MATERIALS:

Hook: standard streamer hook, 8 to 1/0
Thread: dark colors, brown recommended

TYING INSTRUCTIONS:

Tie in marabou at the bend about the length of the hook shaft.
Tie in chenille, brass or gold wire and a hackle feather at the same point.
Wrap chenille forward to about 3/8″ of the hook eye. Do the same with the hackle and the wire.
Tie off and spin a deer hair head on the remaining bare hook.
Trim deer hair flat and wide to imitate a sculpin. Leave a few long hairs extend over the back of the fly.

NOTES: “Fish this thing on a deep sinking fly line. Let the fly sit until it is about to be pulled under by the fly line. Twitch and let it rise to the surface. Then retrieve (twitch) it slowly along the bottom. It is deadly!”

Flies and tying instructions by Tom Chamberlain

If you were a previous member of RiverSmallies you will need to re-register as this is a brand new forum and we are starting fresh!

To join the forum click here

Enjoy!

My best fishing buddy is my cousin Frank and he is the best smallmouth fisherman I know. Not only that, he is the most competitive guy I know. That being said, I am always trying to find an edge on him just so I can “compete” in the boat. I remember thinking I had the edge with the “Sluggo” and he started using the “fluke.” But when I countered with the “Senko” (wacky rigged), I thought I had finally stumped him. Little did I know that my cousin would start fishing with what I would consider the best smallmouth bait we have used to date – the X-Rap.

Most of our smallmouth fishing is done between Emlenton and Kennerdell on the middle-Allegheny. I have not been able to get my boat in yet this year so I thought I would try the X-Rap while I was walking the Casselman River in Fayette County. I put on a 3 inch X-Rap with the intentions of possibly catching a big rainbow or a holdover brown. The area that I was fishing was about a 200 yard stretch of fast water with a long section of protected area behind a big point that stuck out at the head of the run. I started by casting the bait into the fast water and letting it swing down around. The great thing about the X-rap is that it stays suspended at the exact depth that the bait is at when you stop reeling. The fist time I let the lure sit for a good ten seconds near some rocks in front of me. A big smallmouth came over and whacked it. I continued this practice throughout the protected area and caught 8 real nice smallmouths with the biggest being 18 inches. The key to the whole approach was to let the lure sit for about ten seconds at a time as you reel it in. I found that more times than not, that is when the bass would hit. Cast out, jerk, sit, jerk, sit, jerk, sit, and repeat. Cast out, jerk, sit, jerk, sit, jerk, sit, and repeat. Remember to let it sit for at least ten seconds because the bait will remain suspended. Most of the time I never got to the third jerk because I already had one on and there is nothing like an 18 inch smallie on an ultra-light rod. Though I used the 3 inch lure on the Casselman, I will probably use the 4 inch on the Allegheny.

Hopefully my cousin has not yet discovered this approach. At least for one fishing trip together, I might be the one with the upper-hand.

It was as depressing as it had been exhilarating three years prior. The Alaska Highway, gateway to more wilderness than most people experience during the course of a lifetime, seemed gloomy and macabre. Thirty-six months had passed since my wife and I had packed up our stuff, dog and cat and headed “North to Alaska.” All of the anticipation and giddiness only an outdoor fanatic can appreciate was replaced by the stunning realization that this time I was headed south. South to………..h*ll? No, Indiana. As far as I was concerned it might as well be h*ll. What else could Anywhere, USA be after three years of euphoric angling, hunting, and backpacking in paradise?

Hoosiers need not be offended. I’ve lived all but those three years of my life in the Midwest. It’s a fine place to live filled with wonderful people and some outstanding outdoor opportunities. But I love the mountains, cool dry air, and all of the possibilities beyond the first peak. The mountain paradise that is Alaska had lived up to its reputation. Despite the fact that work got in the way a lot, I managed to sample some of the best fishing, hunting, and backpacking on the planet.

The hangover from living in utopia lasted over a year. Initially I just couldn’t get motivated to fish or hunt with the memory of Alaska fresh in my mind. When I did the results were disastrous. My mother-in-law Phyllis Tucker, a well known hunter (that’s right I said my mother-in-law), obtained permission to deer hunt several private tracks. Despite written permission we were harassed by an adjacent landowner who effectively ruined the short season for us. The fact that his activity was illegal and he eventually apologized could not erase the damage. A turkey hunt produced similar results. Every fishing trip I took seemingly required a huge amount of energy and nearly all ended in a skunk or near skunk.

Dejected and feeling sorry for myself, there were two choices. Sit around and bemoan not being in Alaska or persevere and embrace the opportunities that were available. I decided to get a grip. After all, how many people even get to visit Alaska let alone live there? Ultimately a seemingly elusive quarry kept my interest piqued just enough to continue flogging the local waters. I’m a river rat at heart and although I love to fish for trout and steelhead, smallmouth bass are the warm-water equivalent. Haunting rumors of 20 inch bass kept me up at night. How difficult are smallmouth to catch? I’d caught some nice fish but nothing extraordinary and certainly not numbers of fish to write home about. This is where the story takes a dramatic turn.

The advice of a few knowledgeable friends and some tips from those willing anglers I’d run into on the river turned my fortunes. I expanded my repertoire of techniques, but most importantly kept the faith and continued to cover river miles. The net result was good catch numbers, nice fish on a relatively routine basis, and even one lunker smallmouth. The moral of my story is simple: there are almost always quality outdoor opportunities within reach no matter where you live. Sometimes we have to look for them in unexpected places and pay our dues in the form of time and effort. Surprisingly good small-stream smallmouth fishing exists in Indiana (and most of the Midwest), and there are some outlier big fish to be had for the angler willing to make the investment in time and energy. A simple Google search will turn up a lot of information on Indiana smallmouth, plus a good option is to contact the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The regional fisheries biologist will be able to tell you where to go in your target area. Lastly, remember that any decent sized creek or stream will likely hold smallmouth in Indiana; some will hold unexpected numbers or individual specimens which size might surprise you.

Techniques
There are literally a multitude of techniques that can be effective for smallies at any given time. I’ll cover the predominant techniques used by most successful anglers and expound on my personal favorites. Remember, whichever techniques you have confidence in are the ones you should stick to the most, but don’t put yourself in a box either. If the fish seem close-mouthed expand your options. At times the smallmouth hone in on particular offerings and presentations. If you can figure out why they prefer certain lures and presentations on any particular day, you are way ahead of the other 99.9% of us.

Top Water Action
There aren’t too many things better in fishing than seeing a fish explode on a surface lure. Several surface lures are effective for river smallmouth. Small to mid-sized buzz baits, jerk baits, and stick baits all work well. My personal favorite is the floating stick/minnow bait such as the classic floating Rapala. I like to toss it into the holding water and employ a twitch and reel technique, alternating with a steady retrieve. On the twitch and reel, the fish will often drill the minnow plug when it is paused, making it a necessity to prevent slack from forming in the line after twitching the bait. Continuously reel up line to prevent significant slack from forming. It’s a disgusting sight to see a bass flash after the lure only to spit it out due to a poor hook set caused by slack line. I occasionally will allow the minnow to nearly surface or even break the surface and the smallies will sometimes blow it up near to or on top of the water. Obviously when using this method a lot of the strikes are visual and exciting, but be careful not to catch the fishing equivalent of buck fever. If you set the hook too soon you may pull it away from the fish. Try to wait until you feel the weight of the fish and then set the hook.

