Fat-G

Randy Travis?

Dobyns DX745 FH. Went out again today. Every time I use it, I love it more!

Thanks guys, she was well over 7 and close to 8. Really a great fight on 4lb line!

CXX is pretty good line. I prefer flouro now but it's good for lipless cranks and spinnerbaits. That gar was in the 8-9 pound range, if that.

Black Eyeday!

X2, I really like mine. I will never own a Core, but would buy another 50 in a heartbeat.

Yeah man! First time I've been "on the other side of the road" in a while. Forgot about the deep rocky one, glad I remembered it!

Yep! You reeeeally need to try this rod man. I have finally found the perfect jig rod.

I was wondering where SoFlaBassAddict is as well. Hope they're both doing alright.

The big fish were on the hunt for a Jig'n Craw today...so I happily fed it to 'em! Caught my biggest bag of the year at a little over 22 lbs. First two 5's hit on back to back cats in the exact same spot. These fish are so darn fat I thought they were 8+ for sure! After the two 5's came a 4.5, 4, and a 4.2. The bite was on for sure. Jig of choice today was a Northstar Premier Alien Head in a brown/orange/copper color tipped with either a Bama Craw or Falcon Craw trailer.

I'm using a Dobyns DX745 for the technique you mentioned. It's perfect for heavier footballs or pitching jigs. It's worth taking a look for sure. Really sensitive rod. Edit - Just got back from a trip where I used a jig around some chunk rock and cinder blocks on the DX745. In all honesty man, I think this is the rod for you. It's just the perfect action for fishing jigs.

X3, I'm very interested as well.

By the way, before I had ever fished a Rage Craw two years ago, my best day at any of my ponds was 18 fish, three of which were in the 3-4 pound range. The first day I fished a Rage Craw I caught a whopping 42 bass in 2 hours. Four of those fish were over four and one was 6.5. The bite was absolutely INSANE. I was catching them on Craws with one claw, no claws, etc. I eventually ran out and had to start using ones that were torn to shreds!

Woody, I have fished the river extensively for going on two years now. The thing about the river is this: there are a LOT of different types of cover in the river, and most all of them hold fish. I'll keep this simple. Around laydowns and other types of wood cover, you're most likely going to catch largemouth. I like a jig (Northstar Premier with the Alien head) for fishing the laydowns, and also a pegged t-rig. Weights will vary based on conditions, ie: fast moving, shallow water I fish a 3/8 or 1/2 oz. jig and a 1/4 oz. t-rig, but in slow moving, shallow water I will move down to a 1/4 oz. jig and/or an 1/8-1/4 oz. t-rig. You'll usually catch the smallies around faster moving water with lots of rocks. You can do a lot of different things here, but for me, these two work best. In really fast moving water, a split-shot rig works best for me. I like to use a #2 Gamakatsu Drop/Split-shot hook and nose hook the bait. In (slower) fast moving water around rocks a 1/2 oz. football jig works extremely well. As for the OP, Rage Craws have accounted for probably 60% of my fish over the past two years, and I have caught most of my bigger fish on them. I really like the other baits as well, and the Baby Thumper has caught some extremely nice fish for me as well given it's size. Probably my favorite Rage Tail right now is the Eeliminator, though I won't be fishing it much more until the spring.

Combo for at or less than $250: Shimano Crucial 7'2 MH/F Shimano Citica or Curado 50E, (used) 12-15# CXX, Hybrid, or InvisX

Sog makes great stuff, I have a Seal Pup Elite.

