deep

I think I saw some hand-poured skinny dipper knockoffs on ebay sometime back. Came in all sorts of colors, including a sunfish pattern.

Any chance you came across this photo, like a link or something? It was an amazing bass for sure.

Braid, with or without leader, in appropriate diameter. (Casting jigs. I don't pitch and/or flip, so I can't talk about those.) I don't think I'm EVER going back to fluoro. It sinks, so that you can't see it, and most fluoros have a lot of stretch, as much as monos in some cases. Leader: I like to have a leader. Mostly for abrasion resistance, and also to protect the rod since I set my drag pretty tight. I don't believe the fish cares whether it can see the line or not.

I agree with you whole-heartedly. OP, for me handles can never be too long. How do you like the sound of a 2' handle on an 8' rod? I have a 7' St Croix Triumph with a ridiculously short handle, for a change. Don't people cast with both hands any more? The other thing that bothers me is the presence or absence of fore-grips for certain techniques.

Braid, and line watching. Two things that immensely help me when I'm fishing jigs (don't fish plastics a lot, but it's somewhat similar I guess).

That indeed is a very praiseworthy motive. Unfortunately, as I pointed out, the rod itself is tip-heavy, and won't balance well otherwise. It's a bass rod, not an ultralight trout rod. I assume you're going to use 6 lb line or heavier? Quite apart from the balance issue, you'll likely have manageability problems with line that thick on an ultralight size reel. I don't know why we're making this more difficult than it should be. Select your price range. Then find a Shimano 2500 size reel in that price range. Flea markets and ebay are good bets if you want to keep it around $50.

7 ball bearings Ratio 4:1 Quick set anti-reverse lb/yds 2/220 4/170 6/110 Lifetime warranty Compare with Shimano Sahara 1000FD SH1000FD Right/Left 5.6:1 6.9 3A-RB + 1A-RB 4/140, 6/110

That seems to be a 1000 size reel from the specs?

UPS was good to me, and delivered my new Okuma 7'11" H (I broke the last one a few months back lol) and the stash of 8" hudds a few days earlier than expected. I spooled some 25# big game on my Cardiff 401A, mounted it onto the rod, and took along an unrigged hudd to my local lake; to test drive the rod and try out a few winter swimbait retrieves. One rod, one reel, and one lure without any hooks on it. ROF 0 and ROF 5 hudds don't come rigged with hooks. Fourth cast, and dredging the bottom of the lake, I hook up with this fellow. A little Matzuo popper that I lost three months back, at the other end of the lake! I have no idea why it was on the bottom of the lake, and not floating somewhere. It even looks almost new- and the split rings are still shiny. I'm stoked to get back the popper. Although I picked it off the dollar bin at Dic k's, it caught me a few good fish. I try out some more stuff I wanted to try. Mike Long supposedly does 15 minute retrieves in the middle of winter, and catches some pigs doing so. I timed my retrieves today, reeling at my usual painfully slow "hudd special" pace. Each took about 5 minutes. Pretty cool. I'm almost a third as good as Mr. Long. 35 yard casts, 22 IPT reel, 6 to 7 seconds per handle turn. Maybe someone will be good enough to compute and tell me how fast that hudd was crawling along. On one of the last casts, I hooked into another feisty little fellow. Even though I had 25# line, he managed to break free. But I guess the fight wore him out completely, and he just lay floating on the surface a few feet from the shore. And an almost 8 foot rod has a looong reach. I picked him up. A little Rapala F7 floater in rainbow trout. Once again, spanking new. What all these floating baits were doing at the bottom of the lake, I have no idea. Maybe I should have stayed out a bit longer. With the sort of luck I had, I could have snagged a Lucky Craft or a Megabass or something lol. One last look at the lake.

Actually I can confess to being that bad guy. 90% of the time, I'm not fishing to have fun. I'm fishing to catch fish, and learn things; so that I can catch bigger and better fish the next time out. I'm also super-competitive by nature, and that's not always a good thing, as has been pointed out. Fishing for that one bite doesn't go along well when there's someone else who does his own thing (read junk fishing). The other 10% of the time, I'm happy to be just be out on the water. Catch bluegills, bass, pickerel, whatever, or not catch anything; doesn't matter. I'm very grateful to a fellow BR member who has taken me out on his boat a bunch of times. I try to make that distinction before I even start my car, not always successfully. And I have so little time to fish, and so much to learn about big fish that I sort of enjoy fishing alone, and do my own thing. Not sure if that logic makes any sense, and I didn't explain it particularly well. But there it is. My apologies to anyone I might have offended.

Any Shimano spinning reel in the 2500 size, depending on your price range. After fishing a shimano on a powell for close to 2 years, I have to say that they go together very well. A heavier reel would balance out better; Powells are a bit tip-heavy. I won't go for one of those uber-fashionable super-light reels (that would also cost you a ton of money) that seem to be the rage. No experience with any of the reels you mentioned.

This is the video I guess. Happens at 3 mins 40 secs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnRXW762YOc

Eighty Three? Dude you're a monster! I have one extra reel right now. It's not a spare, since I'm looking to get a Powell to put that one on, and was bought with that in mind. Too bad I have to sell a rod and a reel to buy the Powell.

LOL. I hope you don't have the same username on TT. I also hope you remembered to pick an extra one up for bassninja.

IBTL! yay!

That is a nice fish! If you have any questions, you might want to post them in the General bass fishing forum, or the tackle/ rods,reels and line forums. People may be more likely to answer your questions there. Keep at it

And once again.. http://www.huddbaits.com/index.php?b=pages/store.php&product=17

An LDC won't be too shabby..

Happy thanksgiving, everyone.

Hudds, both 8" and 6" weedlesses, eight and six inch Punkers, one 8" Spro BBZ, Gammy size 2 trebles for the Gilbert rig, mend-it (always run out of it at the wrong moment), berkley big game in 25 lb test, a bunch of jigs and rage tail plastics, and an Okuma big bait rod. Got a free T-shirt and a sticker as well. That's about it all.

Ordered an Okuma big bait 7'11" heavy today. Let's see how this one holds up. In all fairness, the one that I broke (on a little fish too) was bought used.

One thing I always learn from your reports is how to take good pics. I suck in that department. Great fish, as usual. Something wrong with the left eye of that bass?

3/32 oz is what? like a little lighter than 1/8 oz? I use a Cabela's house special ultralight rod and a cheapo walmart abu garcia reel. Works just fine for me, with a little maintenance. Any rod that the lure can load will work. Any reel that lasts a while should work too. You're throwing a tiny crankbait, and don't need a very expensive setup (sensitivity). IMO.

Good deal. Post some hudd fish pics when you get the rod (and fish it)..

I'm sure it would. All a spinning reel does- while casting- is let out line. I have a Sonora 2500 that has held up to two years of pretty extensive use. You want to check the line capacity though. 1000 size is pretty much ultralight territory.