The advantage to using buzz baits or torpedo type stick baits is that you can cover a lot of water. There is little chance the fish can miss the clickity-clack of a buzz bait anywhere in the vicinity. Again, when using buzz baits wait until you feel the resistance before setting the hook or you’ll pull it away from the fish.

In the Middle
The number of effective offerings in the middle 80% of the water column is certainly too many to list. A few choice and popular artificial baits include French blade spinners such as Mepps, Vibrax or Blue Foxx (or you can order parts and build your own); crank baits in crawfish or shad imitation patterns; and suspending jerk baits. Any of these lure selections can be extremely effective depending on what the bass are keying to on any given day. Spinners are a great choice for getting into difficult to reach spots or for fishing in and around logs and brush. They are also perfect for sweeping through riffles and chops when other lures are either digging the bottom too much or continually breaking the surface due to too much current. In-line spinners are great for faster currents. Jerk and crank baits can produce violent strikes when fished through holes and runs with slower and modest current. Fish suspending jerk baits in the same manner as similar floating baits when the fish don’t want to surface.

On the Bottom
Many river smallmouth anglers swear to fishing tube and curly-tail jigs, plastic worms, salamanders, crawfish, etc bounced along the bottom. This technique can be extremely effective but be prepared to lose a lot of gear. You need to be on or near the bottom in and around rocks, logs, etc and this approach means a lot of hang-ups. As you probably have guessed this is not my favorite technique but don’t be swayed by my opinion. Many anglers catch a lot of bass bouncing the bottom. Look for riffles and runs with rocks and boulders and enough depth, or chop on the surface, to provide cover for the fish. You can also drift these offerings through deeper holes and runs with ample current to move the bait just enough to give it a life-like appearance.

Natural Bait
Few will argue that live bait is usually the most effective offering for river smallmouth. Crawfish, shiners, chubs, and night crawlers drifted through prime holding water will almost always produce strikes if the fish are feeding, and sometimes even when they are not. When possible keep the bait alive on the river. Hook it through the mouth or tail and drift it with appropriate sized weight, or even better if the bait is heavy enough let it free swim. Big bass will eat large live bait. I’ve heard one account (from a reliable source) of a nineteen inch smallie taking a seven inch chub.

I don’t fish live bait for two reasons. One I’m too lazy to collect, carry, and try to keep it alive on the river. I primarily wade fish and cover a lot of water; live bait in this situation is simply too big of a hassle for me. Secondly, there is no doubt fish mortality goes up significantly when using live bait. The fish simply has a much better chance of taking the bait deep in its throat as compared with artificial lures. There’s nothing wrong with keeping a bass or two as regulations allow, but there is great benefit in practicing catch and release as well. Let’s face it: smallmouth aren’t the best eating fish available, and releasing them will result in a much improved fishery especially in small streams that receive moderate to high fishing pressure.

Final Tips
Current and Rocks: When reading the water look for current. River smallmouth love moderate current because it brings the food to them. Wherever current and rocks and boulders meet, you are sure to find smallmouth. Big rocks and boulders as well as logs provide both cover and a current break, and the fish don’t have to move far from their layer to snatch food. In my experience in small to mid-sized Indiana streams deep, slow moving sections of water will hold the occasional fish, but they will be fewer and further between. These stretches more closely resemble lakes than rivers. My fishing buddies and I call them frog water. You are more likely to find catfish and carp in these stretches than smallies.

In the Shallows: Don’t overlook relatively shallow water. It is amazing how fish can blend in to the bottom and smallmouth are not afraid to hold in the shallows, especially when boulders or a good surface chop are present.

Vary the Presentation: Whenever you are not getting strikes, along with changing baits, vary the presentation. A change of depth, speed of retrieve, or amount of action you impart to the lure can make a big difference.

Color Selection: It is always a good idea to mimic the appearance of food or baitfish available to the smallmouth. Beyond that smallmouth seem to be partial to orange and green chartreuse. Definitely include orange in your color spectrum, especially in jerk baits.

If you are looking for an off-the-beaten-path angling experience and are willing to invest the time and effort required to learn a river well, the smallmouth are waiting. Here in Indiana we are blessed with a lot of awesome smallmouth water and some of it might be right under your nose. Check out the bronze treasure in your area, it just might add some serious zest to your fishing repertoire. It did mine.

————————————————

Published on RiverSmallies.com with permission.

Mike Haars resides with Nikki, his wife of thirteen years, and their dog and two cats. In addition to his love of the outdoors he enjoys Christian spirituality, sports and motorcycling. Haars has worked most of his adult life as a mental health therapist; he recently published a book entitled “Life is Not a Sound Bite: Cultural Crisis in America” through Tate Publishing and Enterprises.

I went to Jeff Kelble’s Shenandoah Riverkeeper gathering on the South Fork Shenandoah River last month. The presentation rocked – but I was kind of bummed out by the poor showing from the RS.com and PRSC communities. We need to do better in supporting Shenandoah Riverkeeper, so I asked Jeff what we could do. He went into very specific detail (including photos) of the types of things he wanted fellow paddlers and fishermen to be looking for while they are out on the river doing their normal thing. Here’s what he said:

1. River Bank Destruction – Any alteration of the naturally formed bank which includes vegetation, trees and rock/dirt structure can be damaging to the river. If you see anything destroying a bank, be it people, animals, or machines, snap some photos.

2. Cows in the River – This one hits more than close to home for me, as my wife is a dairy farmer, and her cows are trampling the bank and crapping and peeing in Little Pipe Creek (a tributary of the Monocacy River). However, I do not feel threatened by Jeff’s focusing on this issue. I know that he understands that farmers like my wife are trying to make a living. I think Jeff is trying to create a visual picture of the bank degradation that has occurred in the valley, and his interest is in finding new ways to solve this historical cultural issue. This one goes hand in hand with river bank destruction. By tallying the prevalence of this problem, Jeff may be better suited to argue for a change in the way we provide incentives farmers to fence out cattle.

3. Discharge Pipes (or any other apparent point source pollution) – Discharge pipes that are discolored, emitting a foul odor, a lot of foam, or some other detectable pollution fall under this category. This could be a straight sewage pipe from a home or cabin on the river, a big industrial discharger or something funny seeping out of the ground. If it looks funny – snap a photo.

4. Foam – some foam can naturally occur from the decomposition of leaves. If you see mounds of foam, or a big iceberg looking wad of foam, take a picture of it, email the photo to Jeff, and let him know the specific location it was found. Foam can be a sign of someone’s illegal septic discharge, or some industrial pollution.

5. Lesions – Among the most important things we can do right now is to document the development of lesions on our fish WHEN IT IS HAPPENING. Where in the watershed is important too. Take close up pictures of the lesion with something like your hand or a coin next to it to show the size of the lesion – let Jeff know by email or phone. Please try to be as detailed as possible without feeling you’re giving away secret fishing locations.

6. Healed Lesions – At the gathering, Jeff displayed several close up pictures of healed lesions. This means that some fish survived after being sick. This is great news! Now we’re trying to figure out where in the watershed fish were able to survive these lesions and where they generally died from them.

