[6_feet_deep]

Originally Posted by Dean McClain

...it is their job to sell product for a manufacturer, and you only have to look at the current rod market to see that the manufacturers would like to sell you an outfit for each technique...

First, thanks for the reply Dean...I love discussions such as this. As for the topic, I completely agree that fishing is not only a fun loving hobby but also a major business. Kinda like major league baseball, you wish it wasn't, but it is. This is why I don't feel the need to have 15 combos set up for each and every presentation or have a picture of a jerkbait on my rod for me to feel like I made the right choice. I only used "the pros" to reference different gear ratios for some different techniques. I don't think I've ever heard a pro try to sell a certain gear ratio...every manufacturer out there makes a variety of gear ratios. We should buy the fishing gear we like to use based on our frequency of fishing and what suits our budget and feel...never because of what pro uses what. I'm sure there were thousands of people who went out and got a bunch of Strike King's red eye shad after they saw KVD win a tourney a few weeks ago using it and catching some pretty big pigs. I wasn't one of them, however.

Originally Posted by Dean McClain

I'm fortunate to have had more time on the water than the majority of anglers on the Elite tour...I'm simply relaying my own experience when it comes to reel choice.

You have to fish to suit you and what makes you more comfortable and confident. That's why I started my reply by saying, "The answer to this question depends on what best suits you and your fishing habits...". I just believe that certain combos are more effective to achieve the goal we all share and that's to catch fish...that's not to say that you can't shift and modify, but we all need a starting point.

Originally Posted by Dean McClain

...However, I will note that BASS Angler of the Century, Rick Clunn, uses half a dozen identical rods an reels for all of his power fishing...The first step in fishing like a pro, is to concentrate like one, and the more variables you can eliminate, the easier concentrating on what your lure is doing at any and every moment becomes.

C'mon Dean..,number one, you're talking about someone who was winning classics when KVD was riding tricycles and who is one of the greatest crankbait fishermen to walk. Second, RC uses a certain technique of fishing that suits the way he sees himself on the water. If RC believes that different gear ratios and different rod action hinder him in switching presentations then by all means do what you have to do. I, however, don't have a problem with that...I'm the opposite. I like to know that when I'm throwing a plug or spinnerbait , I have some give in my rod to prevent me from pulling it away on short strikes or swipes and I like to have a 5.1:1 to know that even if I get a little excited in my retrieve I have some limitations and keep some important action of slower cranks. I'm not going to throw a #5 shad rap on the same setup that I throw a 1/2oz jig on. That's not to say that if I needed to I wouldn't, but it's not going to be by choice. Building a house requires many different tools for different applications in order to achieve the same goal. Rick Clunn is a minority in that technique of equipment choice by the way, but if it works for him great. I guess my setup choice is done with my lure in mind and that helps me to concentrate on my lure while I'm on the water...

[Dean McClain]

I use RC's example primarily because of his reel ratio preference; the adjustment period in feel he spoke of, had to do mostly with retrieve speed of the reel. On the surface it seems ironic that RC has traveled full circle on the rod preference deal; I spoke with in the late 70's, and the adjustment he made to win The Classic he won on the Bagley Honey Bee, was to take one of Daiwa's cheap, very limber, rods and use it when he found the fish were short-striking with his stiffer rod. As he pointed out though, the market (at that time) was for expensive (relatively) graphite rods, so Daiwa never promoted the "real truth" of the matter. It's interesting to note too, that a few years later, RC's first "Crankin Stick", was a very much a parabolic actioned noodle of a rod.

For many years, I've said that there are two ways you can go: You can go the flexible fibergass route, which works even better with today's ultra-sharp hooks; or you can go the medium-heavy graphite stick with larger larger hooks and try to bury a bigger hook in the fish and fight him much more agressively. There are merits to both methods, and a particular episode on the water that is permanently etched in my memory, is of an eight pound plus fish porpoising from the water beside my boat, opening her mouth, and letting loose of the black and chartreuse DB-3, that had never been hooked in her, but that she'd had locked down tight in her crushers. That lure sure looked awfully small when it came flying out of there...

Today on the Elite tour, where they're fishing all of these "Super Lakes", and a limit of two pounders every tournament day of the year will send you home wimpering like a whipped dog (where once you could have made a nice living catching those), many anglers are going heavier on their crankbait rods, trying to move those larger cranks in the mouths of bigger fish in order to get a hook set, a different world than fishing for what we use to call "tournament fish"...and thusly has RC rethought and retuned his own equipment, where he can make a good case for all those different lures attatched to all his 7 foot M-H rods on his boat deck.

Sorry for the rod use detour there 6, but we're, after all, talking about outfits. Eventually I'll upgrade all my reels to a similar retrieve rate, while retaining the different rods and actions that best suit my own fishing, amost all of which is never done on a "Super Lake". So I understand what you are saying about your preferences, but for me, using reels with similar fairly fast retrieve rates is "the right tool for the job", the job in this case, feeling and controlling what my lure is doing at all times, while the faster retrieve puts me more in control when encountering a big fish in heavy cover, or, when a large post-spawn female knocks about 3 feet of slack in my line when she enhales a chartreuse and black DB-3, and no matter the kind of disturbing bend she puts in my rod after that, I never get a hook in her. After a huge northern-strain largemouth toys with you that way, you get even more serious about your choice in tackle...



