ITO_ZILLION

Looking for a 200 sized reel for baits in the 1.0 - 3.0 oz range. Kind of confused, a Daiwa Tatula 200 and a Shimano Tranx 200 are both 200 sized reels. And yet when I look them both up on TW, their line capacities are totally different. According to specs and papers, the Daiwa Tatula 200 holds more line while the Shimano Tranx 200 holds less line. Which reel is going to hold more line, a Daiwa Tatula 200 or a Shimano Tranx 200? I should go with the Daiwa Tatula 200 if I need more line capacity right? I like fishing braid to a leader and so I like to use the highest pound braid that I can get away with in order to minimize the braid from digging in and causing a backlash. I need a reel that will have enough line capacity left on the spool during a long cast, in order to maintain a high IPT for covering more water.

Is it just me or does the stiffness of a fishing line get stiffer the higher you go in line rating...??? I bought some YoZuri hybrid in 10, 12, 15 and 20 lb for leaders. I was practicing tying knots and testing knot/line strength and I noticed that the 20lb hybrid was stiffer and more difficult to tie knots vs the 10lb which felt softer and easier for tying knots. Now that I think about it, I guess it makes sense since the more thicker a line is, the denser it is and therefore the line is going to be more stiff. Less material = soft, more material = hard. Has this always been the case for mono and flourocarbon lines? Is it the same for braided line also?

Kind of confused. I know the concept and philosophy behind the Free Rig and all of its advantages. The part I am confused about is the bite detection on a Free Rig. Depending on how deep your fishing, the amount of weight your using, the type of bait your using and how long it takes your bait to get to the bottom, wouldn't there be issues and/or delayed bite detection on a Free Rig? Correct me if I'm wrong but since the Free Rig uses a sliding weight and the weight sinks faster than the bait, there could be a lot of line and/or 'slack' between the weight and the bait. And if a fish hits the bait 'mid fall' and also swims towards the bottom, before the weight has a chance to hit the bottom, wouldn't bite detection suffer or is delayed since there is so much 'slack' in the line between the weight and the bait? I don't know if my train of thought or theory is correct and so I am confused since I have been thinking a lot about this rig and how it falls through the water column and it kind of dawned on me that it might have a potential flaw or setback with bite detection.

Planning on making some DIY Jika Rigs and need some tips and help. Swivel or no swivel on a Jika Rig...? I have seen people use a swivel and swear by it. I have seen people go no swivel and just tie straight to the split ring and swear by it. So, I am confused. If your on 'team swivel', in your opinion, does the swivel help keep line twist down to a minimum or eliminate it all together? If your on 'team no swivel', in your opinion, do you get line twist and if so, how often? What size swivel would be most versatile and that will cover most Jika Rig applications like pitching, flipping, punching and open water? Right now, I have some #5/65LB VMC Rolling Swivels. They seem to be small enough to be stealthy for open water scenarios and also the eye seems to be big enough for tying higher lb test flourocarbon without too much hassle for some heavy duty pitching/flipping. What size split ring should I go with as an all around size that will work for most Jika Rig applications? I usually try and buy Owner Hyper Wires or Spro Power split rings when in stock. Hooks are pretty easy to figure out since a DIY Jika Rig lets you have freedom in what size and kind of hook you want/need. The only thing is making sure the hook eye is horizontal/180 degrees and not vertical/90 degrees.

Also to everyone and just a clarification... The reason why I think of bass fishing in terms of High Percentage areas and Low Percentage areas is because I was usually taught (videos/seminars/fishing shows) that in any kind of lake that has bass, there is usually always an 80/20 Rule. That is, 80 percent of the lake's water is usually 'unproductive' and that most if not all the fish usually reside in just 20 percent of the lake's water. I think this rule has some truth to it and so it kind of makes me think about which areas I should be focusing my efforts on in order to not waste time and resources and to better maximize my fishing.

This ^^^. I can't believe I didn't see it your way until you finally posted this. I now understand your train of thought/theory now and why it would actually be a better approach and method versus mine. In theory, I believe my approach/method would actually be less productive/efficient and does not maximize time and resources. d**n, I need more people to school me on bass fishing. I guess that's why there are forums like this. I am not confused anymore. Thanks Mike for the info and introspection. I guess this would lead me to my next question... How do you keep from 'over fishing' a potential high percentage area/spot and keep the fish fresh so there is 'no lockjaw/no bait conditioning' when the tournament starts?

You make a great point and I totally understand where your coming from. I've never looked at it like that and it makes total sense. Based on your analogy/observation, it would seem like my approach could very well be unproductive also and can therefore lead to poor/low efficiency and not maximizing resources and energy to the fullest extent. I totally understand and agree with your way of thinking. But hear me out on this one everyone, we've all heard of the dreaded...'fishing pressure always gets to the fish and causes a lot of lockjaw come tournament time'. Therefore, you would think that most tournament anglers would 'leave' the high percentage areas alone in practice in order to keep the fishing pressure off the fish and keep them 'fresh' for the tournament and instead fish the low percentage areas in order to find something new or different that could lead to bigger fish or numbers or at the very least, eliminate them all together. And yet, I don't see a lot of tournament anglers doing this. It confuses me.

I understand that having options is a good thing, especially if you want to catch fish and not get skunked. Plastics definitely have their place even if they feel like your just throwing money into the garbage. I just feel like for my money and time, I would rather fish a hardbait that I know is going to hold its value and last a long time due to it having indefinite durability.