7. Funky Stuff – Jeff illustrated “funky” by showing a photograph of a rock in his hand that was entirely covered by green stringy algae. He said the whole river bottom was covered with the stuff. It looked out of place to him, so he investigated. The rock happened to be just downstream of an industrial discharge pipe that was dumping incredibly high nutrients. Jeff is now in litigation with the company. I think his point here was that if it looks out of place, take a picture, and send it to him with your narrative of what about it caught your attention. If it looks funny for any reason – send it along.

If you were unable to attend the event last month, you can still help out in a huge way. Take pictures, make observations, and communicate them to:

Jeff Kelble, Shenandoah Riverkeeper
jeff@shenandoahriverkeeper.org
Riverkeeper Hotline: (540) 837-1479

Please print this thread, and keep it in your vehicle, boat, or dry bag for hotline reference.

Membership in Shenandoah Riverkeeper is $35 for individuals and $50 for families. All donations are tax deductible and can be mailed to:
Shenandoah Riverkeeper
P.O. Box 405
Boyce, VA 22620

The Jerk’n Minnow from Winco’s Custom Lures is the ultimate soft jerk bait that attracts and catches smallmouth bass with one of the best natural sink rates available today. They are poured with harder plastisol to give that important darting, side-to side retrieve, without going around in circles (like softer models have the tendency to do), plus they have a good re-use rate. Better than live bait. Salt, sand, and scent impregnated.

5″ Model Hooking Recommendations

1- horizontal nose-hooked w/a Gamakatsu #2 octopus circle hook or 1/0 owner mosquito.
When rigging this way, I personally like to use a Spro #2 Power swivel 8-12″ in front of the hook to eliminate most of the line twist cause by horizontal nose-hooking. In heavy or deep current, I’ll place a 1/32-1/16 water gremlin bull shot in front of the swivel. Placing a weight against the nose of the soft jerkbait will eliminate the fish attracting spiral on the pause that attracts strikes.

2- You can also Texas rig the 5″ Jerk’n Minnow SR with a Gamakatsu 4/0-5/0 EWG hook. This is my favorite way to rig this bait for lake largemouth bass in weeds and wooden cover. Pull the bait backwards slightly after rigging weedless Texas style and let the tip of the hook go into the plastic, ever so slighly. This is refered to as “skin-hooking”and will give you the ultimate in weedless action. One dab of Pro’s Soft Bait Glue keeps the head and eye of the hook in place, inside the bait. Simply apply on the hook eye, then immediately pull the hook inside the bait and rig Texas style.

3.75 ” Model Hooking Recommendations

1- Horizontal #4 Gamakatsu Octopus circle#1-1/0 Owner mosquito hook. I prefer this method for open water smallmouth bass fishing in creeks and rivers.

2- This bait can also be Texas-rigged with a 2/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook which will eliminate most of the line twist if rigged straight. The same aforementioned recommendations apply for the weighting and use of a swivel. Both the 3.75″ and 5″ models are impregnated with salt and sand for a great natural sink rate with spiraling swimming action and are very easy to cast unweighted. The 5″ model casts extremely well on casting tackle.

A Productive Type of Retreive

Cast out and try to hold your fishing rod parallel to the water and work the bait from your left or right side. If you are standing in a boat, I recommend working the rod straight down toward your feet. In river and creek situations, cast up-current of likely looking pools, eddies, and sub-surface boulders. After you’ve casted, take up your slack immediately and be ready! Many times, especially with smallmouth in thin-water flows, they will inhale the bait on the initial “splash-down.” Take up your slack and complete the following sequences moving the Jerk’n Minnow 6 to 12 inches each jerk.

Jerk-Jerk pause…Jerk-Jerk-Jerk pause.

Vary your cadence with quick or slower jerks between pauses. The fish usually hit on the pause, so set the hook immediately if you feel any resistance after the pause. Many times, smallies move directly at you after hitting and you must react very quickly, picking up the slack while setting the hook. Braided line with a fluorocarbon leader will increase your hook-up ratio due to zero line stretch and a quicker reaction time in detecting strikes.

Many anglers are opposed to using swivels, but I find an aggressive, horizontal, open hook stop-and-go retrieve produces line twist. The Texas rigged method does not produce as much line twist if rigged straight. Except for a solid ring, sampo ball bearing swivel, the Spro Power swivels (#2 & #4) do the best job of eliminating 80% of the line twist. I also prefer the horizontal opened-hook nose rig when weeds and wood are not a problem, especially with smallmouth bass. When additional weight is necessary for strong current and/or deeper holes, I recommend weighting the baits as illustrated to maintain the important spiraling action on the fall. Placing a weight against the nose of the bait will cause it to nose dive, eliminating that “fish-attracting” spiral on the fall.

Here’s a pic of the 5″ series Jerk’n Minnow rigged with a 12″ leader, Gammy #2 O.C. hook, plus a Spro #2 Power swivel and then Texas-rigged with a 5/0 gammy EWG hook:

This pic shows the 3.75″ series, first rigged Texas-style with a Gammy 2/0 EWG hook and then horizontally nose-hooked with a #4 Gammy O.C. hook, 8 inch leader, Spro #2 power swivel, and a Water gremlin 1/32 oz bullshot weight.

Compare the Jerk’n Minnow’s natural sink rate, action, durability, and colors with any other similar baits on the market. You will be pleasantly surprised!

__________________________________________________

Copyright © 2008 Al Winco
Published on RiverSmallies.com with permission.

Al Winco is the owner of Winco’s Custom Lures and produces hand-poured soft baits and custom wooden topwater plugs. Al can be reached at his website www.wincoscustomlures.com.

It’s finally feeling like spring here in Wisconsin. It has been a long winter with most of the state breaking snowfall records. I can’t wait to get on open water for some nice smallies.

Hopefully having this review article up earlier will give you information you can use as you look at new reels to add to your arsenal. As I’ve noted in past reviews, I am careful with my equipment, so these reels are used, but not abused. However, all four of the spinning reels in this article took some major dunkings. The spinning reels were used exclusively during 100 hours of fishing on 25 days and helped me catch over 1,500 smallies from Aug. 18 to Oct. 25. I feel this gives me plenty of ammunition to write this article.

As always, these are just my opinions. You may or may not agree. I try to give you information you can use in your decision-making process. I’m sure some of you have read my other reviews and wondered about things you experienced that I did not. Remember everyone treats their equipment differently and sometimes, even a good reel can have a problem. A good review simply means the reviewer liked the reel. I’m picking reels to review that I think I will like and reels you will like and might want to consider for your smallie fishing.

I hope you enjoy the article and can take some useful information from it.

__________________________________________________

Abu Garcia Cardinal 701LX – $109.99

I wrote about the Abu Garcia Cardinal 801 and 802 in my last review and was looking forward to giving a good test to the “new” Cardinal 701LX. This is going to sound a lot like my review of the Cardinal 801 because I couldn’t tell any difference between the two reel series. On paper the 801 has nine HPCR (High Performance Corrosion Resistant) stainless steel bearings compared with seven in the 701LX, and the 701 LX is $20 less at $109.99.

The size of the 701LX is just right for the type of river fishing I do. It has a compact size, is very light at 8.1 ounces and handles 110 yards of 6-pound test diameter line. As with the 801 I spooled the 701LX with 6-pound Silver Thread Excalibur and fished it on a St. Croix 6’6” light-action Legend Elite, along with a medium-light 6’6” Premier and 7’ Legend Elite. As noted in my opening, I fished the reel on numerous days, catching a ton of smallies, and it took a few dunkings with absolutely no problems, and is as smooth as when it came out of the box. I mostly fished it using the Rebel Teeny-Wee Crawfish and some swimming a 5” Kalin Lunker Grub on a jig.

