plawren53202

My 733 Fury (same as 703 just three inches longer) is definitely a Swiss army knife rod. However, it is a great rod for me for jerkbaits and topwaters with trebles. The only thing I don't like about it for jerkbaits is the length, which is why I got a 6'9" rod for jerkbaits, but the action is perfect for them. Just recently picked up my first SLX, a standard 7' MH/F, and it is an excellent bottom bait rod.

Although I use a couple of other Shimano products, which I really like, I only recently jumped on the SLX train. I could not be more impressed with the combo, which fishes and feels like a product WELL over that price point. In particular, I am extremely impressed with the reel, which casts a mile and is extremely smooth (my points of comparison are Lew's and Daiwa reels in the same or slightly higher price ranges).

I was just fishing it last night at Kentucky Lake and had one of my top three bass fishing outings ever. Definitely imitating what was feeding on the mayflies (bluegill). Fished under overhanging trees with mayflies in them, 6:45-sunset. Most of my fish came on a wacky rigged (weightless) Yum Dinger, "Bream" color (mix of green pumpkin and light blue), so I'm guessing that vaguely resembled bluegill . Also caught a few on a bluegill pattern 6th Sense swim jig with a "sungill" Little Dipper trailer. I was surprised that neither a Whopper Plopper nor a bluegill pattern squarebill got any bites. Now the crappie this weekend...that was a different story. They were PICKY because they had bellies full of mayflies, confirmed when I cleaned some today. Not nearly as much fun as the bass fishing.

I've started using a 10' pole (a good one--good guides and IM8 graphite) with spinning reel for single-pole jigging for crappie. Every once in a while I try heaving a cast with it. I'd be lucky to hit the broad side of a barn from 30' away with it. Sometimes lucky just to hit the water period. That always quickly reminds me why my bass fishing poles are 8' or under. ?

Add me to the list of folks who tried straight fluoro on a spinning reel and hated it. That prompted me to switch to braid/leader for all spinning combos, many moons ago, and I have never looked back. However, if you want to stay away from braid/leader and looking for something a step up from mono, I'd try one of the good copolymers. I've had good success with Sufix Advance, P-Line, and Yo-Zuri Hybrid. All of these seem to have considerably less stretch, and more sensitivity, than straight mono--but still soft and manageable like mono.

Exactly what I thought...especially with the mention of going through his dad's stuff. I was going to respond that Roland is probably a better resource than us on how to rig this ?

The way mine was angled, the urgent care staff were afraid it was close to the bone, and were afraid if they did the usual method of cutting it off and pushing the point out, they would hit the bone. They had to back it out instead. Gave me the choice of Lidocaine or not. There's not much meat on the back of your thumb, and I pictured that Lidocaine shot not feeling much better than pulling the hook out. So I went with no Lidocaine. They proceeded to use a pair of needle nose pliers and pull it out. Once that was all over with, other than the tetanus shot, my thought was that I could have done the same thing out on the water and not lost a half an afternoon of fishing. Happy to say that an hour after it was over, I was back out in the boat with nothing but a bandaid and a good story to tell.

Pun intended...? From my prematurely short trip, it did seem like they were/would have been hitting a jerkbait aggressively--the one I caught hammered it--so the Provoke seemed perfect for that. Really wish I had the chance to keep testing it that day....? My jb approach is similar to yours...I like the Vision 110/110 Jr. when they want a more subdued or slower approach. I had been using the Strike King KVDs as my more aggressive day jb (they have a rattle that reminds me a little of a Trap) but I think the Provoke is going to take over that role.

I have always liked 6th Sense hard baits because they come with great hooks out of the package. Super sharp, and I like the EWG treble hooks. Add "nearly indestructible" to the list of their qualities. I only know that because....I got the front treble on a Provoke jerkbait buried in the back of my thumb this weekend, and had to go to urgent care to get it out....and in the process of removing the hook, we (me and the medical staff) had to cut the prongs on the hook, and we nearly couldn't do it. That was the toughest metal I think I've ever encountered. Ironically it was my first time throwing a Provoke jerkbait, and I caught a solid16 incher within 10 minutes of starting...of course he got the last laugh when he planted that treble in my thumb during unhooking. But dang, those hooks are TOUGH.

My favorite spinning rod for bass is my 703SF Fury. Technically a "M" but it has a good amount of backbone (the perfect amount) for a medium spinning. Which is interesting because I know the Fury casting rods are known for being a little on the light side of their rating; my 734 is really closer to some of my medium casting rods. My 703SF "medium" is an excellent rod for shaky heads, light T-rigs, plenty of muscle to set the hook on those kind of baits; and probably not advisable but I boat flipped a 5 lber on it with no issues.

