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I can see that. This was my first outing with my Tatula type R. Eventually got it dialed in, lesson learned.

unthinkable? switching from Daiwa to Shimano or Shimano to Daiwa? I say why limit yourself to all that awesome fishing gear on both sides? I don't have a curado I or a tatula tactical. I do however have a Ci4+ and TWS Zillion. Both reels are awesome, but I give the nod in that comparison to my ci4+ because of it's light weight and fits better in my hand. Both are very good reels.

I have the crucials that have eva foam, black blank and no foregrips. New crucial models have cork and green blanks, those I am not familiar with.

I use the shimano crucial 7'2 mhxf worm and jig rod for my jigs and Texas rigs. It's my favorite rod because of the sensitive tip and the backbone. I mainly throw 1/4 oz Texas rigs and 3/8oz jigs on it. At 119 it's a great rod, at 50 it's even better.

I'd like to participate. Sounds like an a good time.

My condolences to you and your family.

How does the levante feel? I'm pretty interested in those rods.

I remember seeing a product called a bait button. Might work for you?

I wasn't sure if they still did this, but TW does a reel demo program if you're interested in trying out the reel.

I use a mono backer, usually whatever I have laying around. I look at the reel's IPT and the spool capacity for the closest line size to the braid and kind of guestimate how much backing to put on and how much braid to put on. So say your reel does 32inches per turn (I know this isn't quite accurate as the spool will pull in more/less line when the spool is full) and at 10lb mono it'll hold 150 yards (450ft). So roughly 3 ft, per reel handle spin. I typically only put about 75 yards of braid on so if I put on 40lb braid (which is 10lb mono equivalent) I'm only going to turn the handle 75 times after the backing is on (or close). So same with the backing, I want to put whatever the spool capacity - 75 yards. In this case, it's also 75 yards of mono. I hope that made sense. I've used 10-15lb braid on my finesse setups, 20-40lb braid for my jigs and t-rigs and for frogs, I've used 50-65lb braid. This year has been an experiment for me because I started using fluoro a little bit more. Braid was nice because it lasted so long, but I've noticed a higher number of bites on fluoro. As for knots on braid, if you power pro super slick, I've had the improved clinch slip. Couple of things you can do is try to take the coating off the last foot or so of the super slick by running it inbetween your finger and your thumbnail or you can use the san diego jam knot or the palomar knot. On regular power pro the improved clinch works fine just leave a little longer tag. Good luck.

I've got a battle going on in my tackle room now, I have 3 shimanos and 3 daiwas and a couple of lews here and there. I am still trying to settle down on a brand but I like giving new reels a try. My favorite shimano reel is my Chronarch ci4+, it's so light and versatile I can pretty much cast anything with it. I've also grown fond of the new TWS daiwas. They cast a little differently with their different braking system but over all pretty solid reels. If you're interested in JDM beware of the extra strength bait monkey that comes along with it. Shimanos: 1 - Chronarch 150 ci4+ HG 1 - Chronarch 201e5 (love this on my crankbait rod) 1 - JDM Scorpion 1001 SVS 4x4 (oldie but goodie!)

newest addition just came in the mail yesterday! There is a battle going on my tackleroom. Shimano 3 - Daiwa 3

Been kind of a lurker on this particular forum and just started to kind of get into the higher end of things. Never thought I'd spend so much on rods and reels. But I really enjoy seeing some of the cool combos you guys have. Picked up my first megabass (spinnerbait special) rod last month and have been trying to figure out what techniques I like to use on it. I currently have a Shimano Scorpion 1001 SVS 4x4 on it. Here is my motley crew.

Took me a while but I've always been doing computer stuff. Now I'm Lead Systems Engineer/IT Operations Manager at well known Chicago Museum. I get to fish lake michigan on my lunch hour and fish from my kayak on the weekends. I understand where you're coming from and I hope you find something you like doing or at the very least, lets you do the things you like doing. I see work as a thing that helps me do what I want to do. I work 35 hrs a week, plenty of holidays and no on-call rotation. I could make another 30% more in the private sector but I'd rather fish.

Fished Shab this past weekend. It was kinda miserable. Morning air temp was around 32 degrees, water temp was around 55. Lots of musky fisherman out in no gas motor area.