I primarily backreel with bigger fish, but for purposes of this review relied on the drag more than usual. It’s very smooth and even throughout the settings. The backreel switch is on the bottom of the reel, but still easy to locate and isn’t too small. The grip knob on the handle is comfortable with a soft feel, and as I’ve noted in the past, I love the thread-on handle. This makes it so easy to break the reel down for storage. The tubular bail is compact and has the light feel I really like. Daiwa first introduced this type of bail with its AirBail. The gear ratio is a little slower than I like at 5.1:1, but fine for the lures I use this size reel with.

In the 801/802 review last year, I noted that I’d fished with and written about a few Abu Garcia spinning reels and felt the 800 series was the first Abu Garcia spinning reel to fall into the “higher-end” classification. The 701LX can be included in that statement. I like it enough that I bought the 702LX, which is perfect for those of you who like a reel that handles more line. You jump to 9.6 ounces and it’s rated for 185 yards of 6-pound diameter line. Color is a personal preference, but I do like the light gray of the 701LX. It looks like Abu Garcia has another winner in its spinning reel line-up with the Cardinal 701LX. www.abu-garcia.com

Features:
• Overbuilt for added strength
• Stainless Steel Main shaft and all SS hardware for saltwater corrosion resistance
• All aluminum construction, including body, body cover, rotor, rotor arm lever and handle arm
• Waterproof Carbon Matrix Drag – patented sealed and dual bushing supported
• 7 High Performance Corrosion Resistant (HPCR) stainless steel bearings
• Stainless steel components
• Pound test/yards rating – 4/140, 6/110, 8/80
• Line recovery per handle turn – 24” (701LX) and 27” (702LX)

__________________________________________________

Team Daiwa Advantage-A 2000 – $139.95

I’ve had the pleasure of spending quite a few hours with the Team Daiwa TD Sol and Tierra. I’m still using both reels and they continue to perform great. The Advantage-A has a very similar feel and from a price standpoint falls between the $199.95 Sol and $114.95 Tierra at $139.95.

Overall the 2000 series of Daiwa reels is my favorite size because it handles all three line diameters I use. It’s rated for 135 yards of 6-pound diameter line, 110 yards of 8-pound and both 4 and 10- pound just fine. I would classify this reel as perfect for light and medium-light duty, and it only weighs 8.7 ounces. It also works great at the medium level, which I’ve done many times with 2000 series. If you want more line capacity you can jump to the 9.6 ounce 2500 series that’s rated for 170 yards of 8-pound diameter line.

I fished this reel on St. Croix medium-light 6’6” and 7’ Legend Elites and also fished a few days with it on an Avid 6’6” medium. I spooled it with Power Pro 20/6 as well as 6-pound Excalibur, but primarily used the Power Pro. Much of what I used this reel for was swimming a Kalin 5” Lunker Grub on a jig. Interestingly, my longest smallie (21.5”) came in 2006 testing the TD Sol and my heaviest Milwaukee River smallie (4 pounds) came on the Advantage-A.

The author hoists a 4-lb Milwaukee River smallie, caught using the Advantage-A.

Not that it matters in performance, but I think this is one of the best looking reels I’ve seen, with its medium gray color and dark red accents. The 9.2 ounce weight is great and as with both the TD Sol and Tierra, I “love” the compact Air Bail. Having the “large” anti-reverse switch on the back of the reel makes it easy to locate when you want to backreel with a big smallie. I prefer a little faster gear ratio than the 4.7:1 for getting that lure back after it leaves the strike zone, but these have been such great reels to fish that I don’t really think about the gear ratio while using them. The drag is very smooth and tightens evenly as the drag knob is turned. The grip knob is noticeably comfortable.

This is another super reel from Daiwa that you river smallie “enthusiasts” should love. As noted earlier I gave this reel a few very substantial dunkings and it’s also as smooth today as the day it came out of the box. Certainly the washable design with the sealed and waterproof drag has something to do with this. Last year I noted it was hard to tell the difference between the Tierra and the TD Sol. For those of you who have drooled over the TD Sol, you may want to consider the Advantage-A.

Features:
• Six ball bearing system including two CRBB corrosion resistant bearings and roller bearing
• Lightweight, rugged computer die-cast aluminum alloy body & cover
• ABS Machined Aluminum Spool
• Digigear digital gear design for speed, power and durability
• Washable design with sealed, waterproof drag
• Air Bail tubular stainless bail, strong yet light
• Lifetime Bail Spring
• Titanium-Nitride ball bearing line roller
• Twist Buster II line twist reduction
• Infinite Anti-Reverse
• Free spare ABS aluminum spool
• Pound-test/yards rating – 6/135, 8/110, 10/90
• Line recovery per handle turn – 24” (2000) and 28” (2500)

__________________________________________________

Daiwa Regal XiA 2000 – $49.95

Until a few years ago, the Regal was a staple in the Daiwa line-up. Well, it’s back for 2008 in a new version that retails for only $49.95. After fishing this reel quite a few hours and dunking it a few times, I like it.

I fished this reel on St. Croix medium-light and medium 6’6” and 7’ Premiers, Avids and Legend Elites. I’ve always liked when a company provides two of the “same” spools for a reel. Daiwa has done this with the Regal XiA, including a second ABS aluminum spool, which is unusual at this price point. I spooled one with 14/6 Fireline Crystal and the other with 6-pound Excalibur, although I primarily used the Fireline. I used the Regal for the Booyah Pond Magic Buzzbaits I’ve begun to have great success with, the Kalin grub on a jig and YUM Dingers.

The Regal XiA is very smooth and has a little faster 5.3:1 gear ratio, which I like. It’s not quite as light as I like, but by no means heavy at 10.2 ounces. The handle isn’t the screw on type, but a one-touch folding style, which I also appreciate for easy storage. The grip knob on the handle has a good feel, but not as soft as I like. At the bargain price it doesn’t have the Air Bail, but the light wire bail is very compact and has a good feel. The ant-reverse switch is on the bottom of the reel, but big enough to find quickly. The drag is super smooth and adjusts evenly.

I put plenty of hours on this reel, dunked it a few times and can tell you that at $49.95 this is a solid reel. www.daiwa.com.

Features:
• Ten ball bearings, plus roller bearing
• Digigear digital gear system
• Infinite Anti-Reverse
• Twistbuster line twist reduction
• Chrome-plated one-touch folding handle
• Free spare ABS aluminum spool
• Pound-test/yards rating – 6/135, 8/110, 10/90
• Line recovery per handle turn – 28”

__________________________________________________

Shimano Saros 1000 – $129.99

Like many of you, I’ve spent hundreds of hours wading smallie rivers and have only taken a complete dunking a few times. And, I might add, it doesn’t make me happy. Last fall on the Milwaukee River as I was winding up a nice three hour wade, I stumbled over a boulder in the clear water, lost my balance and went completely under in about 3 feet of water. The Saros on a St. Croix Legend Elite ended up staring at me from the river bed. My new Motorola Razr wasn’t in a plastic bag and was ruined. Fortunately my nice Canon camera “was” in a bag. I picked up the rod and reel, which were no worse for the dunking. The reel showed no signs of binding that day or the next day when I was back on the river. Some on this site have commented about this with other Shimano reels. You can take solace that I didn’t experience it with this reel that took a few more dunkings over the two months of fishing.

