ww2farmer

I have a 7'10" H/M St Croix LTB for my big deep cranks, and a 7' MH/M Mojo for everything else. It's new to me this season, and so far all I have used it for is 1/2 oz. lipless cranks, but I am digging it. I can't wait to try it with squarebills, and mid depth cranks.

IMHO it is a necessity, unless you like having to constantly re-rig/position your baits. The big barb keepers on the modern straight shank flipping hooks keep them in position flip after flip. Once you do hook up, they tear the baits up more, but usually it worth it for the quality of fish you get punching the thick stuff.

Thanks, believe it or not, that is my PB for Honeoye. I have 6+'s from both Conesus and Silver, but Honeoye has always been dink city for me.

This will be the "official" leader board post for both category's. April Smallmouth: #1 Clayton86: 4lbs 12oz. 4-9-13 #2 Clayton86: 3lbs 6oz. 4-7-13 #3............ #4........... #5........... April Largemouth: #1 ww2farmer: 5lbs 11oz. 4-28-13 #2 ww2farmer: 5lb 2 oz. 4-28-13 #3 ww2farmer: 4lbs 14oz. 4-16-13 #4 ww2farmer: 4lb 7oz. 4-13-13 #5...................

Don't have an Avid in a cranking blank, but a Mojo (7'MH/M) and a Legend Tournament (7'10" H/M). So far all I have used the 7' MH/M for is ripping lipless cranks out of grass, and plan on using it with the same baits you are talking about. I have other Avids, so I am quite confident in saying that the Avid crankbait rod will be fantastic.

Need? ..............IMHO 2. A 6'6"-7' M power/fast action spinning rod, and a 7' MH/F casting rod. Want?........as many as I can fit in my boats rod locker without causing a tangled up mess. Have?........right now it's 12 in the boat, and I have two back up/loaner bass combos, a spare ultra light for guests, and my kids stuff at home, I could probably fit 2- 3 more in the boat before I exceed the tangled mess stipulation in the "want" category.

When just starting out, don't get caught up in all the little nuances of silent vs. rattling, lip materials, all the different and varied wiggles, etc......get some time on the water with the basics, but a few fish in the boat, and learn and understand why and how you are catchng them..........and sometime just as, if not more important, why you didn't catch anything with them. Pick a decent mid priced brand, they pretty much all work. I favor Strike King, but to each his own on brand preference. Regardless of brand, you would be well served with starting out with the following: 1/2 oz. lipless crank (SK RES, Rat-l-trap, CC spot, etc....) a mid size shallow diver (KVD 1.5, Lucky Strike Series 2, Excaliber XCS200 etc.....) a smaller mid depth crank (Bandit 200, Wiggle wart, SK series 3/3xd etc...) and a mid sized deep diver (SK 5xd, Norman DD14, BDS6 size Fat Free Shad, etc....) Color is another one of those things to fine tune once you get rolling. To start, pick one that matches the conditions you fish. You can't go wrong with good old chrome/blue back and/or red craw in a lipless bait. And a basic shad or bluegill pattern for the rest. All those baits can be thrown on standard casting gear, no technique specific stuff required, like I mentioned before, you can fine tune your gear to the baits later. Just get out and start using them.

Well, after spending $50+ on umbrella rigs this morning at TW, I return from a decent fishing trip and find a couple birthday cards had come in the mail with a $50 worth of BPS gift cards.......so............I bulked up my stock of BPS exclusive colors of SK 5xd, and 6xd silent cranks.

The old bubblegum, weightless t-rigged trick worm, twitched like a fluke/jerkbait over the tops of their heads has been a favorite of mine since................well I started fishing in the mid 80's.

I have a few, but punching time is a long ways off yet here. But I have not been disappointed with them on initial looks. Once I use them I will know more, but I am 100% confident in just about everything SK makes......almost to a fault. I am turning into a walking, talking SK action figure. But I am sure I'll catch fish with.

I use several methods. Under a mat that has some depth to the water it's covering, I shake it a little, or hop it up and down a time or two, maybe even give it a good hard stroke, or even let it soak. In very shallow mats I lift it up to the bottom of the canopy and let it fall again, before lifting it out and finding a new place to plunk it through. I kind of let the bass tell me what to do. If I get a few that are whacking it good on the initial fall, I go into turbo punching mode, covering the area with a punch it in, fall, lift it out....on to the next flip, trying to make it fall in front of as many fish as possible.

The 7' MH Berkley Lighning Rod Shock. Don't let the MH rating fool you, it is plenty stout enough to yank big fish out from some pretty heavy cover. If it's super thick I do however go with a H power flipping stick. But the Shock is a great, cheap, all purpose frog rod. I also used it very effectively for swim jigs, big square bills, spinnerbaits, soft swim baits like a grass pig or skinny dipper type baits. I even tossed umbrella rigs with it, but that was pushing it. IMHO it can't beat it in it's price range ($50) for an all purpose, bigger reaction type bait rod. I thought highly enough of it, to spend $$ on it this winter to get a guide replaced that I stepped on and broke, and to keep it amongst all my St Croix's.

