fishnkamp

I am blessed with a wife addicted to smallies ( you can bet I had everything to do with that!) Thank you Leftie Kreh and Bob Clouser! Anyway because of her love of fishing, I have been able to go fish, Center Hill Lake, Erie, Table Rock, lake Gaston, Lake Anna, plenty of time spent on the Susqy river even boated Percy Priest while test running a new Pro Craft back in the day. For me the top place I have fished was Dale Hollow. I have battled more 4 to 7 pound bass there than any place in the world. My bucket list has Chicamagua, Guntersville, Pickwick, and possibly St Clair on it.

Where do you live. Will you be able to tow the boat or will you need a boat that will go in the back of a pickup or even car topping. These help to see what you can work with. Are you fishing water that will need a small gas engine or just electric only waters? You might find a canoe like this a good bet used. This deal included the seating, a battery and a trolling motor. It would be just as stable as any 12 foot of 14 foot narrow jon boat. It is selling for $375. Another option is something like this This boat on a trailer is for sale for $675. Add a trolling motor and battery and you have a pond hopper for sure. Let me know what area you are in I will do some snooping around for you.

Different manufacturers use different names. makes no difference.

If you sell it then step up to a Tatula CT or wait a little and look at a new Tatula CT SV. They should be sweet. Of course that is yet to be determined since none are available. Should be soon. A Tatula CT is available for $100 shipped and can be souped up pretty easily. I fish a bunch of 100 size Tatula Type Rs and a pair of CTs. I love them. All of mine are stock and perform well for me. I am told that a pair of ZR bearings on the spool and a couple of bearings added to the line guide can produce a super reel pretty cheaply.

Great Shaun those will serve you well/

If you are considering an Avid X then you are looking at paying roughly $200 depending on the rod. The Dobyns is going to run you around $170 for the Sierras and $230 to $250 for the Champion XPs. I like the balance and sensitivity of the Dobyns. It comes down to what you like. Like I said the next rod I am going to get is going to be a SA 693SF. Here is what I would do. There is a tackle shop in Oconomowoc, WI called Get Hooked Outdoors. I would call to see if they have any Dobyns in stock. They are listed as a Dobyns dealer but may not stock what you want. Otherwise there are two locations listed for a tackle dealer called The Reel Shot in Wisconsin. One is in Oshkosh and the other in Appleton. Call each store and see what each one has in stock. There website says they have the Champion Xps and several Savvy's in stock. Go put a reel on them and see what you like best In general it looks like about an hour and a half or so journey to the Appleton location and a bit less to the Oshkosh location.

Welcome You found a good place to learn some new tricks. Join in the fun.

Do not worry about where Gary has his rods assembled. He is meticulous and if he had the same rod built here the Fury rod would cost over $250. He has said that to me personally. Every rod he has built over there is designed and built to his specs. As for reel speeds. Forget reels that are geared in the 5s ie. 5.1-1, 5.3-1. These are used specifically for deep cranking , it is a specialized technique. I have fished for 40 years + and only use crankbaits that dive deeper than 20 occasionally. They work, but do not fall in the average fisherman's tool kit. I fish with 15 baitcasters and 4 spinning combos. Of those baitcasters most are 6.3-1 reels. They fit my needs well. I could easily use all 7.1 or 7.3 reels and not see much difference. For pitching. flipping and throwing frogs, I like a fast reel to retrieve the lure back quickly and fire back out my next cast. I use an 8-1 reel for this purpose. As for rods I suggested the Dobyns Fury lineup because Gary sells a rod for $110 that is equal to many rods costing double. He is no magician. He keeps the cost down by building them over seas. Anyway, he did cut some cost in obvious ways. The reel seat chosen is a good quality Fuji seat, but not the higher end ones like he uses on his more expensive rods. He chose a split handle- half cork ( where you will feel the quality of that cork) and a rear part made of a type of eva. This saves money without affecting the fishability of the rod. By no means did I mean to suggest a Sierra or Champion rod was a mistake. Gary made his reputation by offering high quality rods in the Champion DC and HP Extreme lines. My new frog rod is a Champion DC 705C. It is an amazing rod in your hand. I have fished with 3 St Croix rods. They fished well but I have upgraded from them. I just did not have any access to a Dobyns to get one in my hand. That changed when a local shop opened near me. He carries a bunch of rod manufacturer's products. Most of his brands are not available in places like Bass Pro. If you want to compare a rod with equal components to the Avid X look at the both the Sierra and Champion XP series DC 683 SF and 703 SF rods. If you notice the prices are between $160 and $250 on those rods, depending on the series. I would agree to start with the spinning rod. Then I would add the crankbait rod. It could be a Fury or Champion DX series 705CB graphite. They have a glass series of crankbait rods, but I would suggest you stick with the graphite crankbait rods. I think in your 3 top 5 rod arsenal they will be more versatile. Your third rod should be a good bottom contact rod like the 734C in one of those 3 series as well. As for brands I have been moving away from Shimano and Bass Pro models and towards Diawa Tatula 100 and Tatula CT reels. These fit my style and perform extremely well for me. I can get a Tatula CT shipped for $100, so I think it offers me a terrific value. Put one on a rod and see how it feels to you. Some guys love them, and some like reels that are smaller. As for reel ratios. i would put a 6.3-1 reel on my 7 foot crankbait rod (the 705cb) and a 7.3-1 on the 734C bottom contact rod.

