Crankinstein

Nice!!! My shallow to mid cranking setup is also a core 101 MG. Absolutely love that reel!

I have the regular one but I don't uses it as much as the MD. I've actually thrown the MD in water as shallow as 3-4ft and just pointed my rod tip up and pulled fish out just fine. I would say the MD has more versatility than the regular one but their both great lures. Cell mate is an awesome color too, they have some great colors.

I've been fishing the little john MD extensively this year and I agree that 8-10 is little deep for what mine usually average. I'd say 6-8 is a little closer to what I get. I've used 12lb FC and 15lb FC and I really have to point my rod down quite a bit to get it staying in that 8ft range. Overall I have to say I really like the MDs though, definitely my favorite little john series bait and I've been absolutely slaying largemouth and hybrids with them on my home lake. I've had trips where I landed 15+ fish with just the little john MD alone. Chrome olive is my go to color. I also landed the fish from my profile pic with a little john MD earlier this year. I haven't used the baby DD yet but that is definitely a bait I'm curious about.

Amazing combo!! ...And its Lefty!!

I'd let it go, odds are the record is just going to be broken again in a year or so and your spots going to get hit hard by everyone around. Does anyone really pay that much attention to their state records? I mean can anyone in here really rattle off the current record holder in their own state for every game fish? probably not. Most of us are aware of the what the record weight is but the name is usually forgotten, once again because a new one is there all to often. I was actually in the same situation only for a hybrid bass instead of a largemouth(fish in profile pic) and chose to release the fish. In my situation the record I broke was only 2 weeks old itself and odds are mine wouldn't last long either. I can't tell you the name of the record holder or the name of the guy before him and to that I say fame? what fame. We don't need people to tell us we know how to fish, knowing that your a true outdoorsmen and have the respect to you craft and your environment are far more rewarding than having you name on a piece a paper for a year or two. I'd say you made the right call, congrats! by the way

some really great tips here on brands and colors. I'd also add some sort of chrome color to the list like a chrome sexy shad or something similar. I've had great luck using chrome colors in a lot of different conditions. Another thing to consider, especially for the shallow cranks, is whether the crank has a rattle or not. I'd recommend getting a few of each, brighter colors with rattle and natural colors without. Sometimes the rattle ,in addition to the brighter color, can help the fish locate the bait in murky water and in clear water its not always needed. KVD also has a vid where he talks about catching fish on a bait with a rattle and then switching to one without a rattle when the bite stops to get them going again. Good luck and stay with it, fishing a crankbait can be one of the most rewarding and effective ways to catch fish and its my absolute favorite technique.

I use a T rig with a 1/4 bullet weight most of the time. I use a KVD rodent and zoom lizard quite a bit. I can get the Rodent to stand straight up just like the bait on the shakyhead.

I've really enjoyed mine, I've got a 6:3:1 and a 7:2:1 LH models. I caught a fish on my second cast with the 6:3:1. They have great smoothness/handling that may not be apparent when holding one in a store but once you put some line on and start casting you'll feel it right away. I really like the new braking system and use the small dial almost exclusively after getting the internal brakes set. I like how its concealed and placed in the same spot as the metanium. I feel like you really can't go wrong for the quality and features you get at that price point. Great reels

I've used it but I haven't used the shallow scatter rap to compare it. The baby fat john works like a very shallow wide wobble crank that has a hunting action that's similar to the scatter rap but not as exaggerated, its more like a wide wobble with the occasional dart left or right. I really like the lure myself, it has a nice compact size and a great running depth. Its not quite a wake bait but its still very shallow running, probably 2ft. Great for running over heavy cover or in the backs of shallow coves.

I vote Curado I. I got my two LH curado I 201s yesterday. Caught a fish on my second cast and the reel handled great. The curado I series has really impressed me so far. The reel offers all the new shimano features like X ship and SVS infinity at a sub 200 price plus the shape of the reel just feels good in your hand. Some people have been hating because its not made in Japan but the build quality is excellent in my opinion. One thing to keep in mind about building and manufacturing is that you must first have a quality design, if a reel has a poor design is going to have more QC issues. The curado I seems to have a well thought out design and its a reel Shimano has been making and upgrading for a very long time. This results in a reel that can be manufactured somewhere else while still maintaining its reputation for quality and dependability at a great price. Just My 2 cents anyway. Good luck and tight lines!

