Lard_Bass

airborne, I switched to braid because I had some much line twist in flouro when I was tossing light jig heads and weightless worms. Since I switched to braid, the line twist issue is gone since there is no memory. The only thing I get with braid every so often is a dreaded wind knot. I am pretty much converting to braid on all my setups that are non-crankbait.

While casting, one my treble hooks on a crankbait caught one of my seats on my boat. The tear is about 1-1.5 inches long. I already used Permatex Vinyl Sealant but it looks like my seat has a scar now. Any suggestions on how to repair a vinyl seat tear? Thx.

Rebel Pop-R Chug Bug

I looked into digital scales as well and got a boga grip for a birthday present recently. I couldn't have been more ecstatic. The scale is accurate and helpful with those toothy fish like pike. Also, every review on the digitals I have read there are issues surrounding reliability and durability. Instead of buying a couple of scales during a lifetime, this boga will be it. I usually make the mistake of going cheap in an attempt to find value. In this case, I would not recommend buying a cheap scale.

Thanks Catt, I am inspired to give jigs a try this weekend. Will let you know how I do. I feel you have given me some basic knowledge that is giving me the confidence to throw some jigs.

Thx Catt. To keep the presentation as vertical as possible, would you cast about 5-10 feet?. How many bounces off the bottom would you do before you reeled the jig up to cast again? I am trying to understand how fast I should be casting / reeling. It seems like your approach is semi-search bait like. I really stink at jigs and this has been helpful. Thanks for your insights.

Catt, If you are 15-25 yards away from the matt, that would put me in 20+ feet of water. First, would you throw a heavier or lighter jig? Second, if my fish finder was showing a barren/flat bottom with no weeds on the bottom, would you still pitch a jig? Or should I start as far away from the matt where there is some growth on the bottom? Thx.

Ok, I flat out suck on jigs. I have tried and have zero confidence in them. I have caught a handful on jigs. At this point, I am thinking of going out and only bringing one rod and jigs only with me until I master the technique. So, I am turning to you guys for help. I fish a lake with lots of milfoil. Typically, the milfoil comes out in 12-14 feet of water. I usually fish the outside weed edge with cranks and shakey head worms and do really well. The milfoil is really thick so pitching into little openings has yielded no results for me. From the shore to the weedline, the milfoil carpets the surface so I usually stay away from the inside of the weedline because of how thick it is. Typically, there are no rocky bottoms on this lake. I am usually dealing with soft/hard bottom transitions. Any advice would be appreciated. All of the fish I have caught on jigs have been around docks but I have caught bigger fish in 14-17 feet of water on the outisde weed edge. I wanted to see if a jig would help land the bigger ones.

Pretty much everything within its rating. It really excels at light contact baits, though it does the sissy size soft swimbaits, vibe baits in weeds, spinners, buzzers, even shallow cover banging cranks very well. I've played with the tube, while the specs are similar, its not the same blank. Interesting. I asked the guys at St. Croix and they told me it was the same blank just wrapped for spinning reels. Two different guys when I was deciding to upgrade told me that. Can you please elaborate how the 2 blanks are not similar. Thanks. I have been throwing shallow cranks, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and topwaters with the Tube. They are different blanks....feel different, have different specs, weights and everything. Your boys were mistaken. 4S70MF Tube LTBS70MF 7' 6-12 3/16-5/8 1 FAST 0.460 5.5 1.8 $ 140 4C70MF Teaser LTBC70MF 7' 10-17 1/4-5/8 1 FAST 0.480 5.5 2.2 $ 155 I saw those specs and when I asked the guys at St. Croix, their response was in the construction between spinning and casting gear and with balance points / capabilities of those reels. The guys I talked to were at the HQ/factory location who both said the same blank was used to construct both rods. Just wanted to share my discussion and my impression was the two rods are very close (differences do exist but they said very subtle in overall feel and application). I haven't felt a Teaser so I wouldn't know the feel difference. Regardless, both are good rods. And, back on track, I am still the happiest with the LTBS68MXF.

Pretty much everything within its rating. It really excels at light contact baits, though it does the sissy size soft swimbaits, vibe baits in weeds, spinners, buzzers, even shallow cover banging cranks very well. I've played with the tube, while the specs are similar, its not the same blank. Interesting. I asked the guys at St. Croix and they told me it was the same blank just wrapped for spinning reels. Two different guys when I was deciding to upgrade told me that. Can you please elaborate how the 2 blanks are not similar. Thanks. I have been throwing shallow cranks, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and topwaters with the Tube.

J Francho, What do you use your Teaser for? I have the Tube (LTBS70MF - I upgraded my other Avid as well). I talked to a couple techs at St. Croix who said it's pretty much the same rod as the Teaser. They recommended "anything." I have tossing Spinnerbaits with it, topwater, and cranks because that's what I used my old comparable Avid for.

So, I was fishing this weekend and caught a bunch of bass on a particular setup. One of my Avids broke at the end of last season and I upgraded to the Legend Tournament Finesse Spinning Rod (LTBS68MXF). I paired this up with a Shimano CI4 which I reviewed last summer but now spooled with Fireline Braid. OMG, this setup is so sensitive. This setup alone accounted for 10 out of 13 bass I caught in a heavily pressured weekend (lots of pre and post tournaments on the lake I was on). I fished in areas where I saw other boats come and go with no bass being landed (I watched from a distance and waited for those areas/coves to clear out). I went in and felt the tiniest of bites on a shakey head setup. I was amazed. This is my new favorite setup. What's yours? One rod / reel/line/ application. The search for one.

