smcentee

Jeeez! You're missing out on half the fun. With the Cumara you can feel the inhale AND the exhale. ;D

Trout chow used as a pack bait. Either hydrate the chow with water and a little garlic powder or garlic salt, or use cheerwine. Chicken liver is always hot bait for cats. I lay mine in a food dehydrater for a few hours. This toughens the liver (somewhat) allowing for much longer casts, and intensifies the flavor. If you fish "catch and release", please, avoid baits and baiting methods that the fish cannot digest.

I picked up two late in March; the Old Glory and a rootbeer/chartreuse. I've not had and hits on the rootbeer, but the fish seem to like the Old Glory. The bait has a nice action, runs true from the packaging, and cast very, very far. It's become one of my favorites - that little sucker just looks mean.

I tried the Mattlures Bluegill and had little success. I picked up a Jackall GIRON and was blown away the first outting. The lure has a pretty realistic movement; very, very slow fall; stops on a dime then turns to give you 9 cents change.

IMO, Daiwa Steez should be pick! I had the same decission a few months back, and selected the STX. I saw little advantage of the Premier over the STX. I was skewed by some of the reviews I had read of the Premier, but let's face it, someone can get a lemon with most any of reels on the market.

I wasn't crazy about the hook hanger design or location. Fuji EZ Keeper provided a quick, cheap, and light solution. Nothing wrong with a Carrot Stix weighing 3.41 oz. versus 3.40 ;D

I had viewed the youtube video and was pretty impressed the the action of the bait and went searching local shops in Jamestown, High Point, Greensboro and Winston Salem with zip results. I made the mistake of buying a Mattlures bluegill as a substitute, and in my opinion wasted $20. Checking the 'net for a GIRON, I found many shops out of stock. I was able to place an order at *** for the black crappie; bluegill is backordered. http://www.***.com/descpageSWMJACKALL-JG.html Good luck

Ditto to the above. I've shopped both stores in Greensboro, NC. I did find another Dick's 20 miles away, and it made their Greensboro store look like a shoe box. An issue I have with the Dick's stores I've shopped is that so much of their merchandise is not priced and sales associates are a rare breed. Gander- I've found them to be extremely slow to replenish "in season" inventory. Too, they are very slow to carry new products. I'm still waiting for them to stock Rapala's sub-walker. Lucky Craft - I found six baits. Staff is generally well knowledged.

I've been fishing the 3/8, 3/4, and 1 1/2 oz. My bassing skills are on the low end of the curve, and I'm catching a lot of fish with these lures. Even if I'm not catching I'm having fun with these suckers just watching them move. I've had a lot of hits using a slow retrieve followed by a twitch. Deadstick it and it starts pulling a 180. The longer body of the 3/4 oz. has, IMO, a more fluid and natural motion than the 3/8. I think it's also more natural moving than the 1 1/2 lure, too. In the hands of more experienced folks this bait must be a killer.

I'm with you. I had viewed a video for the Jackall GIRON. and was impressed with the action. Shopping locally, I was not able to find one and picked up the King Shad as an alternative. BIG MISTAKE! Maybe it's me. This bait attracts fish the way gators attract swimmers.

Voice of experience - very easy to accidently snap the Cumara's tip! The IM10 blank is strong, but brittle.

ditto- I've put them on all my Daiwa L&T rods. I didn't like the keeper, or it's position, on an e21 rod and popped an EZ Keeper on it, too.

Cumara entered the market as a bottom-bouncer. Which Carrot Stix are you wanting to compare?

Don't be fooled by the series name "Light & Tough". These rods are strong. I have a few of them. One rod, a 7'H pulls double duty for me. In addition to fishing jigs and weighted softbaits, I use the rod fishing carp, pulling in fish between 8-25 lbs. to the bank; and a carp puts up one heck of a fight. I didn't know Daiwa had put out a swimbait rod, but if it's out there you can be assured it is pretty light in weight, and very tough.

