kickerfish1

Roboworms, Jackall cross tail or I-shad, Yamamoto shad shaped worm, and the Reins bubbling shaker. About anything can be fished on a drop shot.

I think the devil has red eyes too. Probably was a spotted bass in a former life. I agree with the others. 99% sure they are juvenile Largemouth bass. I am not 'expert' but for me I have a few odd ways to identify a spotted bass. First is the coloration along the middle section of the fish. Second is the pronounced "belly". Third is the smaller jaw/mouth region that is more reminiscent of a smallmouth compared to a largemouth. Lastly the redish/orange eye.

If I am seeing the line capacity right, that reel holds 50 yards of 6# line. Knowing how brilliant the Conquest line is at casting I would probably try not to go over 6 # line. The problem with going to say 8# is that you will likely be close to if not spooling the reel with slightly heavier and aerodynamic baits. I have caught a fair amount of decent size fish of various species on a 4# line on spinning gear. You just have to have more patience, play the fish a bit longer, and need a bit more luck to land the better quality fish. Good luck with whatever route you go. With a small spool capacity, at least you know that should you decide to try a few lines to experiment with, you won't out much line or $.

I know there are tons of braid lovers on here but I ain't one of them. I too tried the braid to a flouro leader and had 3 break offs on the hook sets. The rod was a 7'6 MH discontinued BPS Pro Qualifer rod and the reel was Lews Speed Spool. I wasn't a fan of this combination for jigs, plastics, etc and decided that the only place braided line was going to be used was for frog/topwater slop fishing. I have since sold the rod and reel and have moved back to mono and straight flouro for fall plastics and jigs. Just last weekend I was tossing a brush jig on a 12# Sunline Sniper on a new 2016 GLX MBR 844 paired with a TDZ. I had 6 bites that day on the jig and stuck and landed each fish and some were at a pretty good distance (ie long cast and the bite occurred within the first few handle cranks). The good thing about fishing is that we have lots of great gear and line options. For me braid isn't my preferred line for jigs and plastics.

Good question Frank. I know braid will have a very thin diameter but the tradeoff seams to be the non stretch factor of braid possibly harming the delicateness of the spool. I have yet to down to true BFS reels in the purest sense of the term, but I do have a few SV 105s and I like to run 6 or 8 # Yozuri Hybrid. These are my finesse hard bait setups so I am tossing hardbaits around rock and rip rap and topwaters alongside fairly thick weed edges. I need a bit more muscle to move fish away and put a little pressure on them to keep them from burying themselves in the slop so I really don't want to go "too" light on the line. What are you trying to do with the Conquest? Are you fishing in areas where the cover is a bit more dense or is it mostly open water/sparse cover? You could try something like mono in the 6# range. Maybe opt for one with good handling and smaller diameter. You could use flouro as well if you don't intended to use presentations like topwater for example. With as delicate as those BFS spools are even with the drag set properly, I personally, would opt for mono or flouro. I am sure there are a good number of folks running braid or braid with a leader for the thinner diameter and maybe a touch more distance.

I have used Shimano drag grease and gear grease and Shimano reel oil as well as HH Studios Light oil as well. They all work good. Cals grease as well as Yamaha Marine grease are pretty popular choices as well. I am not a fan of any product labeled "Hot Sauce" or "Reel Butter" for anything involving maintaining reels. Hot Sauce will dye things and is just a mess and Reel butter is a very average at best product. For a few bucks more there are better choices than both of these products. If you Google "Big Green Fish" and go the their website they have some nice info on reel servicing from bearing oil to grease to tools and cleaners. The Tackle Trap also has a lot of products as well that you could buy.

Nice job and congrats on the catches! It has been a few years since I have fished up there. Fishing has always been hit or miss on the bass (both LMB and SMB). Pike always seem willing to play. Lots of lakes up that way that vary in size and a pretty diverse amount of species to target as well.

90% of what I use on spinning reels is 8# line the rest is 6# line. You will be fine.

Boy that shade of blue is sure ugly! At least you have better tastes in fishing gear!

Buy the Rage bug in all sizes and colors.

Consider changing your name to "The Dink Whisperer"

I will 4th or 5th the Daiwa Alphas SV 105. Love it for light jerkbaits and 1/4 oz topwater pop-r style baits.

That was a typo. Should have been $300.

