papajoe222

Welcome to BR. As others have mentioned, gear ratio should be of no concern for a beginning baitcaster. I would, however, recommend one somewhere in the midrange rather than a high speed. I'd go with the 8.1. At the end of the day, it'll get you more casts and will assist in quick hook-sets.

I actually prefer the Fuego over the Tatula. I like it so much, I sold my Tatula and purchased another Fuego. The only time casting distance is important to me is when cranking. I upgraded the spool bearings and I feel I get a few extra yards since doing so. I do notice a difference between the two Fuegos. Although they are both smooth, the 6.3:1 is much smoother. The same observation applies to one of my Sols although they are all geared the same.

Most of the information about reservoirs can be applied to fishing natural lakes. Points, drop-offs, currents, weeds, bottom transitions, are common to both bodies of water. Granted, creek and river channels aren't found in natural lakes and there are other structural differences. The biggest difference that I've found is that fish in natural lakes, with some exceptions, tend to stay shallower during the summer. Notice I said shallower, not shallow although there is usually a shallow pattern that will produce. Smallies are the exception as they can and are often caught at depths of 30ft. or more. Largemouth tend to stay shallower and 'deep fish' will normally stay close to the depth deepest weeds as that is where the forage will be on lakes that have an abundance of them. The other big difference is the forage base in natural lakes. Bluegills, minnows, crawfish and smaller fish like bullheads, young bass and small perch are their main forage. That fact makes lure color choices a little easier, as natural colors produce well.

I found this out quickly. Many of the Chicago area dealers are adding a $5K mark up to their sticker prices and aren't dealing at all unless you consider some dealer incentives. The only good news for buyers it trade-in values are also up and you can get a lot more for your trade, so it kind of washes out the increases.

Welcome to BR. Be sure to visit the introductions forum and tell us a little about yourself. You're likely to get some varied responses to this question as there are those here that fish retention ponds, natural lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. Add to that that some fish from shore, or yaks, or from boats and you can see why answers will be varied. I like that you list your favorites from top to bottom presentations, it shows that you aren't afraid to try the different zones. Fishing ponds, I prefer smaller baits like small cranks and blade baits for moving presentations. For soft plastics, you can't beat a plastic worm T-rigged. Don't forget a jig with a trailer, it's a killer wherever and however you fish.

This system eliminates attempting to get your crank to tick the weed tops and rip it free, just pick one that runs a couple of feet above the weeds. It’s like ripping your crank free of the weeds without the possibility of it actually digging deeper into them.

Most anglers know that cranks produce best when they deflect off of cover, or the bottom and square bills take that deflection up a notch. That’s the reason they’ve become so popular. Another productive, but less practiced presentation involves free swimming the crank a few feet of the bottom. In order to produce that deflection trigger, sharp twitches, or quick turns of the reel handle followed by a short pause will outproduce a stop and go retrieve. This is my favorite retrieve for covering submerged vegetation.

That's what I assumed and I replaced all the plugs and the ignition coil for that cylinder. Turns out there is only 20% compression for that cylinder. To find out the cause would require tearing down the valve/cam system,$4000, plus the cost to repair said problem, $1500 to $3000 above the inspection cost. Kelly's Blue Book lists its value at $4800. The reason I'm so shocked is I didn't expect a 25% increase in prices. If you are unaware of that increase, when you see it, if you're not shocked, you have a lot more money than I do.

It had to happen sooner or later, my tow vehicle (Honda Pilot) will be going to the scrap heap in the near future. I was heading back from a northern Wisconsin fishing trip when the check engine light started flashing and she started bucking. I coaxed her back the remaining 300+mi. Luckily, there weren't a lot of hills to climb. My dealer says it'll be $4K-$7K to fix it. She served me well for almost 12yrs and 222,000+mi. I went car shopping today. I'm suffering from a severe case of sticker shock and am attempting to self medicate. My Pilot is the top of the line Touring edition that I paid just under $40K for. You can't even find and entry level AWD SUV for that kind of money today and the only thing left on the lots around here are the ones with all the bells and whistles and their $55K+ price tags will do more than make you whistle. So I'll be waiting out the shortage and doing a lot of shore fishing for the next three or four months and doing a lot of self medicating.

