fishballer06

Wait until after it's over because you aren't going to be able to host a fair and honest event right now.

What weight baits and what cover are you going to be fishing around? I have the Extreme 745 and the Champion 734 (and my fishing partner has the Champion 744) so I've got some experience with these rods.

Define "deeper"? DT14? 10XD? Big difference.

I own both of these reels, as well as the original Stile, which is much higher end based (Aldebaran) reel. A few things to comment on. Both reels are a little weak in the drag area. So they're good for cranking, but as far as anything else, they don't have as much drag power as I'd like to have for heavier hooksets with heavier wire hooks. There are multiple versions of the Engetsu (like mentioned by @BaitFinesse). The Curado 70 version is the one that I recommend. It's an absolute beast of that platform because of the brass gears and aluminum plate. It's everything the Curado 70 should have been. I bought my Stile SS because I bought the original Stile when it came out and I absolutely love that reel. However, they are two totally different reels and for that, I've never used my Stile SS. Not that it isn't a nice reel, but if you can swing the money, get an original Stile. That being said, the spool on these is a little on the smaller side, so I wouldn't recommend it for bombing big heavy crankbaits. If you'd like to know or see anything else on these reels, feel free to pm me. I'd be glad to help.

I love it. Especially for the DT10. It's like that rod was made for that bait. It also throws my Lucky Craft Flat CB DR's very well.

I'm going to call this fish my PB in my home state of PA, but I know that I have caught bigger fish at other times whenever I didn't have a scale on me. Regardless, this fish weighed in at 5lb. 15oz. She fell victim to one of my hand built spinnerbaits. I ended up catching 4 total fish that day. My biggest three went 5.93, 4.18, and 3.65.

Spinnerbaits are where you really see weights all over the place. Some companies sell a 3/8oz spinnerbait that weighs 3/8oz. Other places will sell a spinnerbait that's 3/8oz for just the lead/hook/wire. After you add in blades, skirt, swivel, beads, you might have 5/8 - 3/4oz spinnerbait. When I sell someone a spinnerbait that I build, I let them know that the bait itself weights XX, but all dressed out it weighs YY.

Do they say Cavitron on it? If not, it's not a nice looking buzzbait.

Those skirts look really full. How many strands are you using per?

I vary mine up, basically depending on how fancy I want to get with accent colors and such. I've played around and I used to build my skirts with 55-66 strands each, but I've had just as much success using 44-50 strands. I recently bought some Thunder Crickets and a few Lucky Craft spinnerbaits for the frames. After taking off the skirts to put my own on, I compared the factory skirts to some 44 and 50 strand skirts that I made and the factory skirts are significantly thinner than mine. I wouldn't be surpised if these Thunder Cricket skirts have 33 strands (or less).

Looks like opening day is today for trout. I've never seen it on any day other than a Saturday.

The fish commission has made multiple statements saying that trout opener will still take place. Including one just a few days ago.

Great video, Glen. The spinnerbait has been key for me around here this spring. We've gotten a ton of rain and our waters are really muddy. This is when a spinnerbait shines for me.

Thank you! Our waters are still in the mid 40's I'd guess, so still plenty of time before they do their thing, but all the females are fat and full of eggs right now.

First outing of the year in PA and I broke the 5 pound mark.

Its possible that your water turned over. Hence the floating debris in the water column. Give it two weeks and it will likely return to normal if that was the case.

In order to have a 5 second cast and retrieve, you would have to be making VERY short casts to even make that possible. I want to meet the person who sat there and timed him all day long and kept count of his casts.

Costs aside - there is no feeling that can be replicated like that of catching a fish on a bait/jig that you made entirely yourself.

They work just fine here in western PA.

These are still great for trolling for walleyes.

@J Francho

Tie on a 3/4oz Carolina barrel weight on and drag it on the bottom. Feel the transistions, counts the rocks, feel the weeds/wood as you come through them.

Slippery? Umm, no. I've never experience any line that was "slippery". I will say that the "Reel Snot" stuff is exactly as advertised, its like coating your entire reel in snot after you make a few casts. It makes the entire rod/reel very slick.

Or it's just not popular these days? In all honesty, it looks unrealistic and after a few fish, they look terrible. Thinking back through history, I can think of lots of historic baits that came in a ton of chrome colors: Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap Manns Baby 1- Storm Wiggle Wart