fishwizzard

I use the 1/0 sized Owner Ultra Heads on the 3.8" Keitechs and it puts the hook right at the end of the slot, which I feel is ideal to keep the action at low speeds. I have also used the VMC Rugby heads in 2/0 and they put the hook in almost the same spot. I feel like with jigheads, there is even less consistency across brands then with hooks and you have to look at each different one to see where it puts the hook in relation to the plastic. But I suspect that you want to start looking in the #1 to 2/0 range.

Op, if you want to carry that much stuff, look at at hiking daypacks, not fishing stuff. Most fishing bags that I have handled are very bad at being an actual "pack" in terms of comfort with a decent load. Osprey makes some great great bags, I have a Talon 22L and a 11L and use them as my general day hike bags and they will each carry a good amount of tackle for their sizes very comfortably. The REI house brand is also very good and can be found on sale for great prices. I have gone towards as small a bag as I can stand for a pure fishing trip if I am only going a mile or three from my car. I have a small [url=http://fishpondusa.com/product/detail/medicine-bow-chest-pack/2125] Fishpond Chest Pack[/url] that I use when wading. It holds all my MWF tackle and a small assortment of hard baits and has enough left over room for small tools and other supplies. It is small enough that I can stuff it into a real pack if I am doing a longer hike in and want/need more cargo capacity. For my main fishing pack and the one that I use for like 80% of my outings is an other Fishpond pack, the Summit Sling. It's main pocket can hold (just barely though) a single 3600 box and like 3-4 bags of plastics. The smaller pocket will hold maybe 6 more bags of plastics or smaller planos and there is a very small pocket that will fit a mini-first aid kit and a few snacks. I can fit a 1l bottle of water in the holder and it has points to strap a jacket onto the bottom. The real prize is the workshelf in front. It is amazing for tying on lures and works great as a spot to dry baits before reboxing them. There are some small pockets in the shelf for glue, scent, or small boxes of terminal tackle. It is really a great bag if you like to travel light but still want some comforts.

I went out the other day and fished the combo for any hour or three with the 150' of 10lb Sufix 832 I spooled up. It was a decently windy day, but the spot I was working was pretty sheltered and I was never casting directly into the wind. I really liked how the 832 worked! It cast well, though not as well as the Super 8 or G-Soul, and I didn't really have much in the way of wind knots or tip-wraps. I did get a single bad backlash but I was able to pop the spool out and clear it. The loose coil issue was still present, but far less so then with the Hybrid. The coils were far easier to pull out and the "sharp" nature of the braid kept me from trying to pull too hard. As to what kind of fishing I want to use this combo for, the answer is a bit of everything. I do most of my fishing from the bank or wading and I only bring a single rod. Right now I have a ML spinning combo for streams/rivers and more open water and a M spinning combo for larger waters or more cover-filled spots. I am trying to put together a matching set of casting combos to switch out to for some variety and greater options. I run braid+leader on both of the spinning combos. I was looking to go for a co-polymer or floro on the casting combos as I really prefer it on my MH casting combo and feel that, in my experience, they both work better for pitching then braid. It looks like most of the other co-polymers that were recommended are pretty inexpensive, so I will pick a few different ones up and give them a go. I am also going to try using thinner braid without leader and coloring it black with a marker. One of the spots I wade is very shallow and very clear, but sometimes produces close to 100 bass days. Next time I am in the middle of a good bite I will cut my leader off and give the marker plan a try.

Oh, like the non-Ci4 ones. The FH, FI, FJ, FK line. They are great reels in and of themselves, but are not as light as the Ci4 ones are. I believe the gripe with them is a lack of part's availability as they get older, but the FJ's at the very least are still good to go and I have seen them go for around $100 if you get lucky.

If you just want a "normal" Stradic reel then check out ebay, a lot of the time you can find deals on the older models. I also handled a new Ci4 recently and am gunning to replace my two spinning reels with them, so I do see where you are coming from. In any case, with BF coming up it might be a good time it buy.

It is heartening to hear that other co-polymer line might work. I am going to track down the actual breaking strengths of a few and see what I can pick up during the assorted BF sales.