Swing 'Em In Bait Co. - Crappie, Fishing Lures, Lures (swingeminbaitco.com) Good dude, super responsive and working his butt off to build his business. I've had really good luck with the Slab Flapper in muddy water and the Slab Stinger in stained water. White/chartreuse and purple/chartreuse in more stained water and monkey cream (monkey milk) in less stained. Of course the Bobby Garland Baby Shads are hard to beat. I just tried the morning dawn in the "Mo Glo" and it worked really well, hard to say if the glow in the dark thing is real or not. My dad's go-to is the white/chartreuse in the Strike King Mr. Crappie Joker Joker® (mrcrappie.com) Finally, with now using the Livescope so much, I have been experimenting with different jig heads that present a bigger profile that is easier to see on the Livescope. Same 1/16 and 1/8 oz. weights I've always used, but things like the Jenko Slasher Slasher Crappie Jig Heads – Jenko Fishing. Also using a double jig rig a lot, not for double fish attracting purposes but more to show up better on the Livescope.

I would think that the ML in the Fury line would be excellent for your intended uses. I don't own it, but I have the M spinning rod in the Fury lineup. It is my favorite spinning rod in my lineup, though it is probably a touch heavier than you would want for your uses. I absolutely love my M Fury as a shaky head, light T rig, and small jerkbait rod.

Seems like purple, and specifically that tequila sunrise/morning dawn color, work especially well for me in low light conditions. Just last weekend, the last day of our crappie fishing trip was going to be overcast. I was at the tackle shop and saw some crappie jigs (Bobby Garland Baby Shad) in "Morning Dawn." Had never used that color for crappie. Sure enough, it was the ticket the next day. Interesting side note--those Bobby Garlands in Morning Dawn were the supposedly glow-in-the-dark "Mo Glo" series. They worked well enough for crappie that it made me wonder if there is anything comparable for bass.

After years of bass fishing, I've gotten serious about crappie fishing over the last year. Our main style of fishing is single-pole jigging using the Livescope. I have been using a Lew's Wally Marshall (the 10-ft (?) long one). I like it pretty well, and it does have an IM8 blank. I know in bass fishing how much difference a premium rod can make, especially regarding sensitivity for something like bottom baits. Jigging for crappie is kind of the same deal, I want to feel every time a fish breathes on the jig. So, that has me looking at some of the more premium crappie jigging poles. In particular, the Todd Huckabee poles. Trying to get a sense of whether that upgrade from the Lew's Wally Marshall would be worth it. The Huckabee poles are in the $100-150 range, which of course is not that much compared to premium bass rods, so I may just bite the bullet and give it a try. I'd feel better about it if someone could tell me that one of those (or another "premium" crappie pole) would be a noticeable step up from my current setup.

I was in a local mom and pop shop, with absolutely no intention of buying a rod, and saw they had the KVDs for $79. I grabbed a 7'0" MH/F (regular composite, not the cranking rod). It's a really solid rod for that price. Not exceptionally sensitive, so I wouldn't use it for bottom baits; however, it works well as a moving bait rod so it has become my chatterbait/spinnerbait rod. Again, it didn't blow my mind, but especially if you can find it at that $79 price point, it is a very solid workhorse rod. For comparison, I would say it is considerably better than the Academy H20 rod at that price (which I have a couple of).

Flipped shallow wood last Saturday at Kentucky Lake on my new flipping/pitching combo, including 20# Pline. No issues at all, and I had no problem feeling bumps and thumps on the Pline. It will stay on there for me.

Generally I try to make the trailer color match the colors in the primary bait. For sexy shad, I'd usually use a white or chartreuse trailer (or one with both). For black and blue probably black or black/blue. Occasionally I will mix it up, I have had some success mixing green pumpkin bait or trailer with black and blue. Having said that, it's all about what the fish like. So no loss in trying.

The juvenile bluegill in my neck of the woods are so washed out in color during the colder months that I would tend to call that "white." I think the motion of something resembling a baby bluegill combined with white color would work on non-shad waters. Agree with the others that when trying to lock in the preferred color for the day I might try white under nearly any conditions.

