kickerfish1

I dig it Hootie!

Tacticalbassn covered this in one of their vids. For a jig for example, the skirt and jig is the primary action while the trailer provides the secondary action.

The older charcoal reels are absolutely garbage. Worst gears I have ever had. After I took the first one back the second one is just as bad after 3 uses. Sent it to a reel tech to see if he could smooth it out some but to no avail. Reel has been sitting idle for 2 years in a drawer.

Oooh Mama, that is a beaute Hog!

I would buy used or 2nd hand from folks on various forums. Sometimes you can buy a set of 2 or 3 baits for about 1/3 off of retail give or take.

Ya'll can have your winn grips. I have heard and seen horror stories. Not for me...

What model Curado? The "I" series requires a bit more regular maintenance but that is it.

Any of their upcoming sales will not likely be more than 10-15% off. The only 20% off sale is Black Friday.

The bottom bait is a swim jig in baby bass made by Northstar

Maybe he upped his standard to actually requiring the fish slime to be on the rod/reel. From the photo... 6 inches away just won't cut it.

The Sustain is slowly becoming the forgotten child of the Shimano lineup for the most part. It used to have features that the various flavors of the Stradic platform didn't have but now they have started putting those on the Stradic and the Sustain hasn't been redone for several years I would expect it to get a makeover soon to help re-establish itself. Most folks are either buying the Stradics or skipping to the Stella or a JDM Shimano offering once you get to that semi-high end to high end spinning reels. I am not sure I could sell you on the Sustain being a better reel by a $100 margin give or take. There are a few differences but honestly Stradics have been so solid for me over the years it is hard to justify something spendier for a spinning reel for bass.

Nice purchase! Looks like a rod with sharp looks and performance.

American Legacy has the Curado 70 in the 7gearing model on sale for $149. They do charge shipping unless your order clears $200. Either pay the shipping or add in some other items to clear $200. A pretty nice deal nonetheless.

Dobyns 735 is an amazing frog rod. The 734 for toads!

About all I use is 12# for jigs. Hardly too light. Never had an an issue with the owner deep throat hooks.

I would fish it a few times before doing anything to it. If there are issues document them and sent it to a tech.

Favorite for distance - Exscence DC Favorite for plastics - Core 50 Favorite all around - Met MGL Favorite finesse caster - Alphas SV 105 Favorite Spinning reel - Stradic FJ 1000 or 2500

Nice write up. I have straigtened 3/0 and 4/0 hooks on texas rigged plastics while using Invisix and Tatsu. Never really an issue with excessive fraying from poor abrasion resistance. I would say you got a bad batch but it sounds like none of the Tatsu you used worked all that well.

Nothing to see here...just some 6th Sense Devine swim jigs soaking up some sun!

Go with the IMX casting and the Avid spinning. Both are really solid rods and you get to experience a mid level offering by each company.

Another vote for the IMX especially if this is the classic IMX.

I have several dozen chatterbaits. 95% of them are 3/8. Unless you need casting distance against a stiff breeze or are needing them to get down quickly and deeper 3/8 is a good all around size. I use it from a few feet of water to about 10.

Any of his swim jig styles or brush heads are what you want. I fish similar cover here. Some shad, bluegill, GP, black and blue, and maybe another natural color and you are set.

With the red stain you are half way there! Just add a few red aftermarket parts like this to give it that custom look

Just a follow up...Apparently they are Kishima hooks which are similar to VMC but a JDM version.