Lead Head

Do you guys think this reel could be used for pitching/skipping 1/2 oz jigs on braid? I would love to have a sv spooled reel for skipping (I can do it, but need all the help I can get) but the t-wing and I don't play well together. I just didn't know if the drag and gears can handle jig + braid hooksets.

I haven't been able to find anything that beats Muck boots for comfort. Try to find a store with a decent selection and make the trip to get a feel for what your wanting weight wise. The thicker sole (traditional boot look) is far more comfortable than the thinner one, but the thinner one isn't bad. Turning down the neoprene tops until needed also helps comfort and mobility.

Get bit lists the tip as a 7, Batson says 6, another seller (I cant remember who) listed it as 6.5. I ordered all 3... surely 1 will fit. Throwing 3/8 and 1/2 oz jigs on braid, into heavy cover. Depending on trailer I'm probably pushing 1oz. The XH has the same lower end (3/8oz) as the H and has a 1-1/2oz top end (compared to the 1-1/4oz on the H). All the 1oz rated blanks I have fished a 1/2oz jig with a pit boss trailer on felt maxed out. I'm basically looking for a pitching rod that can provide some sensitivity on the rare occasions that I cast to deeper brush piles. Hopefully this blank gives me that... time will tell.

Safishing.com is the best bang for your buck in my opinion. I wear them daily to cover the top of my head. I own Hoorag, Costa, Buff, and SA. In my opinion there isn't a significant difference between these, some of the other brands may be different (shape, vent holes, ect). I rarely wear them over my face though just on my head in summer and around my neck in winter.

Thanks for the heads up on the updates. I actually bought a dedicated card just for updating mine but haven't got to play with it much. I took the next couple days off work so I can finish installing it and check it out on the water. It seems like a great unit for $299.

If you like to put your finger under the line while fishing your t-rig avoid the T-wing at all costs. It lifts the line out of the T-wing and keeps it from spooling up correctly.

Agreed. That's why its going on the transom. Thanks for throwing that out there though, it's not like I haven't ever done something silly like launch a boat without a plug. ?

Anyone built on this blank or have one on hand? I'm looking at it for a new jig rod and have seen the tip size listed as 6, 6.5, and 7. I'm also trying to find the blank OD in the 14-16 inch range. If someone could easily clear up these questions for me it would be appreciated. I absolutely love my Immortal spinning rod and am hoping that I will love a Immortal jig rod just as much. I emailed Batson a few days ago but I guess they are having issues with our current covid situation.

Thanks for the input guys. I ended up getting the echomap plus 6cv on sale from Basspro. Same price as the hook2 5 but with a bigger screen and more features. Now I need this lockdown stuff to go away so maybe work will slow down enough I can install and use my new toy.

I guess I'm the oddball here. I trim about 1/2 in. off one leg and that's it. I don't bend the hooks out either. I throw frogs into places that make me really want them to be as weedless as possible and haven't had any hook up problems with the hooks out of the package. I'll also give you a bit of frog walking advice. For me, walking a frog is all about having the perfect amount of slack in my line when I "twitch" it. When you get it right you can almost get a poppin pad crasher to walk in place.

This! In my early fishing days I had fish chase my Texas rig back to the boat when I was burning it in for another cast. Since then I have started killing it for a second just before I can see it. Sometimes that's 3 or 4 feet away, sometimes its 10 or 15 feet depending on water clarity. Over the years this has resulted in some really Interesting hookups. Overall I wouldn't say I have caught a lot of fish doing this but definitely enough that I keep doing it.

It has the GT20 transducer. Mine will be here today Fortunately, (or unfortunately depending on how you want to look at it) I am working 6 days a week with lots of overtime right now so who knows when I'll actually get to play with it. I was looking hard at the hook2 5 until I stumbled across this. Just a heads up, you will need a 32 gig (I'm pretty sure micro) sd card to make your own maps. From what I can tell it must be 32, no bigger. Your very welcome on the heads up. To be fair, the monkey made me do it!

Don't know if you pulled the trigger yet or not but basspro and cabelles has the echomap plus 63cv on sale for $299. It has the gt transducer not the cv. 6" screen, lake maps/mapping, and all the wifi goodies. From what I can tell it does everything except side view and hd.

If your wanting actual shoes that breathe really well look into any Merrell shoe that says "ventilator". I love the MOAB series (technically it's a boot but wears like a shoe to me) and I can actually feel a good wind moving through them. They have water shoe options too but a mid height MOAB ventilator gives great support, breathes incredibly well, and dries pretty quick. They have waterproof options but those don't breathe nearly as well... obviously.

The only time fish frustrate me is when I have someone new to fishing with me and cant get them to bite. 95% of the time this is not the case. I love fishing, catching is the goal, but I love fishing. I love being on the water and I love nature. The reason I love the river so much is because I can get away from civilization when I want to. This means I'm not fishing traditional hot spots most of the time but I'm ok with that.

