aavery2

While I understand your logic,do you crank the fish to the top of the mat or use your rod to move the fish?

I use the Gen 2 Revo STX 6.4:1. Like DVT I don't find the need for a super high IPT when working a frog, this reel retrieves more than enough line for good slack line management IMO.

Is this not the concept of the Rapala DT's that were produced a few years back. Rapala Ike’s Custom Ink DT Crankbait.

In reels where the ring is made of a brass like material, the brake tabs can create grooves in the surface over time, this effects casting distance and braking. These types of rings I have polished to make like new. Most of the newer reels use a much harder aluminum or some other material and I have not seen reels using this type of material groove. I would not wax this area, it would only create a build up of material that would eventually collect on the brake tabs and gum things up. Just clean it well with a degreaser, and then follow up with a very light coat of good quality oil.

Look at your post above and count the times you said, "I Want". Put your needs before your wants. It's great to have goals, but some of those that can not be reached quickly, have to be set as long term goals. Have you tried introducing yourself to the Coach and see if he has any suggestions? Good Luck

Focus on your education

I see, with everything considered you are probably throwing baits that weigh 1/4oz. and up. If you want a challenge put an 1/8th oz. bare jig head on one of those setups and give it a go.

3G is just a little lighter than 1/8th oz. You will have to let me know how you like that Recon once you have had a chance to cast with it. Very hard for me to find a rod that will load properly with 1/8oz. and the Recon was one of the rods that was recommended. Nice reel as well.

What rod are you using that is allowing for good distance at 1/8th oz.?

In my experience wider spools do have the potential for increasing casting distance. Line on a spool is at its largest diameter as the spool fills, this means that wider spools hold more line at its largest diameter. When you cast each rotation of the spool lets out its maximum amount of line when the spool is full, when the spool becomes less full it may take two rotation of the spool to release the same amount of line as when the spool was full. So you can see where a wider spool and its ability to hold more line at the maximum diameter will help increase casting distance. There are other factors that come into play like spool weight and the way it is weighted. The Plueger President WLP is an inexpensive reel that has the wider spool if you are curious about trying one.

I am surprised to see many find them close, I see the Tatula in a little different class.

My Brother and I got very good at this technique when we were younger. We use to fish a sandpit that had a lot of very large bluegill in it, but to get to them, you had to get past the smaller ones. The split shot helped us get deep a little faster, if we made it to the bottom, we would let it rest a while and then just drag it a foot or two at a time, and it was almost guaranteed to produce. I still enjoy this type of fishing in areas with large sunfish and bluegill.

I fish them just like I do everything else, throw it in a make a wish.

If you want guaranteed success all you need is a small hook, a small splitshot sinker, and a box of night crawlers. Pinch off about a 1/4 of a worm put it on the hook, catch fish, repeat.

If I recall correctly Iaconelli used one of these during one of the MLF events. Seems like he had a fair amount of success with it.

Here is something you might find interesting. This is a copy of a reply from St. Croix Guys. I sent an email out to St. Croix following the discussion we had last week regarding the REC “Recoil” guides being used on some of the high end rods like the Legend Extreme. One of the things I like about St. Croix is that they’ll take the time to respond to questions. And this time was no different. I won’t post the entire response but here’s the stuff that counts… “We have used these guides for 4 years. I have not seen 1 guide with any grooving or wear from braid.” Zero warranty claims on grooved REC guides in 4 years. NADA. He goes on to state that if anyone has a grooved St. Croix guide… he wants to see it. Beyond a few second hand rumor type statements of “I heard from this guy that bought one and his guides grooved from using braid” they’re not seeing anything of the kind in the warranty repair department or have heard about it from actual St. Croix owners at the customer service call desk. If you have a grooved set of guides… bring it to a sports show or contact St. Croix directly. In their durability tests that have been ongoing for years they have been unable to damage the titanium guides with braided line. Period. In fact, after heavy use the titanium guides “polish” and get smoother… leading to longer casts and even better performance. But certainly NOT grooves. So, that’s the scoop on that. The grooved Recoil guides claims don’t hold water. I thought it was interesting, I have two rods with recoil guides, an NRX and a Legend Extreme, neither has had any issues to date. I have seen lots of pictures of damaged guides but have never been able to get my hands on one to look at them very close. Have you been able to get your hands on any damaged guides?

Dan Reeves was the O coordinator, Dorsett, Pearson, are some names that come to mind.

Relax, not an insult. My insults are not hard to decipher. It was meant as a joke, many kids hated math in school, and would ask, "why do I need to learn this, I will never use it again". It was just a play on that.

If memory serves, the Cowboys have started the last 2 or 3 seasons off at 2-2 or close. They have finished each of those seasons at about 8 - 8. I hope that them getting back some key players on defense will be enough for them to make a deep run in the playoffs.

I like the handle but dislike that I can not add Daiwa knobs to it. I also do not care for the nut retainer. I have seen numerous comments on other sites that are more or less the same. Your missing a large part of your potential market by not supporting them.

My oldest Son's wife is a red head, we use to tease her about being adopted because neither of her parents have red hair. I look it up one day.. and now you know the rest of the story.

Tom, what you stated is interesting, but I don't think that it fully accounts for lakes where the predominant forage is shad. In our neck of the woods, as the water cools, the plankton is found in the warmer more shallow water, like the backs of creeks. The shad need the plankton to survive so they leave the main lake and migrate to the shallow warmer water where there food source in more plentiful, the bass are usually not far behind. Once the water gets cold, the bass return to their main lake haunts. So in many of the lakes I fish if you want to find the bass in the fall, you target the backs of creeks. (Swimjigs, Chatterbaits, and Squarebills)

What I have read, and to a degree been able to test, is that if two differently colored baits are both visible, a bass will many times choose the one that most closely resembles the local forage. You have heard this presented in a different way a thousand times, match the hatch.

You know OE that is a telling statement. Red is the most rare of all hair color, 1-2% of people have red hair. And then there is the this, it is a genetic mutation that creates red hair, not only does one of your parents have to pass you the mutated gene, it requires that they both do.

I have long been interested in why certain colors or patterns of color seem to enjoy better success than others. I have read and studied on the structure and chemicals that make a fish eye, read studies that monitored brain response to light and color patterns, light refraction, deep water color shifts, and many other variables that help determine what a fish can see and how they react to it. What I have determined in my own study of the subject is that color does matter. Maybe not in the way that many of us think, but there are colors and patterns that fish can see more easily in every body of water. Things like light penetration, water color, depth, and temperature all play a factor in how a lure presents itself under water. Because a lure looks red, green and yellow in the open air under sunlight in no way means that it will appear the same once it is underwater. Anyway, I believe color matters.