brandonmccray

Thanks to you all for the advice. My line was a bit slack. I'll be better prepared next time.

A good one to look at is the 3/8 oz. Koppers smallmouth. It has a subtle action and usually can get me one on days when not much is biting. Mine has the flash finish, and although I mainly use it in clearer water, it actually does pretty well in dirty water also.

I do. When in really shallow water I go weightless at times, but usually go with a 3/16 bullet weight. We have a lot of dirty water here, but for clear water the weightless presentation works tends to be more effective more often.

I was catfishing with Magic Bait on 3/0 Eagle Claw circle hooks and was still deep-hooking them. They were extremely subtle biters. I wouldn't even feel most of the bites. I would just see my line slowly moving, set the hook, and get about a 3-4 pound fish. Is the subtlety of the bite causing me to react later, letting them take it in deeper, or something else?

I mainly use lizards, and I've tried to see a difference, but haven't.

The rock bass are just like the Roanoke bass we have here. They're a good fighting fish for their size on light gear. The nicer ones will go for bass cranks and plastics.

I tend to pick up redbreast, green sunfish, and white bass mostly.

I had a chance to go to New River State Park a week ago. It was my first time there, and I have to tell you now that fishing there would be best done by canoe or with waders. The state owns very little land there, and pretty much everything else is private property from the bank. I took my baitcaster, but would definately have been better off with light action gear. More focus is placed on trout in Ashe & Alleghaney Counties than on smallmouth. The best stretches were comparatively deep river sections with slower current, as the temps plummet when the sun goes down. They're still just starting to warm up there.

Took the survey. For me the internet is a powerful tool.

Weather permitting, I'm trying to go to New River State Park sometime nextg week. I'm completely new to smallmouth, but I'll be sure to let you know how things go.

I've been going 1/4 oz. to 5/8 oz. 1/2 o and up are better, but it still happens. I used to have a Rick Clunn reel with magnetic braking and a Sol. With those I never had to set braking above "3." With the Fuego it would only really work consistently from 5 up. It's different, but is this difference in the needed settings normal for this reel, or an indication of a problem?

I'm using a fuego and the thing backlashes like nothing I've ever seen. I tried a strategy of a looser cast control knob with a higher (like 5-7) brake setting. This makes things better, but even then it still backlashes. These overruns aren't small. When it goes, it REALLY goes. It's like all braking force just goes away. Again, the strategy I've tried really made a difference; but is this braking system some insane genious, esoteric contraption, or is this just the way it is, or could have some problem?

Here's something to take into consideration. I was using a palomar knot, directly tied to the lure's split ring. I tried a snap on the main line (I often do this when fishing for quick changes) and the line would break just above the knot. From this I's say there's a Very strong possibility that you would Have to use a good line with a Direct line tie with a really string knot; lest you just break the line on the pull and lose the lure anyways.

I'm new to flukes too. I was watching Zona fishing w/ Aaron Martens on his show and saw Martens use a scrounger jig head w/ the fluke. I'd also saw Icconelli use the jig head on City Limits, but he rigged his on a Berkely Beast sideways for a swimming shad profile. It seemed like a versatile jig head, so I got a couple, and had a chance to try it a week ago. It had really good action on the fluke, like a little soft plastic swimbait. No bites though, but that was the story for the whole day. I was using the Arkansas shiner pattern, and they actually produced a noticeable flash in clear water.

I'd thought I'd try some informal testing to get a better idea about the function of the split rings. I spooled on some Suffix Elite and hooked a lure's treble (a DTF3) to a heavy drawer's handle. The ring is normal until a certain level of pressure is reached. The pressure I exerted was a continuous,slow, steady pull; far different than a fighting fish. Sharp, hard rips did nothing. Also, the pressure it took to make the ring begin to expand was actually way more than what any fish would give you (considering 12#, anything that strong, like 30+# carp would break the line way before the ring would ever give). After it expanded it always popped back and was as strong as it was before. The ring usually stayed on lure also, minus the treble; but not every time.