MickD

Good idea, Norman Crappie Cranks and Deep Tiny N's. Light line, long casts, stop and go if steady slow doesn't work.

I think it's the shoes. 🙂

I often fish 3.8 fat Keitechs on a 3/16 jig when searching. Have not used what you refer to. One time I had good luck shallow/clear on 5 inch Zoom super flukes weightless/slow in bubblegum.

But when it comes off the twist is removed, one for one, cast vs retrieve. If one reels while a fish is taking drag, that will cause twist. And light finesse lures seem to cause twist, not sure why, but seem to. However, most braids can take a lot of twist before they start acting up. All braids are not equivalent. I'm sold on the premium braids, with at least 8 strands. Cost more, but better, smaller diameters, and it lasts for years.

PB & J and Junebug work well on LMB, but I've not had the success on smallies that I have had with shades of green. (and goby/brown/light blue). But I had an experience recently that shows how important color is at times. My fishing partner had 4 LMB on goby bryant in the boat and I had no hits on Canada Craw. I changed to goby bryant and caught up. This was in an area that had gobies. Canada Craw had done very well in the same area before. So if they are not hitting, change colors.

Yup. Good colors where I fish, too.

Me too. But I just rigged up a new rod/reel with an 8 pound test premium Japanese FC to give it another go, and I'm not hot for it (open faced spin). It seems limp enough so it doesn't jump off the spool, but it just doesn't cast as nicely (far/quiet) as light premium braid, is sort of fragile, and not as sensitive as braid for bite detection. I'll stick with my braid. Not sure of your experience with smallies in clear lakes, so I'll mention. With both Neds and tubes, they often hit on the fall. So watch your line, and if you feel resistance when you pick up on the retrieve, give it a good twitch. Might just be a fish on.

With 8 pound mono? Not usually, but I don't know about that tangerine line. Why? I fish clear waters with light braid with 12-16 pound premium fly tippets for leaders. Works fine in clear water. I find 8 pound mono/FC just too fragile.

Smallies can be particular to color as well as the action imparted, or not imparted on a Ned. So have a variety and don't be reluctant to try different retrieves. I have found Canada Craw and Goby Bryant to be very good smallie colors. I see no need to use the big ones/the TRD finesse works fine for smallies. I would not go smallie fishing without having a few swimbaits like your photo, sometimes a slow steady retrieve and sometimes snatching them off the bottom. Additionally I would have a few 2.75-3.5 inch tubes and a variety of tube jigs from 1/8-1/4 oz in green watermelon/red flake and/or green watermelon/candy. And like the Neds, experiment with the retrieve.

For any lure to find the time it takes to sink to the bottom, start counting the seconds when it hits the water. Stop when the line tells you it hit bottom.

Some times if things are not broken, it's better to not try to fix them. Go with the less torque, get it where you want it, apply locktite.

If you can measure the old rod's CCS numbers you will have a better chance of matching it if you choose to build new. I would build new. One can never have too many rods.

Lots of good advice. Do I see the rage tail menace on the list? If not, it deserves to be. Not the baby, the original. The tails on the baby don't always "rage" consistently. Anyone with 5 and 6 inch lure who wants to try 4 inch lures, there is an easy way to do it. Going the other way is more difficult.

Just noticed this post. Since its ERN is a little over 19 it handles 1/2 well. I don't think I've gone as light as 1/16, but it handles 1/10 with a ned well. Many would call this blank a medium power. For example, the St Croix SCV70MF has an ERN of about 17 and is called medium power. Both are very good tube rods. Have caught a lot of very nice smallmouth bass on them.

Use a titanium Fuji Arowana tiptop and titanium micros to keep its recovery speed as fast as possible. I like Fuji KLH 20h-10h-5.5m or 16h-8h-5.5m + 2KB4's, the rest KT4's. Makes a great, responsive, rod.

If you cannot find it get the closest blade bait you can find and replace the tail hook with a small spinner blade.

I'll bet you have to prep the TRD with a hot nail or something to get it onto that keeper. Right? Never noticed that.

I think if one is losing a lot of fish with Neds they may be using the wrong jig. Some Ned jigs have IMO hooks that are too small. Might be the reason. I use both Neds and tubes a lot and don't recognize a problem like this.

Agree, no swivel, just a snap. I use cross locks, make sure they strength rating is adequate. Most are for BFS.

A-Jay has the easiest, most reliable braid to FC knot, the double uni. However, with the size 4 guides I use on my rods and 15 braid/15FC, it can get pretty big and doesn't go through the guides as cleanly as I like. So I use the improved Alberto, tied as the knot guides say but with the tag end tied with a tightly pulled half hitch against the knot before trimming. Very small, very strong, relatively easy to tie.

If you are fishing with a buddy, it helps, but I've done this procedure on myself with a similar lure: -Cut the treble off the lure. -Cut the other two hooks off the treble' - Then follow this procedure: I have even done this on my fishing partner way back in Canada, a big spinner bait trailer hook, and he was amazed how well it worked. No expensive time consuming trip to the Dr. Couldn't even tell the next day that it had happened. I usually jerk it on the count of two.

There is a tape type material coming. Probably will eliminate wrapping on "factory" rods.

Some people are still using thread because they like the appearance and they believe it's a more reliable design. I am one of those. However to argue that the picture proves nothing is IMO untrue. It proves that it may be possible to have a workable rod using only Permagloss. Unless it's a phony picture. But I've heard separately of doing exactly what is portrayed in the picture. I repeat my opinion that there is little to lose, especially on a light powered rod, so the OP'er should give it a try. If I were to try it I would rough up the guide foot with fine sandpaper, make sure there were no contaminants on the blank and guide, and give it a try. (Don't use any liquid as a final prep step.)

That rod is my fav, will work for just about anything, including senko/Neko. I prefer Fuji KLH reduction guides with two KB4's then KT4's to the end. Titanium tiptop. You can go a little bigger on running guides if you want and still have a great rod. KLH 20-10-5,5M reduction or KLH16-8-5.5M depending on planned line use. See the KR software at AnglersResource.net for guidance. I usually use the former reduction lineup go give a little flexibility in line use.

Should be OK, but if you feel you are overloading the rod just do lob casts to reduce stress on the rod.