cadman

For all you guys that buy from Ali express and others vendors in Japan, do you have to pay any additional taxes or customs charges?

Take a look at fishingskirts.com They have a lot of skirt colors. Also they have a tab on their website called "Builds" open that tab. There are some good colors there. Also they give you the skirt color numbers and the quantities used.

Welcome from northern IL

Since I make and sell jigs, I have about 100 different colors of skirts. Only reason being is many guys want a certain color and I try to accommodate them. With that said, I am a jig fisherman. I fish a jig 95% of the time all day long. My top three colors are Blk/blue, green pumpkin, brown and sometimes white, My colored skirts are blk/blue , solid green pumpkin, solid brown and solid white. That's it nothing fancy here. I do catch a lot of fish with these colors. To me jig fishing is more about presentation and finding out what the fish likes based on how you work the jig. I'm not saying making a three colored skirt on a jig doesn't work, but if you can't catch fish on a jig, it doesn't matter what perfect color you have. Keep it simple at first. If you want to add some color later on go ahead. A lot of fancy colored jigs are to sell to the fisherman. They look great in the package and we are visual humans. So when we see all these color we think wow a fish would definitely hit that, in all reality a solid color would work just as well. Just my thoughts

Any kayak anglers out there from Northern , IL that fish S.E Wisconsin waters? Friend is looking to join a small kayak club.

Depending on how much you are going to pour, I do a 80% pure soft and 20% hard. Reason being is. Pure soft although pours easier is too soft (JMO). You can buy and use pure soft if you don't want to buy different hardness's of lead. Adding 20% or 30% of hard to soft lead makes the perfect lead hardness in my opinion. If you need more help, PM me and I will help you out.

Try Roto-Metals on Line. They have very good prices and free shipping. I buy 400-500 lbs from there. Never any bad lead. If you decide to melt any lead that has been in the water, be very careful, lead and water don't mix. It will explode if heated too rapidly and you will get very badly burned. Best to buy dry lead from a good source.

I don't care where Bates reels are made. I don't know why some people get so involved about saying company is dishonest so they won't buy the reel. Do you think that other companies tell you all of the things that go on in their business dealings whether good or bad? All I look for in a reel is good quality, it performs well or better than I expect and if parts are available down the road for replacement parts. That is all.

I bought a Bates Hundo and am waiting on delivery. I got it from Tackle Warehouse about a week ago and had it in my hands, but they sent me the wrong hand. From what little I played with the R.H. version, I really like the reel. The reel is supposed to be here today and I will start fishing with it on the weekend. I will keep you guys posted once I figure out the braking system. I too am not fond of the Zillion as well. I bought three of them, I used (1) and the other are new. They will be going up for sale. To me there is just nothing special about the Zillions. JMO

Jig Rookie, congratulations, that is exceptional fish for northern Illinois.

Been getting quite a few 18 and 19" on lake Delavan this fall in late August and September. Fished it several weeks in a row. October hasn't been too bad either. Going to Lake Beulah tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

I used to use ABU Garcia reel lube and oil back in the day and never had issues with their products. Shimano makes good products. I now use my own blended products that I'm happy with. Biggest thing is to get rid of all the excess grease that the manufacturer puts in the reels. Once you clean your reel thoroughly, you will see a big difference in performance.

I use mono and co-poly and I really don't sweat over the details. Been catching a lot of fish with mono and now with co-poly. Use what you feel works for you.

When I looked into bearings, I looked exclusively for stainless steel bearings. Reason being is, some guys use their reels for fresh and brackish water applications. I am not affiliated or have anything to do with TRB and I asked what materials their fishing bearings are made of. They told me that their bearing races, balls and shields are all stainless steel. I have not had any failures so far in 5 years+. I'm not saying you should buy from them, however I've gone through a lot of bearing companies and there are some garbage bearings out there so do your homework.

I do not use Boca anymore. I found a place that to me the bearings are much better for a lot less cost. The name of the place is "TRB RC". They have their own website, you can also buy them at Amazon or E-bay. Free shipping from all places above. If you buy 10 packs like I do and you buy multiple 10 packs of different sizes you get a discount. Depends on the reels, but I use a lot of 3x10x4 and 5x11x4. These sizes are usually for the spool and the two end carrier bearings that go in the side plates. I have been using them for 3 years and have never had a bad bearing. If you go on their site, they have bearings called fishing bearings. The 3x10x4 and 5x11x4 are Abec-5. Your other bearings like for your worm gear and main gear are Abec-3. I still clean them from the factory and put my own oil in them. I've talked to the owner extensively and he is very helpful. If you need more info you can PM me.