The Saros takes over the price point the Stradic was at. Having fished many hours with the last two versions of the Stradic 1000, I like the Saros better and think you may feel the same way. Along with the Saros, the redesigned Stradic, Sustain and Stella all have the “new” Paladin Gear Durability Enhancement and Propulsion Line Management System. Relying on its industry-leading cold-forging manufacturing capabilities, Shimano’s Paladin Gear Durability Enhancement uses a special cold-forged aluminum drive gear and a hardened brass pinion gear. This process makes gears with less metal for reduced weight, while still being stronger and more durable than even an all stainless steel drivetrain.

The most obvious component of Propulsion Line Management System is the spool lip designed to prevent backlashes and wind knots from forming. Line also flows off the spool in smaller loops meaning less line slap on the stripper guide, which when combined with the long stroke spool design, provides longer casting distance due to less friction. The Propulsion System also includes the SR-Concept one-piece bail wire to reduce friction and tangles, a twist-reducing Power Roller III line roller, a bail trip mechanism that easily trips the bail by turning the handle, and the S-Arm Cam to keep the line in contact with the line roller during slack line fishing. The beveled spool lip design certainly makes sense for longer casts and performed great for me. Also, I spooled the reel to the point where the lip angles forward, which is what Shimano recommends.

I used 6-pound Excalibur on the Saros 1000 with 6-pound Excalibur and fished it on a 6’6” light action Legend Elite and both 6’6” and 7’ medium-light Legend Elites. I primarily used these set-ups with the Rebel Teeny Wee-Crawfish, but also the Mepps Aglia Streamer and swimming the grub on a jig. Like past 100o series reels it’s rated for 110 yards of 6-pound diameter line. The Saros 1000 is incredibly light at 7.1 ounces and has a fairly speedy 5.6:1 gear ration. Out of the box I noticed the handle is shorter than past 1000 models. It measures about 3/8th of an inch shorter than similar sized reels. I like the look and how it functions. If you have the Bass Pro Shops 2008 Master Fishing Catalog, you can see the different Shimano spinning reel handles on the Handle Chart.

The backreel switch has been moved from the back of the reel on the last Stradic model to under the reel, like the Symetre. And, like the Symetre, it’s large enough to find quickly. The handle knob on the Saros is comfortable as you would expect from Shimano. The drag is also typical of the Shimano reels I’ve fished. It’s very good, but most of the adjustment comes when the drag knob is tightened almost all the way with adjustments coming in small increments at the end of the tightening process. A nice change is the screw on handle, which you’ll also find on the redesigned Stradic.

In an excellent review on the “new” Stradic 1000 that Brian Quisenberry posted September 7, 2007 on the Smallie Board, he used the word “trippy” to describe the bail on his new Stradic. On all the Stradics I’ve used and now on the Saros, the bail is slightly “trippy”. This means it’s somewhat light to the tough and on a rare occasion may close during a “very” hard cast. I’ve never thought this was a problem because it happens infrequently.

As noted earlier I prefer this reel over the last version of the Stradic and was totally impressed with it during many hours on the water. For those of you considering the new Stradic, you should be sure to take a look at the Saros, which is $30 less. I liked it so much I bought another 1000 and a 2500. The 2500 adds line capacity for certain fishing situations, has a 6:1 gear ration and only weighs 9.9 ounces. I think you’re going to be as impressed with the Saros as I was. www.fish.shimano.com.

Features:
• Paladin Gear Durability Enhancement
• Propulsion Line Management System
• Aluminum frame and spool
• Shielded A-RB bearings
• Fluidrive II
• Dyna-Balance
• Super-Stopper II
• Machined Aluminum handle
• Aluminum Spare spool
• Maintenance port
• Repairable Clicker
• Pound-test/yards – 2/270, 4/140, 6/110, 8/80 (educated guess)
• Line recovery per handle return – 28” (1000) and 34” (2500)

__________________________________________________

Abu Garcia Pro Max Baitcaster – $79.99

During the past six years I’ve had the pleasure of fishing with and writing reviews on a few Abu Garcia baitcast reels. This has included a couple of low-profile models and a couple of the round models. All of these reels were priced between $100 and $160. For 2008 Abu Garcia has introduce their MAX series of low-profile reels. These include the $79.99 Pro Max, $59.99 Silver Max and $49.99 Black Max. The difference in each is the number of bearings. The Pro Max has seven ball bearings plus one roller bearing. The Silver Max has six plus one and the Black Max has five plus one.

I wanted to see how this “value” reel compared to others I’ve fished. I did not have a chance to fish the Pro Max as much as the spinning reels, but did put a dozen hours on it over three days of fishing last fall on Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin. I spooled it with 12-pound Exalibur and used it on both a 6’6” and 7’ medium St. Croix Legend Tournament rods.

The Pro Max and all the MAX reels weigh a light 7.9 ounces. The reel was very easy to set-up for the types of lures I was using, which included spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, some jerkbaits and I even used it a little with tubes. I fish spinning gear more, so am always happy when I find a reel that casts easily without being too touchy with backlashes. During the three days I only had one backlash and that came at the end of the third day and was while casting pretty much into the wind. This was more my fault than the reels.

I didn’t catch a bunch of fish, but among the fish I did catch were a five pound northern and 4 pound largemouth. The drag worked great as I purposely backed off on it to see how smooth it was on the two larger fish. The MagTrax Brake System is very easy to operate with one dial that allowed me to tune my casting for a variety of situations. The grip paddles, like all the Abu Garcia reels, are very comfortable. Abu Garcia does a nice job with fit and finish and the gold color makes for a good looking reel.

The reel wasn’t put through any torture tests, but during the hours I fished with it the performance was very pleasant and I’m looking forward to using it more this season. www.abu-garcia.com.

Features:
• Seven ball bearings and one roller bearing
• Precision machined Duragear brass gears
• Power Disk Drag System
• MagTrax Brake System – Swedish Engineered
• Wiffle spool
• Cam lock
• ADS spool
• Anti-distortion spool
• 7.9 ounces & 6.2:1 gear ratio
• Pound-test/yards rating – 12/160
• Line recovery per handle return – 28.3 inches

I hope you enjoyed the article and can use the information I shared with you. As always feel free to email or message me with any questions you might have. And, remember, these are just my opinions.

__________________________________________________

Copyright © 2008 Bill Schultz
Published on River Smallies.com with permission.

Bill Schultz lives in Wisconsin and is a member of the St. Croix Pro Staff and sponsored by a variety of other companies. He is a popular sports show speaker and contributing writer for this site, various outdoor magazines.

During the summer of 2006, I noticed an interesting fishing report about a river in Wisconsin by a guy with the handle, “Fishinmusician.” I hadn’t heard of this river in my home state, where I thought I knew all the good smallie rivers. So, I messaged “Fishinmusician” to find out more about this river on which he and a buddy had such a great day. He got back to me with an expanded report. I was curious about his handle and asked him about it. He told me he and his buddy were members of a country band.

