hooah212002

I pretty much do that. I pull out enough to where what is left on the spool is tight and "clean". If that sentence had any more innuendo, I'd probably get banned.

I was trying the teeny craw on my spinning rod. Admittedly, though, i put zero thought into line selection when i got it as it was something to enable me to get bait in the water and before i got re-obsessed. I don't even know what size line it is, but i imagine it's 15# berkley mono or something. Way too heavy.

like I said, i had just been out in a downpour. So it will dry itself?

Floating square bill: I lost my brand new SK KVD square bill soon after it caught me a striper (later in the day when I was ready to call it quits. ONE MORE CAST!). rebel teeny craws: I actually have one (I think). I can't cast it very far though, so I didn't use it much. I do know of the snap method.

I found a new spot that so far seems to have a good population of SMB. However, it also has a good population of snags, which I am pretty sure are large rocks because the shore is very rocky and the water level is low so where we currently fish from would normally be underwater. I hooked into a few fish yesterday on lipless cranks (caught one and one got loose before I landed it) and everything else was unproductive, even similarly colored lipped cranks. Before too long, I had my only two lipless cranks. Ultimately, I went through maybe 5-6 lures, not including how many texas rigged worms I lost. Is there an effective way to reduce losing cranks to snags? The river itself is flowing pretty fast. On anything that requires anything less than a fast retrieve, the bait ends up downstream (and ultimately running parallel to shore) very quickly. Whether that effects presentation negatively, I don't know. I am fishing from shore, so I don't have ready access to what would be considered a pool or eddy: all available water is in current. Am I just going to have to suck it up and risk losing lures? I did not, however, try a jig and craw or tube as I do not yet have any. From what I have read on more expensive cranks (like the Xcalibur XR50 real craw, for example) that the hooks are set up so as to reduce snags. Do different hook sizes make a huge difference? It seemed as though the current itself would carry my bait right into the snag without me retrieving it at all most times. I even lost floating cranks. All that said, I want to add: SMB are flippin awesome. The one I caught (I think it was my first ever) was maybe half the size of the LMB in my avatar but he had twice the fight!

Really? I thought WD40 broke down the grease and was bad for the line? Or do saltwater guys regularly grease their reels and respool their line? The reason he told me was because I was fishing in a good downpour yesterday and I asked him what i should do to ensure my reel didn't rust.

How about a suspended jerkbait with a split shot up ahead?

My uncle, just this afternoon, recommended I DOUSE my entire reel, line and all, in WD40. He's no pro, but he is a life long fisherman. I know better.

Thanks fishwhittler. I probably am casting pretty hard because this new reel casts like a dream and I'm still pretty stoked at how far i can chuck it. I'll calm down, so to speak, once I get better control amd am able to ease off on the brakes and tension and get it just as far.

I've noticed the proper techniques, as seen in Gene's video, is good for a starting point, but you should vary it according to your comfort and lure type. Every time I change lures (since I only jave one BC reel) I adjust the brakes and spool tension. Mainly just spool tension since less brakes means more backlashes.

Nice looking fish.

A question then: does braid get compromised like mono or fluoro does with backlashes? Intuition tells me no since it is softer, but intuition is worthless when evidence is available.

Lesson learned. Thanks again for the insight. At least it wasn't a $30 swimbait, right?

Sounds obvious, but have you adjust the brakes? I don't know what yours has, but on mine, a minor tweak on either the brakes or spool tension can add about 10 feet or so to my cast using the same power.

I have noticed that when I actually catch fish, it feels the same as a snag and i don't know it's a fish until i reel down and it continues to move lol. No doubt I have missed some, namely on single blade lures like worms or spinnerbaits because I don't set the hook either in time or at all. Either that, or I set the hook every time I feel anything which screws up the retrieve I'm sure. I've hear a lot about quality rods and their sensitivity, but is it that much better? I suppose it could also be that I'm not catching very good size fish. Heck, the first fish I caught this summer was a monster, but I didn't know it was a fish until i got it to the boat (and it subsequently shook loose before I landed it). Or is it something that comes with experience. Admittedly, I am not that experienced at the actual catching part of fishing yet haha.

Thanks for the replies guys. I suspected the backlash to be the culprit, but it just didn't seem to be bad enough. On a more positive note, this morning wasn't a bust like last night. Though, the two dinks I caught ultimately cost about $30 in tackle lol. Smallies were nailing my rattle traps, but so were the boulders on the river bed. I probably would have caught a whole lot more if I had a decent supply of cranks. Lost both of those, my SK KVD square bill and my bleeding bait spinner bait. However, every lure I lost hooked into a fish (a couple unhooked themselves before i landed em). This is great. I'm fishing better than I ever have.

As I am getting used to my new BC, I loosened up the brakes to see how far I could chuck my buzzbait because I felt comfortable doing so. I got it out there a good ways...a REAL good distance. I don't think I got too bad of a birds nest, but as I was reeling in after letting some of the nest out, I felt no resistance AT ALL and my lure was gone, along with about half the line that went out with it (I could tell this because almost immediately the end of the line was already all through the guides and on my reel). Like I said, I felt NO resistance and my line is brand new; this is only the second time I have fished this reel. It was dark, so I have zero clue what the heck happened. I checked the end where the break off was, which was now wrapped around my reel, and it was kinked a bit. However, being new line and given as far as I chucked it, this bit of line most likely had never seen any action. The optimist in me says it was a northern that cut my line. However, I'm a realist and would like some differing, more logical opinions. It was a freakin SK Bleeding Bait black buzzbait....so it wasn't cheap.

I can't seem to get the hook to point up. I'll keep trying, but I'd like to be able to use the drop shot in the mean time.

Awesome. Thanks.

One other flaw I've heard in product reviews on BassPro is that they aren't "taught" enough due to the swivel in the hook eye having play and thus, allowing the hook to fall and not stay perpendicular to the line. Have you encountered this?

Anyone ever use them? Admittedly, I have terrible dexterity and my quest to learn new knots is very frustrating and I cannot, for the life of me, get a drop shot shot tied. I saw these hooks at Walmart the other day but didn't have the money at the time to get them. I know A LOT of people are purists and probably think they're too gimmicky. I personally don't so much care as long as gimmicks work. The only down side I can think of right away is adding 2 more knots as points of failure. I am unsure if there are other brands, and as such, don't mean for this to be about any one particular brand (despite the title) but the type of hook i.e. a hook with 2 swivels strictly for dropshot rigs.

I gladly stand corrected. Sorry for the misinformation.

You could check the DNR records to see what has been stocked there. if the lake is artificially colder than what is normally found, it makes sense for them to stock Pike to assist in keeping the baitfish in check.

Yes, it's most definitely a Pike.

Haha, what do they care? They'll still make money 'cuz we'll still watch. We'll complain, but we'll still watch. And buy gear. And buy tickets. Fans don't matter as long as fans collectively continue to buy stuff. And fans show no signs of halting their purchases of NFL gear.