I never had any problems with Vanish in 8,10,12 lb test sizes, but those lines were used mostly on drop shot, crankbaits,.... basicly finesse stuff or open hooks where I never came out of my shoes setting the hook OR as leaders where there was no kinking them during a bad backlash or something. I was always breaking 14, and 17lb Vanish, both as mainline and as leaders. Once I switched to Trilene 100% the breakage in the higher lb tests stopped, but I didn't care for the thicker diameter, and poor handling of that line. I have since switched to Seaguar Red Label, it's inexpensive, has smaller diameter than Trilene 100% in the same sizes, and have not had any issues what so ever with it.

Nope, I like it, I like it better than any other fluoro I have ever used. I am using it in every size from 8-20lb, just as leader material, I use braid as mainline on all my rods. Last year I used a few sizes of it while using up my supply of Vanish and Trilene 100% fluoro. That fish in my avatar, a 6-10, dozens of 5+lb fish, and a handful of other 6's were caught last year using Red Label. Some in nasty/heavy cover with the big sticks, and it never let me down. For $12ish a spool, I can't think of any better bang for the buck in fluoro. I am sure Tatsu is better, I have tried Abrazx..........mehhh....I didn't find it any better for the extra cost over RL. Maybe if I was filling my reels up, and using fluoro as a main line I'd go with the higher priced stuff.

Ok, I'll take what's sure to be a short lived lead in the April LM category with a 4lb 7oz fish caught on a jerkbait on Honeoye lake 4-13-13. And let this be a free lesson on bottom of the barrel photo taking, but after losing 6 phones over the side in the last two years, and ruining two more from taking pictures in the rain, you'll have to cut me some slack with numb hands in freezing cold, wind driven rain, and semi-rough water. LOL

$50 worth of Strike King Titanium umbrella rigs from TW while they are having a 10% off sale.

My absolute favorite of all time was from a place in Brandon Florida called "Babes" used to be on the corner of Rt. 60 and S. Kings Ave, it was two of there pizzas slapped on top of each other and called the "double decker". Chain pizza...............barf. I only get my pizza from mom and pop local places. My top six: #1 Darryl's Pizzeria in my home town of Perry NY #2 Main street pizza in Batavia NY #3 Di'martinos NY Pizzeria in Warsaw NY #4 Pontillo's Pizza in Batavia/Leroy NY #5 Paulies Pizza in Batavia NY #6 DiSalvos Pizza in Warsaw NY All family owned, original pizzas. About the only "chain" pizza I can stand is the ones Wegmans makes, they are pretty good. Dominos, Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, etc... IMHO............garbage.

I have always used LH casting reels. 20 years ago the choices were slim, but they were around.

LOL I just thought of this today. You win the month, and no one else enters a fish in that category ...........then I guess you get a pat on the back, and bragging rights for the month. Actually I have to think about a way around this, we have a little while to go before your safe yet. Lot of April left, and a 4-12 is good, but.....you never know.

No one in particular, I tend to like guys whom I have either met in person, or who are funny and personable on TV. Swindle, Hackney, Ike, KVD, Scroggins, Shaw Grigsby, are amongst the guys I am always pulling for. Brian Snowden doesn't get much TV time, but he's a super nice guy. He and I have a mutual friend and I have bought some of Brian's used gear in the offseason. A bunch of pro's were at BPS in Auburn last summer, and I went out to do the whole meet and greet thing with them. Brian was there and he and I talked for a long time. He asked me as many questions as I asked him, and made a genuine offer that if he has time between tournaments and on his way up to fish the St. Lawrence Elite event this summer, that he'd like to swing by my way and fish with me for an afternoon. Semi-chuckle worthy story of that meet and greet, standing in line like everyone else for a handshake/picture and a couple questions with KVD, people in front of me were asking the usual stuff, like...what's you favorite lake, favorite color crank bait, how do fish this or that. When I got up there, I said "hey you spend a lot of time on the water, what kind of sunscreen do you use to keep from turning as red as your shirt" He actually laughed, and said no one has ever asked him that before............but he never did tell me what kind of sunscreen he used LOL.

Were you asking a question? Or just posting a new way you rigged a bait that worked and caught fish for you. Well...............as un-jerkish as I can say this, good job figuring out how to get them to bite that day. Go fish it some more and tell us how you do. It's always neat to read when someone thinks outside the box a little and has a good day on a new experiment.

As Scott F said, run the graph off a separate source. 6ga is way overkill for a graph, most of the power cords that come with them have tiny wires, I am thinking like 16-18 ga.

Crank away with what you got, you have what you need.

Ahhhhh.......spring is here, people are finally getting out fishing. This might be the most civil $100 rod thread in the history of BR. None of...........this rod sucks, these rods all burst into flames on me, your an idiot and your wife is ugly if you don't buy "this" rod, etc...... heck even RW hasn't said anything offensive in a few days. LOL

There is no such thing as too fast, when they want it they can chase it down faster than you will ever be humanly possible to reel. Try burning a bait with a 5:1 reel all day, and you'll want to go back and slap the doctor that yanked you out of your mother. 6.something to :1 is the perfect ratio for squarbills, and at times I wish I had a 7:1 on that rod. 90% of the reason people recommend 5:1 reels for cranking is to tame the torque of a big, hard pulling bait. Squarebills just don't pull that hard, and if you need to slow it down.............reel slower. Besides most of todays modern reels with there XL main gears, make it easy to pull even big baits on the higher ratios.