stkbassn

That Mattlures baby bass in Smallmouth pattern has caught me and a friend of mine a bunch of pig smallies....Mean ain't they!

X2 on Hook N' Look, those guys are great. I'm still a fan of the format of the Bass Pro's show and can't help loving FLW Outdoors for their Pro and College tournament coverage. I do get sick of the sales pitch...I like Shaw Grigsby but man if he doesn't mention Strike King or Dicks in every sentence then he isn't talking at all.....

I throw my Hudds with a REVO S and Fenwich Elite Tech Swimbait rod....it's a perfect set up and I paid around $215 total. You could pick up the REVO ORRA Inshore on Fishermans Factory Outlet for about $88 refurbished from the manufacturer...This is a good reel and will do exactly what you want...Look at the OKUMA Guide series in 7'6 Heavy or MH or the 7'11 MH....I prefer the longer rod. You could get into that set up for around $200 or under I believe. Trust me, it's not fun throwing swimbaits on the wrong equipment, not one bit.

I understand how you feel about losing those fish for sure...I just had a dream this morning that I lost a huge one and I'm still sick about it LOL. Seriously though, I try to get them in as quickly as possible but it's tough to horse a fish that big so I try to let them fight themselves out a bit before really putting a lot of pressure on them...I just try to apply and maintain steady pressure on the fish and hope for the best. I don't waste any time mind you but I won't horse a fish that big as much as I want it in the net in a hurry. Sometimes you lose, that's just part of the game in fishing. Keeps us coming back every time!

Yep, Curado on Ebay $124-129 shipped and the Chronarch for $169 shipped all day every day...reliable sellers too....

If you know all of that I don't see why you wouldn't be able to just fish it and see what works and what doesn't....Knowing that information to me is the biggest key....

I thought I'd chime in here.....I think getting thumped on swimbaits is just part of the game. I have that on good authority from the man himself, Ken Huddleston. I believe I could have sized down and caught a lot of small fish but I didn't go all the way there to play my scrubs....I put my best player in the game....he produced pretty well. Not sure if changing baits was the answer but that's my two cents. We had an awesome day no matter what went right and what didn't.

It has to be my Powell Composite Deep Cranking rod with a Curado 200E5...Man do I love using this combo....It's awesome. A close second is my Fenwick Elite Tech Swimbait rod...I got to use it last Friday for the first time and had an awesome day of catching big smallies on on a Huddelston Deluxe....Sweet rod...paired with a REVO S...sweet combo.

Powell Diesel for sure....I own the Powell Composite Deep Cranking rod and love it. I just got the Powell Diesel 7'2 MH rod and it's fantastic. I am 100% confident that the cranking version of the Diesel is one of the best cranking rods out there under $100. Get one and you'll want another one, I know I do.

I will agree with this point. I'm totally impressed by someone who has the knowledge and ability to identify good water by using observation, past experience, time on the water, and of course...electronics. That's what always impresses me about the guys who do this day in, day out. There is a reason why we see the pros being able to adapt to changing conditions and still load the boat consistently. They find fish. This is the ultimate key in my opinion. The local guys in the tourneys here that win consistently do this too....they may have brush piles, honey holes, back up holes, plan b, c, etc....but they have worked at this and guess what, they win consistently. So, skills in this area are way more impressive to me than anything else. If KVD took me fishing every time I went out I'd probably catch a lot more fish.... I think anyone would. He finds em' and man does he catch em'. All of those guys at that level do. But, still, I love going to a private, unpressured lake and laying into hogs all day long.....that's a different kind of fun but it's fun none the less in my opinion. Am I impressed with myself? Not overly but man it's fun to show off those pictures! LOL.

