Hooligan

I'm in that category as well. The DSR is one of the greatest rods in the line. The syr leaves a lot to be desired. It's adequate for light stuff, but anything over 1/8 and its underpowered. I went to the LTB for the purpose and its incredible. Love the heck out of the syr, fr start to finish. It migh be just a touch soft, but the low blank power makes up for it.

Depends on what I'm doing. If I'm in big water cranking tree tops in flooded timber, it's a 7-11 Orochi Launcher. If I'm in rock and grass it's probably A Swingfire or Legwnd Extreme 7-2 med mod. Reels vary from 3.8 to 7.3. Line from 10 to 20, always fluorocarbon.

I'm the odd man out. St-36 in 1/0 for me. Absolutely no reason to go to a 3x treble. I've never had an issue with them pulling.

In short, totally on par with my experience.

Yup. It's supposed to be some sort of hybrid. Don't know an awful lot about it.

Braid is perfect for top water baits. Too stiff? Braid is the most limp line there is. There's nothing made, anywhere, that's any less stiff! This coming from a braid hater that uses it nearly exclusively on his top water baits!

Prototype War Eagle flip/swim hybrid. Look for it at Icast, from what I hear.

Hate the swimbait and ewg hooks from Trokar. They punch too big a hole. Smell the flipping hook and you're in. I fish probably 95% of my senkos on the light wire straight shank worm and flipping hooks. They're worth every penny.

After fishing the Avid and the LTB 6'8" for years, I switched fairly recently. My sole issue with the XF rods in both series is they are overpowered by a 4" senko on the cast. Let alone a 5". They're adequate, but not perfect. I went to the 6-10 Shakeyhead rod fairly recently, and have been blown away at the efficacy. I hadn't fished any of the other St Croix because I had my Loomis sticks. The 6-10 is the perfect finesse rod, outside of drop shot applications. I'll never look back after fishing the 6-10.

If you're talking about the jointed hard bait, and saying it doesn't swim, you're not fishing it right. Fish it like a twitch bait and the thing will get annihilated. I've caught thousands of spots and brownfish on that thing.

Yes, the Katsuage hooks are somewhat fragile. They are intentionally a light wire hook. You have to be gentle with them, very often replacing them if they get bent. The same can be said of almost all jerkbait hooks, though.

Depends on what I'm doing. Everything from a 7' MM to a 7-11 HVy Mod. Depends on the bait and the cover.

Yes, yes it is. They break from normal use, they're not a through wire bait. I've broken more Rapala DT series baits than I can count. Every one of them exactly the same way as that.

Honestly, as big a fan of that stick as I am, I say no. Get yourself and Edge Black Widow and go nuts. Granted its not a 7-5, but man is it a sweet stick.

Mega Ring Tube from Larew is the best tube ever. Period.

The Bonnie is a good bait, easy to walk and relatively good paint. It's very similar to a Sammy, overall. That said, I really prefer the Bowstick to the Bonnie. As well, I'll fish the Pro Tuned Rover over ANY wtd top water out there today. It's unbelievable in terms of action, noise, and ease. It's a bait that can move several feet without moving forward much more than a foot. It's excellent.

That's a pretty broad statement, and very, very subjective. Boron is a great material, but not without its own flaws. It's inherently more brittle than graphite, because of the short chain polymers. As a result of this, more material is used in blank construction, albeit it makes the blank more dense, not necessarily heavier or larger diameter. Another aspect of boron filaments, which is what you're getting in a boron composition rod- I know of not a single pure boron rod out there... Is that the process similar to an aramid veil. The way the blank is constructed adds rigidity and strength, not so much sensitivity. You're still relying on the base carbon for that. In regards to weight alone, boron is far heavier than carbon. In the specific case of boron matrix for rod building, it's heavier still because of the tungsten filament used for deposition. Undoubtedly, the most effective use for boron matrix in a rod is to add lifting strength in the butt section. In all reality, that's all the intent ever was. Add strength to the blank low which allows you to move more material out of the blank elsewhere.

Anyone fish this rod extensively? It's one I don't have and am really jnterested in for moderately heavy shakes on 12# braid. I'm thinking it will actually be better than my Loomis Shakey, but don't know that for absolute certain. Curious what you guys think about it, given its one that I haven't spent a lot of time with.

DX795 is the best flip stick I've ever fished. Period.

Cover, particularly wood cover, is a squarebills best friend. I fish squarebills in 50 feet of water in flooded trees, and I fish them in five feet in laydowns. They're excellent in rock and grass as well, any time cover or structure causes the bait to deflect or roll over. In terms of variety, all of them work, some better than others. You just have to figure out what works for you.

anyone fished caddo lately? I've a tournament there in two weeks and not sure I'm going to be able to prefish it very well. Just looking for general stuff. Water levels and color- where they are in regards to spawn phasing. They'd ought to be cleaning up right now, but it's a goofy lake as far as that goes. Any info would be great. Thanks all!

This time of year it can really be hit or miss, and by inches not feet. All the years I've fished Bull, and I still have days that don't account for much. First thing I'm going to do is start dragging a big jig- 3/4 or 1 ounce with a fairly large trailer on main lake points. You're in pretty good water, where you are, no need to run a long way. A big spinnerbait will get it done, too. Move in to secondary points until you find fish. Look for your creek channels and swings closest to pints right now. Many of the bigger fish are still interested in having that stable, deep water near. I fish a lot of wiggle warts just grinding gravel and chunk rock where you can find transitions. These are very general patterns that you can count on in spring. You just have to find those areas holding fish.

In short... Meh.

I like the little bait. It's erratic and it dives quickly, it has the right wobble and it has the right thump. Bobby might analyze a bait scientifically, and see no difference between two baits of similar design, and that's ok. What this does different than a lot of small cranks is that it is more erratic and has better deflection than almost all the small cranks in the class. The finish is better, as well. They're nowhere near as fragile as the pain on a lot of customs, and the bait itself seems very durable in rock.

I have several first gen Calcutta DCs from eons ago. The DC unit itself has never failed. I've had bearings go bad and other parts lose their luster, but never the DC units.