Dean

[Bterrill]

Originally Posted by Dean McClain

I hear you; I think for the purposes of this conversation, we're talking 25 or 26 inchs per crank.

6ft;
I'm the first to say, "To each, his own". As far as "What the Pro's do", or say, or advise, or promote, it is their job to sell product for a manufacturer, and you only have to look at the current rod market to see that the manufacturers would like to sell you an outfit for each technique; heaven forbid that you tie a shakey head on a dropshot rod, or that you cut off a jig and tie on a maximum depth crankbait! I'm fortunate to have had more time on the water than the majority of anglers on the Elite tour, and to have been involved with some aspect of the fishing business since I was a pre-teen, so while I always keep an open mind and an ear to the ground, I'm simply relaying my own experience when it comes to reel choice.

However, I will note that BASS Angler of the Century, Rick Clunn, uses half a dozen identical rods an reels for all of his power fishing, because he considers it inefficient to be constantly changing and going through an adjustment period of perhaps 20 or 30 minutes for each one, so "right tool for the job" is relative. Not only that, but using Clunn's power fishing set-up, where the angler does all the retrieve speed changing, will keep you more in tune with what your lure is doing at all times, because you've changed a variable to a constant in your primary link to every bait you fish. The first step in fishing like a pro, is to concentrate like one, and the more variables you can eliminate, the easier concentrating on what your lure is doing at any and every moment becomes.

Dean

D,

I subscribe to Clunn's theory, too. For wading streams, I'll us a snap for quick lure changing. Works great and that much practice with the same rod and reel learns you to make up for any instances where the rod isn't perfect for the bait.

[6_feet_deep]

Originally Posted by Dean McClain

...RC's first "Crankin Stick", was a very much a parabolic actioned noodle of a rod.

My buddy and I were talking about this the other day on the water...he used to throw glass rods, that were like picking up a string for cranking, but had problems all the time with fish at a hot spot of his, coming off at the boat. A story similar to yours, but with 4 and 5 lbers...all the time. Anyway, he changed up to graphite medium action rods and no longer had a problem...fishing the exact same fish. Crazy...

Originally Posted by Dean McClain

...and letting loose of the black and chartreuse DB-3, that had never been hooked in her, but that she'd had locked down tight in her crushers...

How a fish can get two sets of trebles inside of it's mouth, get jerked around in the water, and the plug come flying out I'll never understand. I've seen it happen too many times...I guess that's why they call it fishing and not catching.

PS
Over here we call em 3 inch B's...do you have any you want to sell?

Originally Posted by Dean McClain

Today on the Elite tour, where they're fishing all of these "Super Lakes", and a limit of two pounders every tournament day of the year will send you home wimpering like a whipped dog (where once you could have made a nice living catching those)...

I blame those darn Californians and their darn salmon fed lakes...

Originally Posted by Dean McClain

Sorry for the rod use detour there 6, but we're, after all, talking about outfits....

Detour on bro...It's all relevant.

Originally Posted by Dean McClain

Eventually I'll upgrade all my reels to a similar retrieve rate, while retaining the different rods and actions that best suit my own fishing, almost all of which is never done on a "Super Lake"....

I'm not too sure what you're calling a super lake unless you're talking about places like the great lakes, but I usually fish the Yadkin chain...Badin, Hgh Rock (95' / 98' Classics), etc which are pretty small bodies of water in comparison. I usually go out with two 5.8:1's on a 6 1/2' & 7' M graphite (cranking), four 6.3:1's on two 6 1/2' & two 7' MH graphite (spinnerbait, jerkbait, topwater, finesse jigs), one 7.1:1 on a 7' H graphite (flippin'), & a couple of spinning reels for throwing weightless worms and the other for carolina rigging. I'm comfortable with throwing my lures with these setups and they work for me....I use daiwa gear simply because it's what feels more comfortable in my hands. I started out fishing with shimano and I needed a change.

[Dean McClain]

6,
You know, I'll still take those wet noodle rods for throwing lipless vibrating lures equipped with super-sticky triple grips or round-bends; big-lipped cranks, are another story though; the difference being the ability to move a fully engulfed lure within the fishes mouth enough to get a hook stuck.

"Super lakes" are lakes not in Kentucky! ...unfortunately that's pretty much the truth, although Kentucky/Barkley has had its moments...Super Lakes are those fisheries which support a healthy big bass population by virtue of their sheer size, keeps them from being constantly overfished, great habitat (think grasses) and 21st century management practices; large populations of Florida strain largemouths, or marauding schools of open-water smallmouths that would make you wonder if it's safe to stick your hand in the water; fisheries which require a 3 pound average and kickers to have a shot at looking at the money in tournaments...

Actually your reels aren't too far apart in the amount of line take-up they offer, not much different than what I either have, or want. A person is just about silly not to have a fast retrieve on a flipping stick--if you think not, you haven't encountered a bunch of fish holding in very shallow water, and/or thick cover.

Dean

[6_feet_deep]

Originally Posted by Dean McClain

...Actually your reels aren't too far apart in the amount of line take-up they offer, not much different than what I either have, or want. A person is just about silly not to have a fast retrieve on a flipping stick--if you think not, you haven't encountered a bunch of fish holding in very shallow water, and/or thick cover.

Yea, the 5.8:1's are 24", the 6.3:1's are 28", & the 7.1:1 is 31.5"...doesn't sound like much, but you sure can tell a difference when you start moving lures around. I enjoyed our disscussion here Dean...Thanks!!