jimmyjoe

Hmmmm .... interesting. That might (or might not) be my baby. Are the 1/8th size stable, or do they upset and turn over easily?

Well, I looked at those two. They're standard-size spinnerbaits. I've got plenty that size. I'm looking for a smaller profile spinnerbait, which unfortunately usually means lighter. The lil' Mr. Money and the finesse War Eagle are 3/16 oz. weight rating; about 3/8 oz. total, or a hair more maybe. Just the right size to get crushed by a pike or dogfish. (Push come to shove, I'd go with the War Eagle; it's more productive. But it sure is fragile!) I've even tried to take a regular 1/4 oz. spinnerbait, cut the top arm shorter and change the blade to something smaller in order to get a smaller lure that is still robust. Works fine as long as you don't want to catch any fish. jj

Sometimes I like to use smaller spinnerbaits for bass. Li'l Mr. Money and War Eagle finesse are my favorites. But one good sized pike or bowfin on these smaller spinnerbaits, and they're toast. Anyone know of a good, strong smaller spinnerbait, one that's robust enough to be re-bent after a big toothy critter tries to kill it? I have good spinnerbaits that are 1/4 oz. and larger that are fine; they're made for fish like pike. And they're good for bass .... usually. I just need something smaller sometimes, and that's when I run into trouble. Thnx. jj

That's the kind of info I've been looking for -- the firsthand kind. Appreciate it. I was a little worried about the sensitivity issue. How was the rod for distance compared to a fast graphite of the same length? Less, more, or the same? Thnx jj

Santa was nice; I have a new Curado 70 now. I want to use this for lightweight cranks. One of my fishing buddies is a fiberglass fanatic. He says it performs better than graphite with lighter-for-rating lures. I've not used fiberglass. Does anyone here have an opinion about fiberglass? How is it for distance? How is it on the hookset? Can you feel what's going on under the water with squarebills? Would fiberglass be any good for 1/4 oz. Bill Lewis Mini-traps? Thnx for your replies; this is new ground for me. jj

Nice fish! It's odd to me to hear you describe the fall. Back in the day, I'd use 1/100th oz. jigs with marabou and tinsel to deliberately give a SLOW fall. That was with a fly rod, of course. I have no idea why we were so caught up in the "slow fall" idea, but we were. Nowadays, I cast little spoons and occasionally get hit on the drop. I count the seconds, and consider it an accurate estimation of depth of the school. One of the reasons I use spoons is that the two lakes that are my favorite crappie spots require long casts. Both of then have points covered in habitat that go out quite a ways. Yeah, I know, I know; I should buy a boat. Little birdie says, "Cheap, Cheap!". jj

Yeah, I'm starting to see that. Because I eat crappie, I was hooked on the idea of bigger fish. I think I'm going to play it cautious: I'm going to go a little bigger, but try out several low-diameter mono lines for feel and pre-load. I won't use superlines. I fought those for 5 years, and gave up. I'm now monofilament only. Got some Magnathin, some AN40, and am looking for P-line PF. I never saw it before, but my nephew who fishes the Florida swears by it. And I'm going to go the traditional fisherman's route, also. I'm gonna get a new rod; L/Mod if I can. That will give me enough leeway to sorta ease into this bigger size bracket of lures. I'll give you a little background: when I first was taught to fish for crappie, about 1963, I was taught by a fly fisherman. His idea was that you never have to use anything that a fly rod won't handle. I got away from fly fishing, and went on to bigger fish. When I developed arthritis about 15 years ago, I had to go back to an ultralight to stay in the fishing game. (Less torque and stress.) I automatically, without even thinking, used ultralight lures for crappie. It was an attitude that was just ingrained. Now I have a chance to get out of that mental mindset. 2018 might be interesting! Thnx. jj

