Hogsticker

Custom 683ml Phenix K2, Megabass FX68 Rosso with shallow SV 1000 spool. Custom medium light Mhx high mod popping blank cut down to 6'8, Daiwa Alphas SV.

Caught this toad this past Friday evening just as the sun was going down. Wacky rigged Berkley Money Maker. 1st time using this worm. Think I'll keep it in the rotation! She weighed 5.5. That makes 5 smallies over 5 pounds for me now. Still looking for that 6 plus!! Custom 683ml Phenix K2, Megabass FX68 Rosso with 8 lb Seaguar Tatsu. She had my heart pumping for sure.

Just pull the line out by hand and adjust the drag till its at the point you're comfortable with. I've never ever fished with my drag locked down. Seems like a recipe for disaster.

I echo all the above. I've also let it rest on bottom, then sweep / pump it straight up. If a fish is checking it out on bottom at rest, at times they'll nail it when I do a hard pump making it take off and up quickly. Plus the tail flutters as it drops, and sometimes they will hit it then. Vary your retrieve throughout the retrieve. Speed it up, slow it down, kill it, etc.

It kills me when companies state Toray blank. Toray doesn't produce rod blanks. They manufacture graphite prepeg. Shape shifting? What's that about? For those that held these did you flex or bend the blank, or just wiggle it? Nice looking rods though with a good guide set. Every Cabelas branded rod I've looked at has sloppy epoxy work. Hopefully they've stepped up the build quality on a 200 dollar rod.

Regardless if you're swimming it slow or fast, kill it and let that sucker drop!

The Savvy is one of the least sensitive sticks I've ever used. Good balance though. I would say the M1s sensitivity is about average, same with the Recon. The original unsanded Recons had a little better sensitivity but they were prone to breakage.

I used 15 lb braid on mine exclusively. It's not an ultra fragile spool like some. Just be aware when freeing snags.

Value of a reel or anything for that matter depends solely on the consumer. For me the answer is a big fat no. I think it also says a lot about the seller to ask that price, so that's reason enough to not get my business. The only reels that I feel exceed current market reels in terms of quality and performance are Tdz variants and the D series Chronarch. Even those reels are lacking current day technologies such as X ship, etc. The only person I see spending money like that is a collector who has a hole on his shelf. The D7 retailed for 300 bucks by the way.

Bank fishing is typically an open water deal. I'd get a medium power casting rod and a medium light spinning rod. Personally I prefer rods that lean towards a moderate fast action for bank fishing. Nothing too slow though. Landing fish from the bank can be a chore at times and I like a rod that is a little more forgiving to help keep the fish pinned if running around trying to find an adequate spot to take the fish out of the water. I highly recommend getting a spare spool for each reel. Fill one with mono one with braid. Now you can adjust accordingly for different baits without extra rods. Pound test is up to you, but focus on the type of cover you will be facing and the type of baits you will be throwing. 12 lb mono and 40 lb braid are pretty safe bets that you can do most anything with. You can lighten up the line on the spare spools to throw the smaller stuff. If you're fishing open water let the rod and reel do what it was designed for. The fish don't really have anywhere to go anyways. Up or down, usually up if it's shallow water. Wearing down the fish will make it easier to land. Get a pair of lip grippers. Basspro sells a nice orange one. It will come in handy, trust me.

Daiwa SV103 and SV105. This will cover all your basis. 103 for the heavier stuff, 105 for the lighter stuff. Both reels feel smooth and solid, and fish fantastic. Backlash proof, um no. You can make them backlash but it ain't easy. You have to get pretty crazy. Daiwas breaking system Reins supreme in my book for both function and ease of operability.

Yeah, that's kinda my thoughts as well.

You can use them all at any time. The key is how and where. Some days finding a pattern is easier than others. Other days no pattern is to be found. Pick your two favorite search baits and start with those. I prefer a lipless crank and a small swimbait. Fish them fast, fish them slow, deep and shallow until you get some strikes. Once you locate fish you can slow it down and concentrate on an area with a T rig, jig, etc. Now it's time to dial in your presentation to accommodate the fishes mood and behavior. About ten years ago my father in law got me into the habit of keeping a on the water journal. Location, time of day, presentation, etc. It's proven it's worth.

Keitech baby. When in doubt whip one out. Or just leave it tied on. Nice fish

Don't give up. Like any body of water you have to put in your time. Once you get it figured out it will be that much more rewarding OR once you think you have something figured out turns out you don't. Every day can be different. Just be thankful you're only dealing with 96 acres.

