Jmurphy87

Thanks for letting me know how it worked for you, and the comparison to the alderbaran. I caught my pb on the curado bfs, small by largemouth standards at 4.74lbs but the reel handled it with ease. My dream bfs reel was the alderbaran, that’s why I was curious how it stacked up against it. I would assume that the alderbaran can throw lower weights easier with the lighter spool, probably like my Mets vs my curado. Giving you that smoothness and refinement that upper end shimano reels due. Thanks again I appreciate you taking the time to give me your feedback.

Well I got out today for a hour and a half, felt good to go fishing again. It has been over 2 weeks since I last went fishing. Just doesn’t seem right, I caught a bunch of dinks and a rock bass. I found a decent hook for the 2.75 tubes I didn’t lose any or miss any hits. I caught a couple on a square bill, I then proceeded to cast my new square bill into a tree yay. Oh well that’s fishing and what I get for trying to squeeze a little extra distance out of a cast.

I usually take a tackle bag with me, so I have way too many choices. I then start with old patterns that have worked, be it a jig or soft plastic. I then pick apart the cover that I know where they should be holding. I commit fully to what I am throwing, it’s usually when I have hit all of those spots in a area and I have not had a hit is when I change it up and repeat the process until I find the pattern of the day. I feel like I myself tend to stick with a presentation a little bit too long but it works for me. I used to be worried about losing lures and terminal tackle, not anymore. I tell myself that I bought it once before and I can do it again. The way I see it is if you are afraid to throw into the nastiness stuff you can find, you are leaving good fish behind.

How did the curado bfs end up doing for you ? The only issue that I had with my curado bfs was that the thumb bar was sticky, although I still used it it was sort of off putting.

I have been looking for some more jerk baits, my plan is to work on building some more confidence with them next year. I wanted to go to a different store but I don’t have my car back from the shop yet and I am on foot. This time I headed off to Ollie’s. I decided that I needed some more lucky craft jerk baits. I got various sizes and 2 lv 500 lipless. 5 lightning pointer 110sp 2 slender pointer 97mr 2 flash pointer 100 1 pointer 78 sp 2 pointer 95 2 lv500 not a bad haul for $80

I either use sniper or daiwa j fluorocarbon hidden concept. I have tried a lot of them though the years. Started with good ol red label, then moved to sniper, invis x, abraz x, sunline super, sunline crank. I then just went back to sniper, I really want to try tatsu but nobody locally carries it for some reason.

You will definitely like the reel, that is what I started of with for my bfs reel. I always wanted to try the Dobyns finesse rod with mine but I couldn’t ever find them locally. The one time that I did see them was when they were not selling the reels. So I ended up buying a zodias ml bfs and that was a very different type of bfs rod. Then I ended up trying a abu garcia xenon ml rod and I could cast under 1/16 pretty easily in most conditions. I am definitely curious to see what your opinion is of the curado bfs versus the alderbarren bfs.

I have a conquest 844mbr casting rod that I use for everything, I have thrown full size vision 110 and 110 jr, lipless, 1/4-5/8 oz square bills, walking baits, frogs, Texas rigs, jigs and weightless plastics, chatter baits, tubes. I have used it for everything and it just works, mostly the mbr taper it’s a real jack of all trades but master of none. I think that if you could get a conquest for a good price that you would be happy with it, for reaction baits the sensitivity is a little overkill but you could easily use the rod for other things also. This is my experience of a conquest rod after fishing them for 2 years now.

Have a awesome trip and enjoy the change of scenery. I am definitely looking forward to hearing about your trip.

I have used them a few times over the years, I used 2.8-3.2 size baits. I worked shallow flats with a stop and go retrieve, steady slow retrieve. I used to pitch them into pockets where drainage pipes met the weed beds and let them flutter to the bottom and then lift the rod tip and let it sink back down. I did pretty good with them when I used them. I hope this helps you out.

That is a really nice fish, I am sure that it was a very exhilarating experience landing that beauty. I am never surprised when I see the fish that you catch, you put in the time and absorb the wealth of knowledge that exists here on this site. All of the experience from the amazing group of members that we have on here is a very extremely invaluable resource. Good job and keep up the great work, I am sure that you will catch one bigger than that one before too long. Good luck and I look forward to hearing about the next trip when you get back out there.