Mainly what your are getting is the weight reduction from the magnesium frame. You are also getting likely better palming and a bit more compact profile with the Steez. Usually a few more clicking do-dads like a cast control cap. Sometime a lighter handle and better looking knobs. I would also venture to guess higher quality bearings. I am not sure If I would think the difference would be worth the extra $. Seems like you can find older Steez 103, 100s, and EX models for under $100. Could drop any type of spool even an SV in it and be all said and done for under $400. I have heard mixed reviews on the new Steez SV TW. Once you start talking about reels that clear $400 retail I either want one of 3 things. Something pretty rare or collectible, something very light weight 5.5 ounces or less give or take, or superior distance casting either on the finesse side or with normal baits. I haven't heard anyone rave about the new Steez having any of these characteristics outside of the reel being sexy looking and light. I am sure it is a great reel but it will likely be a Daiwa SV reel that I skip. Frankly I would but a SV 105 and either a SV 103 or Tat SV and have two really nice reels for the money. I have seen the SV 105s just a shade over $200 from Japan. The Tat SV is $200 but I bet you can find them for $180 or less. The SV 103s are around in places but pricing will vary and they are drying up fast.

I generally do well with a smallie beaver or 3 inch SK rodent texas rigged with a 3/16 oz weight. Not sure if this is finesse enough but it tends to work pretty well when there is a need to downsize.

When dropping down to the SV 105 you will get something that is very light, compact, and bit more finesse oriented. It is the finest reel for tossing 1/4 oz baits I have used. Perfect for some smaller pop-r style baits that I like as well as smaller jerkbaits.

I have only used the 90 and have had no issues with catching fish or achieving the correct action.

Go to American Legacy fishing. They have the Curado 200I for $129 (NOTE: Shimano has reduced the MSRP on these reels) or get the Curado 70 for $149.

Zoom makes a Sungill Super fluke that is an excellent bluegill imitation. Also the honey candy colored rage tail menace rigged either on a texas rig or on a swimjig as a trailer are great choices depending upon depth and where you want your bait in the water column. Lots of good bluegill/bream/pumpkinseed swimjigs out there. Northstar, Siebert, Dirty jigs, 6th sense, and Lockjaw all make some superb patterns.

From the link and photos it appears to he the older classic GLX rods with the recoil guides. Nice rods, and I think you will be happy with the 804.

So to be clear you are looking at the new 2016 GLX rods with carbon fiber insert by the but cap and with the grey blanks with blue trim correct? The 803 is rated from 3/16 - 5/8 and the 804 is rated from 5/16 to 3/4. You mention the lightest you throw is 5/16. This is where the 804 starts and where likely nearing the sweet spot for 803. Move up to 7/16 and you are nearing the top end of the 803 and still in the sweet spot for the 804. Move up to 3/4 oz and you have exceeded the lure rating of the 803 while still being at the top end of the 804. Add the weight of the plastics you are using and I just don't see why the 803 would be considered for everything you mentioned. If you want my pick I would get the MBR 844 GLX. This rod would handle everything you are wanting and when you go to use something 3/4 oz with plastic you will be likely at or just a tick over the max lure weight rating while the 803 and 804 will have exceeded with just the weight of the lead. The other difference is in the action. Fast for the 804 and 844 MBR while the 803 is XF. As far as how much weight someone would need to be able to detect a bite I would say that some folks fish weightless plastics...hook plus plastic only like a senko or fluke for example and detecting the bite is easy. Basically the rod will just load and there will be weight there or maybe you will feel a thunk or two. As far as feeling what is going on the bottom you should be fine with anything over 1/4 oz as a general rule of thumb. The heavier the weight the better it should transmit what is going on the other end however two issues. 1st is heavier weights are easier to snag. 2nd the action of the bait is far less natural on the fall.

The Helius is one of the cheaper rods you will find that many consider to be light. There was also a Quantum Smoke rod that was really light as well but I believe it was an older rod. One of the members here has one or two but I can't recall if it is "QuakeandShake"? If you want with a red and black theme the discontinued Shimano Cumulus rods are what you want. The casting are available in 6'10 MH and 7'1 Heavy I believe. The 6'10 is right at 3oz and the 7'1 is right at 3.5. Check the review on TT for more info. I have the 6'10 and love it a lot for quite a few apps. It was widely considered the best rod Shimano had ever built ...side by side with Poison Adrenas for a rod available in the US rod. Another rod that might fit your bill is the Zbone rods from Kistler. They may have the weights listed on the website if not call them and they can provide the weights. They also feature red and black and some grey for colors. Any custom build will push your budget to the max. Like Ripp'n said the K2 will be about as light as you can find and the blank alone is over $200. Add in super light guides, a minimalist build, the builders labor and material costs, and shipping and I wouldn't be surprised if you clear $450-500 easily if not more. There are a bunch of rod weights posted on TackleTour under the rod section. It is a sticky thread at the top.

I think you will be pleased with 844. I have had mine out 3 times and it is a really great rod for a lot of different tasks bottom contact or not.

I would take the 804 if you are using both 3/8 and 1/2 oz jigs. In the NRX line that would the 873 CRR.

Stick of dynamite rigged weightless and wacky...hasn't failed yet.