Ham

The Kut Tails are a little more beefy in the body than the Curl Tail worms. It likely started out as a mod, but then they redesigned molds for it. I bought a bunch of the 4 inch curly tails, but they are much smaller thru the body than the 4 inch Kut Tail. I've been taking the tail of and using them as a finesse Wacky worm

Hey Mark, I've got the 6'10" "Eakins Jig Rod" in a T7 Cara. I love it. I use it for jigs up to 1/2 oz. I used it at Toledo Bend a few days ao with flukes and it performed very well for that also. I could see throwing spinner baits up to 1/2 oz. I would not use it for most topwaters. It's too fast for my taste in that regard. BUT I would throw bigger jerkbaits with it. That may run counter to the prevailing wisdom, but I'd throw an McStick on it and feel good about it. I'd love to have more Caras, but I haven't dropped the money on them yet. I think that Angler of the year model would be the bomb for flukes, jerkbaits, Senkos, and spinnerbaits up to 3/8 oz.

For some crazy reason, I thought we were talking White River or Norfork. On NFoW, I'd have a 1/16 oz on one rod and 1/8 oz on the other. I'll try the 1/16 oz in lower flow areas and the 1/8 oz at the heads of the pools. Small jerkbaits are another good option.

What's in the Cat littler bucket?

Hey Man, Good Luck. Sorry about your 7 lber. I've been pretty lucky with the big bass I've had hooked, but I've lost some fish that I never saw that haunt me. One in New York's Lake Chautauqua in particular another in the Red River in Louisiana. What and how impossibly big?

Yep.

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Cut-Tail-Worms/product/103944/

The Kut Tail was a GYCB thing first and Kinami second. I think Bass Pro ad Strike King are offering knock offs of it now as well. You'll probably make a wonderful version of it, but it's the GYCB plastic that sets it apart from others. I've caught 100's of fish on Kut Tails and they are my prefered finesse worm, but to each his own.

That's cool man. I don't sweat either of those things too too much, but I worry about a lot of crap that a sane person never considers so..... it's all good.

Super Dave you are a crazy man. Going thru that much FC in a year makes my wallet hurt just thinking about it. I tried InViz X for my FB jigs and it was too wimpy around rocks for me. I went to Abraz X for that application and I haven't looked back. I use Berkley 100% Fluro for my 10 lb jerkbaits and I think you could throw that on spining especially in the 6 lb size. It would be difficult to compare the Nanofil & leader vs Inviz X alone head to head since you're going to catch a lot more fish than me anyway. I don't think I would give your line the credit so much as your experience with the Ned. Nano with 8 lb P Line CX Premium or 10 pound Inviz X leader will be fine for me. I'm confused by yourcomment "cheaper than losing fish". Why the concern about losing the ocassional fish when you're catching them by the hundreds or thousands. I like a bigger reel than most as well. My new Lew's Gold Spinning reel performed very well on the Toledo Bend trip. The drag is very nice and highly adjustable.

When that little bait makes that turn up towards the boat, Whites are going to munch it. I'm not ever going to throw it on 4 lb line like is suggested by the guys from Japan, but I'm going to try nanofil with an 8 lb leader UNTIL I have a breakoff from a fish or two AND THEN I'lll likely decide straight braid is just fine. Super Dave, am I to gather that you tie straight braid on the Ned Rig?

I've never tied the nanofil directly to any bait. I tie directly with braid if flipping, frogging, or a rig fishing. Other applications with braid have used a leader.

I'll look forward to hearing how you do. I hope you catch em until your arms are sore. It might be crazy good or it might be tough. I'd expect rapidly rising temps. I'd be looking at a jerkbait bite off points and a crankbait bite first. I might drag a grub some just to make sure that wasn't happening yet. You might want to go way up creeks and find off color water to bang a squarebill around. Ned Rig. Don't sleep on a Hula grub in 10-20 ft of water. I'd also be very curious about White Bass running up Shoal, Elbow, or Big Creek. Bull gets a little bit more of a break from me, but I'll be in Jimmy Creek before long.

