Nibbles

Broke mine and want another. Have a ton of muscle memory built up with this one so I don't want a different model. Long shot but hoping someone has one collecting dust after upgrading. PM if you're willing to part with your's.

Funny, I also tend to do better up north when fishing in MN when I downsize my jigs. My most productive jighead up there is the 3/32 oz Keitech Super Round with a #2 or #1 hook. Usually hand tie finesse-cut jig skirts onto them w/ 26 gauge wire and pair with a Keitech 2.5" swing impact, 2.5" twin tail grub, or 3" Kalins Scrub (twin paddletail creature) Pike seem to love them too. They don't look like much, but they work for me!

Caught this one over in Homer Lake a couple weeks ago in ~3 feet of water on a LC Moonsault 100. Saw what seemed to be a large fish creating swirls in the water near some branches by shore, thought maybe could've been carp but I crept up and figured I'd try my luck. Threw the crank about 10 feet past all the commotion and slow-rolled it back, all of a sudden I thought I got hung up on the submerged branch before I felt that sharp tug and the fight was on. First 6 lber in IL for me, pretty happy about it. Lost that same crank a week later at the same spot to someone else's cut-off line in the water, but that's life haha

PM sent

I've never removed the split rings on my LC Pointers and Flash Minnows. The bass and pike up here don't seem to mind. I use Owner snagless snaps.

⌨️? These days working within a cybersecurity dept of a huge corporation In the past implementation domains have spanned across ecommerce, marketing/sales, precision ag, HVAC, live sporting event data processing, and banking I may or may not have undiagnosed ADD...

Hmm... TD-Z 103HL R+ Nice reel, just didn't feel all that different from a standard TD-Z/Zillion and was quickly forgotten about Steez Megatop 6101MXBA-SPX Thing is way too noodly/whippy for me to make accurate pitches/casts with, may as well be a dropshot rod. Is sensitive though.

The problem with 2" ones is the tails are super delicate and keep getting pecked off even by small shiners and sunfish

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Gamakatsu_Offset_Hook_Finesse_Jighead_4pk/descpage-GOHF.html Even has a recessed line tie. Can't get more weedless than that. Only downside is hook size is limited to 1/0, so you're probably limited to 4" regulars and 3.8" fats tops. Siebert also makes a tungsten EWG ned head with larger hook sizes, but those have exposed line ties.

This season has been the opposite for me, have been getting more into deep cranking. Used to fish mostly shallow balsa squarebills when using searchbaits. This is the first season I have caught decent numbers and size on deeper divers such as the Spro Little John MD, DD70, and LC Flat CB DD20. This is also the first season where I had opportunities to hit up lakes around me with points and dropoffs going deeper than ~15'. Probably the first season I've pulled pike and bass off a point with dropoffs deeper than 20' while cranking a 15' diver.

Honestly not sure what I'd want from them anymore after amassing a huge hardbait collection earlier this year as well as some nicer reels and rods. Wish Megabass still made their Z-Crank X crankbaits though. Could use a few more of those. They're basically rat-l-traps with the buoyancy and cover deflection of a balsa squarebill, and the coffin bill shape makes them more weedless than your average squarebill. Been picking off a few here and there on ebay but the color selection just isn't great.

Tried browsing this forum on a simulated older iPad Pro, and based on what you are describing Tom I wonder if you've stumbled upon the same minor accessibility quirk/bug that I did. Which is that if you tap on the slim text box to start a reply, it expands it into a larger text area for convenience but does not bring up the keyboard for you right away. Seems like you gotta tap into it a second time after it expands to bring up your tablet's software-based keyboard. Could that be it?

The Okuma SST's are nice for the money. I use an 8' SST Kokanee Light action casting rod as a BFS casting rod for crappie jigs and ultralight bass lure presentations

Nice facelift, core interactions and flows have not changed and in many cases have been significantly improved, i.e. image uploads. Am expecting to see an uptick in image-driven posts moving forward due to lowered friction

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/areas/fisheries/eastmetro/rivers/pool2.html

Major Craft Nanoace

As others have mentioned it's likely a few things: 1. Small spool diameter relative to 1st guide diameter 2. Wind/line twist 3. Bombing the lure, especially if it is heavier like a 5" senko Additionally I think the newer higher strand count braids are stronger and more sensitive but tend to be limper and are more prone to looping from wind and knotting That guide diameter thing is an interesting call-out for sure. When I compare my Major Craft Troutino PE special to my other L/UL spinning rods, its first guide has a much smaller inside diameter - it is roughly 1/4" which is quite small relative to my other rods which have 1/2"+ (sometimes 3/4" or more) diameter first guides. And personally I've never once had line issues throwing 10# X8 braid on that PE special stick, but have on my BLX SG Light+ with the same reels (Ballistic FW LT 2000SS, Luvias FC LT 2000SXH) The worst was with my 2000 size Luvias on the BLX stick with a 1/2"+ diameter first guide, and I had overfilled the spool a bit. Had to cut off and retie 4 or 5 times that day before problems subsided, and that was likely because I had cut off an additional ~25 yds of line by then.