Awesome catch man! and great release as well. I recently released a state record fish as too, NC hybrid bass, its always good to let those monsters continue growing and reproducing. That fish really is crazy looking like some kind of prehistoric shark, hard to believe there's creatures like that lurking in our lakes. Congrats!! A

You could also consider adding tubes to the large rectangular rod area in the center of the rod locker. I have the 2013 TXW and ran into the same problem. That middle area is long enough for my 7'6" flipping rod and I'm in the process of rigging some pvc style tubes together to put some of my other longer rods in there tangle free. Right now I have rod socks on them. Looks like you have a really nice set up going. Btw I'm a huge Green Bay fan as well.

I'd say fish it for a little while and then decide if you want to do anything with it. I added some cork knobs, hedgehog bearings, and a few cosmetic changes to mine. Looking back I really didn't need anything beyond the knobs, I was already used to them and felt more comfortable with that style. The other stuff was the winter bait monkey on my back. Overall I like how it turned out though. Daiwa has so many aftermarket parts so its hard to resist sometimes.

+1 I love the Jackall Aska square bills and also KVDs if your looking for a cheaper option

Just giving a heads up to my fellow lefties out there that a few Curado I LH versions are starting to filter into the market. I saw a few on fleabay last night and was lucky enough to snag two of them before they were all gone, a 6:3:1 and a 7:2:1. I'll reply back with an update once I get some time on the water. Happy hunting and tight lines!

chrome sexy shad might work well if you had luck with the standard sexy shad. It has that extra flash that might grab more attention.

crankbaits and t-rig lizards have been working for me recently. I'm hoping to get a topwater frog bite going soon and also will probably start flipping some beaver style creature baits with the spawn heating up here in NC.

I find that its the line and not the reel that needs a little attention when getting a new rod/reel combo into action. I like to put a heavy lure on and make some long casts and make sure its laying good and apply some kvd to help with memory if its FC. For the reel I spend the most time getting the brakes adjusted for the first time and also experiment with how sensitive the adjustments are for future reference. I like to make a few casts with breaks fully tightened and fully loosened and walk them into a good setting. I find this is very helpful if your new reel has a brake system your un familiar with, the first time I used a shimano after using Abu and Diawa and spent some time messing with the internal break tabs to get used to it.

I switch out my expensive hard baits for cheaper ones when I bank fish because its so easy to lose them. As mentioned above braid can help a lot too, I reeled in a 14ft tree one time with 20lb power pro.

haha yea I should have specified that a little better. The "American market" Tatula. I think Tackle Tour said Thailand was where they were made if I remember correctly. I'm guessing these JDM models are made in Japan then?

I was browsing the web looking for deals on Daiwa Tatulas because I was looking to buy another one when I stumbled upon a Japanese model. I was curious if anyone here knew what the differences were between the JDM and American models. Looks like it may have a different spool as well as some cosmetic changes like different knobs.

The Tatula has really long casting ability with the T wing. I throw my medium cranks on a Tatula type R and it really allows you to cover water well. It casts just as far if not farther than my shimano core plus it has larger line capacity. I can't speak for the Chronarch so I don't know about the smooth factor. Its not as smooth as the core but there's a large price discrepancy there. It is a lot smoother than my revo stx 3rd gen which is in that same $199 price category. I think you would probably be best off following the post above though, go with the reel that has the brakes your most comfortable with, their both high quality reels.

I love my Tatula, caught 14 fish tonight and 13 of them were on it. You can bomb cast a 1/2 oz crankbait like a spro little john md into another area code. I don't know if that's a result of the T wing or not but it sure is handy when your covering water. It makes a good flipping reel too, I'm thinking of snagging the high speed version here soon and setting it up to flip. Overall its a great reel and they offer it in a gear ratio for every technique. Check the most recent MLF and you'll see Brent Ehrler has his deck loaded with Tatula and Tatula type R set ups.

I'm a huge fan of chrome crankbaits. SK KVD 1.0 and 1.5 in chrome sexy shad and Spro little john MD chrome olive are my two favorite chrome colors. They really work well when the bass are feeding on shad, any time you see big schools of shad tie one on.

Whether its worth it or not is always going to be up to you. Some guys shell out $ for megabass lures and other guys are just fine buying strike king. I personally fall in the middle of that spectrum, usually spending 7-10 for most of my cranks but I do have a few $15 jackal ASKAs. I'm willing to spend a little more to get a bait that has quality hooks that don't need to be replaced out of the package, good paint schemes, and most importantly good consistent action with minimal tuning. I don't fish LCs so I can't help you with a direct review but I know they have a wide variety of cranks. Some companies out there have cranks that are very similar to LC though, one bait that comes to mind is the crush 50X square bill. One thing to keep in mind is that to properly fish a crankbait you have to throw into cover and bounce it off some nasty stuff and if your afraid of losing your lure its not going to work. If you do buy some expensive baits you have to be prepared to lose a few.