smalljaw67

You are another person that is confused as you look at the crankin stick and see that it has a fast taper. Any rod that is glass or composite which is graphite and glass mixed, can have fast tapers but will still be either slow, moderate, or moderate fast in action. Some companies like Wright and McGill use S-Glass for rod construction which is stiffer and faster reacting than E-Glass which is what Lamiglas and Quantum use. So to get a good amount of backbone using E-Glass the rod is made with a fast taper, this provides more backbone but the rod still retains the moderate action. Graphite rods will have both a moderate taper and action.

I can see using it for cranking but not a frog rod. The first thing is the length, I favorshorter rods but for frog fishing in slop I use a 7' heavy powered rod. The only time I use a 6'6" rod with a frod is when I'm fishing sparse cover and very specific spots where accuracy on the cast is a big part, this is the only time and I'm using Yum Buzzfrogs and Sizmic Toads, not hollow body frogs. Even for that the ugly stick is too soft action wise and you'll get frustrated with all the missed fish and even with the right rods you still miss fish so it will only get worse with that rod.

I don't know if you tried this but if you haven't it may help. If you're throwing senkos around there and not getting bit that tells me either the fish have a really bad case of lockjaw or the area isn't holding any fish. The first thing to do after you've tried some baits without any bites is to find a creek channel, if there is no distinct channel in the area look for something different. With all the weed patches look for ones around wood and target those, also look for isolated patches of weeds that seem away from the rest by itself and finally look for some type of forage, check for bluegills, get close to shore and flip over rocks and see if there are craws and other types of minnows or shiners. When you find prey species make note of what it is and the size of the forage and try to mimic that, I fished an area that I knew had fish but I couldn't by a strike until I saw a flash in the water and then I knew, it was a certain type of minnow the fish were keying on. When fish are keying in on a specific bait they very seldom will hit anything else so pay attention to what they are possibly eating, good luck.

I love the KVD L&L conditioner also but remember it isn't a miracle in a bottle. I will tell you guys I fish with that tell me they don't see any difference use it as an alternative to respooling and I find they are trying to condition line that has been on the reel for over a year and is loaded with memory. When I spool my line I use a spooling station and I keep a rag near me that has the end of it soaked in KVD L&L and as the line is going on the reel it first goes through the rag held by my two fingers and then before I go out I give the reel spools a quick spritz, this keeps the memory from getting bad on mono and it seems to help with casting on my braid.

Go to *** and look through the videos, they have one on tying a palomar knot with flouro because that is what broke, I use that knot and I have had problems using flouro with it, and one of the reasons I don't use flouro anymore.

I'm going to echo Cadman, one thing you need to know is there is sometimes a lot more to pouring lead than just dumping it into a mold and a lot of people give up when they encounter problems from the get go. Some molds you will find pour better if you tilt them a certain way, other molds may need to be poured with a ladle but more importantly if you have a problem do not give up, there is help available. Go to Tackle Underground, you will get a lot of help over there when you encounter a problem, it makes the learning curve so much smaller. You picked a good mold to start with, the bigger cavities are easier to pour and that is a great jig, you lose very few fish that get hooked on it. Good luck and remember Tackle Underground if you get stuck and need help.

You could fish those a number of different ways, just match the method to the size other worm. For instance, if these are 6" worms a 3/0 hook would be all the weight you would need to throw over matted grass, over lily pads or in milfoil or coontail. You could also C-rig them to search deeper flats or you could use a shaky head if you are on fish. If the worms are 5" or less you they would be great for shaky heads, or drop shotting or even a finesse topwater bait, they are very versatile baits.

I prefer the EWG trebles over the round bends in both shallow and deep divers. I've been using the normal Mustad triple grips ever since they came out but I have quite a few baits that feature premium round bend hooks that are good also. The only difference to me would be the EWG seems to hold the fish better, I have lost more fish on Gamakatsu trebles that I have with Mustad Triple Grips and it doesn't mean Mustads are sharper because they aren't but they do hold better and not all of them but the Triple Grips.

Dragging is done exactly how it sounds, you let the bait hit bottom and you use your rod to slowly drag the bait across the bottom. The only thing you use the reel for is to pick up slack although if you reel slow enough you could drag the bait that way. Dragging a tube or any other bottom contact bait is a good way to get finicky fish to react to your lure as the bait dragging on the bottom stirs up sediment as well as it leaves a distinct trail plus it also makes a little noise. The baits I've had success dragging have been jigs, worms, lizards, and the best soft plastic to drag in my opinion is the tube.

