The Rooster

I have two deep cycle batteries on my boat and also have a Guest onboard charger that puts out 5 amps per bank on dual banks. Can I just leave the batteries in the boat all winter and keep them plugged in, or do I need to take them inside the house so they don't get cold?? My boat stays outside under a tarp, no garage to keep it in here, and it can get fairly cold here in KY, we get some good snow at times too.

You guys are probably gonna think I've been under a rock my whole life but I've never fished with a senko at all. What's more I've never even seen one up close. I'm not a band wagon jumper when it comes to a new lure craze. But I just read up on how they fall horizontally and cast pretty far cause of how heavy they are and all. So now I think I'm ready to get some and try them out. What's a good size, color, and what kind of hooks do I need??

I wanted to learn to fish a lipped crankbait, have the confidence that it could work, and also not be afraid to throw them into the sticks and heavier cover for fear of losing them. I'm proud to say I have not lost a single one and I am throwing them into places that before I would have shuddered at the thoughts of (sometimes I do have to wade in after one when it gets snagged though). And most importantly......I'm catching bass on them. After 12 years of fishing, many of those times never touching a crankbait cause of no confidence, I am now being successful with them. I also made myself learn to stick with conventional bass lures this year as well, even when the bite was tough. Before, I would have just gone over to panfishing or using a Roostertail to fish for bass as well as panfish at the same time just so I could catch fish. Now when I go after bass and the bite is tough I still have the confidence to stick with the T-rig or crankbait or buzzbait or any other lures that are too large for panfish to hit. It's helped a lot and I've caught bass I otherwise might have missed. I wanted to learn jigs this year also, but haven't tried them more than a couple of times, all without success. This year ain't over yet though!!

Why did you not just buy another Citica like you have already instead of something different?? I mean, I know all about wanting new stuff just cause it's out there and you don't have one yet, I'm the worst for that, but I think if I had 4 of one kind already and I needed another one, I'd get the same one again.....that's just me though, so I'm curious why you did not.

Would you think a 5.4:1 would be too fast (Bass Pro Extreme baitcaster)??

Replied back. Sorry I didn't see it sooner.

CI200DPV and CI200DSV are what they are. If anyone wants a deal on one, there it is, although it's only $20 less than the new E model.

The kind of splitshots I use have the teeth inside of them and the tabs on the back of them making them removable. They leave a W pattern in your line after you remove them cause they crimp down right on top of it, they don't have a groove in them like Muddy described his splitshots as having (which I knew were to get those!) I always cut the line above the crimped place and retie after removing the splitshot from my line cause I do recognize that that is now a weak spot in the line. But while fishing it, I've never had it break not even one time and sometimes when I get snagged up I still am not able to break the line by pulling on it TRYING to snap it. So I don't think it's as weak as people want to say it is, but you can never be too careful when fishing for "big mama". All the fish I've ever caught on that rig though would be 15" or less in size so it's never been a worry for me at all. And I crimp them good too, using needlenosed pliers to put them on. I guess I'll continue to "splitshot" now that I know it's an actual method of fishing and not just a cheat. ;D

Seemed like they were extremely popular while they ran that line though. Right now I could get a Citica for the same price as a Cruxis at Cabela's, they are $99.99, but they are the size with the line capacity of 12 pound, 150 yards. The other size of 10 pound, 155 yards are all sold out. Which one was the more average sized reel?? Cause I have a BPS Extreme that holds 12 pound, 150 yards, and it's pretty small in frame size, but from what I know about those Shimano D's, they are pretty large?? I'm really not all that interested in this reel to purchase one, I am just mostly curious is all.

OK, I've actually been doing this for awhile now. I started out doing this my first year of fishing and was incorrectly thinking I was carolina rigging way back then. After a time I learned how to correctly set up the carolina rig but never knew until now that what I had been doing instead was actually an accepted method of fishing also. All this time I just thought it was me being cheap and lazy!! I sometimes would even put a bullet weight on, then 2 glass beads, and then crimp a split shot behind that, all to make a rattle. I'd leave about a foot of line for the hook behind all that. I had pretty good success with this setup too. So then, if that's OK to do then why do people actually go to the trouble to tie the carolina rig using swivels and having to tie 3 knots?? I've even seen lately being sold in a tackle store....a little thing for quickly making a carolina rig with only tying one knot. It's a small cylinder shaped piece of solid plastic, about 1/4 inch long and available in either red or clear, with a slit that goes from end to end in it up through the middle. You squeeze this thing and make the slit open up, then slide it up onto your line to create a stopper (it replaces the swivel). You do this after you've already put on the slip sinker and any beads you want to use, but before you tie on the hook. It's supposed to grip the line but not crimp it like a split shot sinker does, and it's removable and reusable too. That's the lazy man's carolina setup, and since I'm lazy.......you can guess what I'm gonna be getting some of. ;D

Do they still make the Cruxis the way it was before the E series of Curado and Citica came out?? Really I thought that whole line was a bit bulky, the reels are just LARGE, but once I start looking at them more closely I might get passed that. I still doubt I'd swap my BPS Extreme for one though, but it can't hurt to look at them anyway.

