deep

Well, to cut a long story short, my kayak turned turtle yesterday, and I lost my quantum superlite overboard. (I MUST get a rod leash.) Anyway, the quantum superlite was 7'4", MH, XF. The Powell is a medium power. Will I have enough power for the hookset? Or do I have to give an extra oomph? BTW, I will be putting on Daiwa Samurai, same as that on the Quantum. I tried to find a MH-XF in 7 ft+. Had no luck.

.. as a soft plastics rod.

saint romain, not only "directly" under you, but in an "area" under you (the sound waves are emitted in a cone) and the area you already passed over. I chose the 120 over the 110 because I could afford to spend the extra 30 bucks (got my FF in a cabelas sale). However I didn't go for the 130 or 140 as I didn't think an extendable shaft or a color screen was worth spending the extra cash on. While the sidescanner hasn't been much helpful so far, who knows, I might find some baitfish pods one day. Plus, if you see a bunch of fish say 40 feet ahead, you might want to go there and search for structures with the down-looking sonar. Thus the sidescanner is useful, although indirectly. "If I were you", I'd take the 120 over the 110 if I could. My 2 cents.

Nice link trevor. Caught one of those guys once, a huge one. Almost landed him, and was thinking what to do with him when he turned around and broke my 6 lb line. So carp, or turtles; how do this relate to the bass?

I have one of these (120) on my kayak. This is my first depthfinder, so I can't compare it with anything. The sidefinder is not very useful. It marks "fishes" and gives a distance to each target. You can sidescan through 360 degrees, but it does nothing more than mark "fishes" . The downwards sonar marks structures, and of course give depth readings. It does that pretty well I should say for its price. I found weedbeds 25+ ft deep and caught bass too. It also marks "fishes", and displays surface temperature. One problem is that in a good area, it marks too many fishes, so I turn that feature off or turn the filter on. But the depth of the fishes was accurate. I caught a couple of suspended bass with cranks. The battery life is okay I should say. Turn the backlight feature off unless its dark and you should be good. The only thing I didn't like about it was the clamp. Didn't fit my kayak. One trip to the Walmart to buy some screws, screwdrivers, and a drill fixed that.

I don't know. I have never seen a carp there anyway.

My apologies for the no-meaning title. To get to the point; today I noticed something I never seen before. It was about 7.30 pm, cloudy, and the sun already had set behind the hills that overlook my favorite lake. I was fishing the main channel of the river, pretty close to the river mouth, and a trickle of water was coming into the lake through the river. (If Wayne P. is reading this, it's Sugar Hollow.) I saw small white bubbles break the surface, not continuously, but in bunches, i.e. a small group of bubbles would come up, it'd stop bubbling, after a while another group would come up again. It occurred along a line, so after a while, there was a trail of bubbles. The bubbling would stop after sometime and the trail disappeared soon thereafter. And then this whole process would reoccur a little distance away. All this bubbling was happening about eighty to ninety feet away. I cast a 0.5 oz rattle-trap past the bubbles, counted it down to five feet, and ran it through. In about fifteen casts I caught six bass and missed one. All were around 10-12 inches. So these bubbles were related to schooling/ feeding bass? I have never seen the "shad boil". So I don't know if this was something like that. This lake has stocked trout (rainbow and brook), bluegills, crappies, warmouths. I don't know of any other fish species. All the bubbling stopped after the fifth bass, the bite stopped after the sixth. If it's of any help, the rattle trap was perch colored. P.S. doubled up on one cast. That was pretty cool.

I am looking to throw 1/2+ oz cranks only with this set-up. Revo winch owners/users, is there anything in the reel that a beginner can't handle (with a little practice)?

The Curado E5 has a right hand retrieve only. I was looking for a LH reel

Thanks folks. I'll be hanging around waiting for replies a few weeks more. (My birthday is in September anyway.) Meanwhile, I will try to check out a few rods at the stores.