I guess what is more important to ask is "Did you catch any big ones?"

All of my spinning reels, except for two, have Berkely original FireLine in 14 pound test with either 8 or 10 pound test P Line CXX. The two that are different have P Line Halo in 8 pound test and my wife's frog rod has 50 pound Power Pro.

Well I guess that answers the question " Does that line bleed its color?" Again 409 should not hurt the reel. I used that stuff to help clean up diesel fuel spills and stains in VERY expensive yachts. I would spray it on cloth liberally then wipe down the reel. Just lightly wipe it and it should be okay.

jdz197 Welcome to Bass Resources. You will find a lot of helpful members here. I am sure you will like that reel. I use a lot of the Daiwas including 4 Tatula 100 Type Rs and 2 Tatula CTs.

I figured it would be about an hour or less for you and just about the same for me. I will try to line that up. The North East River, Susqy River and the flats can be really special some days.

Maybe I can change that this year. How long would it take you to get to Northeast MD. I guess you would come 213 to Elkton then down route 40 to 272.

S.Sass have you ever had a Tatula Ct, mounted on a rod, in your hand. I wonder if you would have the same problem on the smaller bodied reel. It would be interesting too see if it was still a problem. Since my hand is a bit on the bigger side, I dislike the smallest reels and actually like the size of the CTs and the Tatula 100s. In my opinion my Tatulas did not feel any different than my Curados or Chronarchs, at least not in size. I usually fish with two fingers in front of the triggrer.

Its funny I have met two guys from the eastern shore on these boards. Both of you work on the farms. My friend Andy is located down near Seaford DE. If we get to take any vacation this year, we may sneak down and fish with him on the Nanticoke River. I would enjoy flipping some Lilly pads for a change. Do you ever get to fish the Susqy flats?

MDbassin did you get out in this nice warm weather? The doc still won't let me. Soon I hope or he may have a basket case on his hands.

Hey MittenMouth where are you in KY? You said you are shore fishing. Is that creeks, rivers, ponds or lake shores? I ask because it changes what type of boat you might want. A 14 or 16 foot jon is a good place to start. If you are fishing ponds, then an electric trolling motor and a battery may be all you need. I started out that way, then I fished larger rivers and moved up from my original 12 foot jon to a 15 foot jon with two seats and a 9.9 outboard. Both of those rigs can be done rather cheaply. Just look at this craigslist. https://lexington.craigslist.org/boa/6005957718.html This is a decent way to get off the bank.