I'll throw in my two cents. The area I am in is in northern IL and the fall bite is on there as well. We had a cold front about a couple of weeks ago that came through and dropped the lake temp down about ten degrees from mid seventies to mid sixties. I have found success early in the morning at first light using spinner baits or top water and during the mid afternoon after the sun has come out and warmed up the water a little bit with cranks, jigs and rattle traps. Cold fronts are tough. A jay had posted a great video on cold water bass fishing using blade baits. I can't wait to give them a try.

Thanks for posting this video AJay, I will give this technique/bait a try. Do you think that this technique would also apply to rattle traps?

As winter approaches in the north, it's perfect time to practice with a baitcaster and train your thumb. Everytime I took my dog out to the yard, I'd have my rod next to the door and practice pitching into a bucket with a casting plug, 1/4oz, 1/2oz and 3/4oz. I learned on a bass pro qualifier using 30lb braid. I learned braid was very forgiving and if you were gentle in picking out a backlash it will come out every time. Mono however is cheaper and might be better to learn on. I also second Slade House's post on letting her choose which retrieve is best for her. I'm right handed but I throw a left handed baitcaster, just feels way more natural to me. Good luck and enjoy your luxury of having a wife that's also your fishing partner. Makes getting new gear much easier.

Welcome to the forums. I feel your pain with the Bears, I try to drown my sorrows with fishing. How far west are you? I fish a lot of dupage forest preserves.

With jigs, t rigs, and c rigs, I have always thought them to be bottom baits. I cast them out and watch the line, as I am watching I count until the line has a sudden bow between the tip of the rod and when the line hits the water. This is when the bait is on the bottom. At this point I start a retrieve back, either popping or dragging or hopping or some combination. The counting down before reeling will start your bait at that depth and rise as it gets closer.

On the kayak I've been trying to keep things pretty light. I have been using 1 - 3500 stowaway waterproof box (the blue one) for terminal tackle and 1 - 3700 red stowaway waterproof box for the rest. It has been working out pretty well. Back when I was shore fishing a lot I used a plano 3771 (its half height and has a ton of little dividers) for my terminal tackle. Works out pretty well.

CWB, Congrats on your anniversary 30 years is an admirable feat! I have family that lives in SD (la mesa area) and I've used a guide named Joe Fish (Joe Marshall). Great guy and his prices are reasonable. I have fished the El Capitan reservoir northwest of El Cajon and Lake Murray. Give him a call and see what he can do for you. http://www.joefish619.com/

Cadman, One was throwing the smaller senko wacky rig (4") I think and the other had a texas rig worm of some sort. My buddy got 30 fish, most on frogs and wacky rig senko. I looked through the fish record book at the station there and some of the numbers were pretty impressive.

Went to Hennepin and Hopper lakes on Saturday. It was pretty crowded. I got there at about 6A and there was already 5 boats on the water and another 5 boats loading up to get on the water. There were also about 5 kayakers. The boat launch has 2 sides, one for boats and the other for canoes, kayaks etc. The lake was very weeded up. Every where that was less then 3 ft had a thick mat. There were channels of 7-8 ft that everyone was fishing out of. I took this time to head towards the middle of the lake, the kayak let me go over the top of the weeds I spooked so many fish out there. Any openings in the weed mat I was able to fish a frog in. I also tried punching, but 1oz weight wasn't heavy enough to get through. I was pretty consistent frogging all day, lots of 12-13" fish (10), but very aggressive. Saw some boats with very high numbers (one boat had 2 anglers, 98 fish between the two in about 6 hours). Should be an awesome spot in the springtime if they open it up for next year.

I had this same problem until a friend told me lower my rod tip a little bit. I always thought you should keep the rod tip high, but it depends if you work the frog with your reel or rod. If you work he frog with your reel you have less slack in the line and having rod high is ok, but if you work the frog with rod, then lower rod a little bit and when you are ready for the hook set, reel down and swing. The swing will take out some of the slack in the line in addition to reeling down and then it's up to your timing and technique. Kind of hard to explain, I hope it made sense. That's how I got better hookups on a hollow body frog.