This is a good point to talk about. Maybe they do seem dumber in a farm pond or lake but it's simply a bass being a bass in an environment that allows them to be that, a fish that isn't conditioned to factors that aren't natural...boats, jet skis, constant pounding and pressure...etc. So while it may be a bigger "deal" to catch a big, trophy bass on a big reservoir with tons of anglers and pressure, that doesn't necessarily make you a big, bad angler....just lucky to be in the right place at the right time if we're talking about a 7 plus pound bass......it's just easier to be there at the right time and place on farm ponds and lakes. I've seen many a day when the farm pond wouldn't produce fish either so it's not always a cake walk... Long story short, if you have pics of a 10 pound bass that you caught on a farm pond and your buddy who fishes tournaments and owns a $60,000 rig doesn't.....well, you still have the biggest fish I love fishing big lakes and farm ponds and I'm proud of all of my big fish so be proud of yours no matter where it comes from.....fishing is fun!

You probably just spooked him, no worries either way though.

One, I was fishing a 1/4 oz jig in a creek, got it hung up in some rocks...pulled back hard and it broke and came back and the head hit me square between the eyes...an inch either way and I would probably have lost an eye..... Two, me and my buddy were heading out late one night in my old Champion and running around 35-40 mph up the channel and a duck flew right between us at head level.....very scary!! Lights out if that thing hits one of us! I'm sure there are other things but those two stick out....

No names or details here out of respect, just a response to something I am going to address.... Being kind and helpful to others should be everyone's first priority here. No one here has a badge that I can see so lets drop the police act. Any comments made to anyone here should be made and worded with courtesy and respect at all times regardless of your imagined or assigned "rank" here at the bass resource. Thanks! Tight lines everyone and have a great day.

Complete junk but I'll be a nice guy and take it off your hands so you won't have to deal with it Ha! It's a very nice little reel. I'm getting another 2500 size. The price has gone up on them but well worth it in my opinion.

Powell has a new Diesel cranking rod for $70 bucks....Probably be exactly what you're looking for. In that price range you won't find anything close to a Powell. JMHO of course. Tackle Warehouse is carrying these rods.

I had one too. I had it paired with the Wright and McGill Spinnerbait/Worm rod and zero complaints. I will say though it's hard to go back to after throwing the Curado 200E7 for a while.... However, the price can't be beat for the performance....I could NOT backlash that reel.

I've heard good things about these Lamiglas rods as well. I am very pleased with the Powell though. I'm going to pick up a few more this season. I don;t think I've ever seen a Lamiglas for close to the price of the Powells...maybe I haven't looked that hard.

That makes sense about the Shimano. Also, good to know about the Revo S. I've seen a lot of praise on here and elsewhere that would suggest it's a very worthy reel at that price. I had the Revo Inshore which was one of the sweetest Abu's I've owned. I'm looking forward to the S for sure. I may pick up another one soon along with that G series Curado. I have a few E's left and I'm hanging onto them!

That's good to know about the G series. I will pick up one soon and add it to my collection. I don't know that I'd pay $200 to get a Chronarch that's really just a white Curado.

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I went ahead and went with the S. I got an even better deal on price than I thought I could...never hurts to ask So, for under $100 I figured I couldn't really go wrong. I have Curado E's for most everything but didn't want to spend the money for the 300E and was a bit unsure of what the G series was going to bring to the table..... Anyone have an opinion of the G series curado?

I own this rod and I must say, this is the best cranking rod I've ever picked up. It's light as a feather and is absolutely perfect for deep cranks as well as medium cranks. You can launch your bait a mile with this rod! I know there isn't a lot of information about it and it's probably because TW is the only place that has been allowed to carry the rod at this point. I had my eye on it for a while and finally just decided to take a chance...I am 150% glad that I did. I think you will be also. Just my opinion. Powell makes wonderful rods, period.

I'm buying one of these two reels today....My main question is, is the SX that much better than the S? I'm buying this reel for swimbaits mainly but nothing huge, just the Mattlure baby bass and 6" Hudds... The price on the S is $108 and the SX is $147.... Thanks for your opinions in advance!

I'm going to fish some finesse baits and texas rigs on a spinning rod this year...Will a 2500 size reel and 6'10 m or 7 MH spinning rod work for this application? If so, what rod. I was thinking of the Powell Diesel 6'10 Medium spinning rod...or the Temple Fork 7Mh Spinning rod... Suggestions?

The Slyder casts really well and his hard to backlash. It's not the smoothest of reels overall but it's not bad. I never used the Slyder feature though. It sounds like the other Pinnacle might be a good choice.