Hooligan

Lucky Craft FlatCB MR or Fat Rap in Black/silver

I've never fished it and have three tournaments there this year. Can't even find a decent map of it other than on IA DNR website.

I'm either on a St Croix LTB Small Cranker, a Loomis Crankbait, or a St Croix Avid Crankbait 6'6" M/Mod. Most of the time I will fish shallow square bills on the Avid.

I don't know about injury, but I have a terrible time with those hooks. They never stay sharp and they seem to bend rather easy for me. I replace all of them with Owner, VMC, or Mustad.

Love my Castaics for pitching, ultimate in line control for me. I've only played with the Extreme in the store, and the two that I picked up (one fresh out of the box) had a sound like metal rubbing on metal as you would turn the crank and revolve the spool. That's my only experience with the reel.

Rubba, it isn't exaggerated by much, really. I played with it the other day after reading the other thread. With 14lb fluoro a Pointer 100 would stand on it's nose, as did an Xrap10, Vision and Squadminnow weren't as exaggerated as the others, it was more a downward tilt at maybe 35 degrees.

Skinhooked T-rig on a C-rig for me. Only fish Ring Fry, though, not the little one.

Seriously? I'm doing something wrong, then. I cannot fish a square A without being constantly fouled. In wood, I have lost at least a dozen baits, at a minimum it's a dozen. I've tried everything, slow rolling them did no good, running just to the point they'd almost roll out would hang them. I fish them on rip-rap that's about it, anymore. How are you working them so they don't get hung?

So, uh, yeah. If you like your jerkbait to hang vertically in the water column, go ahead and use fluorocarbon line. But seriously, don't. RoadWarrior already posted the link to the other thread. Iaconelli's article can be found here: http://www.mikeiaconelli.com/article.php?id=9 "McClelland said he prefers the McRip 85 for cold-water and pre-spawn conditions, working the bait on 8- to 12-pound Sunline monofilament." "The worst jerkbait season I ever had was when fluorocarbon first came out and I thought I didn't need mono anymore. But I realized after that just how important monofilament line can be." http://fishpaa.com/2011/02/pull-em-up-with-deep-jerkbaits/ Good advice, if you ask me.

They are the hanginest stinking crank known to man. Even the Lucky Craft BDS comes through better than the Square A.

The only painted blades I have are Stanley Wedge. I don't even know if you can get them painted anymore, these are from 1992 at the "World's Fishing Fair" in Springfield. I remember meeting Guido Hibdon and Dion Hibdon, and Shaw Grigsby there, that's the only reason I remember where I got them...

I'm not terribly familiar with spiderwire. I've never used it, really. I've always used Tuffline, Gorilla Braid, or Power Pro. In anything that I've seen, not experienced, Spiderwire is harder to manage, it doesn't pack as well on the spool, and it doesn't lay as even as other superlines. That's not firsthand experience, though.

It's always funny, with things like this, because you have some guys loving them and saying they reduced his catch rate, and you get others hating them for the opposite reason. They didn't seem to help me at all, most likely because I never catch anything big enough for it to matter.

Slightly nose down, not nearly vertical as will happen with fluorocarbon.

One's a re-packaged spider wire, the other is Power Pro. Dyneema and Spectra are two different fibers with two different methods of spinning to get a completed braid. As for the two types of line, both are suitable for use, some will claim large difference, some will claim none, saying it's the same thing. Chemically, both are polyethylene, in other words: the same. The finishing process is the only difference; the way the line is spun then braided, and eventually coated.

Just thinking out loud, but wouldn't a disc distort the head of the tube? Seems like you'd be a lot more prone to tear up baits inserting the weight, too. Then again, if the disc is small enough to fit easily, what's the difference in the way it's going to fall versus a regular tube weight?

I don't think you're off at all, Don. I think your thought process is right on, actually.

Alligator Snapping turtle?

Which Cumara? There are a whole lot of them that could conceivably fall under what you just listed. For instance, I have the CUC72M, the CUCX72M, the CUC72MH, as well as the CUCX72MH. My preference for weightless soft plastics is the CUC72MH, it performs better on weight less plastics, and the tip loads better than on the CUCX72MH. What line> I'm more and more pleased with the Stren Fluorocast as I use it more. Prior to that, I was 100% Seaguar. #2: Yes, it's a fine frog rod. #3: I prefer the 7'4" M for lipless baits.

3/4 ounce spinnerbait with a single #5 or #6 Colorado, chartreuse/white.

Slow sinking isn't an issue, but when the line causes it to hang in a way that is completely out of the ordinary, well, that's a problem.

I love those baits for pike. You'll get a few by-catch bass from time to time, too.

Unfortunately, we had the first incidence of them last fall. hoping it is just the one lake, but the reality is probably a lot worse than that.

Clear or green, I really don't think it matters for the most part. Yes there are situations that it matters in a HUGE way, but for most general bass fishing, I don't think line color is that big an issue. Go with that which is most visible to you.

Even copolymers will make a jerkbait sink. Straight up mono is the only way for me.