PhishLI

Just yesterday I had a conversation with my brother regarding Spro rats. We both have all sizes, but neither of us has had any play on the 50's, but tons on the 40s. Not saying the 50 isn't good or even great for some people, just not for us. If you want to try a rod at a bargain price, take a look at the 13 Defy Black Crankbait rod. I'm using the 7'3" rated to 1.5oz for the Rat 40, WP 75, chatterbaits, and even the Shellcracker, WP 130, and Gantarel JR in a pinch, which is really pushing it's rating quite a bit, but no problems so far. I'll have the 7'9" soon which is rated to 2oz and will cover those heavier baits better. That model may be a viable option for you, and the price can't be beat.

Well, you should give it a shot anyway. It can be fished like a soft jerkbait to deadly effect. I don't know which VMC hook you use, but I use the VMC 3/0 wacky with the leaf spring wire keeper on 6" Senkos. The gauge of the hook requires a hard hookset. I rarely lose a fish that touches it.

Water temp 44 degrees: ✅ Dead flat conditions: ✅ Nothing in the tackle bag's working: ✅ Back is stiff and I'm feeling old: ✅ Self confidence in shambles: ✅ Really have to poop:✅ Ready to throw in the towel: ✅ Chuck a Whopper Plopper as a last resort? Bingo!

New toys came today. Bleached, boiled, then baked in the sun. Ready to go!

Reel in the line then tape the line to the spool. Open the side cover and disengage the brake blocks. Close the side cover. Depress the thumbar and spin the spool. If it doesn't spin freely then the problem is with the spool bearings. If it does, a brake block might've been stuck, unlikely, or the issue lies in the gearbox, probably.

A thought popped into my head last night as I was mindlessly casting a Rat 40 while waist deep in water: Am I fiddling while Rome burns? I'm no emperor, so that thought evaporated quickly as a crazed prespawner blasted my rat about 100 feet out. I'd never thrown that bait before on a crankbait stick, and the fight felt harder than it would've otherwise.

I have it in 3 colors: Dope Gill, Pro Ghost Alewife, and a limited run color called Deluxe Hitch. I got my PB Smallmouth at 21 1/2", and Walleye at 29," on that particular color. I threw the Dope Gill shown in my earlier post in this topic. There's no doubt that my confidence baits are 4"-5" paddeltail swimmers, especially with eyes that have been applied. I believe they offer the "correct" amount of flash. This bait is chunky compared to the other types I use the most, but still presents an easily eat-able meal. The plastic is very soft, yet very repairable. I keep a good stock of Mend-It on hand which has allowed me to repair these baits multiple times to like new status. If the CPS gets pulled out along with a core of plastic, I chop up a piece of a senko very finely then use it to fill the hole, apply Mend It, then it's ready to go again. The Owner 6/0 1/4oz weighted Beast hook is perfect for this bait as it runs very true with it, and it also keeps it quite weedless. However, rigging it with a wide gap unweighted hook like a 6/0 EWG superline makes it run erratically which has been effective too. Both my PB smallie and walleye were caught on the same night running with this rigging, but this hook wouldn't be my first choice. I only did this because baitfish were getting hammered in a flat I was working, and I wanted to mimic them injured and running. It worked. Anyway, this is an affordable and fantastic bait. I've had bass from 2 1/2lbs to 7lbs smash it. Highly recommended.

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Crazy swimbait dinks!

Don't be afraid of going bigger than you'd think. We do quite well at small ponds throwing nice size wakes and glides. Yesterday my brother and a pal had an afternoon dinkfest at a 5 acre pond while throwing only wakes and glides. My brother went back at dark and bagged a tank on a MS Slammer, but as you can see in the pics even the dinks will eat bigger baits.

Thanks! My brother just ordered another Champ XP 794. 156$

I agree

Yes, it's touchy with lighter weights, not at all really with heavier weights though. I run mine with 2 on and 2 off with the dial set at 3. Sometimes a little less. With the heavier baits I'll drop down to 1 block engaged. Don't be afraid of using your tension knob to fine tune. I always start out with just the side to side play eliminated and usually leave it there. I find the external adjustment dial to be a misery to deal with, especially at night with wet and softened finger nails, so the tension dial does my fine adjustments for lighter baits and headwinds. I'm not suggesting that you do this, but here's what I do on all of my reels: I set the tension knob to eliminate side to side play. Then I take a marker and draw a hash on the dial at the 12 o'clock position. If it turns out that i need to tweak it up during a session it's easy to return it to the neutral position when I don't need it to be juiced up, or when I leave the lake. I always back off my drags and tension knobs after I've wrapped up for the day, so the hash on the spool tension knob is useful for not having to find neutral the next time out. The mark can be easily completely removed with rubbing alcohol at any time. They need to be renewed occasionally from friction alone.

I'd bet the clutch wheel isn't seated on the driveshaft. It's hole isn't round, it has flats at 180 degrees that match the base of the driveshaft. Pull the main gear and drag then check that. PS, install the roller clutch sleeve before installing the sideplate ensuring that it's keyed into the first drag washer.

