ACSport

I did some successful trout fishing this season using my walleye setup (ML Spinning rod), but not good enough. Up in MN all we have are stocked trout ponds and tiny stocked trout streams, hatchery rainbows with a few natural browns mixed in. Now I want to get a dedicated trout setup for next season. I need something with the accuracy of a baitcaster to get in tight spaces but in an ultralight size to be able to throw light trout worms and dough rigs on fluoro. I'm thinking an ultralight spincasting setup. Yes, you read that right, spincasting, not spinning. I've got a 5' ultralight rod rated all the way down to throwing 1/64th of an oz lures, and I am thinking of pairing it up with a nice, high-quality zebco delta or omega spincast reel. I can hopefully use the push-button to control distance mid-cast like a baitcaster and since the reels are meant to be tangle resistant I was going to spool 4lb fluorocarbon on it. Is there anything I'm missing here in my logic or is this a terrible idea?

Alright so I took Tim Kelly's advice and cleaned off the drag washer (there's really only one), sure enough there was grease on it, then I absolutely cranked the star drag to get it to be completely tight. What do you know, I doubled my max drag to 6 lb! Lol, still not nearly up to spec, but at least that hits the 1/3 of line strength threshold people say you need. So maybe now I won't look like an idiot and get spooled by a dinky bass... maybe.

Hi all. I'm having issues with a weak drag system on my Abu Garcia Promax reel and wondering if it can be fixed. Now a little backstory; yesterday I was out fishing and caught a bunch of dink smallmouths, I noticed my drag slipping just a bit even with it locked down tight. OK, no biggie I thought as I still landed the fish. Then I hooked into a pike and immediately he screams off 20 feet of line from the drag. I had to thumb the spool pretty hard to try and keep tension but alas he got off. That got me wondering. I looked up the specs of the reel online and it advertises a max drag rating of 18lbs. Considering I was using 15lb fluoro at the time my line should have snapped before the drag went off. So today I took a scale and measured the drag strength... 3lb max! Weak! No wonder it was barely enough to stop a smallie. Is there anything I can do or am I stuck getting a better reel? PS I've only had this reel since June.

Booked a camping trip up at Crow Wing state park for next weekend. Any tips for fishing that area from shore? Is it worth it to rent a Kayak to fish there? I'll take anything that bites after the horrible month I've had.

It's not just you, I've never had any luck from that spot either in the 3 times I've tried this season. Bank angler same as you, all I ever heard was there's loads of fish and many good spots and you can walk all the way up to the dam on the Rum for some good fishing... nope. Off the janky plastic docks into the Mississippi with everything from cranks to senkos... nothing. Have got one bite on the rum from the first break in the trees as you head north, that's it. Then if you can find it there's the beach-like area opposite the boat launch on the rum, but I found it too shallow and sandy. I have no clue how to get all the way up to the dam from there. So I just give up and go to my favorite spot, Lake cenaiko in coon rapids dam park. Fish the river on either side of the point just behind picnic shelter #4, then when the smallie bite goes away head down to the west shore of the lake for some largemouth. There's about 3 good gaps in the trees to fish from north of the west dock.

I'm in a similar boat(less). Earlier in mid-june the shoreline weeds weren't so terrible and I was able to throw 5" senkos like the two above said and it was unbeatable. Now however I've noticed the weeds have really come in and created a decent mat on most lakes and ponds I fish and the Senko just can't get down through it. Try this; instead of a Senko, rig up a dropshot and texas rig a soft worm of your choice. That should keep it horizontal like a Senko and you'll have enough weight to get down through the weeds. Don't be afraid to cast and reel it in like a jig, that works too.

Just getting back into fishing so take it with some salt. I take two combos because that's all I have, I'm exclusively a bank angler right now. 1. Abu Garcia Promax casting combo, 7' Medium Heavy Rod, 14lb Berkley fluoro. Mainly used for jigs, river fishing over rocks, and cranks when I can 2. Pflueger Trion spinning combo, 6'Medium Light rod, 8lb P-line copolymer. Finesse fishing with soft plastics as well as light jigs and cranks. I usually take both with me in hand when hiking, but I will say I'm starting to use the spinning combo more and more.

Hey everyone, just wanted to say hi to the forum. I just got back into fishing after a roughly 7 year hiatus for college, postgrad life. Before that my family was avid anglers here in the west metro of MN. Now out on my own I've picked up a couple new rod and reel combos and am ready to get back into bass fishing again, this time from the bank. Tight lines and big hauls everyone.