I find that my willingness to grind depends on the water I'm fishing. For instance, if I haven't gotten a bite in an hour on my subdivision pond (small, shallow), I call it quits and head home. I feel like there just aren't that many options that might work, so once I've tried without success for a little while, I'm done. Contrast that to Kentucky Lake. There, on any given day there might be at least 2-3 bites that can potentially catch fish...e.g., in summer, a deep ledge bite, a shallow cover bite, and main lake point bite...and of course mile after mile of water to find those bites in. That, combined with electronics that let me know there are at least fish present that I'm not catching, makes me much more willing to keep grinding in search of the fruitful pattern for the day.

I had quite a bit of success on 6th Sense products last year and will personally vouch for the quality of everything I've tried so far. The Divine Shaky Head worm was one of my most consistent producers last year, and caught the fish that helped me finish 4th in my second tourney ever. I caught my biggest fish of the year on a Divine Swim Jig. I caught quite a few on the Curve 55 crankbait. As others have said, paint schemes and hardware like hooks are among the best in the business. The only product of theirs I have tried so far and did not really like was the swimbait--the plastic seems a little too stiff for my liking--but that's also probably why in addition to being great fish catchers, the Shaky Head worms are very durable.

Years back, I raced dirt track stock cars for a couple of seasons. Nervous before my first race, I asked one experienced driver what my goal should be for my first race, and his two word answer, succinct yet true, was "Don't wreck." In all seriousness, he said, if you drive it back on the trailer at the end of the night, then you've had a good first race. Having fished my first two tournaments, as a co-angler, this past year, I think the same general thinking applies. You're not going to win the first time out, so just go out, soak up new information and learn like a sponge, and have fun. And "don't wreck," or do anything that really ticks your boater off. Beyond the Bounds on YT has some really good videos for new co-anglers that helped me a lot with etiquette and things to do/not do.

Last fall I caught a bass in my subdivision pond that had a tail sticking up out of its throat. I pulled it out far enough to see what kind of bait it belonged to, and yup, sure enough, it was a baby bass. I throw bass pattern baits (usually a trap or a fluke) and they have caught fish for me. I suspect that in a pond like my subdivision pond, baby bass make up a not insignificant portion of a bass's diet. Having said that, I also agree with the posters that say that you could take a baitfish-type bait representing a fish not present in a particular body of water and bass would bite it. I catch fish in my subdivision pond on shad mimicking baits frequently and there are definitely no shad in that pond.

Same here...I can't remember what brand I bought but I know it was cheap. It's awful. It is especially incompetent at working on the smaller split rings on baits like a Vision 110 Jr. I'm surprised I haven't ended up in the ER from one of those hook changing sessions.

Couldn't agree more.

So this past fall, my main fishing project was to get familiar with the jerkbait, something I had never really fished in the past. I did really well with it and found out that I really enjoy a good jerkbait bite. Enough so that I decided to commit to a separate jerkbait setup. This fall I threw it on my Dobyns Fury 733C/Lew's Tournament MP. That setup was alright, but I really wanted to try a shorter rod, especially for bank fishing, and I also wanted a true "M" even though the Fury 733 is kind of in between a MH and M. Unfortunately the past few months have resulted in a tighter than normal budget, putting some restrictions on getting new gear. Combine that with the fact that I'm going to have to replace one of my workhorse MH/F rods that just snapped the tip. So I had kind of resigned to the fact that a dedicated jerkbait combo was going to have to wait for a while. Other night, I was digging around in the garage and found the first baitcasting rod I purchased many moons ago. It was the Lew's Classic (not even Classic Pro) combo that Walmart used to sell for $79. While looking at the rod it dawned on me that it was a 6'8" M/F--exactly the specs I'd want in a jerkbait rod. So I figured what the heck--took the BPS Johnny Morris signature reel off the rod that snapped the tip, spooled it with 8# copolymer line, and put it on that rod. Took it out today to the local pond and, holy cow, it's a pretty sweet jerkbait combo. With 8# copolymer and the JM signature reel, it slings a Vision 110 Jr. a half a mile, and the 6'8" length is perfect for a jerkbait rod. The M/F action is perfect for snapping a jerkbait but keeping a fish pinned. I also think it is plenty sensitive for fishing a moving bait. I'm really shocked at how a rod that came as part of a $79 Walmart combo seems like it is going to do so well. I've gotten a little spoiled since my current stable of combos are decent quality gear, Fury and Mach II rods, Tournament MP, Fuego CT, SLX caliber stuff. At a time when I really need to save a few bucks, this was the perfect thing to find hiding in the garage.