Let me tell you how this all started, and then you might see where I'm going. This last year, I was casting for crappie with a #3 Mepps Aglia, a fairly reliable crappie-getter. One of the guys I fish with was using a #5 Aglia, going for bass. He caught a crappie. No snag or anything; the crappie bit the hook. I must have looked incredulous, because he laughed and said, "Yeah, it happens sometimes. Crappie sometimes go for big lures, y'know." Well, no, I hadn't known they hit something THAT big. So we got to talking, and he said that there were slews of 3/8 crankbaits and spoons that are good crappie lures. (I think he said that because he knew that I love to use spoons.) So I got out some 1/3 and 3/8 oz. lures (ones that he thought might be productive for crappie) and put them on my smallmouth rod. It's a ML/F that had 8 lb. line on it at the time. I might have caught one or two crappie that morning, but the rest of the time was pure frustration. I'd think I got a hit, but .... no fish. I thought I could feel what was going on, but .... nope. Dead feel. So I took the reel with 4 lb. line off my ultralight, and put it on the medium light. Heck, yeah! Now I could feel what was happening, and I started to hook crappie again. But that day, I threw two lures away because the line snapped. I can't remember both, but one was a 3/8 oz. silver spoon. I noticed that the 4 lb. line gave me a LOT better feel with that (or any other) spoon compared to the 8 lb. line. Later I tried 6 lb. line, and I had some luck, but could still feel the lure better with 4 lb. line. So I figured would use 4 lb. for as much as I could, only moving up to 6 or 8 when I absolutely HAD to. I know that this rod is a lot different than the ultralight I was using, and stresses the line more. But if I can feel what's going on, I can hook fish better with this rod than the ultralight. Faster reaction time on my part, I guess. I want to use 4 lb. with 1/3 ounce Cleo spoons for sure, and 5/16 Bomber A4 crankbaits, too. But I don't have any idea how much further I can push it, and whether the stress I'd put on the 4 lb. line increased the chances of it snapping like it did. I feel comfortable predicting how 8, 10 or 12 lb. line is going to act. I am far less confident when talking about 4 lb. line. Now you, Team9nine, said "... unless you're trying to wing something crazy in weight for 4 lb. line ... " What's a crazy weight? Where should I stop? From what I've always seen, crappie in fall hit a bigger set of lures than crappie in spring. They all taste great, though! jj

Let's say you're fishing for crappie. (I am.) And let's say you use 4 lb. mono line. (I do.) And let's say you change from an ultralight/moderate to a medium light/fast. (I did.) At 1/8-5/8, it's more powerful but it's also "deader", if you get me. It's rated 4-10 lb. line. I've always gone the really light lures route for crappie, but there are a lot of heavier lures out there that are supposed to work really well. I'd like to try them. So how heavy a lure can I zing out there on 4 lb. line before I reach its limit? I'm not thinking so much about an ideal, one-time case; I'm thinking that as line is used and cast time and again, it gets some abrasion that weakens it. Then 19 casts go perfect, and the 20th goes, "SNAP!". (Oops!) I know 1/4 ounce is OK. How much further should I go? The reason I want to use 4 lb., btw, is that it pre-loads well and gives me better sensitivity, whereas heavier lines kinda "muffle the touch", and I fish crappie by touch, not sight. Thnx. jj

Probably. The old spinning rods, with aluminum reel seats, usually had them. Over the years, they disappeared. Agreed. Tennis tape was one of the (many) tapes I tried, both on the reel foot (per mfgr's advice) and on the locking nut itself. And it works. I just hate it, when downlocking seats work just as good or better. I don't know .... maybe I'm just being a little bitchy. Thnx to everyone for the answers, though. jj

The reason I hate uplocking reel seats is that the locknut loosens a little every time I cast. After 4 or 5 casts, I have to tighten it up again. Caastcastcast tighten castcastcast tighten. Drives me NUTS! All brands do it, although some worse than others. So I wrap some kind of tape around the reelseat locking nut so that it stays in place. Burns my butt that I have to put duct tape on a $200 rod to keep the reel in place. The downlocking seats on the Fenwicks, Cabela's house rods and Ducketts work fine. Just fine. They don't loosen up no matter what I do. Those rods, regardless of the fact that they're good rods, are not all that I want to use for fishing. Fenwick's uplocking, now on most of their rods, and St Croix Tidemaster would be, in some cases, perfect for certain things I want to do. But I avoid them because I hate the uplocking reel seats. jj

Oh, well ..... another good idea shot to pieces. I guess I'll just have to go on using duct tape, packing tape or tennis tape. jj

Good evening. I like several spinning rods that have uplocking reel seats. I hate uplocking reels seats. I hate them, I abhor them and I detest them. How difficult (and expensive) would it be to take a factory spinning rod with an uplocking reel seat, remove it and change to a downlocking reel seat? And b4 you tell me I'm crazy ....... yes, I am. I know it. jj

I was 100% spinning for 15 years. Not because I wanted to be, but because of injury arthritis. This year my hands have gotten a lot better, and I got 2 baitcasters. I figured I was on the top of the world; I had always loved casting. y'know what? I went fishing the last 2 weeks ..... with spinning gear. I've realized just how capable it really is. My love of casting gear was really sentimental, not based on capability. Crappie to pike, spinning gear can do it all. (Wanna buy a couple baitcasters? :0:0:0:):):) jj

