Jmurphy87

I am sorry to hear this, life is a very weird experience for sure. I am wishing you nothing but happiness and peace in this tough time. I always enjoyed when you would give me a good ribbing when the bait monkey used to make me go overboard. Keep your head up and focus on the outcome you want is all you can do at this point.

The 844 will work perfectly for the chatter baits. The mbr action does a lot of things good. I have used mine for everything under the sun and it just gets it done without a problem. I think that you will be set up perfectly with the rod.

My perfect pitch has held up great, I have had it 3 years and put it through some hard work no issues with mine.

Very true, I hardly target them most of the time. I have the leaders for when I fish heavy pike waters. This one was incredibly stubborn though for some reason. Definitely need to look at a set of jaw spreaders when I get the money. I am sure the barbless hooks would help immensely also, thanks for the tips.

Well it’s been a while since I posted, first time I got out fishing in the past few months. I caught a small pike, no pictures of it. He did not want to open his mouth to let me get the treble hook out, so it was out of water longer than I like so that is why there is no photo. I was really surprised he didn’t bite through my super thin bfs braid. Bait was a sixth sense 1/8 line through head and a 4 inch pink easy shiner.

Dobyns 701c is my best bfs rod that I have owned, I also have 2 kistler hunt casting rods that are good but for different lures and uses. I use a alderbarren bfs reel and my dobyns cast light weights without any problems at all the kistler rods won’t give me the same results unfortunately. I held the expride bfs new model at the local tackle shop, it’s more suited for power bfs and 1/8 or higher lures all day long. It reminded me of my old zodias 7”2 ml bfs rod. I hope that this helps you out.

It’s good to see you back at it, hope your shoulder heals up and you get back to normal soon. I really enjoy reading your reports.

I use the new Japanese seagur 24lb on my 150mgl curado and don’t have any issues and enjoy the extra distance that I get with the ultra thin diameter. It’s very pricey at $40 a spool, if you want a cheaper option daiwa j braid grand 8 strand is half the price but just about as good in my book.

Smallest fish that I have ever caught on a lv500 lipless no clue what species it is probably a bluegill or some panfish species.

I have not been posting but still catching fish when I get the time to go fishing. 2 biggest ones out of 90 minutes plus 15 plus smaller ones. All on a wacky rig.

Another small one from me on the gantral jr. I even got to break the new rod in on a fish at least.

Well I made my second trip down the big baits road once again 1 deps bull shooter 160 1 deps slide swimmer 145 1 gantral jr 2 loaded soft swim baits 1 pack mag draft freestyle 5 packs 4” senkos 10 packs of skirts 1 osp slipper swim jig 1 pack 3.3 keitech trailers for the swim jig 1 daiwa prorex 8’6” mh regular rod , I know that it’s a musky rod. Although it seems to be soft enough for trebles and stiff enough for top hook swim baits.

The best way that I can tell you about how to check to make sure if you tied the knot properly is to put a peg and tungsten weight on then snell your hook. To make sure that you did it right put the bullet weight directly against the hook and pull on your line and the hook should rotate up and not down, if the hook drops down you snelled your hook backwards and you have to redo it so that it goes upward and penetrates the plastic. I hope that this helps you out. I got out on a work buddy’s boat today with one of the other supervisors who works 3rd shift like me after work. We got there and I started throwing a bone one knocker and caught the first fish and plenty more after that one, I lost count. One stuck two treble hook points in my hand while unhooking his little feisty butt. Got the points out and got him unhooked and on his way. I gave my one friend a white freeloader for his jackhammer and he did good with it. I caught the biggest skinny little fish of the day at 18” long and 2.78lb he was thin or it would probably be a 3.5-4 if I was lucky. I then decided to throw a jika rig and tried multiple plastics but no takers, I did manage to saw into my finger with braided line on hook set once yay. My last fish came on the chatter bait. It was a good day.

A few more little ones from me.

I caught this little guy in the first 10 minutes and then it went dead for 2 hours and I called it good. But hey a fish in 10 minutes after it’s been over 2 weeks is a win in my book.

Yes enough power for that size hook and up to a 3/0 . I use to throw stick baits on mine of the 5” variety and 4” occasionally. It’s a very deceiving powerful little rod.

I had the zodias 7’2” ml xf bfs casting rod, I used it quite a bit it was a decent rod. More finesse stuff not too light but handled the upper end of the weight range ok, was plenty sensitive. I ran into problems with fish coming undone on different presentations. Single hook presentations was fine and good, mostly treble hooks were the issues most of the time.

I used to have the champion 736 and it would bomb cast a frog and handled a 3/4 oz tungsten and a half ounce plastic and would launch it also. It’s a great powerful rod with a nice tip that does well with walking a frog. I would assume that the 746 would be the same just a inch longer.

I will say yes to braid on baitcasters. Go as small of a diameter as you can and enjoy the distance gains. I really love J-Braid grand 8 strand it works great with no issues, 8lb on spinning gear no problem. 30-50 on casting is great.

You know it, maybe that’s why I like crawling and hopping around on the 100-500 ton presses at work. Maybe I am a monkey lol, I didn’t even throw the lures that I bought yesterday. Planned on it but like normal, bring a lot use a little bit of stuff. Of course it doesn’t help that one of the most productive areas of the lake is a weed line to a break. Weightless senko for the win. Hard to fish but it works great, 10 fish per senko is not too bad.

Chucking and winding is a simple thing. Cast retrieve and repeat. The simple task is overly complicated with all of the variables that you can introduce to your retrieve method. Stop and go, crank pause jerk. Yo yo along with burn it with a few pauses and twitches here and there. Biggest thing is that you don’t want your bait to have a pattern, break it up and find the retrieve that works and repeat to be successful.

Great job @ol'crickety looks like you had a great day on the water. I really admire your dedication to learn and your persistence to keep going. I love reading your fishing reports, keep up the good work and enjoy your beautiful bogs and ponds and thank you for sharing your adventures with us all.

You know it, the more that I collect the more picky I get about what exactly that I want. I am already overwhelmed with rods again. Heck one of my friends from work who is just getting into fishing has gotten some great deals from me. Like a kage spinning rod and a ballistic reel for $100 and I loaded him a 3700 tray with high end top waters, crank baits, frogs and buzz baits and jigs even chatter baits along with various plastics all for $80. I like helping people get into the sport and having good gear. Maybe 2 hours if you are lucky lol.

Two things from me

I caught my first Chad shad fish, just a tiny little guy but better than my first fish on a mag draft. I caught 10+on a weightless stick bait after I was done throwing the glide. I had plenty of followers but no takers but it is all part of throwing big baits, I see my swim bait collection growing soon. A wake gill and a deps 160 bull shooter and a few more on the way maybe a real Chad shad. The tequila baccarat feels really good with the spro Chad shad and I like my casting distance with my tatula 200 and 50lb braid.