fishballer06

The good ole' spinnerbait.

There are dozens of video's on YouTube about how to rig the Neko rig. The traditional way is to point the hook away from the weight, just like the picture BigTurtle shared. This helps the bait be a little more weedless, and it helps with hookups, since most fish will eat the bait from above and that puts the hook point facing the roof of their mouth.

If you were using Berkley Vanish, that was likely your problem.

I think you're going overkill with a 20lb. leader on 30lb. braid, but that's besides the point here... I would suggest switching braid types, using a rod with normal size guides, or you can try putting Crazy Glue over your leader knot. This will help it pass through guides easier and strengthen the knot a little better.

The good news is it's local to you and it's a small retention pond, so you know that fish isn't going to go anywhere. So keep fishing for her and good things are bound to happen eventually.

The VMC Neko hooks are great for more than just Neko rigging. They work well for traditional whacky rigging and dropshotting too. I've been throwing the Neko rig a ton this season, and I have also been researching what some of the pro's are using. So here's what I've found through trial and error. I personally have been using the size 1 the most. I generally fish mine on an SV105 with 12lb. FC on an IMX 803C. If I'm fishing with my other finesse setup, it's a PX Type R with 30lb. Braid and a 10-12lb. FC leader on an Avid 7' Medium powered rod, and for this setup, I'll step up to the 1/0 because it's a little heavier gauge wire and I don't want to have to worry about straightening out a hook using the no stretch braided line. I've heard Palaniuk and Feider both state that they like using the size 2 hook, however I believe they primarily throw the Neko on a spinning setup. I've heard Wheeler say he likes the size 1 and 2 Neko hook. So in short, I'd order the 2, 1, and 1/0 variations of this hook. Here's Feider talking about how he rigs it and fishes it.

Enjoy it. I'm glad my insight is helping others. I spent some more time on the water with my HG on Saturday pitching a 5/16oz Siebert Outdoors Sniper Finesse jig and it performed flawlessly.

I generally don't plan when I go fishing around them, but I will compare what they say to how I did, and see how they correlate.

Living up north, I will change the type of trailer depending upon the water temperature. When the water temperature drops below 60*, I like a trailer with less action like a standard chunk or a beaver style bait. Once the water is warmer, I'll use something that kicks a little more, like a Rage craw, Paca Craw, etc.

Drum always amaze me. I like to throw a 4.8" Keitech on a 3/4oz head on Erie and crawl it along the bottom for kicker smallmouth. Wouldn't you know it, I still catch drum on that.

Because manufacturers care more about catching fishermen, not fish...

Spend the extra $20-30 and get yourself the Zodias or a St. Croix Avid. Both are a much higher quality blank.

Hoping my Steelers can take down the Chief's this weekend. We need a good bounce back after last week.

Keep your head up. My wife and I are closing on our first home next Friday. To say the home buying process is a breeze is a flat out lie. We both have very busy schedules, and we have a baby on the way in March, so we needed something move in ready with minimal-no renovation needed. We had to pay a little more to get something in that type of condition, but we like the place we're getting. It's a beautiful house, has a 1/2 acre of land, and ample parking for an item such as a boat...! My best advice is consider the taxes of where you're moving. We looked at multiple places that were within out budget, and then figured out that the taxes were $500-600 a month... The house we're buying is only around $200 a month in taxes, which is a big difference for our budget.

My choice would be a 3/8oz. fish head spin with a Keitech of your size choice, or a 1/2-3/4oz swimbait jig head with said Keitech again. If those fail, drop shot, a texas rigged 10" worm, or a wobble head are good choices.

My reel was straight out of the box and onto a rod. As I said in my original post, the only thing I adjusted was the spool tension knob and I tightened down the drag. Once I use the reel more with some different lures of different weights, I will play around with everything and I'll comment here about my experience. I compared the Curado K primarily to the Tatula series because that is it's biggest competitor at it's price point. I have fished with a friends Tatula SV for about 30 minutes. I am by no means saying that the Tatula's are bad reels, because they are great reels. And we as fishermen should be lucky that so many companies are out there putting out such high quality products at nearly every price point. To me, the entire Tatula series has always been an odd shape in my hands and very uncomfortable to fish for extended periods of time. So for that, I don't enjoy the Tatula reels, even though they are quality reels and they perform well. As far as smoothness goes, both the Tatula SV and Curado are obviously very smooth reels, but the micro module gearing nudges the Curado over the top for me. I don't know if you own any Shimano's with this gearing, but if you do, you know what I'm talking about.

For fluoro, I'm going to be using 20lb. Sunline Sniper or 20 lb. PLine Tactical.

That's a tough one, especially since they span a 20+ year time span and technology has come a long way in that time. It's almost not fair to compare some of the older models to the newer technology reels. K - obviously the latest and greatest. E - The fan favorite and built with quality in mind. I - The first reel to move past the VBS braking system. B - These things are tanks, and everyone knows it. Steve Kennedy is still winning BASS elite events with them. D - These things are the red headed stepchild of the family. Solid, very heavy, but they are built to last. G - My G series all perform great, but I'll agree they really cheapened this series up.

As I stated in my original post, I only casted one lure with the K so far. That being a 3/16oz. jig head with a menace grub on it, so you're probably at around 5/16oz. with that. So I cannot comment yet on how the K handles lighter or heavier lures. Common sense tells us that the smaller spool on the 70 makes it better suited for baits in the sub 1/4oz category. As for palming, the K is a very comfortable reel to palm for a 200 size reel and I have no problem palming it, but I have larger hands. The 70 is again, a smaller reel, so it's going to be lighter and fit easier into more people's hands, so this is sort of a moot point. You're comparing an F-150 to a Ranger here... The design of the K is much smaller than previous 200 sized reels, and it is noticeably smaller than the previous I series 200 size. Both reels are obviously smooth reeling, but the micro module gearing gives the K the edge over any reel without it. I'm guessing you've never used a Shimano reel with this feature, because it makes a huge difference in the smoothness. Go check out a Curado K, Chronarch MGL, or Metanium MGL and I'm sure you'll see what I mean.

I already did.

It sure is pretty here in Pennsylvania this time of year...

In what sense?

Correct.

While this is a viable option, you're a fool to pay full price for an unpainted blank. Most blanks are available from numerous sources for around $1 each, and sometimes even cheaper.