PhishLI

I haven't. I almost bought them but then I forgot about it. It was fresh on my mind when a jumbo flattened out the stock hooks on a Shadow Rap a while back. I will be ordering. Regardless, the guy that recommended them is as trustworthy as it gets as far as I can tell.

Check out the Tackle Advisors vid on YT titled BEST VALUE For treble hooks! STRONGER and... The prices are great but shipping takes a while. I am not affiliated. Just passing this along. It's been posted here before.

Yesterday morning I spooled up some 10lb Sufix Advance for the 1st time and sloshed it up with KVD L&L. I've been using 12lb for the past several months and liking it. It gets whacky in very cold temps but becomes more manageable over 40°. I really liked the 10lb, for as long as it lasted, for light baits like the 1/8oz Storm 360 searchbait(7-8 grams with the included trailer) and the 1/4oz Duel Hardcore minnow. No problem chucking those lures way out there from the shore. Compared to lines like Big Game, the Advance is very smooth to the touch. Don't know if that means anything or not but it's noticeable while its running over my digit. I got caught up in some mildly snaggy stuff while dragging a tube and was able to get out of it. It seems quite strong. No break offs with a polamar, SD jam, or improved clinch. The pads aren't in yet but there are still places that can be troublesome. Anyway, seems like good stuff if you can buy it on sale. I hit a bank last night after work. Everything was going just peachy for an hour and half. That's until I clipped the very end of a tree limb right next to me upon launch. KaPow!

Sure you can?

Last Thursday my friend asked me to fish Candlewood with him on Sunday on his totally jammin' bass boat! But, my brother had already asked me the night before if I wanted to get blown around on the jon boat on a very skunky lake on the same day. Oh, the dilema! Skunk Lake it was. This lake is tough, as anyone who fishes it will tell you. A huge, feature-less, bowl. Zero cover. Zero lillies, so no lingering stalks from last season. But it has some bottom contour and good fish if you can find 'em. Some dude got an 8lb Largemouth last fall. Not too shabby for the northeast. But I had it in my head that we should go all out for smallmouth. So we did. The wind was blowing so hard that the battery was merc'd in about 2 1/2 hours. Paddling against a headwind in a jon boat through rollers for a mile is invigorating. Avoid it if you can! In the end we found 'em. No whoppers, but the fight was still rediculous. Smallies really, really, really, don't want to be caught! Good times.

Late on Friday night one of my wading buddys asked to link up on Saturday after work. Late on Saturday afternoon I got a text from him :"No fishing for me today". We had 25-30 mph NW winds pounding in all day. The "real feel" was 28°. The spot we were going to hit is usually a wind tunnel on breezy days, so I can't blame him. But I had a truck full of gear... so I hit a bank that I've been doing well at. Unfortunately it's on the SE side of the lake. It was just about impossible to thrown anything with the wind blasting straight at me. Luckily I had my frog rod in the truck. Tied on a 1/2 oz Terminator spinner bait and went to work. It cut the wind pretty good. I bombed it out into a spot that was wall to wall pads last season. It's just random stalks at this point. Slow rolled it just above the bottom and let it clip whatever was in the way. Then BAM, fish on. This guy really wanted it. The hit and run was violent. I thought it might be a monster at first, but it was just a nice one for a day that I thought was going to be a bust for sure. The water is still quite cold at 39° degrees. But the last few have had fat bellies, so they're getting ready for the spawn regardless. I left with frozen hands and a frozen smile.

Now that's a Donkey! Congrats!

I just woke up to the sound of deck furniture getting thrown around by high winds. Took a look outside to find horizontal snow flurries whipping past the street lights! Makes me doubly happy I was able to sneak in a 45 minute session right after work and right before babysitting our brand new grandaughter. The Shadow Rap 11 in perch does it again! 90% of my catches since December have come on this bait. This cutie came on the last, last cast. I had about 15 last casts before that one!

My shallow waters are still in the mid to high 30s. Temp was 24 degrees this morning! Slowly working suspending jerkbaits has gotten it done the past several weeks. Then it stalled for the most part. All of a sudden, very slowly rolling paddle tails along the bottom is getting bites. The storm 360GT searchbait in blue has gotten the most play for me. Maybe the rattle in the jig head is making the difference? I've also been working a 1/2oz Dark Sleeper and a Little Dipper the same way, but have yet to drag them past a willing fish. Not a sniff on a spinnerbait, ned rig, or a dead sticked finesse worm. Just 40 miles east of me and in very shallow water, my brother has been wrecking them on a No.2 Mepps, so go figure.

Here we go! Thanks, TW BMC sale.

Tat SV. I wasn't sure about it at first. Now it's fantastic. Maybe it was the re-lube and it needed to break in? Maybe it was just me figuring it out? I was chucking 1/4oz minnows last night on 12lb copoly into the wind. No problemo. Good thing that I had the heavier line spooled on as it got chomped by a huge pickeral. If for whatever reason I'm limited to just one reel, this is it.

Everyone's different, but this helped me in the beginning. Where I had space to skip, I'd hang the bait around 16" below the tip when starting the skip. It was hit or miss. One day I was fishing near a bridge that was perfect for skipping under. The down side is that there are bushes everywhere. There was no way to drop the bait much as it would get snagged on the back-roll. This forced me to drop it only a few inches below the tip before the skip and do more of a roll-flick than a roll cast. I was able to skip more successfully instantly with this shortened bait drop and more constrained cast. But it was also a magic moment where it all clicked and I figured out where I needed to use my thumb once the bait was flying. The shorter bait drop was sort of like training wheels. I eased into dropping the line a bit more and gradually over a period of time my skipping in less confined areas with a typical bait drop and casting motion improved greatly.

