kikstand454

i recomend the shimano rods too for the money. the compre and esp the crucial. my "best" (most expensive) rig is my crucial mh and quantum tour edition 7.1.... and this is my everyday go to caralina rod. it will also do jigs and topwaters. love it.

if youre fishing the zulu or zulutoo then you need to match your hook to what you want it to do. itll float a 3/0 all day. but a 4/0 may give it the weight you want and a 5/0 will give a sexy fall. i catch trout and redfish on them constantly and i use either a 3/0 or 4/0 gammy skip gap hook over grass or a 5/0 in 6 to 8 ft water. same for bass.

i have found after repeated tests with the shad that the 4/0 gammy skip gap ewg is the best thing for it. the keeper bend keeps it from sliding down the hook like other hooks and it also acts as a bit of a keel. if i hadnt put them on this hook i woulda gotten rid of them and never purchased another pack. they were a massive p.i.t.a.... now i love love love them.

i run 10,12 and 15lb yozuri hybrid on all my rigs and 8lb ultrasoft on my spinning reel and ive never had a single bad thing to say about it. its strong and smooth and has very little memory in the grand scheme of things. i used to fish what i consider the best mono out there.... big game... and hybrid kicks its rear in every way. imo if youre not goin to spend REAL money on super custom line and off brand elite pro stuff.... this is a great alternative. i will not be changing lines anytime soon. well...hahah... except that i like the berkley flouro and power pro braid of course... ;D great comparison and write up!!!!!!!!!

im confused at how youre bleeding. before i bought pliers for this i used to do it with the file attatchment on my fingernail clippers. from #10's to big #3's i cant think of a time that i actually cut myself or hooked myself changing them. it was a massive p.i.t.a. though. im almost conviced actually that i was more profeciant at it with the nail clippers. lol.... sometimes the pliers just get in the way. cant think of any advice really to give you on it except be more careful!!!

the sk 3x zero,zulu and lizards will float a 3/0 gammy hook all day long. having trouble keeping them on there? shhhh... its a secret... gammy's skip gap hook will hold the elaztec leures all day through many many fish and not rip the baits. many many times i have fished the same zulu2 with a skip gap in less than a foot of water and caught dinks all day long on the same bait. ditto with the zeros. i also LOVE this rig for inshore fishing as i dont constantly have pinfish pulling my lure off or ripping the tails off my lures,( they cant rip the elaztec). i know theyve been around along time but ive noticed that my region doesnt buy either of these products and they are getting hard to come by. thats ok with me though cuz ill just order them and keep saving money and catchin fish. it does kill me though that sk changed their formula on the zulus and the zulu too's. i dont like the new ones as much as the older softer ones.

our wal marts never have anything good on sale. and never ever on clearence. the dont have ragetails anyway. they have started carrying netbaits pacas and the strike king ochos. but then... they stopped selling gambler paddletails. im lucky though cuz we had both a boaters world and a sportsmans warehouse go out of business. so i cleaned up!! i got probably 600 bucks of stuff for about 250 and i can now open my own store if i wanted to. lol.

wow... three pages and i cant beleive that noone said to c-rig it. am i doing it wrong or do i have a secret bait?????????? hhhmmmmmmmm.

beleive it or not i saw pacas at my local walmart the other day!!! we never have anythign like that.

well.... lets see. lake seminole- 45min. lake talquin -30min. lake jackson -15min. lake munson -5min. river systems.... flint, chatahoochee,ochlocknee, st. marks, wakulla approx -30min. gulf of mexico- 30min. lots of places to go....lots more than that even. too bad i dont have a boat and have to rely on others to take me :|

i do beleive that dedication is the only key to be the best that you can be.... but then.. there IS a plateau. you can only be as good at something as your abilities allow. if dedication and hard work and commitment is all it took then there would be no record holders, no dominate players, no incredible acheivments. in their respective sports there have been thousands of athletes that have worked as hard or harder than phelps,armstrong,gretzky,jordan,woods,federer,kvd....etc. but they are NOT them. being the best you can be at what you love to do is the most you can ask for. if you are prepared when the right opportunity comes along (luck) then you will succeed to the best of your ability. just my .02

ive got a kvd and its a good reel but its not a pt. i havent had a single problem with it though cept it overruns sometimes. have no experience with the catalyst however i assume its a repackaged accurist pt. if it is.... then its a great reel.

