fishnkamp

Go tie on a 3/8 swimjig and a trailer like a small swimbait or a Kalin grub. Go fish it and see if that reel does not act totally different. The correct Tatula for 1/8 ounce spinnerbait or mepps type spinner would be a Tatula SV. try fishing the heavier bait. Then let us know what you think.

Check your local grocery store. My wife and I have found a shake&bake type product from Mccormick and one other company. It is found around the fresh fish area. We like the Cajun and the lemon Pepper seasoned ones. Just make a egg wash dip em then add some fillets to a zip lock bag of seasoned mix. I either fry the fillet in a pan with a bit of butter or I use a heavier egg wash and cover the fillets with lots more mix. and bake them. They come out a little crunchier coated and delicious.

I really like the Dobyns Champions XPs. Since you already own one you know their rods run a tad bit lighter than other brands. I would jump on a DC734C or even the 704C. Gary ha said the 734s are his most popular rods. If you are interested in a DC704C there is a Dobyns DC704C rod that was traded in and is being sold with the full warranty under the "refurb rods" section. Go to the website and click on "store" then choose the refurb rods then Champions. The rod is on page #3 and is rod number 121. It says "trade in, no repairs, great condition. It is for sale for $180 and from what I hear that is including normal shipping. Just an option. They did have a Dc734C that had repairs done to the reel seat. I would ask about that one as well. That would be an $80 savings. Another option is a Powell Max 3D 723 CEF. I own one Powell Max (non3D)683 and love love love tht rod for bottom contact baits, so I am sure the 723 will play well for you.

I always use backing on both my baitcasters and spinning, but I also use quality backing. I like good old Stren mono. I fish the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal rivers. I can hook into a 30 inch striper or a 20 pound catfish at any time. Both of those fish can take a lot of line quick if you are using ordinary bass tackle. That is part of the fun catching a big striper on a 3/4 ounce rattle trap and a typical 7 foot M action rod. Here is how I look at it. I use 14 pound Stren. A 330 yard spool of that line costs $8. I only spool a reel once with backing. It stays good for years. One yard of mono costs 0.025 cents, so we are talking less than 3 cents a yard. My Diawa Tatula holds about 75 yards of backing and about 75 yards of braid or fluoro. That means it costs me about $1.82 to fill that reel half way with quality mono for backing. For $1.82 I never worry about my gear. Heck I might loose a fish of a lifetime to junk line. No thanks. The real cost savings benefit is when you only need 75 to 80 yards of braid or Fluorocarbon main line. That is expensive line. Braid averages 10 cents a yard and fluoro lines can cost upwards of 14 cents a yard. Your $26 spool of fluoro can now fill two reels for the price of one.

Call around before going to any of the dealers. Make sure the rod is in stock and then go put it in your hand. Also take your reel with you. You will see how the combo feel in your hand. Enjoy. By the way my wife and I used to live near Duncannon PA for 5 years ( above Harrisburg). I used to love fishing a lake in Howard PA called Foster Joseph Sayer Lake, we all called it Lake Howard. I believe it was part of Bald Eagle State Park. We also fished Lake Erie a couple of times. Presque Isle was the first place I ever caught a pike, man do they rip up a spinnerbait. Our guide had us hiding in the marina areas to avoid some wind gust over 15 mph on the main lake. That place gets nasty.