I picked up two XTs thanks to the heads-up-thread you started. So thanks! I bought these as knock around reels for 2 pc. rods that I can keep in the back seat. But they're way better than that. 6.5oz. Comfortable to palm. Easy to dial in. I've set the brakes with 3 on, spaced at 120 degrees apart . It works fine, even though the paperwork recommended evenly opposing brake blocks only. The cam lock side plate is really nice. I spooled one with 12lb big game and took it out. I didn't throw anything under a 1/2oz. It casts very nicely all around. What it's exceptional at is long casting with those weights and above. It can really, really, bomb way out there. I can throw farther with this reel with those weights than I can with the K, and the K is no slouch. I weighed the spool on my other one when I got home. It's 21 grams with the bearing, which is heavy. I'm not sure it'll be great with lighter weights, but it sure is something else with heavier ones. The handle is a bit short. It really doesn't bother me, but I might upgrade to a longer one eventually. So, I'm really digging the reel. One's going on a frogging rod. I like bombing frogs when I need to. I don't think I'll be disappointed.

I have to deal with similar conditions in most of my local lakes. It's a challenge. I took a shot and picked up the Reaction Tackle Swinging Tungsten jig heads. They really changed the game when using Skinny Dippers and other paddle tails that I use. Once I feel the bait bog down in the veggies a quick rip will usually clear them off. Without these heads it's just about impossible to fish these baits where they're most effective, in my spots. The line tie in the front and the shape of the head do the trick. I bought these on Amazon.

Tatula LT3000 CHX. This is the shallow spool version. It holds more line than you'd ever cast out. The larger diameter spool will deal with line management issues a little better than the smaller ones do, especially with flouro or mono. The reel is feather light and super smooth. The drag is excellent. I've put a full season on mine and it feels just as good as new. My buddy just got his second one for his new Ardito travel rod. We both fish alot. I expect this reel to last a long time with proper maintenance. You can find them for close to your target budget. There are plenty of fine reels out there. This reel is in cream of the crop territory at the price point.

You have a few Fuegos. You should definitely grab a SLX. It's a fantastic reel. My brother has Fuegos and recently added the SLX and loves it. He has Chronarchs and Curado Ks already, so he has a point of reference.

I saw this posted elsewhere recently: "Do yourself a favor, change the 2 bearings out that support the pinion". Does anyone have any further info? Is this a tweaking thing or a problem thing?

I've gone from just having a few, because I didn't have much luck with them in the past, to buying a bunch of them. I just hadn't put in the work with them that I should've. But my spidey sense tells me they'll be a hit soon! But spidey has been wrong in the past. Either way I'm gonna commit to them now.

We had a few nights in the teens last week, so lots of lakes were still skating rinks around here yesterday. Got an update that one close by was open, so I organized a wading session with some pals. 37 degree water doesn't hurt as bad after you've been shelved for a while! But first I needed some tungsten. On my way to the store I told myself " Phish, you're not buying anything except tungsten". As fate would have it those tricksters at Dix had put out a bin of Duel Hardcore baits at blowout prices! They must've spotted me waddling in from the parking lot wearing my "I'm only going to buy tungsten face" then made that sale pronto. Next thing you know...I was all in at that point so the DT6 and spinnerbait seemed perfectly reasonable. Yes?

Yeah, well I fish some spots where you wouldn't go without a pal or three and other essentials. What a man will do for a bass...

I ended up with one of those as a "Mystery Bonus Face shield". I wear it backwards. I'll never see the bullet coming.

I've ordered from them several times during their promo sales. No problems. Grabbed few orders of the regular face shields and an order of the winter face shields. Was thinking about trying the arm shields, but the wife got me a pile of the Orvis SPF long sleeve shirts. I just get the normal stuff like Ghost Camo and Digital Camo. Some of the crazier designs look like they might get a guy shot. Got the beanie too. I'm never on the water without them. Great for walking the dog too.

BPS goodies. Some stuff still on backorder. All the tungsten I ordered was out of stock and cancelled by them though. Oh well. I go through tons of 6" GY Senkos. Maybe these Stick-Os will be up to snuff. They weigh 13 grams vs 15 grams for the GY. Pretty close. They seem to be as supple, and definitely not as stiff as the 6" Dingers.

Scoop em' up! I've only had the opportunity to fish them in very, very, cold and shallow water. 6 feet deep tops. In low temps they have a medium slow sink. You can fish them like a suspending jerkbait or like a typical lipless. When fished like a lipless you'll get the tight action you'd expect on the retrieve, but with a much slower drop to the bottom. That's where I've gotten tagged. Just letting it suspend after the rip. You can walk it a little then pause it too. I've also gotten bit fishing it slow like you would a winter jerkbait: Gentle jerks and long pauses. They only weigh 3/8oz but cast like a bullet. No problem bombing them way out there on casting gear. They should be a great option for the shallows when the grass comes in. The hooks are fine as is IMO. Another plus is that it's unlikely the fish in your waters have seen a bait with this profile that behaves as you can get it to. Pssst, don't tell your friends if they fish where you fish. Wait a few years! I've already blabbed to anyone that would listen. So dumb! Learn from my foolishness.

I bring 2-4. Usually 3.