Creek fishing, eh? Man it's been years since I slogged up the creeks around here. I used a 5' St. Croix Premier with a Penn 4300ss and 4 lb. line. Too stiff. In a creek, fish can use the shallow areas to get their tail under them and increase their leverage by many times. I then used a 7' Daiwa Presso when they came out. Fantastic rod for the price, but a creek rod it ain't. Not by a long shot. IF I were to get back into creek slogging, I'd use a rod NO LONGER than 5'. Later on, I had a Pflueger President 6925, as did one of my friends. We used 4 lb mono, 8 lb Nanofil and 10 lb Stren braid. No problems. The President reels, however, need oil and grease fairly often to perform at their best. Particularly, oil the line roller and grease the drag washer. Close-in fights, like you get in creeks, put lots of stress on a drag. That said, the 6925 would be great for creek slogging. And my opinion of Daiwa rods is that they've always been good for the price. All the shorter Daiwa ultralights, however, are rated 1/8 ounce max lure weight ..... and I found that to be fairly accurate. Are you prepared to fight a fish in close quarters with that tender a rod? Don't get me wrong; I'm not criticizing. If you can answer "yes", then more power to ya. I couldn't do it, though. All my ultralights were rated 1/4 ounce lure weight max. That gets you into a little beefier rod, if you can use the word "beefier" to describe ultralights. You might look into a Fenwick HMX or a St. Croix Triumph. They might be more to your liking. They are both a little more "flexible" than my old Premier was. Whichever way you go, good luck to you. Have a ball, and wear the best protective footwear you can afford. jj

I can try that, too. American Fishing Wire has always made good products. As for "knottable" ..... I went that route years ago. Results were not very good. But I can try again; I notice that many different things have improved or changed a great deal in 30 years. Thnx A-Jay. jj

Ouch!!! Well, now I know, don't I. jj

That's something I hadn't thought of. I can chk into it. Thnx. jj

Thx guys. I knew fc stretches, but I had anticipated that I would have to use so high a test that it wouldn't make any difference .... I just had no idea HOW high a test. It's annoying as heck when you're fishing your favorite crankbait, and TUG ... and nothing. No lure, no fish. I'm no lover of pike, that's for sure. And I didn't think mono was the type of line to be tooth-resistant at all, at any size. I tried 17# Trilene xl, because I could tie my terminal knot a little easier. Chomp. It didn't happen right away, but it happened eventually all the same. And I tried P-line Fluoroclear. Tying small, tight knots with that was impossible, altho it seemed to be a much better line to fight the occasional pike. (Sometimes. in August and early Sept, the pike are more than just "occasional".) The P-line, being part fc, was what got me to thinking about using fc as a leader material. I tried Vanish, but that was a fiasco. I think a bluegill could break that stuff. So anyway, I thought I'd ask here. I figured that somewhere, someone fished for bass where there were pike the way I do, and could give me advice on minimum size line. And yes, I tried metal leaders. If the water was muddy, that was OK. But if the water wasn't real murky, the hit count went way down. A friend of mine advised Maxima Chameleon in a higher test. He says it's really abrasion resistant. I didn't try it because I thought there wasn't any mono at all that would resist a pike's teeth. Maybe I'm wrong. Anyone use Chameleon? jj

1) I'm going to use a fluorocarbon leader for bass crankbaits in an area where there are pike. What's the smallest diameter you would recommend I use? 2) Which fluorocarbon line ties the smallest, tightest knot without slipping? Thnx ..... jj

It happened again this morning, and I found out my answer ..... at least for today. 10" Havoc worm, 1/32nd nose weight and slow, steady retrieve. Never woulda thunk it, not in a million years. A guy and his wife about 80' away stayed on top, and got skunked. Oh, well. That's what I like about fishing; you learn something new every day. Drives me crazy sometimes, but I learn something. Thanks to everyone for your help. jj

Yeah, maybe. The thing was, I was focused on topwater, and I have no idea what changed or how much it changed when the wind came up. The fish were there alright. I just didn't know what to throw. jj

I fished a buzzbait this morning, in calm conditions and close to shore. Got fish. The wind came up -- 10 to 12 mph. No hits on the buzzbait. I tried spoons, spinnerbaits and Bomber Long A. No luck. I was frustrated. What should I have tried? jj

I see. Thank you. jj

Thanks for your help. I looked at the Kuying on the web, but the Benkei seems to be discontinued or some similar problem. Majorcraft lists no 2-pc. rods on their USA site. Can you tell me where I can get these rods .... especially interested in the Kuying. Thnx. jj