many bass do you think this old scraggly stump has been home to over the years?

Yep. I've never caught anything on a frog, rat, spook, popper, squarebill, spoon, spinner or skirted jig. Which is why I fish mostly soft plastics. Which is why I never catch anything on a frog, rat, spook, popper, squarebill, spoon, spinner or skirted jig.

Took my neighbor out for a fish this morning. We managed about 20 bass, no real big ones, but did get into a few decent pike. Water temps are just about right to find some big ones here now, today it was 55 deg. Heres a couple of the neighbors better fish he got, none of the ones I got were worthy of a pic.

BOOMCHUCKALUCKA to Jmhalvo!!! Way to go? You made the right decision obviously! I did get out this morning... 54 degree water... nothing on Plastics, Chatterbait... one on a jerk bait. Then switched over to a Mop Jig in the remaining pads near deeper water and got an 18, 19, two 20’s and a 21 incher in a little better than an hour. Best 75 minutes of the year?

Just back from a week in Spain chasing little green fish around in the broiling sun. Fantastic week, pure hedonism, a proper boys week with some great lads. The fishing was difficult most of the time, but we had little flurries of success throughout the week. Luckily I ended our last afternoon with a good flurry, which included this 4-05, which was my best of the week. We all need a little recovery time now to catch up on sleep, give our livers a break and repair broken tackle. There is talk of another trip in June. Aww, go on then.

those who have a gunnel track, here's a nice clean way to mount your console graph. I like it better than flush mount in console. i can take it off, and avoid theft! i had to use the angled bracket, since my track is on an angle. https://berts-tackle.shptron.com/p/polar-kraft-track-bracket-set-60-2-brackets?pp=8

Got this one 18" 3pounds dragging 1/2oz SK Rocket Shad along the bottom 22fow through weeds. Reel Tatula SV, rod brand that cant be mentioned 7'1" M/F , line 16# Sniper.

Does your lake have a dam? If so is it a dirt or rock dam? The reason I ask is all man made lakes have a dam, only natural lakes don't. The dam and the area where it's biult should be the deepest water with the steepest bank. Crawdads live in around the dame area, crankbaits work better in that type of structure as a rule, cleaner water with less aquatic plant growth. If you can catch bass on a spinnerbait or chatterbait, they will strike a crankbait. Tom

Old Man Winter made a surprise visit this morning in the U.P.! Here's the scene from Marquette, MI A-Jay

Menderchucked spinnerbaits all day. Battled smallcraft advisories, water crashing over the bow of the boat all day, 40F high temps, and the worst wind I've experienced on a body of water. 12 hrs on the water was so worth it!

As your first baitcaster, I would definetly use mono, like AJay said big game. I used Trilene XL and XT 12lb-15lb on my first set ups and still use them on some to this day lol.

Great review and I love Shimano, but the birthday this week will probably produce another Curado K. I agree with A-Jay in that you might want to stay away from tiny braid until you master that reel and even then stay at no less than 30lb. Better yet, use what he suggested and spend more time fishing and less time fussing with any braid.

The hairy legs are a dead giveaway, it's a largemouth.

If you're trying to not hit the bottom that might be part of your problem. In my experience, which seems to be backed by most of what I've read and watched, crankbaits work the best bumping off any hard cover or gravel bottom you can find.

they look old. Personally I would buy new rounds in the shot size you need. Just guessing here, but that combination was probably used for waterfowl, before non_lead shot was mandatory. generally speaking this is how i would use the different shot size. #71/2 is for small game like rabbit, squirrel,dove and quail. #4 works for pheasant or turkey. bb and #2 works for coyote. forgot the 00 buckshot. basically the only thing I would use it for is home defense.

Stopped at F&S this weekend on a whim. Turns out they were having a 20% off everything in the store sale. I had been eyeing this MB Levante Launcher rod for a while. They had it on clearance, but not especially cheap (slightly cheaper than the regular TW price). They had it discounted 30% in addition to the 20% off sale. Ended up getting it for quite a deal, IMO. It'll be my new cranking rod! Can't wait to put it to work. Its by far the longest rod I own!

awesome thanks for sharing. This year has been a great year for me, working on new techniques, new rods and reels, new waters! -This year the Jackall karea frog has been a great frog and my success rate went way up! -Berkley squarebill crankbaits have done wonders for me this season, caught more big bass on them then any other crankbait I’ve ever used! -dirty jigs 3/8 and 1/2oz skirted jigs in the past 2 weeks have been a bit of a game changer and can’t wait to really work on it next season! -senko specifically in black with red flake (most other soft plastics in that colour as well)

Edit: My picture links keep breaking...Sorry! Enjoyed this one last year from A-Jay ...Since I'm not out fishing on this beautiful early-fall day here in MD I'll live vicariously through posting tackle and fish pics ? Winter (December thru mid-March): Balsa flatside, Vision 110, football jig, and finesse worm. Finesse worm caught the most, flatside caught bigger fish. Honorable mention to a swinghead with a Rage Bug Coldwater bass on the flatside Spring (Late March thru May): 110, football, and finesse worm remain, added a spinnerbait and chatterbait. Honorable mentions to swinghead and various sight-fishing baits. Prespawn chatterbait fish Summer (June thru late-September): Spinnerbait and chatter stays, added additional chatter, punch/flip rig and frog. All baits did well, summer is a great time on the tidal water around here. Honorable mentions to a popper, Sprinker frog, and finesse worm. Tough to pick a single picture, lots of quality fish this summer on all these...But the chatterbaits really put some tanks in the boat this year on the River and Bay... Fall (October thru November or early-December): Has just started, so nothing really defined so far this season...But past history points to 110, spinnerbait, chatter, popper, walker, and football jigs.