Where are you located PA? Do you ever travel to Clarion, Erie or Bradford PA. I ask because you have a lot of dealers carrying their rods, some are located around those cities. If you go to ST Croix's website you can do a search. I would call ahead to the store before running over to one first. Stores like Field and Stream, Sportsman's outlet and some Dicks carry them. Here is the site: http://stcroixrods.com/dealer-locator/?search=1&store_locator_country=US&forsearch=by_state&state=PA If you travel to York PA there is a tackle shop called Susquehanna Tackle that will blow your mind. I have known those guys for 30 years and their inventory is awesome as well as their knowledge and assistance is top notch. Lets talk a few baits. SInce you want to get deeper into the sport.Do some research and add these simple baits into your tackle bag. You will be rewarded with better success. First pick up some 5 inch Kalin Lunker Grubs, my favorites are bluegill, watermelon/red flake, and ,smoke salt&pepper in that order.I always rig therm by using a Bass Pro Shops Perfect Finesse Worm jighead. I am sorry but I forget which hook size, I can check later though, I like them in 1/8 and 1/4 but they are available in other weights. It is a very sharp hook with the worm weight attached. These hooks work really well on lots of baits. Rig them texposed. Yamamoto Sencos (stick worms ) are very effective but also expensive. There are some decent others but very few are as good. Il like the 5 but at times the 4 or 6 work best. These are awesome fished weightless texas rigged or nose hooked, weightless wacky style, wacky with a jighead and both regular texas and carolina rigged using just some split shots. Research the drop shot technique and good baits to use with it. Plenty of youtube on that. Go to Dicks Sporting Goods locally or order on line some Reaction Innovation Skinny Dippers and Little Dippers. These are soft paddle tail swimbaits. Fish these unweighted on a swimbait hook (has a special screw lock on it) a light belly weighted swimbait hook and for fish that are deeper than 10 feet i use Picasso swimbait jigheads. These look like the head of a fish. These catch fish as deep as 40 feet. I like 3/8 and 1/2 but you can go heavier if needed. I like White Trash, Sungil, Blue Pearl, Money Shot green and Houdini best. Lastly research Z Man Ned rigs and the TRD bodies. These tiny baits can be deadly. Be prepared to catch all types of fish on these. Last April, while fishing on Dale Hollow Lake, my wife and I caught panfish, catfish, walleye, and both large and smallmouth bass ( some up to 8 pounds) on those crazy baits. Every bait I have suggestion will be on the deck of my boat at sometime during a fishing day. I rely on them in deep clear lakes out west, and here on the off color tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay. There are tons of other good baits like rattle traps, crankbaits, jigs etc. Day in and day out these baits get used on my boat. You will never catch my wife fishing without a Kalin tied on. In fact there is a discontinued color she loves. I had to purchase the factories inventory, and empty out all of the warehouse inventory from Baltimore to California. I even emptied several big tackle stores of all their inventory I now own almost 400 Kalin 5 inch Lunker grubs in smoke/red flake/salt & pepper. It is her favorite period.

Zeeter here is a good suggestion. Take a ride over to Hunt Valley. Go take a walk into Anglers Express. Talk to Eric. Her is the owner and a BIGTIME swimbait user. Ask him to show you some of the rods he has in stock and talk to him about one for double duty. You probably live no more than 30 minutes from an amazing tackle shop. All of his staff fish hard and are very familiar with the equipment in the store.

Where do you live? Are you anywhere near MD, PA , DE or VA?

That Powell Inferno swimbait rod will handle swimbaits up to 3 ounces and big topwater baits like Lunker Plunkers. Powell makes a nice rod. It runs $110 and that along with the Dobyns Fury FR 795XB are two of the more affordable rods for swimbaits. I prefer the Powell for you since the Dobyns is 7'9", but costs the same.

The number after twelve is unfortunately a brand that asked to be censored out after some "issue" between some members. The boards owner has a system that recognizes certain numbers and letters, it can not think so it can not tell the difference between a brand name and an age. You can certainly understand that the owner would not like to get sued or have issues so this is his answer. It is a bit of a pain in the neck but the number can be spelled out sorta with a few extra spaces. We just live with it.

I do not believe that size of the angler is that important. It would help to stay in a lighter rod. My wife is 2 inches more "vertically challenged" ( we have been married 29 years and I dated her 10 years so I do not use the "s...." word LOL). She prefers rods less than 7'3" bot does fish one that size. At your age you can expect to grow taller soon. I am not sure what your budget is but one very good swimbait rod to consider is a Powell 765SBR.

I love the Dobyns rods myself. I also love the G Loomis classic spin jig rods. You did not mention your budget, but a G Loomis Classic spin jig series SJR782 is an incredible spinning rod. My wife and I each fish a 721 and a 722 ( the 6 foot versions) and love them. If I only fished 1 spinning rod the SJR782 in GL3 or IMX would be hard not to go with, Now these are more expensive. A GL3 will run around $225 and the IMX is around $265. ST Croix makes a couple of nice ones also. Take a look at the Avid X 6'6' medium/ fast and the 6'8 medium/xf. Also you could upgrade to a Dobyns Sierra SA 693 SF or 703SF. All of these are nice options.