It depends, really. When I'm fishing jigs/plastics, I'm using braid with the drag locked down all the way, and set the hook hard. With a high-modulous rod, a hookset like mine could potentially break the rod. This spring I was catching a lot of 3-5 pound fish on a 1/2 oz. swimjig using a Cumara CUC-72MH, 50# braid, and a Curado 200e7. Admittedly, the rod is a little underpowered for that technique for me, so I was really nailing them on the hookset. My Cumara was also my first rod over $200, so I was only getting my feet wet with a "nice" rod. I did a lot of "no-no's" this spring with the Cumara, and it held strong. A couple of times I was suprised the rod didn't explode in my hands. If a fish is under 2 pounds, I lift it straight out of the water into my hands and grab the line. Basically, high-sticking. Anything in the 3-4 pound range is usually dragged onto shore, then grabbed. When I hook a 6+ pounder, I'm usually trying so hard to just land the fish that I pull it straight up on shore then get behind it incase it pops off and flops back into the pond. If I'm fishing a treble-hook lure, I play the fish out until it's tired, then grab it. Several times, though, I've pulled 6+ pounders on a lipless crank straight onto shore if they're only barely hooked. That's definitely risky though, and I've lost several really big fish doing this, LOL. I guess it just depends what rod I'm using, lure, line, and how well she's hooked. Good topic!

Dude...way jealous if you get one. Post pics if you do..looking for an 8" Huddy rod.

Is this a need based question, or a want based question? If it's need based, I have convinced my self I need another Champion Extreme (or 2 ), so another DX784 and a DX743. I guess I would also need a reel, so practically speaking that would be a T3 or an MGX. Now - my wants. I realllllllly want an Alphas R-Edition, SPR, PX68, but my most-wanted item is a Z200. I absolutely must have one of those.

x10!

It's close to Charlottesville man! I promise you you don't! When are you home?

Nope, I guess it was just the lighting. She had a lot of fight in her, for sure. Regarding the pictures, I try man! Thanks for the compliment. If I have someone with me, I'm usually okay. Otherwise, well, I've yet to figure out good settings. Here's a shot of her head:

DX745 Custom Premier 50# 832 Yamamoto Flappin' Hawgs Megastrike DX784

Had an awesome day today. Went to a new pond about an hour and 15 minutes from my house in my friends backyard. To say it was a great pond would be a huge understatement. Fished with 9 yr. old Sawyer as he was already there. He was a cool kid, he lives in NC and hunts and fishes down there. He told me he caught a 12 pounder at the pond two years ago that is mounted on his wall. Any time a 9 year old says something like that, it yields a sarcastic "Nice job man!". He then pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of him holding it. If that fish wasn't every bit of 12, I know nothing about fishing. He also showed me pics of a 608 pound bear he killed, a 10, 12, and 8 point deer, and a couple carp and crappie that were monsters! As he put his phone away and made a cast, he pulled in a 17 inch crappie. I was absolutely blown away. This kid really knew what he was doing, and told me why he was throwing a bright colored crank instead of a dark one, why the fish were where they were, and how they were pinning the schools of shad against the shoreline. We caught close to 40 fish between the two of use. He was spanking me for a while, but I eventually caught up. He also caught a four and five pound bass, but casually said they were "nice" and threw them back, LOL! I was throwing a KVD 1.5 in the Gizzard Shad color and caught a big ol' pig. Definitely a great fight, as I caught it on a Curado 50E loaded with 4# Yo-Zuri Hybrid on a 6' M rod. Really glad she stayed buttoned as the stock hooks on the KVD's BLOW. We were both really pumped! Later on were went back into the creek that feeds the pond. This fall I've been trying techniques I don't normally fish, and cranking is one of them. Being that I never crank, I experienced something new and VERY cool. The creek was flowing pretty hard and was pushing the shad from the upper lake that got blown down the creek pretty hard, and the bass were pinning them on the other side of the rip-rap. The shad were in the 2-3" range, so our 1.5's were the perfect size. We both caught probably 10 fish in a matter of 15 minutes, and Sawyer lost a monster, I'd say it was over 8 since it jumped and broke his line 3 feet in front of us. Thank god I watch the FLW stuff so much, haha. Overall it was a great day and an awesome experience. In the summers I help guide trips on the river for kids in the 6-10 range, so I have experience "teaching" them, but not "being taught by" them. Glad I have a new fishing buddy! This kid is the next KVD, I promise!

I agree, HSTA's feel just like a Zillion with a different shape. I would get the Lew's TP in a heartbeat though!