McDink

Been wanting to try a glass rod forever, and been a fan of St Croix’s mojo casting rods for a while. My friend and I are going to the Classic this weekend, and St Croix happened to remake their Mojo Glass line with 4 new offerings with their IPC technology and new guides plus redesigned reel seats. 6’10” Medium-Moderate designated as their (Target Cranker) 7’2” Heavy-Moderate designated as their “Rip-N-Chatter” 7’2” Medium-Moderate designated as their (Cranker) 7’4” Medium Heavy-Moderate designated as their “Big Cranker” I fish a lot of smaller 1.5 size square bills, DT06 & DT10 Cranker baits, 1/2oz chatterbaits, 3/8oz & 1/2oz lipless baits. im thinking the 7’2” Heavy for chatterbaits and lipless, and the 7’2” Medium for everything else?? what do you guys think?

trying to make a decision here, I have a lot of Strike King RES, 1.5 & 2.0 square bills, also a lot of Rapala DT6 & DT10. Quite a few need the hooks replaced. I am looking for input, all of these come with round bends, but the trending upgrade is to upsize hooks and go with Short Shank EWG styles. The Rapala DT comes standard with short shank round bends, where as the strike kings come with standard length round bends. a while back I switched to Owner ST-36 on my jerkbaits and have been very happy with them, so I am sort of partial to the brand, but more partial to my wallet. My 1st question is, if I am going to EWG Short Shank, what is best brand/style Gamakatsu Magic eye Mustad KVD Elite triple grip Owner ST-35 My second question is, what is the real motivating factor in going to the EWG short shank style, and are there any draw backs? I would think that with an EWG although you can upsize, you may miss fish if they are short striking or slapping at the bait??

I'm reaching out to the knowledge on here. I live in an area with quite a lot of really good fishing lakes, but they are all restricted to 25hp limits for our boats. naturally that leaves a lot of boat and loading options out of the mix. I primarily fish with my 3 children out of a 2003 Lowe 170W Alum bass boat powered but a Johnson 3cyl 35hp with 25 stickers. After a lot of tuning with different props & engine height we can run that boat with a full fishing load, full fuel, 70lb thrust trolling motor and 3 batteries on board at 23-25 gps mph depending on water using a 12p 4 blade prop. my question is this,...what models of outboards with power tilt and trim are out there in the 25 hp arena that can be built and tuned to push more than what I have now reliably? ideally looking to get 40-50hp out of a platform that is still stamped and stickered as a 25. it wouldn't be conducive to have a motor that originally started life as a 50hp, as ole green jeans would sure view it as easy money. thanks in advance

Guys, Leaving for Cocoa Beach from central Illinois June 15th and will be there for 7 days for family vacation. Somehow managed to talk my wife into letting me take my boat, and wanted to spend a couple days on the water while we are there bass fishing. My boat is only a 17.5ft Lowe Stinger aluminum bass boat with a 35 due to very common horsepower restricted lakes where I live, so I already know that a lot of areas are going to be limited for me. I do have a Helix 7 with GPS and a 70lb 24v trolling motor, so it’s a very fishable boat, just doesn’t handle rough water or long runs very well. Anyway, about the couple days on the water,...always been a dream of mine to fish Toho or Okeechobee, but with limited time and 2 kids ate up with fishing, I was hoping someone would throw me a lifeline on where to start and what kinds of techniques are working right now. Also if I should be looking at other lakes due to time and/or equipment I am for sure open to suggestions. My tackle is pretty well stocked as we live very near some of the best bass fishing in IL and we are on the water 2-3 days a week routinely. My fishing strengths are jig fishing deep structure and jerkbait fishing, but we are set for everything from deep cranking, drop shots, swim baits, Texas rigs, Carolina rigs, you name it and it’s more than likely in the boat,...I have a bit of a tack buying problem. Lol Any help would be appreciated!!

Back in the day Bass Pro used to sell a 6 or maybe a 7 inch studded bodied ribbon tail style worm. anybody out there have any??

I would recommend the same thing for you that I did one of my friends who just started into jig fishing. a really good all around jig that does work well whether casted, pitched flipped, grass, cover, flats etc, is the V&M Pacemaker Series Adrenaline jig. Don't get me wrong I have lots of different ones, but if I was forced to pick one for all applications it would be the adrenaline. I would probably go 1/2 oz, and if your limited to three, I would get a black and blue for dirty water overcast days, a Missouri craw color for working green water in the summer, and a crawdad color for clear water or spring time. would recommend strike king rage chucks as trailers because they offer lots of action in a compact package. Those three colors should cover you year round. I like the head design, it has a flat side that will help the jig stand up when dragging flats, plus with the guarded line tie and overall shape of the head allows it to come through structure really well. skirts are tough and full. the hook is very stout. the weed guard is very thick and I like to thin it a little for easier hook ups but have caught plenty without doing that.