How about a Dobyns Fury 705CB for $110. Dobyns makes a really nice rod.

Do this the easy way. Go to your local independant tackle shop and ask who does these repairs. The last time I helped a member find a shop out by him, it cost him like $15 to have it done. I am located in MD and have a terrific rod builder so I always turn to Tom's Custom Rods. If you live anywhere nearby go look him up on the internet.

That is funny because I find if I set the spool tension correctly ( slight side to side play) I really never use more than 6 on the magnetic brakes and most times it requires very little thumb. It cast every bit or better than any of my green Curados and E series Chronarchs did. I had replaced 4 Curados with Tatula Type Rs and 2 CTs. It may require some more experience with that reel.

Lets start with your reels. I love the Presidents, so match one of your 35 sized presidents with a rod like a St Croix Premier 6'6" 2 piece medium light rod. This is available from Cabelas for $139. The rod is on the slightly lighter side to handle lighter bait like unweighted plastics, lightweight jigs, Ned Rigs, Senco style worms, drop shots, grubs and tubes (trust me you want those in your arsenal) and many more baits like these. These are the basics to finesse bass fishing. In the future I would add a rod like the matching rod in a medium or medium heavy. This rod would handle heavier baits like bigger jigs, texas rigs etc. You asked about the Berkley Lightning Shock. Many posters misunderstand that rod due to its advertising. Berkley touts it is "braid ready" or "made for braid". It never meant it will not work for or as well with mono, or fluorocarbon line. It means it has a bit softer action and guides designed to be used with braid. My wife and I own three of those rods and many rods that cost well over $250 as well. Each one was selected to perform a specific task. The 6'6" medium has a terrific action to fish jerkbaits, crankbaits, rattle traps and even spinnerbaits. It is a slightly softer tip to help keep big fish hooked up when using treble hooked baits. If they made the same medium action rod in 2 piece I would suggest you look at it as your second rod. They do make a 6'6" medium light 2 piece and that might be a good rod if you choose not to get the St Croix. The St Croix would be my first choice for your needs. Cabelas also has their Tournament series available in the same size in the 2 piece ML version for around $60. As for line that is your personal choice. I like to use Berkley FireLine in 14 pound test. I spool the reel 1/2 way with mono then fill the rest up with braid. I also like to add a 4 foot leader made of 8 pound test P Line CXX moss green. My wife and I have caught a ton of fish doing it that way. If you ever take a trip down here to MD I would be happy to take you out fishing down here. You could learn a bunch using some of my gear. I live minutes from the bay.

If you can fit it I recommend using a group 27 or 29. I run 3 group 30 Agm batteries personally, but they are expensive. I do recommend dual purpose marine batteries since we do use them for lights and livewells

What I do is send it to a friend of mine or DVT. It is amazing what a trip to the shop and a good professional clean and lube can do. Best of all DVT offers us a discount. Give him a chance to fix er up. I really like those reels. My wife uses a 35 Supreme for her frog fishing.

Here is where

Ask dad to take you to Walmart and see if they have a medium action 6'6" Berkley Lightning Shock on their shelves. If they do it will be marked $32 or $49. Have it scanned at the register. A few members have found them on clearance for around $15. That is one of my wife's rods in fact. She enjoys crankbaits, rattle traps and other baits on ot. I know it would be fine to use for other baits. If you found one of those on clearance then you could afford the reel brand new. I use two of the same rods but the 6'6" medium baitcaster. I throw mostly the same baits on them.

You mentioned chigger craws, and swimbaits. When I fish a really rocky area I tend to avoid texas rigged craw type baits in favor of swimjig and grub tail or perhaps a double tailed grub as a trailer, I can hop it or swim it but I can get it back a bit easier. The worm weight is usually the item that get me stuck more than the bait itself even if I peg it. I really like the Kalin 5 inch grubs in bluegill and also I like the Reaction Innovation Skinny Dippers ( or any good 5 inch paddletail swimbait like a Keitech) attached to a belly weighted swimbait hook. These are deadly as most times minnows and panfish swim around rip rap and bridge piers. Swim them along, stop and let them flutter then twitch them. This makes them look like a dying fish. If no takers then swim them some more and repeat. I rarely get stuck in rocks since they are rigged texposed and the belly weight is sort of small. Dicks Sporting Goods usually carries the Skinny Dippers. They also regularly carry some belly weighted swimbait hooks.