“Fishinmusician” is Tom Bentley, who is the keyboard player for Joe Nichols. His buddy is bass player Brad Albin, or “bcalbin” here at RS.com. Tom and I had a number of conversations and e-mails related to river smallie fishing in Wisconsin during the 2006 season and into the 2007 season. Both Tom and Brad live in the Nashville area and have fished most of the rivers and streams holding smallmouth bass within a couple hundred miles of home. Touring with Joe Nichols takes them around the country, and in many locations, they try to find a local expert who can tell them where to find smallies. Sometimes, if the schedule works out, they enjoy fishing with the local expert who has helped them.

During 2007, Joe Nichols played in or near Wisconsin six or seven times. I was disappointed last June, when a rare sick day kept me from picking the guys up in Oshkosh to fish that river in Tom’s original report. We actually talked early that morning as the buses were cruising near my home in the Milwaukee area. They told me to get better and once in Oshkosh, got a car and headed to the river for some great smallie fishing.

Most of their shows are in the evening. Following the show, the crew packs the equipment and everyone jumps in the two tour buses and travels overnight with the band and crew sleeping. This is why, in many locations, they are ready to rent a car and head to a local stream by early morning.

My second chance to fish with Tom and Brad came on July 27 when Joe Nichols was the headliner at the Dubuque, Iowa, County Fair. The band had the rare luxury of arriving in Dubuque with a day off. I couldn’t get to Dubuque until the next day, so I gave them a number of options in Southwest Wisconsin on my three favorite rivers. They made a good choice of where to fish and had a great time catching 60-80 smallies up to 18 1/2 inches.

I met them early Friday morning. We dropped off their rental car and headed to the “catch and release” Maquoketa River west of Dubuque. It was great meeting the guys in person, and we seemed to hit it off, at least I think so. If we didn’t, they were polite enough not to tell me. We had a good half-day catching 70-80 smallies. Charlie, who we met on the river, had one over three pounds, with Brad catching a nice 17-incher.

It was enjoyable fishing with Tom and Brad, but to a certain extent, fishing is fishing. For me, what we did the second half of the day was brand new. We stopped fishing in the early afternoon because we had to be back to the fairgrounds for the sound check. After the sound check, I got to hang out with the band and see first hand what the fancy tour buses look like on the inside. Very nice!

That evening, my wife, her mom, a couple of her mom’s friends and I took in a great show. Before the show, we got to see Tom, while Brad took a much needed nap. We also were able to meet Joe Nichols during the “meet and greet” before the show. We all had a great time, and Becky’s mom and friends are still talking about it.

I’m not the only river smallie enthusiast Brad and Tom have fished with. I’m very envious when I tell you they’ve fished the Susquehanna River with Tom Boyd and the Upper Potomac with Al Pugh, George Thurston and Derek Zurfluh. In Tennessee they’ve been on the Holston River with Thomas Lepsch and in Illinois on the Kickapoo Creek with Mark Hedgaer. And, as I mentioned earlier, the Maquoketa in Iowa with yours truly. Over the past few years, they have fished in 28 states on 12 rivers and six lakes for smallies, largies, spots, trout, salmon and arctic grayling in Alaska. Not bad for a couple of country boys.

I asked them how long they have been professional musicians. Brad told me that he’s been making his entire living as a musician since 1986 and has played with Joe Nichols since August of 2002. Tom has been a professional musician for 16 years and has been playing the piano for 30 years. He has been with Joe Nichols for almost three years and feels Joe is the most talented country singer he has heard.

Both Brad and Tom have loved fishing since they were kids. Tom told me his first fishing trip was to Dale Hollow in Tennessee with his father and grandfather. Now that’s the way to start fishing. He began fishing rivers/streams about 10 years ago. It initially started as an expedition for trout, but he quickly fell in love with smallies and hasn’t looked back. Brad was more of a lake guy until Tom joined the band and got him turned on to river/stream smallies. He tells me that without question this type of fishing is his favorite.

Even fishing with Brad and Tom for a half day, it’s obvious that they know what they’re doing. Brad likes to fish slow, so soft plastics suit his style. His starting lineup consists of jigs with grubs/tubes along with using Senkos and Case Jack’s Worms. More recently, he has become a big fan of soft jerkbaits like Flukes. For topwater, Brad likes Torpedos and Sammys. Tom tells me that his current favorite smallie presentations are the Case Jack’s Worm, Reaction Innovations Smallie Beaver, and some custom tubes from Dry Creek Outfitters in Idaho and Luhr-Jensen Hot-Lips cranks. He also loves Senkos. Tom also mentioned the great luck he’s had with an in-line spinner from a company called Joe’s Flies. I’m still working on these two guys to spend more time with the Rebel Teeny Wee-Crawfish. Maybe next year.

For me, it was a pleasure fishing with the Fishin’ Musicians, Tom Bentley and Brad Albin. I’m hoping they get back to Wisconsin in the future so we can hit some more of my favorite smallie rivers. And, keep an eye on where Joe Nichols will be playing in 2008. You’d enjoy fishing with Tom and Brad.

__________________________________________________

Copyright © 2008 Bill Schultz
Published on River Smallies.com with permission.

Bill Schultz lives in Wisconsin and is a member of the St. Croix Pro Staff and sponsored by a variety of other companies. He is a popular sports show speaker and contributing writer for this site, various outdoor magazines.

Have you ever sifted through an entire aisle of soft plastics to find a pack of tubes with a specific shade of green? Have you ever had to settle for a color of fluke that was almost right because the right one was out of stock? I’d bet that you were not as patient with that wrong color. Your confidence in that bait was not 100%, and you didn’t catch as many fish. Your buddy might be right next to you slamming fish on every other cast with that “wrong” color fluke. But because it’s not the color you really wanted, it just isn’t working for you.

My own picky nature led me to working with soft plastics for the first time several years ago. The Fat Salty Special Tubes that I had special ordered in bags of 150 seemed to arrive progressively thinner. I used to be able to sit down the aisle of a now closed tackle shop in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and sift through a bulk bin of these baits to select the fattest ones, and toss the thin ones back. Each bag of 150 might have had 20 or so that were of adequate girth.

So I decided to plump them up myself. I initially tried melting down old soft plastics to their liquid state so I could redip the heads of the thin ones, making them fatter. My first run of “Godzilla” tubes was named by Jeff Kelble as we floated the mainstem Shenandoah one early January day. The surface of the tube’s head where it was redipped was dark green, bumpy, and blistered, much like the skin of Godzilla. The process of making them produced a product that I was not that happy with, not to mention that it created a lot of smoke and caustic fumes, giving me a headache.

Looking for a better way, I ordered a 5 gallon bucket of fresh plastisol from Lurecraft, some green pumpkin coloring agent, and some purple glitter. Other suppliers that I have used since then include Ozark Tackle, DelMart Molds, and Barlow’s Tackle. The next batch resulted in a smooth coating of green pumpkin with purple flake.

Besides redipping tubes, entire baits can be created. My next soft plastic creation, the Crawzilla had the bulbous tail section of a Fat Salty Special Tube, and the “pig” part of a jig ‘n pig. To make the two piece mold for this bait, I used water putty, a disposable aluminum baking pan, some petroleum jelly as a release agent, and some pop sickle sticks to make the mold fit together tightly when pouring. I learned that bleeder canals need to be cut between the two surfaces with a Dremel tool to let the air in the mold cavity escape. A pouring spout cut into the mold also made the pour go smoother. The mold was successful in creating the idea I had, but the action of the bait in the water was not what I had envisioned.