It’s been a minute since I posted here lol, the monkey ? has not been dormant though. 2 vision 110 1 vision 110 jr 2 stunnas 2 square bills some tubes 2.75-4.5” 3 packs creature baits 1 pack baby goats 2 packs of tungsten 1 pack nedlock z ewg heads then a crap ton of hooks, trying to find the right hooks for the 2.75 tubes has been a real struggle. I think I have some that will work out well, I even figured out a way to stupid rig the 2.75 tubes. Those 2.75 tubes have been a pain in the backside to figure out, although the river eats up quite a bit of stuff so at least I am supplied for a while.

@Ohioguy25 here is a couple of pictures of what I have found to work, the tubes are x-zone x tube 2.75. The bodies are a little bit smaller than the strike king one. The jig head is a nedlock z ewg size 1 hook, in the picture I used 1/5 oz but I would go smaller on the weight it’s a very tight fit inside the tube. I hope this helps you .

I have been trying to find a hook for these to rig weed less in the river. The way I rig them is basically a Texas rig, free floating 3/16 bullet weight and a 2/0 tro kar tournament tube hook. I want to try a 1/0 but I can’t find them locally. I fish the Kalamazoo river a lot and just run the rig out of simplicity. I still get the spiral fall on slack line and don’t get hung up more than normal, lol. the best tube jig that I have found for them is the strike king bitsy tube crakin jig it’s the right length for the small tubes. Although I have not seen any locally that I would think would work for stupid rigging it. I know that this information doesn’t really help you on your search but I wanted you to know that you were not alone with trying to find a jig head or hooks that fit these tubes.

Those buzz plugs do work, they cast pretty good too. If I remember correctly it weighs close to 1oz. I have caught a few fish off them in the past, I used them at night also with luck.

Well I got a ride to go fishing yesterday, I had to wait till evening. Although that’s fine with me, because I like fishing in the evening. I got to the river around 6pm, tied a new leader on and started with a 2.75 tube Texas rigged. I fished it here and there for a hour and a half off the old bridge. I made one cast and felt the tick, I gave it a few seconds and it tugged firmly on my line. I gave the reel a few cranks and laid into it. Snap it went, my line came flying back at me with no leader. I am assuming that my braid cut my leader off, because the knot was still there but not my leader. Oh well, if I am being honest this frustrated me a little bit. I had worked so long to get a bite and I didn’t even get a fight. I refocused my brain and decided to go with a little 1.0 square bill that I bought a couple weeks ago. I put down my spinning rod and grabbed my conquest 844c mbr, curado 150 mgl with 14lb line and started going to work. I fished the normal spots but nothing, I made a cast out next to some weeds and felt it hit. I reeled it in and was not disappointed, not a huge fish but for its length it sure was a chunky little fish. I kept fishing through the light rain and caught a nice little dink, although I was happy with the dink and hook set. Poor little guy had two trebles right in the roof of the mouth. I was happy, didn’t get skunked and it’s the first time I’ve had been fishing in 6 days. I still don’t have a vehicle, it’s going to the shop Monday. I am getting the motor replaced since it blew last Saturday. I am half way there on money and that’s a start. Seems odd going to work when you don’t have a car, but hey the bills aren’t going to pay there selves lol. Good luck ? everyone keep catching them and have a great week.

Well I have been absent from the thread for a while, don’t think that I have not been catching fish though. Here are some of the few that I caught. The river that I have been fishing is a whole different animal and skill set than I am used to. I have recently ventured into using a spinning rod some more, daiwa kage walleye rod medium extra fast action with 8lb braid to 7lb fluorocarbon leader. I finally got the promotion that I have been waiting on about three weeks ago. I am still semi homeless, don’t have my own place staying with some friends for a little over a month now. Today I got another speed bump in my life, the engine blew on my car. Well that’s going to hurt my fishing some, no clue how I am going to get to work anymore. It’s around 36 miles one way, oh well time to overcome adversity like I have in the past again I guess. Best wishes to all of you and keep catching them for me.

Welcome, I used to live in Kalamazoo for 3 years. Definitely some decent fishing around there if you know where to look. You will definitely learn a lot of things from the vast amount of knowledge that a lot of forum members have.

Hi from Hopkins Michigan

I have been absent for a while, currently homeless with the family but still going to work. We are staying with friends so it’s not like we are on the streets at least. The river has been rough on me fishing wise, no internet where we are staying so no fishing videos either. I have skunked quite a few times. But today was not one of them, nothing special but I got my daughter out fishing with dad and onto a pike. Have a good night everyone and catch plenty of fish for me ? sorry no pictures of my daughter with the pike we used her phone and we are at Walmart currently and I don’t have her phone lol.