I tried numerous small hard and soft tackle boxes, and various configurations of backpacks. Call me lazy, but I was tired of picking them up as I moved from spot to spot. My best configuration is a Plano waist belt: http://www.planomolding.com/content/index.cfm?siteaction=product&lineid=4&groupid=14&sectionid=48&partid=283 I keep a Flambeu tackle station in the car, and load the pockets of the waist belt with small bait boxes. The padded Plano cases, used mainly for flies, are great for holding several jerkbaits and hard swimbaits without the baits shifting and tangleing trebles.

I use the 6'9" parabolic LTX rod paired with a Daiwa Steez for cranks, jerks, spinners, and hard swimbaits of 1 oz. or less.

Where are you getting it so cheap? I've not seen them for less than $159.99 anywhere around here. I picked up a new 153HSTA from an ebay store, BKS TACKLE OUTLET, delivered for $124. Being cheap with my $$, I did a lot of searching for the lowst price available at that time.

An expert I'm not, but I think the HSTA in the $120-135 range is a lot of reel for the money. I've fished with one for only a few months, but I really like the reel - very smooth, strong and rugged. Minor point, but I like the partially exposed brake adjustment knob - a simple click up or down with the thumb.

The 6'9" p rod is my multipurpose rod. I fish cranks, spinners, jerks and topwater swimbaits with the rod and have not been disappointed. Note: another member recently posted that he ordered a carrot stix from Cabella's, and is looking at a mid-April delivery due to backorder. You may want to consider other dealers. I've seen the rod sell for $120, and at $150 with freight included.

Depends on how long I plan to be at the bank. Fishing for an hour or so, one rod. If I'll be fishing for several hours, I'll load 4-5 in the car, and carry two as I'm walking the bank. Should conditions change, I'll hit the car and swap a rod or two.

Hey all. I wasn't trying to rain on e21's parade. 1.) My glove size falls between a large and x-large. 2.) I tend NOT to palm my reel. Given this, the LTX grip is a little short for me. Am I ready to dump this rod? HECK NO. I've got this rod paired with a Daiwa Steez 100, and the setup comes in around 9 oz.; less than my spinning reels! I can fish this sucker all day without fatigue - the exception is very windy days when I grip it a little tighter so it won't blow away. The point of the post was to alert any others that desire a longer grip, that a modification will violate an excellent warranty, which was a selling point for me. I've snapped multiple rod tips in car doors, and catching the headrest loading rods into my hatchback. So for me a lifetime OVER-THE-COUNTER warrenty is not something I'd want to kill. Again, I'm not trashing e21. I'd rather know up front that a grip modification will kill the warranty as opposed to changing the grip only to learn "oops" if I needed to replace the rod. With most rods this is not an issue - not many out there with such a long warranty.

I really enjoy fishing the LTX carrot stix, but after my first few hours using the rod I did take issue with the length of the grip; I'm holding too much blank. My local tackle shop suggested I investigate having the grip changed, so I bounced the idea off of e21. For any out there may have a similar issue with the grip, e21's responses to my questions are in caps: > 1. Will a grip modification violate your excellent OTC warranty? SORRY BUT, YES IT WILL. > 2. Can you identify for me a source of Thermalon material to be used for elongating the grip? THERE IS NO SOURCE SO TO SPEAK. I DEVELOPED THERMALON AND WILL NOT DIVULGE MY SOURCE. HYPALON IS CLOSE BUT YOU CANNOT BE SURE THAT THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE GETTING, YOU COULD END UP WITH EVA FOAM WHICH IS TERRIBLE. MOST OF THE TIME HOLDING A LOT OF GRIP ISN'T BAD. THANKS FOR THE KIND WORDS, WISH I HAD BETTER NEWS. KEN WHITNG - E21 Just thought I'd pass this info along.

I've been very lucky the past three weeks (3 1/2-6#'s) on willow blade spinners (white/yellow, white/chartreuse, black) and DT3 fats fishing shallow at 2-4'.

Very good info. Thanks to all.

Does anyone have some idea as to how long a bass can be out of the water without the risk of injury? My local lake has a monthly fishing contest, and fishing from the bank I'm really not interested in lugging a bucket around. I'm 100% C&R, and value returning a live and healthy fish to the water vs. a trophy.