Too often, anglers place too much emphasis on a baits color. Obviously, bait placement is paramount to all bait attributes. But a do it yourself soft plastic maker needs to look beyond color alone. The baits action can be modified by several additives, and by selecting the right plastisol to begin with. Saltwater soft plastic holds up to the toothy slashes of a bluefish blitz better than baits made from standard plastisol. But it is far more rigid, and does not have as fluid of an action. The softest plastisol (Formula 536 in Lurecraft’s catalog) imparts a great action for finesse baits like ribbed worms. Additionally, this soft plastic will float on its own. When used on a jighead, the plastic will orient up, making the lure more visible on a rocky bottom. This buoyant quality works very well as part of a Carolina rig. A crawfish imitating bait on a 1/0 EWG hook will scoot off the bottom, settle to the bottom slowly, then angle with its claws up at a 45 degree angle, just as a threatened defensive postured crawfish would.

An opposite action is important in lures that imitate baitfish. The three inch soft plastic stick is a lure that has recently become a staple item in my tackle. The first batch of these lures I poured did not do a good job imitating a bait fish. I used the same floating Lurecraft Formula 536 to make these. I had trouble casting these small low density plastics until I added some salt. The salt made the lure sink, presenting the bait to the middle of the water column, where baitfish are more likely to be found.

After fine tuning the sink rate, I then focused on color. To match the natural forage, I sat down in the middle of the shallows, waited for the mud to settle, and then slowly submerged my waterproof camera. After a few minutes of remaining motionless, the kinds of fish that I would expect a larger fish to eat appeared in the viewfinder. I’ve netted small fish before and taken out of water photos. The underwater photography was an eye opener for me. The difference amazed me. Water filters light. Backgrounds change how baitfish shade their scales. Some baitfish are translucent, and take on the color of whatever is behind them. A photo of a young of the year smallmouth laying in my hand looks like a completely different species than the same fish in its aquatic habitat.

The color that I favored the most took a while to figure out. It needed to have a base color similar to that of the sandy river bottom, have a golden sheen, but also reflect the slight green shade of the water. The coloring agent that I used as a base color was called caramel. I added a small amount of gold super highlight. Super highlight is a powder additive that gives many soft plastics an overall shiny quality. I added a few drops of green pumpkin. Green pumpkin is one of the colors where a little bit goes a long way. It’s also a nice color to have if you come up with a color you don’t like. It will overpower whatever color mistake you have made. Lastly, I added some medium sized dark gold glitter to give the appearance of a baitfish with a few scales out of place from injury.

Once these baits were poured and trimmed, I added eyes. After trying several different paints and markers unsuccessfully, I found Lurecraft’s soft plastic paint. This paint is the only thing that will stick to soft plastic. Markers bleed into the plastic. Paints like car touch up paint, or acrylic paints don’t stick and often won’t even dry on the plastic. Using a dowel rod shaped by a pencil sharpener, and cut with a razor blade, the eyes were of uniform shape and size. The eyes are often the only thing a predator fish may see when looking at a well camouflaged minnow.

With the 5 ounce swimbaits I hand poured, a simple black dot was not enough. Details on larger baits must be more exact. The 3-D adhesive eyes in the Barlow’s catalog were a perfect match for my sunfish and white perch swimbaits. Crazy gluing them into the eye socket made them a permanent fixture on the bait. The swimbaits looked like the respective sunfish and perch, but they did not swim upright, a sure sign to any potential predator that the offering is bogus. To provide a keel, I cut a flap and a cavity in the abdomen of the lure, and glued egg sinkers inside. This corrected the problem, and allowed me to target deeper structure.

Another much smaller hand poured bait that required weight was the Toad Bomb. This bottom dragging bait was the next lure in the line of designs stemming from the Fat Salty Special Tube. To make the original blank a symmetrical shape, I turned a block of bass wood on the lathe. After applying some petroleum jelly to the bulbous shaped wood, I placed it into the cake batter consistency water putty. The one piece mold hardened, and then I used two different Dremel bits to create the tail of the bait. The one piece mold was sealed with Valspar weatherproof sealant. While pouring, both a ¼ oz egg sinker and a glass rattle from HawgHead Baits were dropped into the still hot plastisol. The result was a rattling, snag resistant bottom dragging bait.

Other materials can be added to the still hot plastisol to make a more detailed bait. Round rubber is usually thought of as a material for tying flies or jigs. By incorporating two single strands of brown round rubber, my beaver style soft plastics look just like a crawfish trying to feel its way around with its antennae. The round rubber, like the Formula 536 plastisol is somewhat buoyant. The antennae float up above the bait, allowing a fish to find the bait that may have settled in the craggy rock bottom.

A crawfish in its natural environment.

My rendition of a crawfish in a defensive position: claws raised, antennae probing. The floating nature of Formula 536 makes this position happen automatically.

Making your own molds isn’t the only way to go. The Lurecraft catalog and website feature several hundred molds that you can purchase for about $10 a piece. These flexible molds produce smoother finished baits than the ones I’ve made from my own water putty molds. They also sell the materials needed to make your own flexible molds, a project I plan on doing soon. The baits release easier from the flexible molds, and do not transfer heat as much as the ones made from water putty.

While talking with my friend Mike Naylor of Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the issue of light penetration in deep reservoirs came up. Mike has extensive scuba experience, and mentioned that once you go below 20 or 30 feet, the amount of light is greatly diminished, especially in turbid waters. A few days later while thumbing through the Lurecraft catalog, the phosphorescent light bulb went off in my head. An additive that I have been using in Carolina rig soft plastics actually makes the lure glow in the dark. Carrying a flashlight on my reservoir kayak, I charge the glowing white perch imitators every few casts. Now I feel more confident that the fish are more likely to find the lure in the dark depths of Prettyboy Reservoir.

Other additives for soft plastic pouring include super floater bubbles, scents, hardener, heat stabilizer, worm oil, and glitter of every color, shape and size. I tried the floater bubbles, and found that if you use too much of this marshmallow consistency additive, that the bait becomes stiff and spongy. The worm oil helps the baits release easily from the mold. With the water putty molds, worm oil is a must. I put some in a spray bottle to coat the inside of the swimbait molds before pouring. If you use the hardener, be sure to heat it slowly and stir frequently with a screwdriver. I have scorched several batches that I added hardener to. A cheap microwave oven and a pyrex measuring cup is the easiest and cleanest way to heat soft plastics. Heat stabilizer prevents scorching, but is not needed if you stir frequently. Good ventilation is a must when heating and pouring soft plastics. My shop is set up in a two car garage. I open both doors when pouring and have the ceiling fan on high. Wearing goggles and latex gloves is also a good idea to protect against splatter burns. The plastisol reaches its liquid state for the second time at approximately 325 degrees. A candy thermometer can be used when learning how to recognize the plastisol’s readiness.

This citation smallmouth, caught by Mark Darrell, hit a soft plastic that I designed, poured, and decorated myself. Seeing fish caught on something you made adds a new level of satisfaction.

Pouring your own soft plastic is like any artistic endeavor. Your creativity is the only limiting factor. Take your inspiration from the profile, action, and color of natural prey items, and your confidence and catch rate will skyrocket. Catching any fish, particularly a large one on something you made yourself adds a new dimension of satisfaction to the experience.