Good day to stay home, play with lures and take naps.

Texas rig on the Big G.

It worked!

When the only fish of the day is a 4.0 SM caught by your daughter, and I'm OK with that.

I would Die. A-Jay

Yeah the pond Largemouth have been tite lipped in these Chicago burbs for me too as of late. Gonna focus on ever smallmouth now. Canned Corn Kernals even better!

Finally broke a cold spell. Until today, it has been over a month since I landed a bass over 3lbs. Had several opportunities, but never got them in the boat. Caught this girl on a local power plant reservoir with a whopper plopper 130. She was 21.5 inches long and weighed 6lb. 2oz. It was the strangest whopper Plopper bite I ever had. Sounded like a carp sucking on the top, then the bait just disappeared. She jumped 3 times. I thought she was going to spit the heavy bait and extend my cold spell. Luckily she had a mouth full of bait with both hooks embedded in. Counting this fish I have been fortunate enough to catch seven bass over 5lbs.,this year. Three of them were over 6lbs., hopefully in the next couple months I can add a few more to the list.

Caught my PB this weekend. Pictures are terrible quality, but I don't care. 5.04 pounds, 22 inches. More pictures at the link: https://imgur.com/a/TdOQ2J0

It's that time of year again . And I made it to class on time for my exam at 11:30!

Had a nice afternoon with near perfect weather. Slightly cooler and less humid. I started out with the ruby sparkle baby brush hog and caught 5-6 , on the east side of our island. Got out past it and switched to the watermelon seed fluke, and caught 8-10 more around eel grass edges.. Caught several on a ribbon tail worm, especially reeling across the top of and around eel grass.And 1 on a zoom z-hog. They were biting real good. Ended up with 19. No big fish, but the avg size was 2 pounds, got several around 3. Caught 3 on consecutive casts. The bite today was fall-like, but the weather isnt quite there yet.

How long? Forever? Rare day when I don't get overruns. Had to cut one out for only the second time ever just a couple weeks ago. Smooth is the operative word. Even if you've got it set up great, a hitch in your swing or a head wind you didn't anticipate may have you picking at your spool. Keep at it in the yard. Smooth swing.....don't swing for the fences

Those duo realis g fix looks amazing ! Ahhh stay away bait monkey

Storm Arashi SquareBills have been one of the best tracking Crankbaits I've ever thrown; and they have a more durable diving lip than anything else in my box. Next I would say anything Rapala and Strike King seem to hold up well and track nicely.....I also own a lot of the H20 by Academy and I like many of their Crankbaits because they usually have an oval split ring and nice detailing for a budget lure, but they seem to be the least durable

Bandit 100, for my fisheries no other crank has even half the fish of a bandit. Bills on the bandits have held up well fishing over rocks on a river. Also like the Rapala scatter crank, similar action I would think to the S crank, don’t own one, at a much better price. As for strike king baits I have tried numerous series 1 baits and only caught one fish. Same with the KVD 1.5 and 2.5 SBs. The only KVD SB that consistently caught fish for me was the 1.0.

Always like reading these recaps to see what has worked well for you and others. All good stuff. As for me the best baits are similar to last year. TRD in mudbug on a 1/16 oz jig head and a 1.5 size squarebill (Bomber Square A or KVD 1.5) did the best for me this year. Buzzbait and Whopper Plopper (90,110) get an honorable mention.

The Structure Bug has been a winnner down here on the Tennessee River, too. I'll add a plug for the Sworming Hornet/ LFT Live Magic Shad.

Our poor confused catfish are trying really hard to be bass right now.

Avid X 7 MHF with a Curado DC

Tearing around the yard and the house all day is really exhausting apparently.

My wife feeding the deer yesterday at Lake Humphreys, Oklahoma. we must have seen over a hundred deer that have migrated to the lake property (a no hunting area) just ahead of bow season. The deer have been doing this for many years and do not fear humans around the lake.

ordered in early June, and it came in last week. haven't even had a chance to get it close to water yet. maybe next week sometime:) so far I love it and I haven't even fished in it yet:)

My 2018 Tracker Pro Guide V-165. This was actually the day I first picked it up this summer. Had a 2001 tracker bass boat, but I needed something that would keep clumsy excited little kids out of the water and in the boat. The 115 hp on this thing is a big step up from the 60 hp motor that I had on my bass boat.

An old fiberglass canoe that needed some help made some new seats fixed the cracks and painted her up

My first new boat. Skeeter zx250

Got my first boat (not counting old jon boat). '18 Crestliner VT 17. Lots to learn, for sure.