Use the rod and reel you own already. It's perfectly fine for now. Invest in a quality PFD for boating. Spend the rest on baits that have been recommended by the other respondents. If you have any scratch left afterward post again with the balance and you'll get some good recommendations for a quality baitcasting rig priced at your budget.

No, no, and no! I say twelve Hail Marys and throw in an Our Father before I throw a red anything, and NOTHING! I went to a lake the other day that's loaded with crayfish and the first thing I did was tie on a T-rigged red Chigger Craw. I dragged it, I hopped it, I swam it, I dead sticked it, and NOTHING! Three casts after I'd tied on a green pumpkin chatterbait and threw it in the exact locations I got hits all over the place and landed two fish of different species. Tied on a blue/silver paddletail swimmer and more of the same. Come to think of it, I get sent pics constantly of catches from a bunch of dudes from around here and I don't recall ever seeing a red bait hanging off a bass's face. Maybe it's just this area? It's possible. I'll keeping try to break the red curse though.

Just tie it off to anything, a fence, tree, or whatever, then walk it out. Wind it back in under tension. The backing is going to get wet when you're fishing. Don't worry about it.

Earlier Dobyns posted a 40% off everything, + $25 shipping, sale for their FB community page members. He explained that he was inventory heavy and cash poor because he'd loaded up on stock for the busy season. It's conceivable that others may follow in a similar vein if this situation persists.

This one's easy. A Steez A TW and a few aftermarket spools, inductors, and springs. Stick a fork in it. I'm smiling forever..

The state stocks trout in a few of my favorite local spots. It's a blessing and a curse. Those places hold some pretty big fish for these parts, but the bite disappears for a spell after the stocking. It definitely gets tough. One of my pals that's been fishing one particular spot we like for the past 30 years has been skunked for at least 3 weeks after the stocking for the past 6 years. It drives him crazy. He does very well otherwise. We got to a spot about 11:00 pm. I have no good explanation as to why I threw everything but a trout-like bait, but that's what I did for two hours. Not a sniff. Well, there's actually bit of an explanation. My best trout imitators are soft plastic, and the pickerel here grow unusually large. They simply destroy soft baits and are just as likely to slice through your line. I'm down to the last pack of my beloved 6" Nories Spoon Tail Shad in Rainbow Ayu, which are now nearly unobtanium. The two hour skunk made them less precious, so I tied one on, and just like that, action!. Over the course of 15 minutes I had three fish lunge at the bait as I was lifting it out of the water after a cast. That just about gave us both heart attacks! I finally hooked up with a nice fighter who was full of energy. My Daiwa Catalina has a clicking drag and this guy had it zipping. He wasn't a biggun, but he must have some smallmouth blood because he did not want to be caught. I didn't want to push my luck and lose that bait, so I tied on a Rat 40 in morning dawn and got a second fish. My buddy got a pickerel that let him keep his lure, this time.

Yes you did, and it scared me off right quick! I have a Tour S3 on the way as of 10 minutes ago. Stoked. Please leave your impressions once/if you've given them some work. I posted a thread some time ago asking about these reels, but only received a few replies with very little detail.

In my local spots the 6" Watermelon Black Flake GY senko rules at just about this time of year. Weightless T rigged or wacky, 6"ers through 6LBers will eat it. I've found that the Owner 5132-151 5/0 is a great choice for both hookups and longevity of the 6". Step down to the Owner 5167-141 if you choose a 5" Yamamoto. They'll both last way longer with these hooks than any other that I've tried as the worm tends to not rip as easily where the bend of the hook is threaded though the body. It really extends the life by alot. Definitely step up to a larger rigging tool like "The Brute O-Wacky Tool II" and get the upsized O-Rings with an I.D. of at least .300" or 5/16" for 6" GY Senkos. 6" Stick-Os and 6" Yum Dingers can stand up to the .250" O-rings that come with the standard size tubular rigging tools, but the Yamamoto cannot. Those O-rings will slice them in half way before their time. The upside of the larger rigging tool is that the worm actually fits into it. If you've tried to wacky rig 6" worms with the VMC or Harmony tools it's sucks as the worms barely fit, and you'll end up rolling the rings to where they need to be with your fingers and it's then a pain to criss cross them.

Bucca Bull Gill Glide

Squoze in a late afternoon/evening sesh with some buds. The chatterbait got some play early on, but the Buccas got bit after dark.

A friend I fish with has no problem lipping walleye. I've witnessed him lipping them, up to 30", right out of the water. Crazy. He says he knows exactly where to position his thumb. He tried to show me and explain how, but I just averted my eyes and said no thanks! I have zero interest. Anyway, this guy is kind of famous on some of the Walleye FB pages for this practice. Also, he catches a ton of them on big bass lures like glide and wake baits, including big rat baits. If you frequent those pages you've probably caught some of his posts.