fishballer06

I understand what you are saying, but I can tell you that Pymatuning #63 is limited to 20hp motors only.

Rapala DT6 Wiggle Warts Shad Raps

Pymatuning in the 60's? That's a shocker. I would hardly call it an amazing bass fishery, compared to some of the lakes (and limits) you hear of down south, but I guess its good to have a local lake on there. My club had a two day tournament there 3 weeks ago and on the first day, there was a 21 lb. bag (six fish).

Bill Lewis

Just got back last night. Needless to say, they were biting.

You mean, you haven't thrown a Senko?!

I bought two of them and I cannot get them to work properly for the life of me. I was hoping they would work well for me, but oh well. Rapala also makes the Glidin Rap, which is a musky lure, and these work really well for toothy critters.

The Champion was the front runner of my personal consideration prior to posting this, but I wanted to hear others opinions first. Any reason why you suggest straight fluoro? I have tried using 13lb. Sniper (Japan direct) with chatterbaits and I feel that it's too stretchy and that I am not getting a solid enough hookset and I'm losing more fish that way. I also feel like the braid with a FC leader transmits better. Just curious to your thoughts. Thanks.

Totally agree. The HMG is such a nicer rod than the HMX.

I started fishing chatterbaits last year and didn't have much luck with them. This year however, they have become a mainstay in my arsenal and they are now one of my confidence baits. I'm currently throwing them on an Abu Veracity 7' MH-F and using 40lb. braid with a FC leader. This setup seems to really transmit the blades vibration really well for me and I think I'm getting pretty good hookup ratios as well. I was wondering what everyone else is using to throw these things? I'm wondering if I should buy a rod specifically for throwing these lures. If I were to get another rod, I'd probably be looking in the $150-250 range. Any suggestions?

That rod should launch a 6XD a mile for you!

As far as retrieve, that's something to experiment with. I've had times where they just wanted one or two small pops followed with a long pause. I've had other times where I'd give it 6-7 twitches and then a short pause. Then there have been times where I'm literally twitching and reeling it back non stop the whole way in. Experiment with retrieves to figure out what the fish want at that time.

Odd things I've caught: Complete spinning setup A pie pan Soda/beer cans A broken steel leader

Smallie on a buzzbait too! Awesome

Paca Craw Rage Craw Pit Boss In that order

I heard he killed them in the first hour. What was he using?

Just got one last week, haven't thrown it yet though. Should have a report soon. Still seems like a very high quality lure.

Whenever I'm fishing cranks, I never point my rod tip at the lure. I always try to keep the tip pointed between a 45-90* angle from the lure. This way, I can feel the lure fully with my rod. Rocks, wood, weeds, fish, etc. I can tell exactly what is going on just from letting the rod transmit all the action. Once I feel something isn't right (i.e. fish bite), just rotate the hips. If you're using a proper cranking rod, the rod should already be loaded up and the line should already be tight. Rotating the hips at this point (if using good hooks), will drive it home.

Put a fat albert on as a trailer and hold on!

I've been debating picking one of these up. I wish I had a local Okuma dealer so I could check these out in person before making the investment.

Didn't we have 10 of these threads over the winter?

Slow, medium, fast, doesn't matter. Half of mine literally will not even fish at all.

I would suggest a little bigger line on the reel throwing the 10XD than I would on your 5XD reel. I personally use 12lb. Sniper FC for most of my deep cranking (10-20ft). If I were to throw an 8/10XD, I'd probably want to use 14/16lb.

I really like my Ballistic, but I would gladly take a CI4 as well!

I bought a few of these when they came out because I've always done well on Rapala's stuff. I'm pretty disappointed in these. Half of them that I've got can't even be fished because they just swim in circles rather than actually work like a crankbait should. The cranks are especially bad for this. The only one that I've had moderate luck on was the scatter countdown in a small pond.