Loop_Dad

Oh no! Now everybody will start throwing ribbon tail! Culplrit floats without hook. With hook, tail stands up, so this might do the job for you. I just received the Culplrit in the mail and the weather has been pretty nastly here in central Texas last few days, so I am yet to fish with it yet. I don't know how he fishes the worm, but I like to fish with big jigging motion, so actually probably it doesn't matter if it floats or not as my bait is constantly doing up and down. Does he fish slow?

Ok, I can share my story and I prefer to believe I am not an idiot I've been using righty for decades. A couple of summers ago I decided I want to try out lefty because I thought it made a logical sense. Many on here encouraged to do the switch. It turned out I had problem with my right arm being tired, especially when I use longer stiffer rods. Also I felt pain on my right wrist. What was happening previously without realizing was that I would cast with my right arm and gave my right arm some break by switching to the left arm. I can go all day without feeling a thing. I returned my reel after one day. Now, I have pretty decent muscle on my arms. Something to think about probably.

I ordered this from ebay and it was only $1.99 shipped. I'll give this a shot to see if I can make unhooking even faster. I think if this tool work as it supposed to, a hook can be removed very fast.

Maybe this red hook remover. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/300881320682?lpid=82

Well, to me if someone said it is designed for gut hooked fish, it should involve some turning of the hook, otherwise hook won't come out no matter how long the neck of the tool is.

Well, this is for deep hooked, but not necessary designed for gut hooked.

I never knew there was such a thing. Which one is this?

I have three tools currently. Bent needle nose. Bolt cutter. End cutter. I'm considering getting a lip gripper to help me with holding fish securely with maximum access. (My knuckles are rather big.)

Mine has been great! I've moved to TX from CA and fishing has been very good. And I don't think the winter is real winter around here. Only minus is that I don't have fishing buddy yet.

Deep congrats for studying and actually trying thing out. To me that's the big part of fishing, trying something new. I've read that book and also read the other book written by a scientist Knowing Bass Scientific Approach, which he talks about colors. I also used to dive long time ago. After going down a few feet, certain spectrum of lights are diminished and things become mono-tone even in clear water. So I doubt fish see much difference between say blue and purple in deeper water. Either way, to make any convincing conclusion about effectiveness of color, one needs a lot more sample than a few fish. Or forget that and fish the color you like and be happy! That's what I do.

I'm not familiar with VMC hook, butt I would guess it is close enough. Do you still have the original hook to compare? I personally wouldn't worry too much about weight difference, unless bait stick out from the water completely vertical or totally flat on the water. I think these baits need some angle from water surface. This is jut MHO.

I've been using lots of big worms lately. I use ol monster, even magnum a little bit. I use owner's twist lock light wire in size 6/0 for ol monster. Even if it is light wire, they change the size of wire accordingly, so with 6/0 I feel they are strong enough. I set hook depending on how the bite is. It is kinda hard to explain the timing of setting the hook, because it is case by case, but if I try to put it in words, If it is hard bites, like strong pull, I set hook immediately. If it is a very slight tick, I'll give just a couple of a few seconds of delay. My hook up ratio is pretty good, must be over 90%. But if it was working before and suddenly missing, as other poster mentioned, there might be smaller fish nibbling. I would switch out to shorter bait and nail the fish to find out.

No just you. I do exactly that. To me it is much easier to adjust the speed manually by me, than trying to remember 'which reel am I using again?' Also keeping them same makes it possible to rotate the reels.

Can someone confirm this? Does it? I have Recon and they don't float. I assumed the Thumper is made out of the same material, is it not? If one of these floats, it would be great as I have better chance finding them locally.

I always wonder how they measure the length of ribbon tails.

I thought this was a thread about jigs rips your hair for some reason jk Anyhow, why spinning set up? Using small jigs? I might try out someday.

I have owner size 2 on mine. If I remember they were just tiny bit bigger than original. You can probably buy size 1 and try out. But it might be too big/long front and back my tangle up while you are throwing? Idk...

Anybody knows any big ribbon tail worm that floats?

I went out fishing a couple of days ago before the storm. I don't usually do much deep dive cranking, but that morning I started throwing and it was working well for me. One of the fish got the lure's rear hook on the gill from out side and started bleeding. Is bleeding from gill a automatic death sentence no matter how much? I've heard people cut gill to kill fish. I don't have live well so I let him go, but started to wonder about this.

Come on, my friend, you got many opinions already. At the end of the day you have to decide, nobody will make that decision for you. And it is just fishing reel. Just get the Symetre you are leaning towards and go fishing!

I don't know what rod you are getting, but you don't want to have $200 rod with $50 reel, or $50 rod with $200 reel. I have two spinning set up. I had one with Saros first and bought Sahara for my daughter. I don't feel much difference. But these are from a couple of years back thou. If I were to buy one more I buy Sahara 2500. It's good nough for my spinning needs.

That might actually make my problem worse, depending on how they did it. If they simply extended the middle cork section to accomodate reels with longer foot, that's a bad news. My problem was the reel seat was not able to become short enough to hold my 200 size Shimanos tightly. I modified the reel seat so it can accommodate reel with shorter foot. I was quite frankly surprised that Shimano 200 reels being so popular reel. Op if you can bring your reel to store who carries this great, I would do that if I were you. Or you can modify the reel seat in worst case scenario. And it was pretty easy. And don't get me wrong, I still like these rods.

Thanks for posting the link. What is 'vat'? And wonder why it died. Are bigger fish more sensitive to pressure change than smaller fish? I mean 15 feet of water is not that deep...but it said they 'vent' her assuming that's fizzing.

Huntrava, I know it is probably overwhelming to go through posts after posts to figure out when you are new....If you are someone I know, I tell them to do the following. Keep it simple silly (KISS) approach. Get a 4" senko in green pumpkin (color is not that important IMHO but oh well) Get 1/0 offset worm hook, Pinch the burbs (because you'll gut hook them) Get a split shot weight about 4" from the worm, And cast it out to the area a bit deeper than where you usually throw grub Watch the line and set the hook if something is different. Keep the line tight (because you have no burb) 4" is small enough so you'll continue to be able to catch the small fish you've been catching, but may have a chance at bigger fish. Make sure to learn how to unhook, in case you gut hook a fish

Not these, but Have the two Smallmouth 6'9" MH. It looks like the new rod have very similar reel seat so I thought I comment here.... I like the rod. Very well balanced in my hand, better than Crucial (form grip one) I initially like the feel of the reel seat, but I had some issue with it. The problem was the cork under the reel seat is just tad too long for my 200 sized shimano's. I didn't notice initially. When I get bigger fish, I would notice the reel's movement. I was keep tightening, but basically the front cork which holds the nut was hitting the cork under the reel seat, so it wasn't really tightening the reel. Eventually the screw thread glued to the rod came off while I had a good fish on and I lost the fish! The fix was easy. First I just glued the thread back on to the rod. Then I trimmed the front edge of the cork under the reel seat for about 1/8 inch, so that the front cork can come back a bit more for secure tightening. I also felt the cork under the reel is too slippy. I carved a grove on it slightly so that my middle finger has something to grip on. If this was to replace the smallmouth rod, I wish they've changed the reel seat to the one like Aetos.