OnthePotomac

I fished with an Exceler 2500 for 10 years and never had a problem with it, but just because I could, I traded it in on a Sahara 3000 HG two years ago during the BPS Spring classic sale.

I am like others: Texas rigged with a 3/16 slip sinker either pegged or unpegged depending on where it is going.

I haven't in the last couple of years and and the line itself is no reason why not now.. A few years a go it was all I used for maybe 5-6 years and always liked it and never had a problem with it, but I guess flourocarbon nudged it aside.

I stumbled into a great frog rod years ago on sale for $80 at BPS. It is a KVD 7, MH worm rod ,4.9oz, 1/4-1 1/2oz, 12-25lb line. Who would have thought this would work, but it turned out to be really comfortable with which to throw a frog all day if necessary. Outside the box as they say. I did not buy it for a frog rod.

I believe he is talking about 3' of depth to start, then burp it down to deeper water.

I believe I saw a YouTube of KVD fishing a double shad rig some time ago with the details of doing so.

One of our river guides (25 years on the river) sends out a weekly tips report and has no objection with me passing it on. Granted, it is Potomac oriented, but there are good Silver Buddy tips: "This week will be 50's and sunny most of the week, with overnight lows 35-40. No rain in the forecast. But it will be windy most of the week. Water is falling quickly to 50 degrees. It is Silver Buddy time. Savvy Potomac anglers discovered this bait decades ago and rely on it to find bass. Depth oriented bass can be located quickly. This bait triggers bass as no other deep bait can, a tight vibration and a tantalizing fall, similar to fluttering shad, slowly dropping into the strike zone. Tie to 10 pound test Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line with casting gear in one of the many protected bays with steep drops is a proven method. Cast to around 3 feet and with very short snaps, follow the bait to the bottom and repeat. Once the magic depth is found, cast parallel to the depth and work this bait to stay in the zone. A medium heavy fast action rod with a soft tip will provide enough backbone to use a slight snap set to set the hook on fish that take the bait on the fall. A tap or a tick signals the fish has taken the bait and a quick snap sets the hook. When water is colder, hooksets are different. Fish still take the bait on the fall but aren’t giving an indication until lifting the bait. Barely hooked, softer medium action graphite rods pin the fish enough to bring to the boat. Don’t over work this bait. Fish are on the bottom and it only takes a lift of about 12 inches to activate it to get fish to bite."

In spite of the dead grass fiasco it was fun giving it a a work out. I kept a Senko on it the whole time. I thought for sure that a small body of water like that would be clear of dead grass by now and i was fishing 20ft deep. It really is one smooth little reel and I do not have big hands, but it fit quite comfortably in my hand and I spent over two hours using it before giving up.

Could not get on the Potomac for a variety of reasons, so I went to a a small lake (77acres) near by and did some bank fishing and am pleased to report that my new Scorpion hauled huge wads of dead grass with utmost efficiency.

I only have 832 on my frog rod and the current spool just finished its third year.

1/2 oz for me also in gold, or silver, but find myself using gold the most in murky water. Don't even have any lighter than 1/2oz.

I have the SLX XG and fish it with two breaks on. It is spooled with 10lb BPS flourocarbon and I throw mostly worms on it. I did change the drags to Curado 70 XG Carbontex and the spool bearings to SS high speed ZR bearings. A sweet little reel.

I have two green Curado 100B reels left (now 14 years old) and they are a 10 of 10 condition and although I use them on a regular basis I am paranoid about keeping them in top shape. Both function like the day I took them out of the box and still have original components inside. I finally sold my third one to a good friend last year and he happily gave me $85 for it. Just incredible little reels in a 6.2:1 ratio.

Since a great percentage of my fishing is plastics on the tidal Potomac I have gravitated to faster reels across the board pretty much. Exceptions are a Curado 200E7, 7.0:1 for spinnerbaits and blade baits; a Chronarch 150, 6.2:1 for crankbaits; and a 200I HG 7.2:1 for frogs.

Wow! a lot of thought and hard work went into these changes and were all in the right direction and not just change for change sake.

It is a tiny black plastic like disc. Also, be aware that in the little well under the "dimple" device there is an itty bitty spring. Whwn cleaning my reels I put a tiny dab of grease over the whole thing to keep it in place.

I only have braid on my frog set up and it is 50lb Sufix 832 spooled on to a Curado 200I HG reel. It works well. No other of my reels has braid.

I started in the yard with all four brakes on and either read to do this on this site, or another, but it works well for line control whereas all of my Shimano reels have two brakes on and the outside dial on either 2 or 3.

Now if the temps would come up and wind would stop blowing like mad I could try it somehere besides the front yard LOL Spooled it with 15lb Invizx.

I have never fishing a Daiwa, so I did not miss the swept handle thing. But yes, it is one sweet reel

Hand tight for me.

I was blessed 20 years ago when I got into bass fishing that I had a good friend who did it for a living and schooled me on the art of reel cleaning and lube. Sure saved me a ton of money over the years. Thank goodness though that we have DVT on this site for anglers to turn to. Honest and thorough.

Zoom's worm works very well, but my favorite for muddy water is a Strike King Rage Tail Thumper. It is a bigger worm than the Zoom and comes longer, but i cut off a little over an inch from its length last summer on the Potomac and it caught bass when the Zoom would not. I Texas rigged it on a Gammie 4/0 EWG with a 1/8th bullet sinker and simply slow retrieved it in the muddy water near fallen wood.

I am not familiar with your river, but if it is tidal fish tidal river practices and that is fish docks, rock and wood during the last two hours of the out going and first hour of the incoming tide.

My water on the Potomac averages 6' or less and i never go heavier than 3/16th. Now, if I go into the Occoquan River tributary and fish the interstate 95 bridge abutmants in 25 ft of water, that is a different story and out comes the 3/4oz.