kikstand454

as an added note... line and lure makes another product that they market as "saltwater" line conditioner. same stuff ... bigger bottle.... cheaper price. just so you know.

i like the rage craw and the rage shad is awesome. however.... i tend to agree with everything you said. they are overpriced for the amount that you get. and add on top of that they arent very durable (esp the shad) and the bang for the buck is low. as much as i love the craw... i cant say that it has produced any more fish for me than the zoom speed craw... which is cheaper and more durable. so ive kinda just switched to those. i will continue to buy the shads just because they are such a different action than other plastic topwaters, but i have found myself only throwing them when i am very confident that im on a spot that has good sized fish. i dont want to waste my rage shads as search baits.... thats not a good way to feel about a bait. its how i feel about some of my bigger nicer crankbaits and it drives me crazy. lol. jmho

ive been using braided line on my ugly sticks for saltwater for like 5 years now.. maybe longer. no problems whatsoever. i agree that it does help with the "generally soft action". its a good combination.

i agree with all the above and would like to add that another deciding factor for me is the length of the cast im making. if im pitching to a bank full of laydowns then i feel i can work a jig through there with some effort and i will go for the big bite. then i will follow up with a t-rig if i know the fish are there and didnt get the jig going. if im casting a flat or something i tend to go with a t-rig because if i hit some trash and the end of a long cast i tend to come through it more cleanly with a t-rig. basically i pitch a jig... i cast a t-rig.

i too have recently started jig fishing in earnest. and i have to agree with the advice above. get a 1/2oz jig in black and blue and fish it almost identical as you would a t-rigged craw. this is the easiest way to start. im still in that phase but im starting to think more towards "jig" techniques more than t-rig now that ive caught a few fish and have a feel and confidence for it.

honestly... i was using random shaky head jigs and putting trick worms on them and catching alot of fish. but what was happening was i was losing alot of them and it was getting upsetting because they are 70 to 120 cents each. recently though i have decided to forgo the baitholder screws and the flat bottoms and all the other things that make them so expensive and go with these heads... http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_10204998_100010006_100000000_100010000_100-10-6 which are great beacuse they have a 60 degree eye and a 3/0 hook and are cheap cheap. to solve the "falling down/ no action " problem... i have just switched to using strike king 3x finesse worms. they will NOT fall over and shake with very little effort... standing straight up. not to mention that one worm can sometimes last all day. i am liking this rig very much and for the price you just cant beat it.

:-? i ran 12lb power pro on my c-rig rod all last year and moved to 15lb this year. i two hand cast this rod all day, swinging for the fences. 40lb is more managable though i guess...but its dang near impossible to break.

yeah... it sounded like that because like most reels... it probably came under or over lubed. ive had brand new $200 reels do that. cast it... if it sounds like it needs to be lubed.... chances are it does. i do not own a code nor do i have any experience with them at all.... but i do own 9 other quantum reels that perform great and smooth and two of those are probably 10 years old. the other big name reels are great reels....but so are quantums. dont be fooled.

not to in anyway hijack this post.... but in that situation that alot of you are saying your in.... why arent you throwing a lightly weighted paddle tail? i mean... thats what i would do. imma check out these creatures though... i think i have a little spot that they would work great at!

hellz yea! i recently have started down the road to jig success myself. now its all i think about. lol. im wondering if i can talk myself into throwing a jig this summer instead of a c-rig.... lol.

black cavitron with red blade. awesome. (and dont forget the jitterbug)

jitterbug. its insane. buzzbait where you cant throw the jitterbug. topwater toads where cant throw the buzzbait. big t-rigged worms, paddletails. like said before... most anything youd throw during the day...

sub warts bandits baby 1- bandits are probably the cheapest. good stuff.

ok. if you have no grass in your lake and youre going to try night fishing.... youd be a fool not to throw a black jitterbug. throw it till your arm breaks. lol.... they cant stay away from it and with no grass to foul up the trebles.... wow. as far as your carolina rigging question.... i personally have done very well with black trick worms. but alot of plastics work... if i was c-rigging at night id throw a black and blue rage craw... or a black or dark colored paddle tail worm. hahaha.... or a jitterbug.

