gulfcaptain

Glad to see you are now getting the advice you were looking for. Snookalot's the man when it comes to spinning set ups on here IMO.

And NO SENKO's, just tubes and beavers, beavers and tubes. Sorry couldn't help it when the first couple replies were to fish jigs and senko's.

Caught a lot of fish off green pumpkin in Cameron. Redfish, trout, and flounder all have no problem finding the grubs I was fishing last spring and summer.

Shorts.....Kids SPF 50 in the spray can. Or I wear pants. As for the rest, have 3 buffs, 2 sets of arm sleeves (1 from Simms and 1 from Columbia) to use if I wear a t-shirt. Also have 3 different long sleeve Sungear long sleeve shirts, and the wide brim hat as well as a pair of sungloves. Yes I may stand out fishing all covered up, but that 5 min to put it all on and take it off sure is A LOT better then the 2 days of sunburn and the week of peeling. And of course the protection from possibly getting sun cancer.

The iROD I mentioned I would get online from TW(acctually everything I recommended I would get there). I know you're new so unfortunately the TW stands for tackle and warehouse. They run about $150. The reel, maybe look into a Shimano Cardiff 300 and spool it with 30 or 40lb braid. That would give you plenty of line to fish coastal as well. Those are right about $110. Okuma also makes a 300 size reel in the $169 price range (Citrix 364) and then you have the Quantum Iron 300 Inshore that runs $200 as well as the Diawa Lexa 300. All of them I would fish 30-40 or even 50lb braid (preferred by most) and you're set. You can change up leaders depending on what size mono you FC you choose to use for the day. Hope this helps.

They fish out west every few years. I would say not. But then you never know. They seem to send them West every few years. Probably because most live back East so probably easier for most of the competitors to end up in the Central or Eastern part of the country instead of all the way out here. But glad to see them come this way and fish some West Coast fish.

Sorry may have misread the page. So if 2oz is your top, if you don't mind going over the 7ft mark, the 13 Green ***'s are nice. They make a 7'2" MH that will cover most and it will hold a 2oz bait. I have a 7'7"MH that I fish umbrella rigs and 6" swimbaits on without any issues. Or you can jump to a iROD Genesis II Series and get the 7'5" "Fred's Magic Stick". But both are over the 7ft mark. Don't fish many heavy rods under 7ft but also look into some of the inshore series rods and should be able to find something there.

Welcome to the forums. Latest and greatest? I would suggest the old proven ones in the past threads to start. You are wanting to fish tournaments trying the new "latest and greatest" ideas probably isn't a good idea. Proven would be much better. With that said Strike King makes everything you may be looking for from the shallow squarebill (latest) to the 10XD, and everything in between. I fish the shallow squarebills(all sizes and both the shallow and regular squarebill) for 1-5ft of water, Series 3 and 3XD(6-12ft) and then 5XD and 6XD's etc. Throw in a couple Norman DD's, Wiggle Warts, and Shad Raps you have covered everything from 1ft to 20ft.

Either way, it looks like a finger biter if you're not careful. They won't let us have those in CA.

You are honestly looking at 2 different rods. You could always change out the reel depending on your outing. But it's kind of hard to give you a good idea on a rod when you are looking for something from say 1/2oz all the way to 4oz's or more. My advice, look into BPS Graphite Series rods, find a 7ft rod that fits your freshwater needs, then look at the Musky Series in the same line up in the 7ft range and get one of those. The lighter should run you about $40 and the other $60 with tax on both of course. But for about $110 you can cover both your needs and just swap the reel between the two rods. BTW, Welcome to the forums.

My main swimbait set up for baits from say 6" hudds at the low end to the 10" dead twitch is a Cardiff 300(40lb braid with 25lb mono topshot) or a Lexa 300(65lb braid 25lb mono topshot) depending on my mood and BPS 7'6"MH IM-6 Graphite Series Musky Rod. But I prefer to thow the smaller 68's and 6" Huds, 8" Triple Trouts, and 168 S-Weavers on a Smoke 150 6:1 with 40lb braid and a 20lb FC or mono topshot on a 7'6" MH BPS Bionic Blade (2012 model). Weedless 68's go on the bigger set up so I can get a better hookset though.

Got my first topwater fish this year Feb 14th in the middle of the afternoon under blue skies. Happened to take the temp of the water and it was 68, went and grabbed a topwater and 30min later nice 4.5lb fish. Yep, that's when it started for me this year.