Okay folks, this is what happened today. I tried the alberto knot (same samurai and ultracast). Broke the line at the hook 4 times (got snagged thrice, and once on a fish, during the fight; he snagged me a couple of times and the line must have weakened somewhere). Landed three fish after that. And all this without retying the alberto ever. Looks like the alberto is good stuff. Thanks everyone. You guys rock.

I usually say "got one" pretty much aloud just after I set the hook, even when I am by myself. I think I picked it up from one of the pros. The funny thing is that English is not my native language.

Thanks everyone once again. I will try the 6lb test yo-zuri hybrid, and be more careful with my knots; and see how it works out. SoFlaBassAddict, no reason at all, except that I am trying to match the diameter of the mainline with that of the leader. Anyway, the 6# yo-zuri has nearly twice the breaking strength; so I should be good. repper, no I never get the chance to fish gin-clear water. But somehow I am more confident fishing with a leader that "may" break, than with no leader at all. NateFollmer, I don't think I want to try the Vicious FC. I never tried it, but I haven't heard good things about it. On a sidenote, my FC for mainline is the spiderwire ultracast. I tried several moderately priced brands including the Invizx (nothing high-end like the tatsu or sunline) for my spinning reels and found that the ultracast + KVD's L & L works pretty well for me.

Thanks everyone. I'll get some #6 Yo-Zuri Hybrid then.

Thanks.

That makes sense. Though I thought that I am supposed to match the diameter of the mainline and the leader. (30 lb Samurai test is 6 lb mono diameter) Hammer 4, IIRC, a 6lb yozuri line has a breaking strength of something like 12 lbs, which fits in with NateFollmer's comment. #2 No, in my case the FC breaks at the knot everytime, the knot on the braid itself remains perfect. Somehow the FC "separates" itself from the knot. SoFlaBassAddict, I religiously wet a mono or FC before tying a knot. I don't think that's the problem. The FC spool is just fine, too. It's the mainline on another of my rods for a long time. Never had a problem. Seems like yozuri hybrid would solve some of my problems. So do you guys who use a leader ever retie?

Recently got myself a Quantum Superlite PT off the Cabelas sale to fish Senkos. (Never fished soft plastics before). 6 lb test Spiderwire Ultracast 100% FC leader on 30 lb test Daiwa Samurai braid. The leader sometimes breaks off from the mainline during hooksets. Today is the 4th time it happened. I'd say it happens after every 7th or 8th fish, on an average. Initially tried Alberto knot, then uni to uni. The knot on the braid remains perfect after the breakoff, only the FC separates itself. I test the braid to FC connection once in a while, and it seems pretty good,.. but evidently its not. Now I know my hooksets aren't violent. Once in a while I land fish that isn't hooked past the barb, and I don't think I'm breaking off only on the big bass (possible but not likely, knowing where I fish and how I fish). The obvious solution is to re-tie. But how often? Folks who use leaders, how often do you retie? I also use FC leader on mono mainline for deep crankbaits (abrasion resistance). Haven't had this issue there. But then, I haven't caught that many bass on cranks lately. Thanks.

Thanks for all the replies. Now I am more confused than when I started the thread. I have more or less settled on the Shimano Crucial crankbait casting rod (7'2" MH, MF). I am not sure on the reel though. Is it advisable to use a lower ratio reel? I read something about more "winching power". Not sure what it means. If yes (lower ratio), then I found 2 reels to my liking, the revo winch and the BPS pro qualifier. Which one would be a better match? Too bad the Curado with the low gear ratio doesn't have a LH retrieve. I'll be throwing 1/2+ oz cranks only with the rod.

I go to Chris Greene pretty often. Never had much luck with size. Catch a lotta small ones though. I tried the weedbed near the point on the dam, and the cove with the beaver hut. I remember about your PB from another thread. Rivanna seems just too big to tackle on my kayak, but will give it a shot sooner or later. I need to take my Kayak to Walnut creek. Just shore-fished there. Well, I started bass fishing this March, so I guess I will learn more and more with time. Pretty much off topic, but I love Sugar Hollow. I got my best 2 bass there (6.5 lbs, 4+) within a couple of days of each other. My third best was caught in Lake Orange. (All three were carefully released.)