Fox408 First Welcome to Bass Resources. There are a bunch of rod makers and probably just as many members who have their favorite ones. But you said you live in central KY. If so, you have several Dobyns rods and Powell rod dealers in your area. The G Loomis rods are okay, but there are better options in my opinion for their price. If you read any of my other postings I often say that I do not like to suggest beginner gear to anyone because you will end up upgrading and losing money by doing it. So try to refrain from the Abu Max and Berkley combos. I fish a couple of Berkley's, but these are not stepping up much from you current stuff. For me they fill a need. When I fish fall stripers I need 4 rods with different brand and weight rattle traps. I can not afford $1200 worth of crankbait rods! LOL As I said lets not buy cheap gear, but this does not mean you need to but expensive gear either. So here is a long winded answer to your call for assistance. First, in Lexington KY there is a Sportsman Warehouse. I doubt is too far from you to make a trip to. They sell Dobyns and Powell Rods. Gary Dobyns makes really nice rods. He makes 5 lines of rods. One of these is called the Fury series. These rods sell for $110 each. Gary worked 2 years to develop these rods. He insisted they have a high quality blank and very good quality components. Most of all, is the attention to detail on these rods, it is exactly the same as his highest end rods. I have several friends changing over to these. Take the trip and put some of these rods in your hand. By the way I travel out to KY semi annually to fish Dale Hollow Lake, so I have a bit of knowledge of the waters you could be fishing. My wife and I love Dale Hollow and some other TN lakes as well. Lets start with your spinning rod. The reel you have is a great one. Match it up with a Dobyns Fury FR 703SF. It will be a dynamite combo to use with Sencos, texas riggs up to 1/2 ounce, small jigs or tubes, grubs, all the finesse stuff. You can also drop shot with it for now, but maybe add a FR 702 SF to handle the lighter action baits later on. Make sure you add Sencos, shakey heads, Kalin 5 inch Lunker grubs and Ned Rigs to your arsenal of baits. All of these work out there. Now for baitcasters start with a Fury FR 705CB. Again $110. It is one of Gary's best selling rods in all his series. This 7 foot medium heavy moderately fast tipped rod will allow you to fish small to mid sized crankbaits, rattle traps, jerkbaits, square bills and even some spinnerbaits. This is a workhorse of a rod. Next you want a bottom contact rod for bigger texas rigs, jigs, carolina rigs, larger spinnerbaits if you want to slow roll a big bladed spinnerbait in the winter, or even some topwater baits, then a Dobyns Fury FR 734C would be your do it all rod. This is a very versatile weapon. Gary makes lots of great rods that fit many specific techniques and a situations. What I have done here is try to give you a group of rods that will allow you to fish the most techniques with the fewest rods. If you go this way, then in the future you could add rods to fit your specific fishing environment. Perhaps you would add a second spinning rod. It could be FR702SF or perhaps if you fish close quarter targets like boat houses and docks then maybe you step up to a Sierra SF 692 or 693, they are 6'9" rods in s more sensitive line called the Sierras. They run $169. Make sure you add baits like the Reaction Innovation Skinny Dippers to your arsenal. I fish a lot of them when I fish out there. We usually rig them using on either belly weighted swimbait hooks or the special swimbait jig heads like the ones Picasso sells. They are a fish head shaped jig on a good strong hook. Also add some good jigs and swim jigs. There are tons of good trailers but when I am out there I like a sungill or shad sorta look with some type of brown, white or greenish grub or swimbait for a trailer. Man those big smallies like them. Perhaps you later decide you want a rod better suited to throwing the smaller spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, small paddle tail swimbaits etc. If so then consider a Fury FR 703C or 733C. You could decide you want a flipping pitching rod, then the FR 765 Flip works great, especially if you fish some river sections and have grass to deal with. If you want a frog rod to fish over heavy grass their FR 735C is also good for frogs and flipping and pitching jigs. I guess I forgot to mention I also like the Powells and their lineup is pretty similar. I wonder why? The answer is both of the owners of Dobyns and Powell are friends and have worked together for years. Okay I hope this gives you a place to start. Let me know if I can answer anything else as you digest it. It may help to bring up the Dobyns rods website and read along with that up to refer to. There are plenty of good reels to match them up with, Bass Pro has its Pro Qualifier on sale for $50, Diawa Tatula CTs are available online for $100 shipped. These are terrific reels. Also the Daiwa Excelers can be found online for $75 and again these reels are great. I fish some of all of these.

georgeyew You are correct and I failed to note it. Tackle Warehouse is clearing them out. The only Exceler reels they have in stock are either 6.3 or 7.3-1 left handed reels or 4.9-1 right handed reels. All of the other Excelers are sold out. My friend Kris just purchased two 6.3-1 lefties this week. These are great reels if a left handed reel fits your needs. For me I fish left handed reels on all my rods I fish bottom contact baits and other baits I move with the rod like jerkbaits. Anything I toss and wind in I use righties. TH-Outdoors I sent you a pm, but if you send me an email at fishnkamp @comcast.net I will give you the info.

Jon they are good entry level reels. My friend has been fishing with one for over two years now. There are a lot of fans of them. I have a problem in suggesting entry level gear you will want to upgrade from in a year or two. It kinda costs money in the long run. If you own one and were asking in order to know what to expect. They will hold up for a good while. It is a durable reel. If you do not own that reel yet, I suggest you look at a few other reels right now. First Bass Pro has the Pro Qualifier on sale for $50. It usually sells for $100. It is a much better reel for the money. It too has a big block of followers. Above that is the Daiwa Exceler reels which are vary nice reels. They sold for $100 just a few months ago but now are available online for around $75. Daiwa Tatula CTs can be found on line for $100 shipped to your home. These usually sell for around $130. These are all much higher quality reels. My friend is replacing his Black Max reels with Excelers and Tatula CTs.

Now that is funny! Unfortunately all too often true.

S Sass are you talking about the drag adjustment dial? If so how are you holding your reel. I am curious since I fish 4 Tatula Type R 100s and 2 Tatula CTs and never seem to hit it. I have also read a few others mention it. I just never figured out how they do it. That dial has a click to it, so it should not be too easy to move by accident. Half of my reels are lefties and half are righties. When I grip my rod I have two fingers in front of the reel seat trigger and my thumb up on the reel spool. What hits the dial?

Take a look at the Berkley Lightning Shock rods too. My wife and I both fish a couple of these. We use the medium moderates in 6'6 for throwing rattle traps while chasing stripers in the fall. They would throw small to mid sized crankbaits, rattle traps, and square bills.

Well it would be easy to sell more Lews than almost anything ( with the exception of BPS ) since most of the Bass Pros only stocked BPS, Lews and Browning for the most part. I was in 2 Bass Pro Shops in Tn, one in VA and both the MD and PA stores last year. Their intentions are clear they were pushing mostly BPS gear. During my last trip to the shop in MD there were no Daiwas at all.