Some soft plastic works of art by the author. From top to bottom starting on the left: Hand painted bluegill swimbait with internal weight and tubing, spinnerbait trailer, swimbait on 1 ounce spinnerbait frame with harness, ribbed minnow, floating hellgrammite, toad bomb with internal rattle and weight, soft stickbaits weighted with sand and/or salt, beaver style baits with molded in round rubber antennae, glow in the dark minnow, green minnow, gliding white perch with embedded jighead.

__________________________________________________

Copyright © 2007 Jeff Little
Published on RiverSmallies.com with permission.

Jeff Little instructs kayak fishing on the rivers, reservoirs, and tidal waters of Maryland and Virginia. His new book, In Pursuit of Trophy Smallmouth Bass: My Life In A Kayak has finally arrived. To order a copy, go to Jeff’s website at www.blueridgekayakfishing.com.

Given the huge number of kayaks out there, how does anyone decide which boat is the best choice for their needs? Frankly, selecting a yak is a bit like dating: there’s no accounting for tastes. If you decide on a few criteria, however, finding a boat that matches your needs isn’t as tough as it seems. Keep in mind that NO one kayak does everything well, so you need a clear idea of what you want a boat to do before you buy. At the recent Appomattox River Company demo day I was able to weed through over 100 boats and find one that works very well for my types of fishing. Here’s how I did it, and my impressions of a few of the boats I tried out.

I looked at several functions for my second yak: weight capacity, maneuverability, safety, comfort, storage, speed, and accessorizing. I wanted a boat that would handle my large load without riding too low in the water. I specifically wanted a maneuverable boat for floats with more frequent rapids, which meant a shorter kayak. As less experienced friends might well use this boat on trips with me, it needed to be a SOT for safety reasons; I didn’t want to have to rescue a pinned friend, and the idea is that they enjoy their experience and want to do it again. I also wanted a comfortable boat that was easy to get in and out of. It needed to have enough storage to haul fishing gear, but could be less of an SUV than my Tarpon 120, as I planned to use it on trips where I took less equipment because of the rapids. Speed wasn’t a big factor, as I was willing to trade off flat water cruising speed for better control in bumpy water, which again pointed to a shorter boat. Lastly, I did want a boat that I could mount a couple rod holders on, and use my thigh straps in the strong class II rapids I plan to float the boat through.

Dagger Approach
Honestly, the best paddling boat I tried at the demo day was the Dagger Approach. I am certain it’s a terrific boat for chasing smallmouth in up to class III whitewater, but I had concerns about the level of back support of the back band style seat on an all day fishing trip. In fact, just trying to get in and out of the Approach reminded me why I went to SOTs for my fishing and have never looked back. If yaks are seats, a SOT is a couch and the Approach is a child’s car seat. It’s definitely a whitewater boat, which a paddler wears as the boat locks you into place to brace and improve control in strong current. Even though the skeg allows much improved tracking when down. Still, I could see a new paddler getting frustrated with the boat’s handling in long stretches of flat water. While it met all my criteria for me, it wasn’t the boat I wanted for inexperienced river anglers. If you’re looking for a high performance fishing yak for trips with frequent class II and occasional class III rapids, this boat is the one.

Hobie Revolution
Next I plopped into a Hobie Revolution. I did not spend long in this boat and hated it, frankly. I’m sure I could get used to pedaling instead of paddling, but the feeling of turning without a paddle to brace on was upsetting. Plus the rudder control button was so close to me to require I reach under my left thigh to make a right hand turn. Despite the obvious speed and tons of storage, this boat just wasn’t what I needed for a river craft. Not to mention that the Mirage drive would not work well in shallow rocky water. If you want a lake or flatwater boat, this one will do nicely for the thin fisherman.

Hobie Quest
On a previous demo day, I spent a good bit of time in the Hobie Quest, which does not have the Mirage Drive. Hobie’s paddle only propelled yak is a terrific boat. The front hatch is the easiest kayak hatch to get into of anything out there; it’s not a problem at all to open and close on the water. The mesh side pockets along your legs allow easy access storage for small lure boxes, pliers, or other frequently needed but hard to carry items. The round center hatch now can be equipped with a plastic divided tray that is designed to store popular lures and make them easy to access. If I paddled flat water frequently, I would likely own a Quest. It’s a totally dry ride for my wide load, and is fast and stable. While I’ve seen guys paddle it down a rapid filled river, it’s not my first choice for that environment simply because of its 13 foot length. It doesn’t turn quickly at all, but on a straight sprint it will easily outdistance shorter boats.

Liquid Logic Manta Ray 100
I spent a good hour in the Liquid Logic Manta Ray 100, and was initially impressed. Its capacity and maneuverability were terrific, and there are lots of flat places to mount rod holders and other accessories. The front hatch is oval shaped, which allows a decent amount of gear to be placed inside, probably including rods up to 7 feet, but I didn’t have one to try. But the longer I sat in the boat the less I liked the seat, specifically the back. It didn’t give as much support as I wanted. Sitting side saddle on the boat became painful after a few minutes as the sides of the boat pressed into the back of my knees. Finally, while the sides have indentations for a paddle, there are no bungee cords to hold the paddle in place, and the other outfitting just didn’t impress me. I would have to add eyelets to use thigh straps with the boat. I did like the sliding foot pegs however.

Native Watercraft Ultimate
I’d wanted to try the new Native Watercraft Ultimate for some time, and this is a great boat for flat water. The seat is unbelievably comfortable, and you can haul the kitchen sink in it if you choose. Standing would be easy to manage once you adjust to the behavior of the boat, and it tracks well. I had concerns though about how easy it could turn in fast water; even with the skirts the company makes I don’t think this is a whitewater friendly boat. And for my style of fishing with frequent exits to wade, this boat was surprisingly hard to enter and exit. The low seat position and high sides made it a chore to climb in and out of with my short legs.

Tarpon 100
I finally sat down in a Tarpon 100 and this is the boat I wound up choosing to buy. While the molded in foot rests were a concern at first, they did not rub my calves as those on Ocean Kayak models did. I realized too that if that became an issue, I could easily glue some thin foam over the offending areas for cushioning. The boat had less water in the foot wells than I expected based on my T120, and I could spin the boat with minimal effort. Sitting side saddle was no problem, as the sides curve down. Storage is a bit limited inside the boat because of the small round hatch up front, but the tankwell has plenty of room for gear. The new seat has padding for your bottom and back, and a neat storage pocket on the seat back. I’d like to see a bungee cord in the cockpit as the T120 has, but that I can easily add myself.

Overall my demo day experience was valuable. Choosing a boat was easier than ever, as I measured each one against my criteria and chose the one that best met all my needs. No one yak will ever be perfect for each paddler or all situations, and that’s a great excuse to justify a second boat to the controller of family funds.

While the chart summarizes my ratings of each category for these boats, keep in mind that each category isn’t evenly weighted when you make a selection. My need for a maneuverable boat meant I paid little attention to the speed category and extra attention to maneuverability. Use my ratings as a guide only, and keep your criteria for a boat in mind.

Copyright © 2007 Pete Photenhauer
Published on RiverSmallies.com with permission.
_______________________________________

Pete “bassmanpete” Photenhauer is a regular at RiverSmallies.com.