pros quick tips
braid for
by brent eHrLer
any application where a spinning reel is the best fit, try switching to braided line with a fluorocar- bon leader. The age old rule was less knots is better, but the latest braided lines on the market give you many more advantages over straight fluorocarbon. It’s worth the extra time to tie the knots. I’ll use a light Sunline FX1 Braid with a three to ten foot Sun- line FC Sniper fluorocarbon leader. The advantages of this setup has over straight Fluorocarbon are numerous. First, it casts sig- nificantly further. Longer casts especially in clear water situations can be the difference between getting bit and not getting bit. There is zero stretch in the braid, so no matter if you have 5 feet of line out or 50 yards of line, you’ll have the same amount of stretch. This means your hook sets will be more consistent and
Spinning Reels
fOR
better than without the braided line. The lack of stretch also of- fers better feel for feeling the rocks or structure and detecting the lightest of bites. Another advantage this setup offers is the elimination of line twists. Line twist, on drop shot rigs especially, can become a real prob- lem in a single day. With the braid, line twist is essentially eliminated. The final benefit is money savings. yes, it cost a little more ini- tially, but the braid can be used for months before being changed. Light fluorocarbon line needs to be changed on a regular basis, and braid isn’t much more expensive than good fluorocarbon line. Next time you are changing out your spinning reel’s line con- sider using braid with a high end fluorocarbon leader like Sunline FC Sniper . you’ll get better performance out of your gear and catch more fish.
Learn the basics
these
days with so many new lures like swim- baits, umbrella rigs and more it’s tough for an entry level angler to get going. Before trying to figure out a specialized lure like a swimbait I think entry-level anglers should learn the basics. The basics in bass fishing are soft plastics. Worms, stick baits, creature baits, craw style baits etc. these are the baits that are the foundation for many of the best anglers in the world. Anglers like Aaron Martens honed their skills with soft plastic baits before ever moving on to more advanced lures. Soft plastics can be fished many ways. They can be drop-shot- ted, Texas rigged and Carolina rigged and a variety of other new age techniques like the neko rig, wacky rigged and jig head wacky.
Soft Plastics
by JuStin Kerr
Too often I see anglers who stuggle with other techniques and don’t have the ability to return to the fundamentals of soft plastic fishing in order to catch fish. By learning how to catch fish on soft plastics an angler will solidify a solid way to catch fish year around. Then if an angler is struggling with crankbaits, rip baits, swimbiats , umbrella rigs or whatever, when they need to get some fish in the boat they’ll be able to return to their soft plastics.
Spring 2012
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