fishwizzard

For the bass fishing that I do, there is only a single factor that makes using a BFS combo less efficient/practical/whatever then a spinning combo. That factor is the relative fragility of "thinner then 0.010" fluorocarbon line". I have found that fluoro that is much thinner than that is very easy to damage when trying to work out a decent backlash. It takes a lot of care and time to get the line free and if I pull too hard the line will kink and lose too much strength to keep fishing it. Depending on how deep the kink occurs, I might be left with too little line to really keep fishing. However, I have found some good ways to mitigate that issue. First, by carrying a spare spool (which I do for all reels when I am going to be more than a 1/2m from my car) I can swap out and get back to fishing. Second, and most importantly, by disciplining myself to not make hotdog casts when using thinner fluoro. A lot of the fun that comes from using light/short casting equipments is being able to make fast, accurate one handed casts, but there are times when I know a given cast will be pushing the limits of my skill/the conditions, so by just calming down and looking for an alternative way to get my lure where I want it to go really reduces the number of bad backlashes. I do still prefer spinning combos for some presentations, for example with Ned Rig/MWF fishing I feel like I can get the slow stop/start retrieve cadence to work better with a spinning reel. I also prefer a spinning combo for cold weather finesse fishing as a spinning reel gets my hand a lot less wet then a casting one.

I have ~20 packs of Owner swing heads that I got from eBay a year or so ago. I think I have used them maybe three times since then. Most every where I fish has a soft bottom and they seem to bog down worse then a jig/t-rig somehow. Anyone here ever have much luck using them on a soft bottom?

In no real order: Zoom Trickworm, Pink Zoom Trickworm, GP w/ some glitter 5" Senko, Blue/Black 10' Culprit, GP w/ some glitter Zoom Swamp Crawler, WM w/ glitter I fish worms an awful lot of the time and get a real kick out of pitting one worm/color against another. I started out with dozens of worms with 5-6 colors each, I have slowly worked my way down to the top 5 and maybe another 5 in 2-3 colors each.

I did a few kayak tournaments, but the social aspect is the only part I really enjoyed. It didn't help that 2/3 of the time the weather day-of was not the sort of conditions I enjoy yak fishing in.

I have never found a paddle tail that has the same action as the Fat Impact. That being said, I have narrowed my use of the FI down to a single presentation, a nail weight rig. Once you add any real amount of weight, the "wiggle at a very slow speed" advantage goes away, so most any similarly shaped plastic will perform the same imho.

I also have found no real info about snakeheads in winter, not even where in a given body of water they spend their days. I have a pair of combos rigged up to do a little catfishing this winter, I think I might bring a third rod a long and keep warm by slowly fishing a topwater of some sort just to see if I can get a SH to bite.

I just weighed a piece of electricians tape, a piece the size that I use to secure a spool knot weighs 0.05g. That's such a small fraction of the weight of even a specialty UL spool that I cannot see it making any difference.

The Alphas SV/sv105 reels are pretty small, but to me feel a bit bigger in hand then an Aldebaran. I use my Alphas for stuff in the 1/4-3/4oz range and love it for that. I have one of mine on a loomis 783c and think it's the ideal reel for that rod's range.

Of those three I think only the Scorpion BFS will have any chance of casting a true 1/16oz. Once you get that light small difference start being a lot more important, so like a 1/16oz spoon will cast a ton better than a hairjig of an identical weight just due to being a lot more aerodynamic. What kinds of presentations are you looking to throw?

I very much agree that it's not a weed guard, it's a modesty cover for the hook. It will deflect floating leaves and single blades of grass, but falls open at the slightest pressure. I only bother with the lighter weights as well as I will be fishing them on lighter line in open water, usually when wading so I can go get them back when they find a stick. I only really still use them because they are very heavy for how small they are, the 3/8oz ones are great when I want a tiny, realistic presentation that can stay deep in heavier current or when I find a deeper hole.

I bought a spool of that stuff a few years ago, I looked at the diameter and didn't think it seemed too thin. What I was not prepared for was how limp it is. I put it on an UL casting combo I wanted to use for trout and white perch. It was very hard to tie knots in, cold or wet hands made it frustrating as heck. It was almost useless in any real wind, esp with 1/16oz and under presentations. Worst of all, it was so limp and slick that any backlash was almost impossible to pick out even a minor backlash. But, when it worked, it would sent a 1/16oz spoon into the next zip code. I pulled it off the casting reel and stuck it on a spinning reel where it was less annoying, but it was still not great. Oddly, I switched to an even thinner line, 6lb J-braid, but it is a lot stiffer and much easier to deal with. Imho for bass BFS fishing, as opposed to UL trout/panfish/perch stuff, one of it's main advantages is being able to use thicker fluoro then would handle well on a spinning combo of the same power. None of the presentations I use for bass weigh less than 1/8oz and most are not much lighter then 3/16oz, so 7lb Sniper at .0086" is about as light as I ever really feel the need to go.

