Graham

After feeling them in my local shop I could not justify paying the ticket for them. While they have that style factor that I love about shimano, they felt a touch tip heavy and lacking in sensitivity. The rubber grip on the reel seat is interesting as well, not sure how I feel about that.

Braid to leader for me, primarily because I like a high quality floro leader material that would be way to expensive to spool a whole reel with. I like to use an Alberto knot to secure my braid to the leader. It’s a great knot because it’s extremely fast to tie and goes through my reel and rod eyes like butter!

Had this issue with an older shimano reel of mine. While annoying, once I freed it there were no issues. In my situation the gear that spins the handle had a slight knock to it. I also noticed that the spool had a larger gap on one side, regardless of how tight my tension was. Do you have any of the same things going on with your core?

I started using these this spring and they are easily one of my favorite and most productive baits. I rig them all sorts of ways, get creative!

Oh yeah, Iowa stud!

Nice fish!

Looks beautiful down there! Never a bad day to catch em, especially a 5+, well done!

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Those Chronarch e's are awesome reels huh? I've had them recommended to me for cranking, may have to add that to the line up as well...

That Cali squirrel pattern looks deadly...

Yup those are my yak rods, I can throw anything up to that hud on them and I can throw anything down to a little 1/16 spinnerbait. I wanna get another Dobyns and try a Megabass rod out. Thinking about getting a curado 70 and maybe a 300 size reel for big baits...

Well documented, and nice catches man!

Good point on the water clarity, wasn't thinking about that!

These do it all for me. E6x 7’ MHF MBR Curado 200i Imx 7’ MHF MBR Chronarch ci4+ 150 Planning to get get into some more technique specific stuff of this quality. A swimbait, cranking, and finesse setup should complete it (said the bait monkey).

I like to use moving baits when it’s windy/overcast.

Good stuff! My first year with a watercraft as well and it’s no coincidence I’m catching bigger fish than ever myself. Keep crushing it up there man!

G loomis, Dobyns, and Shimano for me. I hear great things about Megabass and am gonna try one, so maybe I’ll report back on that . I like G loomis for faster action techniques (jig & worm), Dobyns tends the offer a more moderate taper so I like those for things like (cranking, spinnerbaits, and bladed jigs), they also make some killer swimbait rods.

Plastics for me!

That rig is essentially a miniature Alabama rig from what I’ve seen of it. In my opinion it is an over priced fancy spinnerbait.

Slayed em, nice!

Love those baits I’ve been meaning to pick one up. Glad to see it in action!

Thanks for sharing Sam! Pretty wild seeing an eagle swoop in and do its thing...nature is cool

Fun sight fishing spot, caught a decent one at shields lake and had, by estimate, about a 4-5 lb follower on a Hud. @Sam Interesting you say that I always felt better about the other two lakes.

Curado.