Goose52, Nice rig. I am glad that I was able to give you some ideas for the canoe. I need to register mine and get mine back in the water. You'll find that once you get off the bank, you'll never want to shorefish again. I bought a boat last year and love it. I still want my canoe for the smaller lakes/ponds. If I do any more mods to my canoe, I'll keep you posted. One last thing, watch those rod tips. As Rhino pointed out, those tips could easily get caught up on some brush. Regardless if the rods were stored horizontally or vertically, they always found a way to get into some brush. I see yours are hanging out the back, be careful. Fyi, one last thing I found to work nicely in the canoe was to fish facing the back of the canoe while standing up. I was able to control the trolling motor easier and it gave me the feel as if I were fishing off the front of a boat. Just my .02.

I don't want to get boat "rage" but I was seriously ticked. Instances like mine sometimes ruin a good / relaxing time on the water. A couple of weekends ago, I was trolling about 5-10 feet from docks. A boat coming from my right (perpendicular) was making a slow approach so I slowed down because I thought he was trying to get into a dock. Instead, he pulled right in front of me (less than 2 feet from my boat). My jaw hit the ground. There wasn't another boat on this lake but he found it so important to pull in front of mine and fish. One of my co-workers strongly believes that boaters should go through some certification (or forced to get a boating license). While it won't prevent poor etiquette, it could limit the amount of jerks on the water. I am beginning to like his idea.

Ok, I have to ask this because I am curious to what is proper etiquette when fishing from a boat on a particular area. One morning, I came to a point that had a boat parked right at the point with 2 people fishing from the boat. I didn't fish the area but watched from a distance until they cleared out. Well, I get to the area and, after 15-25 minutes of fishing, I catch a couple nice bass. Well, 10 minutes later, a guy in his bass boat trolls right between my boat and the shoreline (basically to the area where I was casting). He trolled around for about 15 minutes on top of the weed bed, casting his spinner, caught nothing and left. I was still able to catch 2 more fish trying to manuever around him. This area was not big and only about 50-60 feet from shore. What is proper boat etiquette for fishing an area? I hate crowding around boats and if there is one boat on a point, I'll fish the complete other side or give the other boat lots of room. Just curious.

I have a similar unit and had the exact same problem. I tried another head unit and same thing happened. Once I replaced the transducer, all was good again. I bought a cable shield (cheap plastic tube for computers) to prevent the transducer cable from getting caught against the trolling motor where it drops in.

So, I am tired of estimating the weight of the fish I catch. I am thinking of getting a fish scale. Any good recs? I see there are plenty of inexpensive ones out there but the reviews are mixed. I am thinking about getting a Boga grip (30 lb version since I target Pike and Muskie along with Bass). Before I drop money on a Boga, I just wanted to see if there is a better value out there. Any suggestions?

I looked into the Powell and Dobyns rods and ended getting a Lamiglas Excel (XL705Glass). It's only $99 and a great value. I started fishing with it a couple of weeks ago and really enjoy it.

Put 2 1/2 or 3 lbs of weight in a plastic grocery bag and tie your line to the handles. GENTLY raise your rod tip and adjust the drag to where it just begins to slip as the bag is lifted off the ground. With your hand, pull some line off the reel several times to get a "feel" for where you have the drag set. On future outings you can set the drag without actually using the weight. 8-) x2. I have been doing this little trick as RW described for several years now. Learned it from these forums and my drag has worked flawlessly. Landed some decent size pike and a small musky on my bass rods. Even fought a 7-10 lb carp for a while until the bugger decided to make one more dash for the docks and wrap my line around a pole (my only snap off in the past 4 years since setting my drag properly). It's simple and easy to do. My kids laugh when they see me "fishing for groceries."

and another. And another vote for Clarus again.

Nice, it's early on a Sun morning and I was wondering if the line coming of the spinning reel would be put on backwards on the baitcaster. Cool, I am going to spool this directly onto my baitcaster. Thanks for the help.

I was wondering if there is an easy way to transfer line from one reel to another. I have some Inviszx Flouro on a spinning outfit but I don't like all the line twists that I get so I am thinking of switching to braid. With that being said, Inviszx is good stuff and I think I am going to use it on a baitcaster. Any tips on switching it out? Just trying to avoid spending another $15 on a spool of Inviszx.

x2. I use Fireline braid on my Clarus and no problems.

x2 on the Clarus 2-piece. I bought one for car trips and haven't been disappointed. Great rod for the price. Very sensitive and comparable to higher end rods that I have.

Fish Fast, you are welcome. I think you will be quite happy with the MXF. I know it's a little more but you may want to look at the Legend Tournament Bass line. The rods are almost 10% lighter and I like the split cork. Also, if you get the Avid you can always upgrade from the Avid to another line with St. Croix. St. Croix will only depreciate the rod $10 per year. If your rod breaks (normal usage) and St. Croix determines it can be covered by warranty, you can upgrade at original retail price. This is how I upgraded my Avids (one broke and I decided to upgrade the other).