It never really occured to me until recently, that when fished properly, a hardbait will last 'indefinitely' and is very durable. Hardbaits have no shelf-life and can last a lifetime and can therefore be stored in many ways as long as its not exposed to direct sunlight. On the other hand, even when fished properly, plastics are dispensible and designed to be thrown away after a short use. Unlike hardbaits, plastics have a shelf-life and therefore need to be stored and taken care of adequately or they will go bad. I always felt 'cheated' when buying plastic worms/craws/creatures/swimbaits knowing they are just going to be destroyed after some heavy use and than I would have to spend some more money just to restock what was thrown away or lost. Even worse, even if I was being careful and learned how to make a bag of plastics last a whole season, by the end of the season, some new plastic design/bait would have came out already and than I would be salivating over the new one, resulting in me buying the new one and completely forgetting about the old plastics from previous seasons that have not been stored correctly and in the end having to throw the old plastics away anyway. To me, plastics always felt 'risky' when buying and are kind of a money hole/pit. A hardbait like a swimbait or topwater always felt more safe and therefore a reasonable choice when it came to value and longevity. Therefore, from an economical point of view, does it make more sense to invest more into hardbaits than plastics? I feel like I should be spending more of my money and time fishing hardbaits than plastics. On the other hand, you could argue that hardbaits are more expensive and require more time and commitment. Therefore hardbaits are more of a pain in the ass to replace if lost, broken or stolen. Whereas with plastics, they are usually very cheap, don't require a lot of commitment or time and are very easy to replace.

I am not a tournament angler. I also don't have the necessary experience, knowledge or skills to be one. But I am totally confused by some of these tournament bass anglers I see on Youtube. The way I see it, bass fishing in tournaments (and in general) is a numbers/math game. It has many parallels and similarities to Basketball and/or Hold'em style Poker. I see bass fishing as being a high percentage baits vs low percentage baits and high percentage areas vs low percentage areas kind of game/mentality. So, in order to be competitive, its important for an angler to know how to use their baits in practice in order to maximize time and resources efficiently. Practice day should basically be a 'process of elimination' where by you test baits in certain areas to see how fish would react and if you can use those baits and areas as potential honey holes come tournament day. Therefore, the best plan of attack would be to fish low percentage areas on a practice day. What I will usually see on these videos is, come practice day, these anglers will use high percentage baits like bottom/vertical plastic techniques (Dropshot, T-Rig, Shakey Head, Weightless Senko, Neko Rig etc.) in high percentage areas. For example, flippin/punchin a Texas Rig in some brush/cover/mat that is clearly on or nearby a spawning cove/flat/bank. You would think they would leave high percentage areas alone and fish only the low percentage areas. That way they can see if they can use these low percentage areas as a 'Plan B' or last resort. Or at the very least try to find a pattern or technique that may produce fish when other baits or areas will not produce otherwise come tournament day. I'm so confused because everyone knows that you can always 'fall back' or count on a bottom/vertical plastic technique to produce a bite no matter the conditions, the weather, the lake or the area that you are fishing in. Its usually those low percentage baits like reaction baits that most anglers need to be worried about in a tournament scenario and should try and eliminate. Therefore, the only time that I think fishing high percentage areas on a practice day makes sense, would be to fish low percentage baits like reaction baits in order to figure out if there will be a pattern or preference for a specific bait that might produce a few big/crucial bites. So, why go thru the hassle of losing money, time and energy using techniques in a practice day that you know you are already going to fish anyways come tournament day when the fishing gets tough, doesn't make sense to me at all. I don't know about some of these tournament anglers but I like to maximize my time out on the water and be efficient as possible by using the least amount of energy and resources possible. But like they always say, 'conditions are always changing and you never know what the fish are going to do'. So, who knows maybe there is something I am not seeing and someone in here can help clarify some things about tournament angling that I don't know. Sorry for the long rant. Just confused and kind of perplexed.

Congrats on the PB.

According to the tests, fluorocarbon seems to have more stretch than mono?! Totally confused?! I thought fluorocarbon was supposed to have the least stretch, no? I mean with what the fishing industry has been feeding us with advertising and all, you would think fluorocarbon would have less stretch than mono. Go figure. Seems like I should just stick to fluorocarbon than since it has more stretch and all.

No. Copolymer is very high on my list as a great option also since it seems to be a best-of-both-worlds line by combining the invisibility/abrasion resistance of fluorocarbon with the easy handling/stretch of mono.

I have noticed that I tend to be 'trigger happy' when it comes to hooksets and I tend to do my hooksets too fast and hard. Lost some fish doing this and I am mainly looking for some 'insurance'. Hoping more stretch in my leaders will 'dull' the bite more and therefore give me some hesitation and slow my reaction/hookset times. I am also trying to mitigate the 'no stretch' properties of braid in order to keep fish pinned a little better. Thanks guys for all the info/tips. Nice job to FryDog62 for taking the time to do some tests and posting for everyone to see. Saw that video too and my interest in Sunline FC100 was definitely piqued. Will definitely have to give this line a try and it definitely seems like its the answer/line that I am searching for.

I fish a lot of braid to leader for most of my techniques and I want to try a fluoro that has more stretch than your average fluorocarbon line. I am basically looking for a 100% fluorocarbon that has almost the same amount of stretch as an average mono. What do you guys recommend?