NO.

I'll stay out of the line debate, if you feel like you can handle tying leaders so be it, but the rod, yeah, for 50 clams a Vendetta is a good choice. I have a few high end rods including 2 customs but the majority of rods and reels are mid tier $120-$250 and the cheapest rod I own is a Vendetta and it goes with me just about every trip. It is very versatile, I have a 6'6" medium and the thing cast fantastic, it is rated up to 5/8oz lure weight but you can go to 3/4oz with no problem. The rod is an excellent caster and if you are using braid it will be pretty sensitive. The best uses for it are spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, jigs and all kinds of plastics.

Popping a graphite rod on a snag isn't going to make it snap unless the angle is steep to the point that you are high sticking. I met a guy at Cableas that was unsure of which rod to get, he just returned his 3rd high end rod, the first 2 were both G Loomis GLX rods and the last one was a St. Croix Legend extreme. He could not explain why these great rods that people rave about keep braking on him, after we talked for a bit I asked him specifically what he was doing when the rods snapped and then we found the problem. He told me that as he was bringing a fish to the boat the fish would try to make a run and he would stop them by pulling back on the rod and it was ok unt the fish went under the boat so since he couldn't pull the rod back any more he simply reeled and that is when the rods would snap, every one of them. Well I told him he was high sticking the rod, he was putting pressure on the rod that it was not designed to take, the rod tip being at 12 o'clock position and being pulled to the 7 o'clock position will break any good graphite rod. He got another GLX as he liked it the best and felt better as he now understood what the problem was, and BTW, I ran into the same guy 2 years later and he hasn't had another rod fail. I'm not saying that is what happened as it was probably a defect but keep in mind that extreme angles can and will have disasterous effects on a good graphite rod.

Jigs with flat bottoms that are designed to stand will stand on the bottom of a tub but not a lake bottom, I proved to a friend that a round head shaky head will stand better than a spot remover head so we dropped both in clear water about 3 or 4 feet deep and guess what, the round head stood stright longer than the spot remover but both eventually fell over after a few seconds. The poison tail jig is a rocker style head which is any jig that has a rounded contact surface like that of a rocking chair, they are designed to be slowly dragged , hopped , or flipped. Jiggs that are meant to stand up when not moving have large flat surface areas but on an uneven lake bottom it really doesnt matter, take a good look at grass jigs or a lot of heavy flipping jigs, that have a cone or bullet shape to go through cover, hit the bottom and then come back through the cover and they catch fish. I really think the stand up concept with jig fishing is a little over rated but I will say one thing, the poison tail does keep fish pinned, the hook design works perfectly with the head which is why very few fish can throw it.

First choice would be a spinnerbait, with a main blade being an indiana blade with a small colorado as a kicker blade. Another good bait for that water would be a rattle trap, I've been getting bigger fish using the one knocker type like the Rapala clackin rap and the Xcalibur One Knocker, make a long cast and let it hit bottom and then rip it up and let it hit bottom and rip i up again and continue back to the boat or shore, this is a terrific way to search water as well as draw strikes from finicky fish. The 3rd way I would fish it is a noisy topwate, either a buzzbait or a prop bait like a Heddon Dying Flutter, Rapala X-Rap Prop, or a Smithwick Devils Horse.

If you want to take a chane, you may be able to pick up last years model Premier pretty cheap. They are all on sale now as a lot of anglers are waiting to get the new ones but once the new ones hit the shelves all the old models will end up at some incredibly low prices, I wouldn't be surprised to see them under $180.

I make a ton of different color combos, in fact I've been making my own spinnerbaits and jigs for over 15 years and I can make all the same color combo as a hand tie, the only difference is using a collar instead of wire. I think you misunderstood, what I meant was I can make a skirt using a collar instead of tying them with wire. For some of my customers I will hand tie skirts, it isn't any harder than making them with a collar, it just take a few seconds more. When I make a bunch of jigs I'll make the skirts up and if someone wants a hand tied skirt I'll simply slide the skirt on the jig with the collar and then make 1 complete wrap with my wire, slide the collar off and finish it up, simple.