That looks like a fun morning for sure, getting hooked is not so much fun. But it’s a risk we take to pursue our passion, I am glad that you got it out and that you are doing good ?

No pictures out of me again today, once again wading the mucky shoreline of the lake in my swimming trunks lol. I have not bought any new waders this year, hence no pictures when I am waist to chest deep in water. I bought a couple jigs today to go throw along with a couple trailers to match. I bought a couple beast coast battle flip 3/8oz jigs one in dope gill and the other in 420 pro. The trailers that I chose was a old favorite that is the rage chunk in California craw for the 420 pro. I just love how rage chunks help give you a nice slow fall with a lot of action. The next trailer choice was a new one I went with a Yamamoto flappin hog in 956 for the dope gill jig, not a whole lot of action but adds a nice amount of bulk without being too big. The jig falls a lot faster with the Yamamoto flappin hog. I didn’t plan on a lot of bites but I wanted quality fish, I started off with the dope gill jig with the Yamamoto trailer. One of the big gills or tiny bass stole my trailer, moved onto the rage chunk a few light taps but nothing really grabbed it. I then threw it into the reeds and they stole my claws eventually lol. I then started walking back casting with no trailer and felt the tap again and new that I had a fish on. I set the hook and it felt like I set into a stump, for the record there’s no stumps on the shoreline. I hooked the fish and my rod bent over hard and the fish took off running, I knew that I had a decent fish that I was looking for. The rod handled the fish perfectly and kept me in control throughout the entire fight, I fish with a slower reel than most a 6.2 ratio for everything so I get to enjoy the fights and I do get beat sometimes also. I kept tension on the fish as the braid was screaming through the guides as I reeled it in. As the fish got closer to me it tried to jump out of the water so I changed the angle of my rod to force it back down and kept it from jumping. I had the fish right beside me and was positioning it to grab it and checking to see where the jig was in the mouth of the fish. I saw that it was hooked in the roof of the mouth out closer to the lip, I knew that this could be trouble. I got ready to grab it and it shot upward and danced underwater at a upward angle and I knew right then she was about to come off. Sure enough before I could grab her she came off and just swam away slowly. I didn’t care one bit really, I enjoyed the battle and it was a quick release and she is happily swimming in the lake and enjoying life. She probably was in the 3.5-4.5lb range. the heavy power extra fast action and braid have advantages and disadvantages all at the same time, but this is what makes fishing so gosh darn addictive. The battles and victories along with our defeats are what make us better and give us insight. Sorry about the picture of the baits but I had to at least show what I was throwing.

No pictures from the trip yesterday as I was waist deep in water at the lake. I caught 3-4 small ones on a tube, open hook jig head. I will say nothing special size wise on the tube. The jig tore through the head so I had to improvise and swim it before it sank into the weeds. I then decided to throw a weightless stick bait, first fish on it was between 3-3.5lbs with a perfect roof of the mouth hook set. I caught 3-5 more fish on my way down to the reed island, first cast into the corner with the little bit of pads floating my 5” ocho in ghosts minnow got destroyed. I set the hook hard and she went to thrashing, I could tell that it was a good fish it was putting a really deep bend into my 844 c rod. I got her close and she was very long probably 22” or bigger, the downside was that she didn’t have a big stomach to go with the length. I would say she was at least a 4Lb fish, but I don’t have my scale in the water with me when I wade. She put up a really good fight and made my night, around my way 2 fish for 7lbs or a little over is not too bad. All within 30 minutes of each other on the bigger fish. I enjoy the fight and letting them go and growing, I need a new area to fish for even bigger fish but finding that is no easy task in Michigan lol.

Happy birthday and thank you for the wealth of information and experience that you have shared with us all. We all greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for the good thoughts. Me and my family appreciate it dearly. Yeah no clue where we are moving to, although we have some great friends who said that we could stay with them for a bit. That’s a good thing, but if you have ever lived with a friend or family member it’s very difficult at times. I could live outside and fish all of my free time outside of work hours. My family can’t and I respect that, fishing is a very big rabbit hole. I am happy that they have other interests. I think that I am naming the pond tick tack, because if you don’t get at least one tick something is off. I like giving details of my reports so that people can get ideas of structure, cover and how the fish relate to it in the current water conditions. It will help someone out at a body of water that they fish. I like being able to help others also, I just don’t want to be successful I want all of us to succeed. My current life plan is to keep going to my job and figure it all out, along with fishing as much as I get permission to.