A pair of Lew's Pro Speed Spins, a 2000 and a 3000. Great reels, but too heavy for the short rods I have them on. I bought them last spring and didn't even look at the weights, my only other spinning reels have been 500 or 1000 sized, so I didn't realize how large and heavy they would be. Going to replace them with 1000 and 2000 Ci4s.

I am looking at buying two of the new Stradic Ci4+ spinning reels. I made the mistake of holding one and now I need to replace both of my perfectly fine reels. Someone here is going to get a good deal in a few weeks. I have been sitting on a couple of mileage reimbursement checks, so it's almost like the reels are already paid for!

Yea, I pulled like 10' off the spool and was playing with it after dinner. If I thread a live end through a loop and yank hard it absolutely leaves an indentation in the line at the loop. If I keep using it I will have to be more careful pulling out loose coils to insure I don't yank against an actual backlash. I also found about 100-150' of 10lb Sufix 832 on a spool I thought was empty. I used some of the YZH as backing and refilled my spool. I love the stuff in my finesse spinning reel but was putting off ordering an other spool until Black Friday, so I hadn't tried it on the PX68 yet. I hope it works well. And in my slight defense, I was bombing my lure out there to reach a group of stocker Rainbows that were clustering around a bit of offshore structure. I could see them jumping just out side of my reasonable casting range and couldn't resist trying to get a lure out to them. Managed to get around 12, so I guess it was worth half a spool of line. I really need to start keeping a 1/4oz Kastmaster with me at all times for when I need just a bit more distance.

I have got the BFS bug pretty hard but I am struggling with finding a line that works for me. Right now my combo is a Phenix C682 with a PX68. So far I have used 6lb YZ Hybrid, 10lb Super 8 Slick, and 14lb YGK G-Soul X-8 Braid. None of them are really wowing me, specific gripes below: 1) The Hybrid casts well and is easy to pick out the inevitable backlashes, but it seems really weak. I have been using it for a while now on one of my finesse spinning combos with no issue, but it seems to break all the time when on the casting reel. Strangely, a large number of the breaks are far from the knot, often 30-60' into the line. Yesterday I had maybe 30' break off during a cast and today I bombed a lure maybe 60' out, then when I went to give the line a tug to tighten the spool, it snapped right below where I held it. I suspect that my constant tugging to tighten the spool is weakening the line, but I fish with my break really really loose (trying to train myself to keep my thumb on the spool during the retrieve and hook-set) and I am stop and pick out any time it wants more pressure then I can give with two fingers. Does this sound like the likely cause of my break-offs? 2) The Super 8 cast very well, but seemed like it would fray with the slightest contact with anything and it tangled badly in even the slightest wind. To be fair I was fishing it by Harpers Ferry, so a ton of rocks, but it still seems much more fragile then the Suffix 832 I use on my spinning reels. 3) The G-Soul was just insane, I must have read the diameter info wrong as the 14lb was crazy thin, like hair. It is so thin that if I close my eyes I have a hard time telling if it is between my fingers. While it did let me cast a 1/6oz spinner about a mile, it was predictable awful with tangles and backlashes were impossible to pull or pick out. I quickly moved the line to my UL spinning reel where it works great. So after all this, I ask, what do you use use on your BFS setups? I would like to stick with either Hybrid or a floro line so I don't have to mess with a leader, but I am open to any suggestions. Right now I would prefer something that is easy to pick backlashes out of, rather then going for max casing distance. Hopefully as I get more proficient with this combo and learn it's limits I will backlash it less, but for now I want something I bit forgiving but also tougher/stronger then the lines I have tried. Thanks.

Ended up going to Gilbert Run Lake as 1) I had never been there before, and 2) it has a launch, so wanted to scout it out for yaking in the spring. Didn't catch a single bass, but managed like 15-20 good sized rainbow trout. The first one was quite a surprise, as I had never seen Gilbert on any of the emails the state sends out when they stock. I caught the large majority of them all with in maybe a 30' stretch of bank. All were caught on an assortment of small jerkbaits or tiny lipless cranks. I finally made myself move and caught a few more as I walked the bank a bit. So yea, would love any info about this place, bass-wise. And I guess if anyone wants some trout this weekend, let me know and I will PM you the magic spot.

My plans for tomorrow fell through and I have the whole day free. Want to spend it fishing but am not inspired by any of my usual spots. Anyone care to suggest a place? I am up for anything within an hour of Annapolis and will be beating the bank or wading.