What is a split shot rig?? I've heard about it before, just don't know how to put it together. Is it a cheap carolina set up, with a soft bait on a hook and a split shot a foot or so away??

I'm just getting into Shimano, mostly their rods. If I were to consider a Shimano casting reel for one of the rods I want, it would have to be around the $100 range, and the Cruxis looks like it will be. I was told a few years ago that Shimano basically did some name hopping making the old green Curado the new Citica but a different color, and the new Cruxis was just a former Citica rebadged. That was told to me by a local tackle shop in 2005 or 2006, can't remember, but it was way before any talk of the new Curado E that is out now. So I just wanted to learn about them some.

I feel sorry for those children.....but still glad those parents got caught. It's way better for them though, assuming they survived the poisonous vapors from cooking that filth, they still might have blown the house up with them in it! When I first read this thread I wouldn't have given a nickel in a bet that you'd ever have recovered any of your things you had stolen. So glad to read some good news in something like this.....too often there's no happy ending.

Agree. Certainly. Absolutely. positively! Indeed 4-Sure yupster! Fo Sho Word Decidedly!

I'm learning to fish a variety of baits and getting a little better with some of them so this should be no reflection on any of them that I DON'T mention...........but my number one fish producer, most of which are 12 to 14 inch bass, is a Worden's Roostertail. People constantly tell me this is not a bass bait, and one tackle shop around here told me it's a trout bait exclusively and wouldn't even order them when I asked about them.....said they were out of season. They're dead wrong. Period. Tie one on in the 1/8 or 1/6 ounce size, in any kind of white color especially, and you'll see what I mean. I don't go fishing without them and I take over 100 of them with me when I go. I never buy them in less than quantities of 3 for any color or size and I almost never NOT have a rod with one tied on, sometimes more than one rod with different colors or sizes. Don't get me wrong, I still fish the cranks and buzz's and T-rigs but when they don't work, it's a Rooster, and when THEY don't work.....then I get worried......but I still fish on.....

The Angler series does have Fuji aluminum oxide guides, but the cheaper one (can't remember it's name) does not.

Why is that bad timing?? Did you already buy a new rod before you heard about these?? As I recently learned, IM-6 doesn't mean it's not as good as another rod. It only means that the material isn't as stiff as the higher numbers, IM-7 and IM-8 and so on. Therefore it takes more of it to make the rod the same stiffness as another rod that was made using the others, and therefore it can be somewhat heavier as a result. I'm shopping around for a few new rods also, and that's something that concerned me so I asked about it on here and people were kind enough to explain it to me.

I've seen on here a lot that people talk about the Shimano Curado, and even the Citica, but very little talk (that I've seen anyway) about the Cruxis. Is that a good reel?? It has as many bearings as the Citica does, 3 ball bearings and 1 roller bearing. How does it compare to the better ones?? It looks like it's built on the same frame as the old Curado D and the Citica, before the redo of both of those reels.

That's how it is here in KY too, new state laws on all that now. We do home improvements for a living and we constantly scrap out old aluminum gutters and siding. They take a picture of us standing beside our truck with the license plate showing, also make us show ID and they xerox a copy of that. Now they require a company letterhead stating that we have authorization to scrap out any metal, even though WE run the company, it's privately owned by just US. There's a ton of regulations that have to be met around here and it's all due to theft of copper and aluminum. Now they're cracking down!!! I agree, even though I don't drink, give the guy a cold case of beer, or take him fishing, or anything.....just make sure he knows how grateful you are. It's nice to see that you got the boat back. What about the trolling motor, new roll of carpet and 2 batteries that were in it?? They still there??

Thank you for the link. But actually today I narrowed down my choice of casting rods I'm gonna purchase to just the Shimano Compre and they make a cranking rod in that one so I'll probably get one of those if I get a crank rod. I also read on here somewhere that a crank rod makes a decent rod for buzzbaits too. I think Bantam1, the Shimano guy, said he uses one.

This is what I'm trying to do now but I think I'm gonna get 5 combos in all. Either 3 casters and 2 spinners, or 4 casters and one spinner. Probaby the first setup though. I fish a lot of stuff that I can use a spinning reel better for than the caster, at least I think so. So only one spinner would put me having to cut and retie a lot.

I haven't fish with them, only just looked at them and was considering a purchase because the IM-7 rod was very similar to the Quest LS-7 rod that Dick's had sold the year before, of which I bought 2 and liked them a lot. The casting rod in the Angler Series was nearly identical to it, only just blue instead of red. The IM-6 Field and Stream rod looked and felt cheaply made compared to the IM-7 F & S rod. If I got one, it would definitely be the grade up between the two. And I've seen them on sale for nearly the same price as the cheaper rod's retail price, so if you want one I'd wait for the sale and get the better one. That's my $0.02 on it.

OK, after Flechero's explanation I think I get more about it now. I understood what he was saying and could even visualize it in my head. So now I guess all I have to do is decide if that difference is enough for me to want to get one. I've learned to fish the cranks I mostly use with the medium powered graphite rod I have here now and it's working for me after a bit of trial and error earlier this year on it. Thanks for clearing up for me how they work though, it was enlightening.

Did you get a spinning combo or a casting combo?? The spinning rod is the one I don't care for. The casting rods I think would probably be fine.