Read your PM, Wayne. Thanks once again. Yes, it's probably the closest big-bass lake from where I live. I'm a little mad at getting skunked there the last few times; and if I can catch them away from the pads, it'll be so much more satisfying. p-funk: I tried some poppers (my favorite topwater) and buzzbaits, but no strikes. Thanks for the encouragement. I am pretty sick of this lake getting the better of me time and again. I gotta learn enough and catch those bigones.

Yes, I meant Bowlers Mill Lake. I read your PM. Thanks a lot. I'll try out the patterns you suggested the next time I'm there. Already tried the frogs on pads, with some good results. Would you suggest any special colors for the cranks? The water seems really dark there. (Looks like I can't send a PM yet.)

In case you don't, this is a 75 acre lake/ reservoir. There are some creeks draining into it. The entire shoreline is covered with lily pads (right now, anyway). Maximum depth near the dam is about 15 ft or so. I couldn't find a thermocline when I was last there (about a fortnight back), although the depthfinder did show a bunch of fish just over a weedbed or what looked like a weedbed on my fishing buddy to my inexperienced eyes, on the river channel. Every single angler I ever see there beats the hell out of the pads or the outside edges, somewhat indiscriminately, IMO. I did so too, for the first couple of times I went there. Got some strikes with a frog, and a few fish. One pattern I found was to key in on the structures on the shorelines (like brush, or small coves) covered with pads of course. I did try the deep water the last two times, with cranks and senkos. Didn't even get a strike. But then, I didn't, or couldn't find any structures either, other than the said weedbed. Any help? Thanks.

Stasher1, thanks for the input. Being on a grad student's stipend doesn't leave me much free cash to spend anyway My cranking stick (the team all star one) is rated for 1/8 to 5/8 oz lures, and it performs pretty well with shallow and medium cranks and rattle traps. I am not so happy when bumping the bottom with 1/2 oz deep diving cranks with it though, like the 14 ft cranking rap or a 16 ft + strike king crankbait I got. Now, honestly I don't know if the Compre/ Citica I am looking at will be any better. I did read somewhere that baitcasters are better for cranking. This is where all you guys' experience comes in. As for the lures I usually throw; I got the topwaters covered, and the worms and spinnerbaits and light cranks as well. Which leaves me with the deep-diving cranks. I am making do with the rattle-traps instead; it's a real chore to pump a deep-diver with my cranking stick. My muscles complain, and so does my set-up. Will it be any better with a proper baitcaster?

Thanks RW. Allow me to stress my point. I want to know which application(s) I haven't got covered with my current set-ups. Heavier cranks for one. What else could I be wanting another rod for?

Hi, newbie here. Started fishing for bass this March, and haven't been doing too bad so far. I stuck to spinning gear so far, and am looking to get a baitcasting set-up for my birthday (in September). This will be my first baitcaster, so I probably need a "beginner" sort of set-up. This is what I've got (all spinning) and I am not looking to replace these. Please tell me what I haven't got covered. #1. Quantum superlite PT 7'4" MH, XF with a shimano sonora 2500 6.4:1. Bought it last month and have been using it exclusively for worms so far. But I think it can be used for other single hook applications like frogs, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits? (Haven't thrown these in a long time) #2. Team All Star 7' M, MF with a browning citori 2500 5.8:1. I use it for cranks and the heavier treble-hook topwaters. The reel is probably a bit fast for cranks, but I have managed so far. #3. Abu Garcia Cardinal 6'6" ML, F with Cardinal 1000 5.4:1. Use it for basically all light lures, but mostly smaller topwaters. I fish 2-3 days a week from the shore, and maybe once a week from my kayak. I will probably be good with a one-piece, 7' rod. I was thinking about buying the Shimano Compre heavy crankbait rod (3/8 to 1 oz cranks) with a Citica, but haven't really decided yet. For the reel, I'm more or less decided on the Citica LH retrieve, but as always I'll be glad if you suggest something else. And I am looking to spend <200 $ for the rod. Thanks. P.S. And thanks to everyone for everything (and that's more than a lot) I've learnt from this site.