I like the looks of their tackle, specifically the reels, the rods are really nice but the don't have a length and action I use but I do see myself with an Optimus XT this Christmas!!

Did you ever get snagged or set the hook on a fish hard? The reason I ask is that reel has a graphite frame, I stay away from those kinds of reels because if the frame flexes a little bit it throws the gears out of alignment and then they grind and grease will only help a little bit and it will wear off in an hour or so depending on how much you cast and retrieve. If you don't want to spend to much look at getting a reel with an aluminum frame, you can find pretty good reels right at the $100 dollar mark. A lews Speed spool can be had for less than that if you look but stay away from the laser speed spool as it too has a graphite frame. Look at the Shimano Citica, the Quantum Kinetic PT, the Abu Garcia Revo S, those are all solid work horse reels that will perform well and last plus they aren't disposable, if a bearing goes bad or a gear gets messed up it is more than worth it to have it serviced.

I honestly think hand tying is overhyped, I will wire tie for some people but my personal jigs and spinnerbaits use a skirt collar. I will say back in the late 80's to about the mid 90's the skirt collars dry rotted really fast, I remember buying strike king jigs at a sale in a department store around '92 and when I opened the pack up the jig head came out and all the skirt strands stayed in the box. Now it has changed, since 2000 or so the skirt collars have improved a ton, and I have boxes of old jigs with the eyes gone and paint scraped up and the skirt faded but the skirt collar is still holding.

For your jerkbait setup the Quantum Tour Swindle is a great choice and they are on ale at TW. The 6'6" is long enough for good casting distance and it is short enough that you can use a downward jerking motion without hitting the water. In fact that rod was designed for jerkbaits and topwater and at the sale price it is a no brainer. The Mojo is ok but it is heavier by a good bit than the Tour rod but I think any of those would be a good choice, I also believe the Tour has a lifetime warranty so that may be something you want to consider.

Actually I rather a thin diameter blank as it is light but it also has to be strong but most quality medium heavy rods will be close. If you have medium power spinning rods then a medium heavy or heavy casting rod will look thick compared to that and a Dobyns savvy or a Ducket Micro Magic really aren't that expensive, but todays value rod market is incredible, you can get a lot of rod for $100.

Incredible!!! you may have learned the technique on TU but in order to make a bait look that good requires a load of talent!!! That is some of the best work I ever saw!!

I'm not sure if you realize this but they are using the brush hog on a skirted football jig, not just a jig head. I say that because there is going to be a difference in where you would throw a bait on a weedless skirted jig versus the plain jig head. I personally have witnessed hula grubs on ball head jigs not getting as much as a nibble while the same bait on a skirted jig was getting crushed and I've witnessed the exact opposite too. I just wanted to make sure you knew a lot of pros were rigging them on skirted football jigs.

I've used a medium power, fast action rod for jerkbaits a long time, I have tried crankbait style rods and I can't work a jerkbait with them, I find that I have to hesitate working the bait waiting for the tip to recover and on bigger jerkbait I have no control of the bait as the rod has too much flex. I use to use a 6'3" G.Loomis Jerkbait Series rod, a JBR 752 to be specific but I now use my Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth 6'10" MH/MF casting rod for jerkbaits. It only took a day of fishing it to get use to the added length but now that I am it is awesome for jerkbaits! It is a moderate fast action but it is more on the fast side, in fact it acts like a fast action rod, the tip isn't soft so I can really work the bait, I can be aggressive or subtl but which ever way I'm working the bait I never have to hesitate for tip recovery. The best part is when you hook a fish, it has the added flex that lets you fight the fish without pulling the hooks out, it is sort of the best of both worlds giving me the fast action to work the bait and a moderate side to fight the fish, and it is super light!!

That gear ratio will work for just about anything, for frogging it is more important that the reel can hadle braided line or heavy mono. You do not need a 7' rod to fish frogs but I wouldn't use anything shorter unless I was fishing them in really sparse cover where I wouldn't need the leverage. The shortest rod I would use for frogs would be a 6'10". You also need at least a medium heavy if fishing sparse cover and a heavy or extra heavy in the slop, you really need to have the right set up in slop if you have any hope of landing a fish that strikes. I have used a 6'6" rod to fish a Yum Buzzfrog but I was making short casts to small area so my casts had to be precise but I would say I was fishing it more like a spinnerbait in places you would normally use a spinnerbait but that is the exception.