an alternitive to that would be to just run some water on them and forget about it. i have never expereinced negative behavior from an oil/ petroleum based scent. for that matter... many grouper fisherman and old salts use wd-40 as an attractent! lol. on a different side of things... IN THEORY, fish shouldnt be able to smell oil or petroleum because its not water soluble and thats how they smell. you cant smell underwater, because we smell airbourne particles. fish likewaise cant smell things that arent water soluble. in theory....

i agree. i own several quantums. dont let people talk you out of the brand. but the truth is the best reel you can afford is the best thing to do. if you were really wanting a revo sx then by all means... save up and get one. they are awesome reels. if you dont want to fork down that much cash and are antsy to start trying though... as mentioned above you can find the accurist pt's on ebay for very good prices... and they are great reels for the money. i have three. the accurist pt, an older accurist and an acurist pts which is saltwater designed. they all are great reels and cast a mile. the revo's cast control may be better suited for a newbie however as sometimes the quantum brakes have three settings no matter how many numbers are on the dial. lol. on, off, somehwere in between. works great for me... but like i said... the revos and better yet daiwas have better magnets.

x2 this past weekend i had the same thing happen to me. i was throwing a jig in 6ft of water with 40lb braid. i hooked into a fish and i felt it shake its head and throw my jig. confused... i reeled in and found my skirt gone. so i smiled... thought that maybe i had a dull hook, tied on a new jig... and went back to fishing. the next bite i got it was expecting it... felt it pick up, watched it swim a second and the set the hook so hard i came off the deck a few inches. i barely moved this fish!!! then... slack. it threw the hook too. sometimes man.... its just not your day.

in a related note... save yourself some money and time and dont get an etec. esp not the h.o. the local mechanics said if it werent for all the etecs coming in last summer.. their business woulda went under. now the saltwater etecs are ok.......but thats quite a bit of money difference. yamaha.

this depends. what kinda cranking you going to do? deep and shallow cranking are very differnt things. i suppose you could get away with using a 7' m action rod with a 6.1 reel for both. however... for deep cranking (10-20ft) i personally feel that a 7'(or longer) mh/ m tip and a 5.? reel are a better choice. the extra distance with the longer rod is important in getting the bait to its maximum depth. the lower ratio reel will make reeling the bait down that deep and digging into the bottom alot easier on you throughout the day. a faster gear ratio is okay for mid to shallow cranking because theres alot less resistance involved and sometimes its good to "burn" those shallow cranks. remember... its not about the speed of the reel/lure. its about the torque/resistance.

shimano clarus.

if youre looking for a bigger profile in the terms of thickness.... then i would go with a senko style bait. and if youre wanting to use it for a shaky head presentation.... id have to say to go with the strikeking 3x zero. youll have trouble keeping the zero on the bottom with a 1/8oz lead! lol. "Are you guys using standard shaky jigs with 2/0 hooks for these big baits, or custom? " i use shakeys with 3/0's *shrug*

just sweep your rod to the left or right.... kinda like you hook up on a crank bait. pulling straight up brings the heavy sinker into play and may encourage a fish to drop your bait. or worse... the weight suddenly jumping up may pull out out of their mouth. sweeping the hookset is under the idea that you are setting the hook "through" the weight.... taking it out of the equation. i probably throw a c-rig more than anything. it rocks.

i sweep left or right until i come to a peice of cover... then i point the rod at the sky and move it forward by pulling it straight towards me. it seems to give me a better feel of the cover, and i hang up less... working it through branches or whatever. also... when you move it like this you can only go a foot or so at a time. as long as youre keeping contact with the bottom. thi helps you slow down in the all important strike zone. most of your bites will be when you hit a piece of cover.

i love yo zuri. and use it constantly. but ive had this happen to me twice. i think that it maybe be a storage issue either on the store or suppliers part. cause like you said, once you get past the first hundred yards or so it seems fine. this has cost me two nice cranks. the yo zuri is great though... and ive had no problems at all with the ultra soft for what its worth.

x2