hard to beat a 7' shimano compre. they are aweseome for 99 bucks. keep an eye out and you may find a crucial at that price.

lol..nah im not wise. way better anglers on here than me. i do like that i figured out how to use both though. and it also has helped me in getting some fine gear. left hand retrieve reels are the first to go on sale and typically the last to sell out. i got my quantum tour edition 7.1 last year for $99. it was 269 normally i think. by using different rods with differrent retrieves, i think it helps me focus more on the technique im going for too. just a thought. id probably learn to throw right and reel right with the reel you have now like everyone else. then.... later on when you get a few more reels going... maybe see if you can go back to casting right and reeling left. its a neat trick.

im liking the bombers in foxy shad. *shrug*

i think this is mostly conditioning. "most (?)" people grew up fishing the old push button zebcos and things and just learned to cast right, switch hands, and reel right. then i htink if you move up to a spinning reel in your tweens and teens... you tend to want to minimize movement and learn to reel left handed, still casting right. it just feels right to do this with a spinning outfit. i think it has to do with the rotation and torque of a spinning reel too.... but when you switch to learning baitcasters.... its kinda back to zebco33 school and thats what feels comfortable. this is evident in the fact that until recently, it was incredibly hard to even find a lh retreive baitcaster....even though "effeciently" it makes more sense. i personally took the fact that i could reel both ways to heart and decided that while i felt more comfortable casting and reeling in moving baits with a right hand retreive, it made much more sense to use a left hand retreive when fishing slowly on the bottom and flipping and pitching. i can engage the reel with little to no movement and be ready for that surprise "falling" hit. and as mentioned above.... it has certainly helped with fatigue when i was cranking a point for 40 minutes to set it down and change hands and carolina rig. it gives me a break and i personally think - an advantage.

*shrug* i like the old ones! hahaha i dont have a new one yet and truthfully wont be getting one cuz i sure dont need a new reel. i know that the difference between my blue TE is night and day with the new model. i would expect that the new enrgy is the same. lighter and tighter from what i understand.

6.3 is a fine and dandy ratio for bass fishing. if you like that reel.... you should just get another. going up a gear to a 7 is great for burning things.... but u lose torque. if you throw alot of bigger lures or i should say lures with alot of water resistance... like large bladed spinners and deep diving cranks..... a 7.1 is going to make you want to gnaw your arm off. 6.3 is a good middle ground imo

i would also like to point out to everyone that if you look for it....u can find line and lure conditioner from the same company with the exact same ingredients in twice the amount for the same price. the difference? kvd isnt on the bottle. ill try to find it online and post the link........ok i couldnt find it on their site. but i have it. lol. its alot like the "saltwater formula" on the site but its not that. thats new. hmmm.... was reading the instructions on the site and maybe i WAS applying it wrong on my line. i just recently got some flouro and ive never used it before. thoughts on its affects on that? last time i tried flouro i took it all off after 5 casts and swore id never buy it again. that was a long time ago though and im sure the technology is better now so i got some on sale.

i have a 7'6 split grip and i use it for carolina rigs and jigs..... to each their own i guess...

truthfully. i havent been able to get kvd line and lure to do anything but mess up my line and give me memory. i use yozuri hybrid and while i love it it is a bit expensive and got the line and lure cuz of the advice on this site. trying to stretch the budget you know. but after repeated use on different reels and #line.... i havent had a single positive result. i must be doing it wrong. lol. on the other hand.... it is awesome to use on lures to keep off corrosion and rust. have a box full of saltwater topwaters and was constanly having to change hooks.... now i just spray them down every few weeks....perfect.

i too use a cd wallet. i picked mine up for like 50 cents at a thrift store. holds about 40 baits. which is silly cuz noone really needs more than 10 or twelve. cant beleive i have that many.

i like gambler paddle tails in both 5 and 8 in sizes. junebug normally. those are for swimming along of course. for a bottom thing i like the zoom gworms in punkin and anacondas in watermellon.

i think fishing over 30lb braid in freshwater is a bit silly. i mean, i know alot of "pros" do it...but i just dont see the advantage. whens the last time you broke 30lb power pro? never? you almost cant break it if you try.you can anchor your boat with it. unless your fishing a fast moving 2oz swimbait in a stumpfield covered in pads and a 18+ bass smacks it full speed going the other direction.....youre never going to break that 30lb braid. unless you dont take care of it......

yo zuri is all i use. on everything. well.... cept powerpro braid....