Revo Toro Beast is probably your best all-round option in terms of cost, palmability, quality of components, and drag power. That thing has 20+ lbs of drag, twice that of most low profile baitcasters which top out at around 10 - 12. And has non super high gear ratio options which is nice when you want that extra torque. Plus it's just a solid smooth reel - might not be the very best for tossing 1/4 oz jigs into the wind, but if you're muskie fishing I think you'll be just fine. On the Shimano side you have the Curado 300E, Tranx 300, and Conquest Calcutta 300 all of which are solid options. Daiwa's offerings are a bit more limited and not as high line cap - the Luna is a solid reel but a bit heavy and unrefined, the Pluton is smooth and constructed well but heavy, bulky, and doesn't actually have all that beefy of a drag. The Ryoga is an option but the newer 1016 ones dont have as high line capacity as the Shimanos and the drag is around 12 lbs from what I recall. You also tend not to find as many good deals on the Plutons and Ryogas because they are much more enthusiast reels compared to the Curado or Tranx.

Yep, you can find OG JDM Steezes in pretty nice condition for 160 - 180 on there. Comes out to a bit more after shipping from Japan, but still a pretty nice deal. Also see some decent deals on older Alphas models on there from time to time. Zillions not as often.

If you can find an OG Daiwa Advantage HSTA, Fuego, Sol, CV-Z, TD-Z, Zillion, Alphas, or Steez in decent mechanical condition theyre all solid reels. The T3 is also an underrated reel that can be had for fairly cheap.

Ditto. Start off deep cranking across points and humps with my MD and DD cranks ranging from 9' - 20' diving depth. If I see what I suspect to be suspended fish on the fishfinder but can't get them to bite I will switch over to a DD suspending jerkbait in the 5 - 9' range and do a second pass-through. Then finally try a 1/2 oz or heavier jig or t-rig if I don't decide to move shallower at that point. Once I move shallow, I start power fishing the flats and weedlines with a shallow running crank in the 3' - 7' range or a chatterbait. If I'm not seeing much of a response I will switch to a sinking or suspending shallow hard jerkbait in the 2 - 3' range, or aa paddletail on an unskirted finesse jighea and work the same areas once more. If I still don't get bites I will start alternating between pitching heavier pegged t-rigged creature/craw plastics into heavy cover and wacky/t-rigged soft jerkbaits like Senkos and SK Caffeine Shads along weedlines and into pockets within weed mats. I don't really fish topwater minnows/frogs or buzzbaits much. The buddy I normally fish with is not an early bird and also doesn't really like fishing after it gets dark, so not a lot of opportunities to hit productive time windows for those lures.

Not gonna lie I thought about those jigsheads... Problem is I still have about 80 lbs of untied jig heads in storage including standup ones I still need to go through, so ultimately I didn't pull the trigger ?

+1 for the XX Braillist I like my Daiwa BLX SG rods slightly more for bottom contact but I've fished the Braillist and found it to still be a very good plastics/jig rod comparatively speaking.

I got more coming in today and next week too - I finally let the monkey out of the cage earlier this month and he's refusing to go back in! DHL is freaky fast, ordered some stuff from a Japanese merchant Monday afternoon and apparently it's scheduled to be delivered sometime today instead of the original estimate of next week! With any luck I won't end up losing all of this to pike, trees, logs/stumps/branches, and rocks over the next fishing season... if I feel like I'll never end up going through them all I will inevitably end up pruning the collection. Which means assembling lots of spare lures and placing them on the forum flea market at very reasonable prices

More stuff came in today. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 of 2 Top row: Flashminnow CIS 110, B'freeze 100 Middle Row: Pointer 100, Lightning Pointer 110 Bottom Row: LC MTS Mini DR ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 of 2 Megabass: Xpod Jr, Z Crank X LC: Pointer 48, Live Pointer 80, Real Bait 128 Rapala Scatter Rap