It is preference on the length of rod. Be careful because Pflueger matches the 40 series reel with their 7 foot medium rods in their combos. I have owned 30, 35 and 40 series reels. I fished my 40 reel for years, but I have come to realize i like the 30 on medium light rods and the 35 on mediums. The amount of line that fits on either a 30 or 35 is plenty, and the weight balances better with the 2 smaller reels. I like the 40 if I were setting up a heavier action rod for say stripers, big catfish, or some inshore saltwater fishing. If I were putting my own combo together here is what I would do. I would match the Pflueger 6935 reel with either the 6'6" or a 7 foot rod of my choosing. That would require spending more money as that reel alone sells for $60. I am certain that either 6'6" combo will work out well for you. My wife and I own a pair of very expensive 6 foot G Loomis 6 foot light action rods and a pair of 6 foot G Loomis medium action rods that see a ton of use each year. Those rods were originally purchased starting back in 1980 to 1983, some have been broken and replaced over the years, but we keep getting the latest model of the exact same rod. Each one of her' two have a 6930 and a 6935 reel on them. One of mine does as well. We fish all of our smaller baits on those rods and their smaller length has had no impact on what we catch with them. Both of our largest smallies and several big Kentucky spots have come on them. Those fish range from 5 to 7 pounds. Heck, last April she landed an 8 pound catfish using her 6 foot medium light rod and a 6930 reel. Of course she looked like Mike Iaconelli running from the front to the back of our bass boat multiple times! Me, I sat in the driver's seat and laughed the entire time! Do not get hung up over what others say you must have. If you peek into my rod locker you will find 12 baitcasters and 3 spinning rods for me. You will find 6 rods for her and all of hers are spinning, she will not touch a baitcaster. We fished for 10 years together before she owned more than 2 rods. I can afford more equipment ( actually I am just old) and I fish all different types of water. I live near the tidal Chesapeake Bay so I fish the Susquehanna Flats and mostly shallow tidal rivers like the Potomac, which have lots of grass and lily pads, and deep water like around bridges and most of it is off color. Then I go out to BIG lakes that are very deep and very clear so I am fishing very different conditions. Last April when we arrived at Dale Hollow Lake (one off those big clear lakes) we fished our first day with a friend and professional bass guide Bobby Gentry. My wife said I looked like I was a drug addict having withdrawal pains as I was trying to pick just 3 rods to take with us on our trip that day! I knew if we had to, it was only minutes back to where my boat was docked, but I chose 2 spinning rods and only 1 baitcaster. I never needed to go back.

My wife and I fish the Tidal rivers of the Chesapeake Bay, Susquehanna flats, the Potomac, all tidal and much of it off color waters. We also go out and fish deep clear lakes like Dale Hollow in Tennessee. I rig all of our spinning reels the same. I use Berkley FireLine in 14 pound test. It is the same diameter as 6 pound test. I tie on a 4 foot leader made of P Line CXX moss green in 8 pound test. The line breaks close to 15 pounds. That setup has worked great for years.I also start by spooling each reel up with half way with 12 or 14 pound test Stren Original mono. That saves money and when I encounter a large striper or catfish I never worry about my line. I have had a big 18 pound blue cat almost spool me while chasing stripers. We fish with 30 and 35 series Pflueger Presidents, Supremes and she has one Shimano Symetre 3000.

Well I dislike most fluoro, so I would simply add some 30# Sufix 832 or Power Pro Spectra. Then I would learn to tie a double uni knot and add a four foot leader made of either P Line CXX in 8 pound test moss green or I would use Stren clear blue original or even Trilene XT in 8 or 10 pound test. Seriously the double uni knot is sooo easy to learn and if done correctly holds extremely well.

My apology. I stand corrected. The times I have seen them used has been on still water for bass and trout. They still are best suited for a down river floating trip correct? The " versatility" I was thinking of relates to the fact a kayak or canoe can return upriver to a launch site more easily. I must admit I have never fished from a kayak, however I have years of canoe fishing in lakes, streams and rivers like the Susquehanna, the Patapsco and Potomac rivers.