If you can Wade to get out a little further do that. Tie on a 5 inch Keitech easy shiner and experiment with your retrieve.

Those coolbaits underspins have a small 1/0 hook on them. I'd look at trying some 2-3 inch Keitech and Lunker city paddle tails on them.

In all seriousness, if you told me I had to spend a day on the water and only employ one technique, give me a variety of paddle tails, jig heads, wide gap hooks, and some bullet weights. So many ways to fish a paddle tail. I want something universal I can fish at any depth and speed. I can pull/drag it along a sandy bottom, swim it along rip rap and let it fall between rocks, burn it on top, fish it over lilly pads or through grass, stroke it off the bottom - the list goes on and on. It's one of the few baits I can appease the dictated mood of most any game fish. Plus it's not painfully boring. Just yesterday I was catching walleye pulling one up after it settled to the bottom. Long hard pulls and letting it flutter back down. Like yo yoing a lipless crank. They'd grab it both on the way up or down. I also catch smallmouth in chunk rock. A good pair of polarized sunglasses, just swim the bait right over the top of the rocks and pick your spots to let it decend down into or between the rocks where those smallies are hiding and ambushing. With that tail flutter it's game on. The tail is magic on the right bait. If the fish want something slow and aren't real active I can swim it or even jig it really slow. If they are active I can swim it fast, kill it, play stop and go, crank the reel to the tune of a song - that tail! Weedless, exposed hook, weighted or not, I'm not sure there is a wrong way to fish a paddle tail. I can even skip it under docks and over hangs. Don't limit yourself to any one way to fish one. This is easily the most universal bait on the market imo that can catch fish any time of year, any conditions. It's up to you the angler to figure out the rest.

Your best chance of catching quality fish from shore is at the crack of dawn, and that last 45 minutes before the sun goes down. They will be searching the shallows for prey. I'll start with a lipless crank and fan cast the area, maybe follow it up with a jerkbait fished slowly. Then I'll move onto a 4 or 5 inch paddle tail and experiment around with my retrieve as I did with the jerkbait. Lastly I'll break out the flick shake worm. If nada it's time to move onto a new spot and start from the beginning. When all else fails tie up a split shot rig. Deadstick it, creep it along at a crawl along the bottom. Learn how to make flick and roll casts. Find a tight area that likely doesn't see a lot of pressure with overhangs. Dial in your casting skills so you can make pin point casts. Lastly, if it looks fishy, it probably is.

Awesome! That smallie has some wicked eyes!

I currently have and use standard and high mod MHX builds. Anybody who thinks these blanks measure out to the standards of IMX and GLX in terms of strength to weight ratio and sensitivity may be a little loaded. Don't get me wrong, they are nice blanks, especially at that price point, but if you are expecting a high mod to feel just like a GLX, you may be a little disappointed. I know these blanks are modeled after old Loomis blanks, but they're not the same animal. Powers are pretty close though, so if you want to get a similar blank to your old Loomis you may have had to retire these are a safe bet in that regard. After fishing an NFC IM blank next to a high mod MHX in similar power, the difference is pretty obvious imo. Just my 2 cents, but I don't consider the MHX high mod a high end blank. More of a really good value blank.

So I've narrowed my next build down to these two blanks. Weird thing is less than 10 grams separate the power of these blanks. The tip angle of the 706 is right around 63 degrees, while the 705 is right around 61 degrees. So the 706 is a little faster, but both blanks are definitely a slower fast, which is what I'm after. Does anyone have any experience with either of these blanks? Thoughts? Speaking of RDA Data, does anyone measure and keep a blank log? I figured out how to translate CCS numbers into hard data for the most part. Point Blank is also listing all the numbers of all blanks on the Point Blank website. That was going to be my 1st choice, but all the blanks are a little faster than what I'm after this time around.

Get worked up much?

Fluorocarbon is the answer to your problem imo. While line watching for side to side swimming away type of deal, with fluoro the line will actually vibrate and shake a bit when a fish hits on slack line. Braid won't do this. Fluoro just transmits better with slack. It can be a fine line between setting too quick and pulling the bait away, and gut hooking a fish. That small window in between I'll raise my rod tip to make sure there is tension. I may set the hook on a rock from time to time but whatever. Walleye are a whole different story.

The Major Craft Ms-x is in your price range and I'd pick that up over the Expride 7 days a week. Great blanks, Fuji titanium Sic guides, and the build quality and detail is stellar.