It very much depends on the jig weight and where I am throwing it. 1/4oz jigs in mostly open water, 12lb Sniper, 1/4oz jigs in laydowns or light pads, 15ld Tatsu, 1/2oz jigs in open water to heavier wood, 18lb Shooter, 1.2oz jigs in heavy pads, 40lb PP SSv2.

I use a Trilene knot for every type of line, but for braid I do a second wrap through the loops at Step 3. I don't even remember when or why I started doing it, but I have never had one come loose.

To hear fly fisherman talk, any one using a weighted lure might as well be fishing with hand grenades. I would love to be able to see a fish approach my lure, being able to ****** a $25 jerkbait away from a pike should pay for itself in a few seasons!

I will eat almost anything put in front of me, but due to some extreme laziness, I never really keep any fish that I catch. I am not opposed to it, but I can never get excited about the extra work and time involved. I often fish until dark at locations 30-90min away, so the last thing I want to do when I get home is clean/package fish. I didn't grow up fishing, so I never learned to clean them, which means I would have to devote a lot of fishing time to making shorter, closer trips so I had the time and energy to deal with my catch once I got home. I figured someday I will make a fishing friend who is into catch-n-keep and that will give me the kick in the butt I need.

For just bass fishing the answer would be easy, a GLX mbr844c, a Steez A 7:XX, 40lb braid if I am only allowed on spool, if allowed two, then a second spool loaded with 14-16lb fluoro. For all fishing, it would be a fast taper spinning rod that covers as much of the 1/8-1/2oz range as I could find, whatever reel balances it best, and 15lb braid to leader.

I am thinking about switching to an auto-inflate next year, but am also going to miss having a pocket for my phone/keys like my current PFD has. I could get one of those plastic pouches on a neck lanyard for my phone, but I hate how they seem to fog up in hot/humid weather. I was thinking about trying to find a really LW fishing vest to wear under the PFD, but I would love to hear if anyone has found a better solution as most of the appeal of the auto-inflate is increased airflow to my torso, which even a LW vest will restrict.

I have tested my Slayer 10 in a pool, sitting down, I had to grab the side handles and rock it back and forth to get it to tip, for a moment I didn't even think I could get it to tip. The pool was too small to try to tip it while standing, didn't want to hit my head on the sides, but I can do a fair amount of bouncing it side to side to where I feel like overextending myself and falling off the yak is more likely than tipping it.

I don't golf, so I use a pool analogy, in that you want a smooth, controlled stroke and almost never want to use all your strength. Other then some worm-n-bobber stuff as a little kid, my wife had no fishing experience. Giving her a SV reel with the brakes cranked up and an slightly overloaded ModFast rod, she was making short casts in like 20 min of practice and in another 20min she could turn the brake down to the point where she could make very reasonable if inaccurate casts. She only seems to backlash at the end of a session as she is either getting bored and paying less attention or getting cocky and trying casts that she isn't skilled enough for. I started her on a casting rod as an experiment as I thought that with no bad habits from spinning reel use, she would pick it up quickly.

There is a "peepshow" website with the same name, but a different spelling.

A lot of my early posts on BA were looking for help trying to figure out casting reels. What eventually got me over the hump was getting the BFS bug and picking up a finesse reel and a L/MF rod. The lighter, slower rod was much easier to fully load "by accident" and even with a fast/less forgiving reel, I was able to make a lot of progress quickly as I was getting the rod loaded without really realizing it. Only once I picked up my more powerful rods again did the importance of a good casting stroke really click for me.

If Sunline would sell bulk spools of Defier Armiilo it would replace fluoro on a lot of my combos. If they sold it in bulk spools and thinner diameters it would replace almost all of the fluoro I use. It's an amazing line and gives most of the feel of fluoro with better handling, but I always end up with an annoying amount of line left on the spool and it makes my frugal eye twitch.

I agree, but I think the value of a more forgiving system is still there. I think that a good smooth casting stroke is far more important to learn then perfect thumb control and while you can still backlash an SV/DC reel, the backlashes seem to be less severe. With reasonable line (ie, not thin fluoro) I can almost always pick the 'lash out and keep fishing rather then having to put that combo aside for the day or having to go home because I only bought one combo with me. Being able to work on your casting stroke with less chance of a day-ending backlash would be a huge help imho.

I had given up hope that the Alphas spool would be compatible, it would be amazing if it was though. I am not worried about the spool weight really. Weight only really "matters" when comparing spools with the same braking system, if the new SV Boot is designed around a heavier spool then there is no reason to assume it's going to affect the performance.

At this point what is really left to improve on a casting reel, other the the brakes/spool? I fish a TDZ alongside a Steez TWSV/A and other then the ergonomics, they fish about the same with the same spool in them. Hells yes!