You're killing me A-Jay. That's funny right there.^^^^

Have friends that kill it on the Fat Ika's, only way I can catch a fish on one of these is to stick a nail weight in it. Why because I can't fish that slow! IT'S BORING! I feel ya on this one. As long as you're catching fish other ways I see no problem in freeing up extra space for baits you know you can catch fish on.

You're refering to the hook hangers on some cranks being able to swing. This helps keep the fish from being able to twist a treble against the bait giving it leverage. But that doesn't stop them from being able to throw it. IF you tie to the split ring that connects the hook and the weight on the Jika Rig, then when the fish jumps you still have straight pressure from the split ring to the bait. The weight is there but you have a straight pull. Kind of the same way you rig a top hook treble on a Hudd, when you get bit the treble is in line with the main line. Yes you have a 4oz bait hanging down but you still have a straight pull and pressure on the hook keeping that fish pinned. You want your hook and swivel leading to the weight on the same split ring. The weight and hook free to move on that split ring. This lets the weight pull the bait straight down but move with more movement, but also lets you pull straight on the hook when fighting a fish.

Hey, they aren't for everyone. I have yet to catch a fish on a shakeyhead and think I have caught ONE fish wacky rigging a worm. If it doesn't work for you, well then I agree junk it. I carry a pack or two of these stickbaits but the only way I ever catch fish with them is MJ rigged. If I hadn't caught fish with them rigged like this I would have junked them too.

Well either you then double up on your split rings attaching the hook or get away from using a vertical line tie hook. You are over complicating an easy rig. Look at the Owner Jika rig set up. It's a different hook then the regular centerpin hook. The hook eye is horizontal, not vertical. And if you need to change out hooks, it's a split ring, open the split ring and change them out. The swivel you're looking at is to attach to the wieght to the open end and close. Keep it simple.

Look into the details! What are the conditions? Water temp from this week from last, were they spawning or are they spawning now? Are they no longer fry guarding? If not I would say they are then feeding on the fry or smaller baitfish. Are the bluegills bedding yet? If so they may be keying in on them. Did the water color change? These are all things you need to be aware of when you go. The first thing you should do is look at water color and temps EVERYTIME. It can clue you in quickly if things changed. I've had 6 degree temp swings with off colored water. Went from 70 and clean water to 64 and off color. It shut down the topwater bite. Had to go to fishing a slow 4" creature bait tight to cover and the bank to get the bites and abandon the topwater and shallow crankbait bite that was working great 2 days before. Details, pay attention to the details and adjust.

You don't need to worry about the strength of the swivel. It's just connecting the split ring to the weight. I'd get the smallest swivel you can use. As for split rings, I'd go with a Owner Hyperwire #3. It's a 45lb split ring. Tie straight to the split ring. To connect the weight, find some cheap split rings that you can use for the swivel to weight connection unless you plan to use snap swivels. Then go with the Owner Snagless snap swivels in the #10. So you're looking at about $4 for the split rings (14 per pack) and $4 for the snaps (7 per pack) plus your hooks and weights. Or if you decide to use cheap swivels a pack(12) of Eagle Claw crane swivels $1 and a pack of cheap Danielson SS Split rings either size 2 or 3 (2-10 per pack 3 9 per pack) for less then a dollar plus wieghts and hooks. Hope that helped.

I'm confused.....I thought swimbaits were swimbaits? Now you want to define them so it's easier to figure out? Sorry, going to agree with just calling them all swimbaits. I'm sure most can figure it out without having to define it.

Bigger fish (saltwater) I'll fillet the back of the ribcage and take that big piece of meat off that's between the ribs and the skin. If there isn't enough meat for me to really worry about it then I don't. I'll pass on eating rib cages just because I'm lazy and don't like any bones in the fish I'm going to eat.

Glad to hear. I know I'm raising my son with the same ethic I had. He asks for a phone, I respond by what are you going to do to earn it? But this did end up being a great thread to read. Very good discussion.

Very true. What happen to working hard and letting your own actions and performance get you the results you are looking for? Hard work seems to be in the past as it seems easier t just ask and hope someone gives it to you instead of working hard to attain it.

Because they simply work and catch fish. In all colors of water, it just works.

Which Huddleston are you trying to weight?