A Canadian trip to someplace with a nice lodge, boats and guides. One week away from everything including cell phones and TV. Eat, sleep, fish, repeat.

Yes, Another knot question. After multiple knot failures using a palomar knot for single hook presentations, I'm done. I can't change my hook-set, even though I've tried and more times than I care to remember, I've had break offs at the knot . I've tried a version of the Albright, but I prefer a double line knot. I've tried the Jimmy Houston knot, which is just a double line version of it. It's a pretty good knot, but it's a bit of a POA to tie. Recommendations please.

I'd stick with the Jelly Worm, unless you're looking for a better color selection. I've even used the last four or five inches of one that's been torn at the head on a shakey head with success.

Adding a quality, ball bearing swivel above the hook helps tremendously. The problem is jamming it into your rods top guide when using a long drop line from the hook to the weight. It also eliminates the need for a braid to fluoro knot when using braid.

I replaced the hooks on mine with 1/0 Mustad 3X treble hooks. Can't remember if they were standard length, or the short shank ones.

I prefer something that covers a lot of water quickly as that morning bite is usually on flats. A buzzbait, or a Jitterbug are my go to choices. I actually use another topwater as a follow up on missed strikes rather than a Fluke, or some other soft plastic. You can't beat two blow-ups from the same fish for excitement.

There is no comparison to the memory of a women lied to. She will remind you fifty years afterword and quote you word for word.

One season a while back, I actually caught the same fish four times. Once in April, twice in July and again in September. Small, 60 acre natural lake. A torn lip that never closed up when it heald left no doubt it was the same fish

I hit a new lake a couple of weeks ago and I only had one day to fish it. I spent some time researching the day before and made some mental notes of areas I wanted to check out. Once on the water, I spent the better part of an hour checking them out with my electronics before I ever made a cast. Although it was time well spent, I also feel that I wasted some precious fishing time in my search. On average, how much on the water time do you spend scoping out a new body of water, vs. a lake you frequent?

I'd contact a reel repair shop and see if they'd be interested in taking them off your hands. I doubt if they'd offer much, but at least you wouldn't be tossing them.

Getting back to the original topic of hitting a target in 25-30 FOW. You'll need a presentation that falls fairly quickly. I don't know how you have that Kietech rigged, but even if it's falling at a rate of 1ft. per second, you're looking at half a minute for it to fall to that depth. A lot can change, especially as you mentioned with the wind blowing the boat around, in that amount of time. Add to that the fact that your presentation doesn't fall straight down, it swings toward you as it falls. A marker buoy is a good choice to help locating a piece of structure. Consistently hitting that target in deeper water takes patience and practice. Good luck

If you're currently using circle hooks, how are you managing to gut hook fish? They're designed to eliminate gut hooking. I'd work hard on your inability to detect bites. It takes practice watching your line and feeling for a bite. My guess is you're likely missing fish that spit out your offering, so that's a bonus to learning.

I still use marker buoys when fishing a long stretch of submerged weeds, something that my local lake doesn't have. A few of the other lakes I frequent have them, but when I use buoys, they seem to attract other anglers, so I only mark a short length. Many of the submerged weeds I can see in the clear water and I normally pitch short distances, so I don't even bother.

Most ‘flipping’ tunes are double dipped for durability. Although I have fished them on a regular tube jig, the majority of time it’s T-rigged. I’ve gone through most of my inventory of them as I don’t have a lot of confidence in them. I prefer a craw/creature tube for flipping and whether it’s with an exposed hook (my personal preference), or stupid rigged, Iseem to just do better with soft, hand poured tubes.

RageTail cut-R worm, stick worm, Fluke, Tubes and an occasional toad.

I never understood the need to use heavy wire hooks for Flukes. It’s basically an open water presentation, not a heavy cover one. Even if a fish burries itself in weeds. The pros and tournament anglers use heavier line and heavy wire hooks because the don’t want to waste time going to the fish to retrieve it. They’d rather sacrifice a few bites.