infiltwb

definately depends on my mood hehe. I am a guy who tries to provoke a reaction strike and generally that has worked well for me, big and flashy in the column, but I am a sucker for topwater assassins. I tend to spend alot of time with spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, and topwater frogs, although even with sliding a craw/lizard along the bottom ill tend to go flashy and fast when jigging, not the traditional approact but has served me well overall. If all else fails, i'll slow down and work it kinda naturally in a more natural color or something that works with the water conditions at hand.

we were out there from last monday to today, our total count was 2 crappies and 3 tiny smallies. We were on a houseboat out of lake raystown resort with a jon boat to scout around and fish off of, our only hits came last night, in about a 2 hour window in the J's around MM 14 iirc. This was our second year, and we are talking about giving it one more short in fall, however we are all pretty disappointed. The general population of fish on the lake seems thin for all the talk. With the bait we tried this time, i thought for sure wed be tired of fishing after a few days. 3 days with a guide added up to getting our trolls run over a couple times by morons, sorry but 1 of em i could see as being our fault, the rest were pure idiocy on the other boaters part. But those 3 days ended up w/ blanks. Shiners and flatheads produced zero hits, nightcrawlers were producing nothing until sunday night when we nailed a grand total of 5 fish. We are giving it one more go, however I have to say based on the reputation of the lake, I am definately finding it to be a letdown.

ok this coming monday we will be on raystown Any recent activity reports?

on cranks i'll use a rapala knot, i almost always run a leader which i'll snap to, with frogs i'll use a black duolock w/ a gold swivel 4-12" in front of a frog and that has actually seemed to increase the hits a bit, i will do this occasionally with jerks and swims as well, but i rarely snap directly onto a lure.

maybe i'm weird, but depends on the rig, if i'm using an inline hook i'll run a senko or gulp alive leech/nightcrawler. I'f i'm dropping off of a 3way, gulp alive 4" minnows.

Cabelas Mad Tommy Toads on a gamakatsu 5/0 red wide gap worm hook. My go-to bait for most situations, second choice is a rapala f-5 bleeding pearl crank.

My experience with baitcasters is into my 3rd season, and I have to say, between a handfull of daiwa, quantum, okuma and shimano reels, I am a huge fan of the ACS centrifugal system quantum uses followed closely by the centrifugal brakes in general. I have found magnetic brakes to be unreliable. I've used a few different magnetic systems, magforce z, magforce v and the lower end shimano magnetic and have to say IMO it sucks. Seems to be either on or off, no consistency with it. The quantum setup to me at least seems to be the most consistent and reliable, although I would like to play around with one of the browning DBS reels that uses both centrifugal and magnetic iirc? What do you guys think? I'm starting to find myself using the brakes less and less as I have begun moving into alot of conventional reel use in the salt, my thumb has gotten much more sensitive and accurate when casting. I've narrowed down my biggest pros and cons below of each centrifugal and magnetic. Centrifugal: Pros- Consistent performance More precise control over a wider range of conditions Cons- Time consuming adjustment Very sensitive to dirt intrusion Higher Maintenence Magnetic: Pros- Easy adjustment Low Maintenence Generally wider range of adjustment Cons- Inconsistent spool speed More thumb control required on cast Consistent howling on cast despite multiple professional cleanings/services.

problems? Posts like this are kind of......helpless. why do you think these rods suck? What problems are you having? need the info lol

Shimano hands down. We have a house full of shimano stuff and I cant tell much of a difference between my wifes sahara 1500 and my sustain 1500. Both of our reels are 2 years old and all weve done is lube/clean. No major maintenence or anything.

I tend to run a little tight on braid, if im running a 40lb braid(10lb dia) i'll run around 8lb drag. With my saltwater stuff, i'll go about 1/3 to 1/2 depending again on where i am in the water column. On the bottom ill run a tad more drag than I will in the middle of the column.

I tend to use 15-17lb seagar fluoro on mine, although I have spooled up 40lb power pro if i'm gonna be playing in heavy cover. I would definatley get a larger spool of 10-15lb mono to learn on as its easier to control and alot cheaper when ya get a larger nest that isnt going to clear otu without stripping off half the spool. Another suggestion i would make, keep the brake up higher while your learning, you'll loose some distance but should cut down on backlashes substantially.

i'd definately have to say daiwa. Short of no thumbscrew on the gear side for the sideplate release, the frame porting, handle, drag star, and knobs look very similar to the 08 daiwa stuff.

Honestly, one of my preferred baitcasters is an okuma stratus. got it for $40 at dicks a while ago, and despite being a low end reel, has performed quite well. If your new to baitcasters, I would definately get a cheapie to see how your going to feel about em. They definately take a control touch and take some getting used to. What i've learned in the past few years of using em, magnetic brakes are a pita and dont really feather too well. Centrifugal are definately a better, more consistent and reliable braking system IMO. I love my Quantums and Shimanos. I have a daiwa that i do use from time to time but thats almost always with heavier lures(3/8 oz+). Fluorocarbon or a copolymer line tends to work by far better than anything else. the stiffness in the line seems to help the line peel off the spool much easier as opposed to braid that tends to wrap under the line guide from my experience with low weight lures. The BPS stuff is made by browning iirc and the cabelas stuff is daiwa, i would definately be more confident in a bps setup for that reason, my daiwa stuff looks great, but the performance is not what I would consider up to par. If you want to take the plunge, shimano stuff rocks. I recently picked up a pair of citicas from a friend as their a bit light for what he's doing in the salt, and i love em. Have one on a cabelas mag touch and the other on a compre, dynamite setups on both. Hope this helps heh. cyas

For heavy cover i'll am pretty much a die hard for power pro. I've got a team daiwa advantage baitcaster with 50lb red power pro and a shimano symetre 2500 with 30lb green powerpro that i primarily use for heavy cover, although i'll use my energy pt baitcaster with 17lb seagar flourocarbon occasionally, just depends on the light conditions and how heavy the cover is. Most of the year i'm using braid, especially on anything thats going to run subsurface.

Generally i've used the cabelas mad tommy toads on a 5/0 gamakatsu ewg. I have rarely had a half hearted strike at these. 9 times out of 10 they get absolutely blasted. I have found that once a frog does get hit a time or 2 and the hook just refuses to hold, i'll flip it over, rig it upside down and just let it sit on the edge of a weed bed and generally get the same reaction. A quick shot of garlic never hurts but I haven't found it to be necessary. Frogs rule!