I kinda need that chartreuse one in my life.

Same, but I do everything up to like Fat Ika thickness with either Owner Straight shanks or Twistlocks. I only really use EWGs for flukes (I swear they somehow give the best action) and when I am skipping plastics. I like the Gammy Skip-gaps and the VMC long-shank hooks for EWGs. I wanna give round bend offsets a try next year to see if they can give the same great hookups as straight shanks but maybe be a little easier on the plastics. As for specialty hooks, the Kumho Reaper Keeper hooks have been working out great for weightless Keitech Impacts. The keeper never seem to rip out of the heads.

I agree with everything else but this. I had a ton of luck this last season with small (1/16oz - 1/0) shakyhead jigs and short plastics, fished with most of the Midwest Finesse retrieves. The Keitech Sexy Impact/Keitech shakyhead combo was the real standout, it has almost as good a hook up ration as an exposed hook Ned and seem to get bit about as often. Where it fails hard is the "frugality" of the MWF system. I get maybe two fish per plastic and I feel every lost jighead in my heart. I keep trying to work out a "perfect" weedless Ned, but the elaztec works against this. It is so stretchy, especially a worn-in zlinker, that the hook has trouble popping out. The Owner Ultra Heads work very well, but still have a noticeably lower hook up ratio.

BPS offers their Stick-o in a 3.25" version with a forked tail like the larger Zoom worm. I bought a pack in baby bass at the end of the summer. Only really fished them once, but they were very effective t-rigged in small streams. I haven't stuck on on a jig head yet, but plan to once winter wading season picks up.

Wow, I have never had much luck shore fishing for stripers. I have only ever really caught them on my kayak as bycatch while going after white perch. I have a spot near my house that sometime produces form shore, but it is very very hit or miss.

Right now I have a pair of small Biwaa Seven's, a Savage Gear Glide Swimmer, and a few other's that I got from either MTB or LTB. I have been throwing them on a MH/F rod. It is rated up to 1oz and that is the max lure weight I have in any case. I have mostly been slow swimming them along weedlines but am super gun-shy about tossing them too close to cover or running them through stuff.

That is awesome! I took my BFS combo (PX68/Phenix C682) out for whiter perch and schoolie strippers a few times this fall, it was a blast. As soon as I get unlazy this winter I am going to chase some pickerel with it.

I have little experience in NOVA, but I have heard good things about Roaches Run by the airport. Not really a pond, but there were a bunch of snakehead and bass reports there a year or so ago.

Perfect, through enough "meat" to hold the plastic but short enough to wiggle and twitch. I don't know why they made the Big TRD rather then just re-markering the Hula.

I currently fish small jigheads all the time but was hoping for a way to offer a slow slow moving small lure while keeping it off the bottom. Right now I can only go so slow before I hit bottom. The idea of a floating worm is interesting, I could a lot of the z-man stuff I already own, just t-rigged on a weightless hook. Thanks for the idea!

Sorry to bump this thread months later, but I have been dipping my toe into smaller jointed swimbaits lately and have been looking for some info about them. This thread has good ideas on lures to try, but I have not found good advice about how and where to fish them, especially in smaller ponds and lakes. Most of the swimbait stuff online is guys with huge ones fishing in large lakes or bays. This guy just smashed my first ever cast with one, I was just running it in the open to see the action: I have caught a few bass on this one and others but I have yet to see a pattern to it. I also get a lot of hits that I can't seem to set, I am mainly a plastics guy so it might be inexperience with hard lures in general. I would love any info or even where to look for it. thanks.

That might be true, I will give that a shot. I keep a bunch of 3600 cases loaded with little "kits" I can garb and go, so like a senko kit, a shakyhead kit, etc. I have started squirting a glob of MS onto the plastics in the trays. Mostly to keep them from sticking but it seems to sink in after a while as well. I might try adding it to them in the bags I keep in my stash.

How do trailing bottom contact styles like this work in mucky soft bottoms? I fish a lot of places with thick decaying plant bottoms and have trouble with anything light weight touching bottom. A heavier jig I can get enough force to clean it off when I pop it but the finesse stuff just sticks and drags up a huge lump. From a kayak I have had some luck with the split shot and light C-rigs but from the bank it is just snag after snag.