What gets me swinging is when I hang a submerged branch that moves to me when I apply light pressure, then when I ease off it takes up slack returning to its natural position. I either end up sheepishly trolling over to retrieve a buried up jig, or doing Matrix impressions on the boat deck. If I set into a stump with the confidence I have on those swings I would probably break my rod.

Usually if I can't get it loose its deep enough I'm not worried about it hitting me. Wrap line around the boat paddle and pull. On the rare occasion that this happens, I regret always getting "grid iron" jigs from Siebert. I tell myself the next order will be lighter wire hooks... but it never is. It's usually not the hook that's hung up anyway.

I remember the flashers! My dad had one when I was younger. Just having a transom mount letting me know if I'm in 10' or 2' of water will help me keep my lower unit out of trouble. Its not uncommon for the water to have about 3-4 inch visibility on the river I frequent.

Its possible that when you originally spooled it up everything was nice and tight and over time (and digging deeper into the spool for backlashes) it wasn't packed as tight and set higher on the spool. I have also seen line bunch up from holding it tight too close to the reel as you described.

Will be mounted on the transom. If I find myself actually using it as the tool it is ment to be, the long term plan is to move it to the trolling motor and get a bigger unit with side scan. I fish mostly shallow muddy water but make a few trips to clear deeper lakes. I REALLY need a working depth finder and have decided to go ahead and get a unit that will give me some idea of how modern mapping and sonar can help my fishing. I understand that electronics play a massive role in today's fishing but until recently haven't had the money or desire to get into learning them. Sorry for the long answer to your simple question Tom, but I figure the more information people have the easier it will be for them to throw out recommendations. If you guys have any other questions please ask, and thanks again for your input.

Thanks! The hook says it comes with c-maps, I'm not sure what the difference is between the maps. Guess I'll dig into that when I get up this afternoon. I overlooked that particular unit because of the small, vertical screen but now that I know it does what I'm wanting I'm going to look into it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

I've decided to get a fish finder before I knock the lower unit off my boat. I have very limited experience with anything that gives information beyond depth. I'm mostly just a hack bank beater but want something that will let me find/mark some offshore stuff. What I'm basically looking for is the cheapest reliable unit that will give me downscan/imagining, sonar, and contour maps. Right now I'm looking at the hook2 5 because it has everything I want for around $300. I'm steadily reading up and trying to learn more about this stuff but it's a pretty steep curve. I wanted to see if you guys could point me at a few other options in the same price range. Maybe in a few years I'll be back looking for a big boy unit with side scan and all the bells and whistles but for now cheap functionality and GPS with maps (not just mapping) is all I'm after. Thanks for any and all input.

Just getting started I would suggest ned rig and/or senko fishing. You will have a much better experience if you start out with high percentage baits. This should get you started off really cheap and you can decide just how far down the rabbit hole you want to go from there. I'll let the other guys more familiar with your water give advice beyond that.

I looked into finesse casting gear and almost built that blank into a casting rod. My original test run for the ned cost me less than $25 and finesse casting gear is far more expensive than that! After catching so many fish with the spinning gear I found that I enjoyed using it (braid really does make all the difference for me). I also wanted to build my first spinning rod and this was the perfect opportunity. Unfortunately, I'll almost certainly build a bfs casting rod from a spinning blank eventually... and then the hunt for a reel will begin. Hopefully I can keep the monkey satisfied with other builds for awhile. I try to be as budget friendly as possible with my fishing gear but rod building is like fisherman crack, one hit and you suddenly cant stop. Nice drum btw... I hauled in one in the 4-5lb range yesterday on the spinning rod we are talking about.

I have always been a baitcaster guy and shunned any presentations that required the use of spinning gear... until last year. Around March I decided to give in to the hype and fish the ned (thanks bassreasource!), so I went to academy and bought a $15 medium spinning rod. I dug a OLD spinning reel out of the closet and put 20lb kastking braid (with fluorocarbon leader) on it. For about $22 I was set up and ready to prove the ned rig wasn't that great. WRONG... wrong, wrong, wrong... I was so wrong... about everything. Not only was the ned HIGHLY productive, but I also found myself really enjoying catching fish on the spinning gear. So much so that by June I decided to build a dedicated ned rod. The new setup is a ML Rainshadow Immortal with microwave guides and 15lb suffix 832 to 8lb fluorocarbon leader. It is pure joy for ned fishing. All of that just to say this: Ned rigs catch lots of fish Don't avoid spinning gear, it is a useful tool Braided line does eliminate most of the what I didn't like about spinning gear As long as you can cast a 1/10 or lighter ned rig the rod quality don't matter much I prefer a longer rod for longer casts Sorry I went into storyteller mode but it seemed relevant in giving my personal opinions and experiences.