Really appreciate the input everyone!! I’ve searched high and low,...just can’t seem to find a lot of reviews pertaining to 35’s or 41’s. I’ve gotten more useful info here in just one post lol. tons of info out there on 36’s, and I had great success with those last year. I wish Owner put the 35’s and the 41’s in bulk pro packs like they do for the 36’s

Ok guys and gals, Last year I really got into jerkbait fishing. Had some factory hook issues and found Owner ST-36 round bends that I have became very happy with. Subsequently now I have a lot of faith in the brand and would like to keep my hooks coming from the same place. my question today is in regard to 3 different baits. Strike King squarebill KVD 1.5 with factory #4 round bends, Strike King 3/8oz Red Eye Shad with factory round bend #4, and Rapala DT10 with factory short shank #4 round bend. It looks to me like I might like the Owner ST-35 with short shank and 150 degree point position as a great all around hook upgrade for all of the previously listed baits. Has anyone used this exact hook on the previously mentioned baits? If so what sizes did you run on them? Did they hinder any action? Worth the money?? I have also read good things about the ST-41, but am finding conflicting information. Certain websites claim the ST-41 is a short shank and others don’t say that. Does anyone have first hand experience with the ST-41? Are they in fact a short shank hook? thanks in advance.

Update, So I was able to get on the water yesterday, and my son and I were both throwing the Shadow Rap Shads with the upgraded ST-36 hooks from Owner. As stated in my previous update the hooks did weigh a little more, but did not seem to bother the slow rise of the bait other than changing the float/rise angle slightly. However, both of us did in fact notice that the bait didn't seem to have quite as much erratic movement. With this new outing I was using the same rod (St Croix Mojo Jigs/Baits 7'1" MH Fast), but went down to 12lb test Sunline Sniper FC and loosened my drag up quite a bit. We had both caught about 8-10 fish each with no bending issues catching fish in the 1lb-2.5lb range. I did hook and land a 5lb 3oz largemouth. I did not loose the fish, but did find upon inspection of the bait after turning the fish loose find that one of the front trebles did not straighten out but did open up. After all your guys input, I think I am going to go buy a different rod specifically for jerkbait fishing. I can for sure see your points in that if the rod is too stiff, and by throwing FC line that has less give than mono that it could be over stressing the small #6 hooks. I have always been sort of partial to St Croix, and in 20 years of fishing have never had a problem with one. Unless someone on here can give me a better idea for the money I was thinking about getting their Mojo Bass Jerkbait rod. It's a 6'8" Medium/fast. I currently own two of their newer IPC Mojo Rods (Plastics 7'1" Medium Fast & Jigs/Baits 7'1" Medium Heavy Fast) and have had good luck with them so far. Thanks for all the input so far, and am looking forward to your responses.

Update, I live in Springfield IL, which is where Lure Parts Online is headquarters. i bought a 10 pack of Owner ST-36 as well as a 10 pack or the VMC 8540. Both packs were #6 round bend. The original VMC Rapala Light Wire hooks weighed in at 5.8gr., the VMC 8540 weighed in at 5.6gr., and the Owner ST-36 weighed in at 6.9gr. the replacement VMC 8540 feels more dull then the original Rapala VMC Light Wire, and the Owner hooks are substantially sharper than both VMC Hooks. upon installation I float tested a stock Shadow Rap Shad, one with 8540 replacement hooks and one with ST-36 hooks. All three still had a slow rise in the water, but the final float angle was just slightly different. Both the stock and 8540 floated the same and the ST-36 floated with the nose of the bait slightly angled up more and the tail down slightly more. im going to run the ones with the owner hooks and the 8540 and see if I have any durability issues out of either. I will update after my next outing.

RichF, I'm not necessarily dead set on this rod. It's just what I had to use, and I am new to jerk bait fishing. what makes a good jerk bait rod setup? If I'm using the wrong setup I am open to changing it, but I just didn't know if the reason I am having hook bending problems was because of something I had wrong in my setup, or if they are just subpar factory hooks. this bait is designed to suspend and very slowly rise. would the mustads be too heavy to keep the same action? A friend of mine talks very highly of the mustads as well. thanks

I'm new to this forum, so if this is in the wrong place I am sorry. I also tried the search, but couldn't find this question. I am primarily a jig & softbait fisherman, and am fairly new to fishing hardbaits. A friend of mine bought me some jerkbaits for my birthday, and I am learning them with some success as well as I have noticed some problems. I have been having some trouble with my Rapala Shadow Rap Shad jerkbaits with hook bending issues. These baits come factory with VMC Light Wire #6 hooks and they are very sharp, but I am having repeated issues with the hooks bending out on bass much over 3lbs. I contacted rapala and VMC (same company im pretty sure) who stated that currently there is no exact replacement for the "light wire" hook available on the open market, but advised me to look at the VMC 8540 as a suitable replacement. I go to their website to order those hooks and go figure, they are out of stock. My questions are these, is there a better hook then the VMC? will changing to a hook other than the "Light Wire" affect the action and buoyancy of the bait? Are other people having these problems? What would be a good upgrade hook and should I replace the split rings at the same time? The setup I have been using is a 7"1' MH fast st Croix rod with a 7.2:1 shimano reel & Sunline 14# Sniper FC