S. Sass

1/2 oz is most of my lipless as well but I don't fish rivers. I have a few of the size down but only go to one of them if I feel I need to try a smaller profile, thump, or different sound.

I did what your asking about. I bought a Tatula just to see if the T-wing was as advertised. My experience was it casts, by eye, no measurable distance different than my Lew's. If it did you would need a 12" ruler and some scientific experiment to calculate the inch difference. The things I didn't care for that the T-wing added was a clunk sound as it drops in place. The CT series may not do that I don't have one of them. And if you have a habit of letting the line run across the top of your finger as it enters the reel you can cause the line to not stay in the slot where it winds back properly. All that being said the Tatula isn't a bad reel but as stated it does feel different, and weights slightly more. Some find their rods need balance so much they watch the weight of a guide so that could be a issue to someone. Personally I use the Lew's but I wouldn't have a issue if I had all Tatulas it's a preference thing as both are proven products. If your serious about a reel choice go hold one at BassPro or wherever and see if you at least like the thing before putting money down.

That's the spirit. If you give up you won't ever master it. Persistence and practice along with willingness to listen to more experienced users will get you there. Personally I've never used a Kastking but all the tips to help sound like good advice no matter what brand. Good luck

This ^^^ Same here. I catch plenty on the Pit Boss but one day I'm sure I'll try a structure bug if and when a sale comes.

I find that you need to remove the lure so that the.line can relax and untwist. A rattle trap or other lures will try and track like they are supposed to upright holding the line twisted.

You could have been looking at my tackle when you wrote that. I pitch the baby Paca Craw and the 4" Pit Boss as well though. Great products and pretty cheap.

Netbait Paca Craw and Baby Paca Craw.

Congratulations

Recently purchased a used Lew's Tournament MB reel from a member here. It had from my understanding originally been purchased as a not perfect reel and at a discount. The star drag was not round. It gave the appearance that the handle was warped when you reeled it. I also had one of my own Lew's Tournament MB reels I also had purchased used quite a few months ago start to give me a problem with the magnetic brake needing to be maxed out to keep from giving me problems. So I emailed Lew's and arranged to have my reel maintained. I also asked to purchase the correct star drag so I could make the other reel I had like new. Anyway I recieved a email back stating they did the repairs and these were the charges. Anyway I sent the reel in and shortly there after I got a call asking if I wanted the star drag sent ahead to me and the reel back when completed. I said what ever was easier for you I figured just toss it in the box with my reel when you send it back. So we agreed that would be fine. Anyway 3/30/17 I got my reel back and the new star drag. The reel works flawless and it has a completely new side on it. I also got the new star drag in the box and installed it on my other reel and it cured the funky optical illusion that was going on there. But there was no invoice of any kind. I sent a email to them asking about the billing. And this was their response. Just thought it was a very nice gesture for Mr Norris to allow this to happen. I just felt they deserved a big thank you for the fast, and free repair, and star drag.

I only recently tried some 15lb Seaguar Red label on a baitcaster and found it works fine for that even with no KVD line conditioner. I forgot to use it. When I saw it in my bag I thought it's been working fine no need to spray it now. I also tried some 12lb Seaguar Red label on a spinning reel as a leader material and it worked fine. Never have I tried fluorocarbon strait on a spinning reel or as a leader I was just experimenting. I don't think 15lb and up would be very good on a spinning reel just based on my limited fluorocarbon experience. It has a wire type feel to it. Braid is just too easy to use for spinning reels for me. I don't deal with a lot of problems like others with toothy fish and tons of rocks etc so I will stay straight braid most likely. If the OP waters allow it I suggest using braid it's much easier for me.

My desktop always has it popping up. I ignore it or x out of it. It just started doing it like a week or so ago to me. I have always got the red bell notification at the top right corner of my screen. And I get many emails about every contest so I don't know why it needs me to give concent when it has no problems sending those emails. Just another software genius somewhere and or another lawsuit result somewhere haha

I mainly use just the Siebert baits now days but I have a few others and pretty much like the Nutechlures. So If Mike quit today I'd probably go to Nutechlures. It is just extremely hard to find a better deal for handmade to your liking in every way at the price Mike sells them for. Dredge Brush Jig w/ Owner Deep Throat jig hook from siebertoutdoors.com Several colors I like a lot are Bluegill, Black Brown Amber, and California Craw. Nutechlures Pro Series Jig Several colors I like a lot are Crawdad Brown, and Missouri Craw. As for trailers I use the Netbait Paca series as well as Havoc Pit Boss and in many colors. I use the Tiny Paca Craw and the 3" Pit Boss on like the 3/8 oz jigs and Baby Paca Craw as well as the 4" Pit Boss on 1/2 oz and bigger. The Bluegill colored jig does me good with the Junebug colored trailer. The Brown/Orange colored Paca baits go well with the Black Brown Amber and the Crawdad Brown colored jigs. Just have to use your imagination. Sometimes I don't try and make them match and Ill have a contrasting color.