No reason I guess. I do have some small diameter Power Pro in a dark green that I'm not sure how I will use now. I use leader to extend the life of the nanofil. I'll only use a foot of Nanofil a day MAX IF I even need to retie a section of leader. I'm still using the first 50 yards I first spooled on last August. I have 5 reels spooled up with nanofil at this point By using a leader, I know it will break first IF I HAVE to break a bait off (say 30 foot up a tree) and I can do multiple lure changes or re-ties w/o going thru the nanofil itself. Also, The nanofil I have is WHITE. I would not be as concerned about the fish seeing a dark green as I am the White. The question I still want to hear answers on is WHY the need for fluro as a leader with a nanofil or braid instead of a mono ?

I guess you could also try to sell the rod off IF you keep having problems with it. I hope you're able to find a solution that works for you.

My general rule of thumb is I use 1/32 oz on minimum flow, I use 1/16 oz on less than 1000 CFS, and 1/8 oz 1000 to 10000 CFS. I'bve got some 3/16 oz for heavier flows BUT I haven't fished them yet. But try different stuff. On different days this fish want different things

I might try Nanofil with a power pro leader. I've got power pro I ain't gonna use now.

I really like the NFoW. I'm going to catch less fish, but they seem to be healthier on average and have better color than White River Trout.

Yeah Man! That spy bait will throw a L O N G way. You can reach out and touch them from a distance. I'm just getting started, but I see the spy bait as a 10 ft to 40 foot lure for me. I don't fish anything deeper than 40 ft and I don't want to pull the spybait thru stuff much less than 10 foot.

You might buy the wife a couple of Thomas Bouyant spoons in both sizs to try as well. Have her cast them down and across. She should vary her retrieve or at the very least raise and lower her rod tip while winding them in. They will get whacked.

Don't take it personally Wayne, the trout refuse naturals too. I've watched them do it.

The Ned rig got thrown more too, but it's apples and oranges. I won't fish them in the same spots. A screw driver isn't a better tool than a wrench just because you use it more.

If you tie your own jig and are happy, don't change a thing. I think they are a very good jig, but they aren't magically better than other jigs. It isn't difficult, but it ain't easy. You have to work the jig and pay attention.

Hey Super Dave, I did a trip report with pics (for Joe DA) on the Southern Region forum. Ned rig saved my butt. It's amazing how it makes fish appear from nowhere and attach themselves to your line. It's awesome for shallow cruisers. I was somewhat limited where I could throw it because of heavy grass growth, but when I had an inside edge or deeper clear points or boat docks or just said screw the grass and threw it anyway IT caught fish. No real big ones, but I hung a nice one that wrapped wood on me and broke off and another nice fish that just powered off and broke the leader on me. I had 5 stinking fish that broke me off. Five. It was a difficult trip, but I had a good time and really enjoyed the compnay of my buddy.

I threw the Duo Realis Spinbait 80 for the first time last Tuesday. I threw it with nanofil with an 8 lb fluro leader on a fast action light spinning rod. Here's my first impressions on fishing it. 1) it throws a mile, but with Nanofil you'll be able to set that hook from where ever. 2) it's easy for me at least to get in that groove of the cast, countdown to depth, and slow roll it back ESPECIALLY when you're getting bit. The tough part was the missed strikes. I don't expect that as much with bass, but panfish thump the crap out of it w/o getting the hooks in their mouth. 3) Grass is not your friend when you're throwing it UNLESS there is a hard edge or well defined bed of it. Random grass growning here and there makes me very sad. 4) snags on deep timber make me nervous, but careful use of a hound dog gets it back. 5) You can feel that subtle wobble and I could sense when it made the turn upwards. I think White Bass are gonna be a sucker for that part of the cast. 6) You can use it as a search bait for fish and then choose safer and less expensive baits to get after them. I've caught my first spy bait fish. Two big crappie, a small bass, and a small bluegill. I had another 7 or 8 bites. So dar so good. No lost baits and bboth colors I tried got bit. I was limited where I was willing to throw it at Toledo Bend, but Bull Shoals should be wide open. It's going to be a fun option to keep playing with.