I feel your pain. I usually don't get anything that a few pulls wouldn't clear up. About a week ago for some reason I found this tree limb with my lure as I cast and it ate my lunch. I put the rod up and took another out (was bank fishing) moved over to another opening between another tree and did the exact same thing again. I took two rods home that one day with destroyed line. Highly unusual for me to not be able to get a backlash out as I said I usually don't get anything that a few pulls wouldn't clear up. Sometimes it just isn't your day I guess. The positive side is I got some new line on a couple of reels for my trouble.

^^ Best end result. I mean yeah you can release it and it can slowly starve to death, or possibly live as only you know how much damage was done. And have to make a determination of what odds are in his favor or not. If any doubt I prefer to humanely cook him/her and not waste the meat.

Netbait Baby Paca Craw - Brown/Orange, Black Red Shad, & White Havoc Pit Boss - Perfection, Okochobee, & Big Texan Culprit Ribbon tail worm - Night Crawler, Pumpkin Seed, & Motor Oil/Chartreuse tail Mann's Jelly Worm - Grape, Black Grape, & Motor Oil Rage Tail Craw - Bama Craw, MM Moonlight, & Falcon Lake Craw Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper - White Trash, California 420, & Houdini Zoom Fluke - White Pearl, Watermelon Seed, & Baby Bass Keitech Swing Impact Fat - Bluegill Flash, Sight Flash, & Black Yum Dinger - Pumpkinseed, White, & Green Pumpkin Biospawn Vilecraw - Red Bug, Junebug, & Black Red Flake Of course there are 1000s of others. I use a lot more baits and colors than I listed.

If the spool has holes in it you could just tie off to the holes in the spool, if you'd prefer to have a knot-free mainline (who wouldn't?). The only slippage that can happen is if you don't spool the braid with any tension, which isn't slippage its just pulling the slack out. Otherwise the only way it can slip is if your knot comes apart or if it rips the spool apart. Of course you would have to have a fish strong enough to completely spool the reel of line and then rip out the tied portion of the spool. I highly doubt any LG or SM bass is going to do that. There are the other options like a mono backing that work as well but do ad at least one more knot to the line. Or use tape that I have never tried but seems like others have success with. As for the guides I wouldn't be concerned most rods made in the past 10 years or so generally can handle lines made today. Also as said braid is not even near as abrasive as it was many years ago so even a old rod with cheap guides could probably live with today's modern braid for quite some time.

Definitely don't come here. The food sucks, the fish are huge and hard on equipment. Stay north get a sled, or a bigger big screen TV for entertainment, or whatever you guys do when the water is froze. I'm kidding we have plenty of big fish though. I will say your best odds if you're limited on time are to get a guide. It might save you hauling your gear and should increase your odds a lot to beat your personal best. Our biggest issue right now is the numbers of people that are coming for the same reason as you. Lake Fork and many other lakes are full of boats trying to hook that once in a lifetime fish. I'm about 50 minute drive to Fork and I'll be back on on it Saturday doing the same thing with my brother. It's hard not to join in on the party even when there are boats everywhere.

I said the same thing. My Trokars came like a dripping faucet as well. Some in small boxes like a reel would come in, and some in plastic envelopes. I was saying no wonder Dicks usually can't compete with other stores and why the one nearest me looks like it's shutting down all the time. This appears to be really bad management. At best it's a really poor look from a customer's view. I had to keep checking to make sure what ones I had received and what ones I still had not got. I wasn't going to complain though as the price was awesome for Trokars. They could only do worse sending one hook at a time but even then at the price they were selling for I guess I wouldn't care.

This ^^^ right there is what i would think. Just say worst case deal it broke after 1 year you still had a great rod for that price fishing it for a year you didn't lose much if anything.

Just a wild wild guess is he went from 1 motor sponsor to zero.

I have a few of the Sizmic Toads and the Zoom Horny Toads. I actually never use them though. Just never seem to get to them Ill throw other stuff but eventually I will try them I guess. Maybe a symptom of the bait monkey giving me too many choices.

The way I read what the OP wrote was he stated no line suggestion for the BPS Pro Qualifier 2 reel that he had not decided if he was either going to use a Medium or a Medium Heavy rod with. I read his line size of 12# was for his spinning reel? As I specifically stated the MH not the M in my recommendation along with #15 or stronger line for the BPQ reel. I also stated So I really don't see where the issue with what I said and with you "trying to educate a few folks". The wire diameter on 5/0 is .048 in the ones I have from Mike. I have no problem with hook sets with 15# or higher Big Game mono on my MH Aetos or Ethos rods using these hooks. This has been my experience sure it could have been tweaked in a perfect world but we are far from perfect on this planet.

Maybe I should have been more specific. Using a 7ft. - 7ft. 3in MH/F rod with a new BPS Pro Qualifier 2 reel with around 15# or stronger line will work fine for a 3/8 oz to 1/2 oz Dredge Brush Jig. I have used very similar setups mainly with the 3/8 oz to 1/2 oz Dredge Brush Jig with no issues. I suggest to stay in the specs of the rod for the lure weight and line weight of your specific rod though. My MH/F rods fit in this style just fine hopefully yours will as well.

I totally agree. ^^^ Dredge Brush Jig from http://www.siebertoutdoors.com is a excellent product, very reasonably priced, hand made, and a forum sponsor. I also love the Owner Deep Throat jig hook. There are all sorts of options and Mike has always been very very helpful.