My New Cumara and Curado

Here’s the newest addition to my line up. After lots of deliberation, I ended up getting a 7′2″ MH Shimano Cumara with extra fast tip and the Curado E7 with 15 lb Seguar Inviz X for worms in heavy cover. I went back and forth a bunch of times between the G Loomis Mossyback with similar specs, but the Cumara won out. 

I’ve taken it out a few times and I’ve got to say it’s the most sensitive in my collection. I mean you can even feel the bait hitting the water on this thing. I love the EVA handles… it feels really great in my hands. My rods with cork handles always look pretty worn out after a year either because I have dirty hands or oily hands. Who knows. 

The few extra inches does make it really easy to pitch and casts go a little further, yet it’s lighter than most of my rods and balanced perfectly. Now I think I’m ruined. I can only buy premium rods from here on out.

Chronarch D To Be Released in Jan. 2009

I’m finally done with my Christmas shopping and here’s one I hope I get for myself. It’s the new all aluminum Shimano Chronarch D which will be available in January 2009.

It’ll be 1.4 oz lighter than the already feather light Chronarch B. It is a thing of beauty, but I can’t figure out why they didn’t put the big paddle style handles like they have on the Curado E. 

I also can’t figure out why all the new Shimano’s don’t come in 6:2:1. It’ll only be available in 7:0:1 and 5:0:1. I’m just used to the middle speed and sure hope they come out with an Curado E6 and the Chronarch D 6:2:1. If anyone knows if this is gonna happen, please let me know so I can wait a little while longer. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be ecstatic if I get this $299 reel for Christmas but I’d prefer to get the middle speed if possible.

related link: Tackletour Review of Chronarch D

A Reel Deal on the Shimano Chronarch

One of the best reels ever made is going to be discontinued and on sale for an unbelievable price. The super lightweight and ultra smooth Shimano Chronarch 50 mg is on sale at Tacklewarehouse for $181.88. It’s also the longest casting and the dartanium drag is one of the smoothest money can buy. The 6:2:1 is also a  perfect all purpose speed.

You’d think Shimano would come up with a replacement, but there won’t be according to various sources. It is the season and this is one heck of a deal. 

The only complaint I have with these reels is that it doesn’t hold a lot of line. If you like to fish 17 lb or 20 lb test, you probably won’t like it. The Curado E’s have solved this line capacity problem, but I’m not a huge fan of the plastic sideplates.

My New Secret Weapon for Toho

I just got the new 7/8 oz Rapala Clackin Rap in the mail today and I’m sure it’s gonna be one of my favorites for the Kissimmee Chain and just about everywhere else around here. I got the white with blue back since most of the shad on Toho have the blue back on them. 

I’ve been having much better luck with the Xcalibur xr75 One Knocker in the Foxy Shad color than chrome or gold rattle baits. For some reason they seem to like the white with blue back on the Kissimmee Chain. You’d think the chrome or gold would work best, but from my experience, the white with blue back is best.

The sound the new Rapala Clackin Rap makes is really unique and dam loud… almost too loud. I bet the fish will be going crazy on this bait for a while because they haven’t heard this sound before. The sound it makes has a lower pitched rattle that should be heard from further distances. Anyone who knows anything about how sound waves travel will tell you that lower pitched sounds are not as directional and can be heard well from more places than higher pitched sounds that are more directional.

Also, no other rattle bait on the market has a holographic foil which gives some flash but more white than silver, nor does any of them come with VMC hooks. Anyone who’s fished these baits knows that the fish can shake’m pretty easily and the VMC hooks should help alleviate this issue.

You can be sure that I’ll be throwing this bait on a in lots of places in the coming months on my 7′ Heavy Shimano Clarus, Shimano Citica E, and 20 lb Suffix Siege.. especially around the hydrilla on Toho.

watch video: Rapala Clackin Rap

Killer Swimbaits Soon to Be Released

These two new products are the reasons why I spend way too much at the tackle shop. Being in Central Florida with most places being shallow and stained, swim baits are not the most effective baits money can buy but I can’t stop buying them. I love the swimming action these things have and they just look cool. 

Earlier this year, I purchased an Optimum Platinum swimbait which abruptly broke in half after hooking into a 2 pounder. Talk about a waist of $20, but the Spro 4″ BBZ-1 Swim Shad and the Tru Tungsten Tru Life 4″ Swimbait are just way too cool looking to pass up. 

The only places I can really use these baits around here is on the Butler Chain, but it’s really cool watching big bass come up on these swimbaits in clear water. Both baits come in slow sinking and fast sinking weights, but I prefer the slow sinking ones so I can see them eat it. I can also swim it above grass a little better. If you haven’t heard, bass in Florida hang out in the grass. I’m sure these baits will be deadly on Amistad or Table Rock, but there’s nothin like that around here.

At $20, I’ll probably only buy one weight and one color. The Blue Back Herring on the Spro is gorgeous and I’m sure the bass will eat it around these parts although there’s no blue back herring here. The coolest color for the Tru Tungsten is the Chartreuse Shad. 

I’m sure both these lures will swim great as the video shows. I jut hope you can catch quite a few fish on them before they break.

John’s Lake Tacklebox Essentials

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Fishing John’s Lake in Winter Garden offers lots of different areas and cover to fish including kissimmee grass, lilly pads, pepper grass, eel grass, timber, reeds, and hydrilla. There’s lots of different ways to catch’em here, but the most effective baits are senkos and trick worms.

My favorite way to fish the senko on John’s Lake is weightless on a texas rig, wacky rig, or carolina rig. This bait just flat out works all day every day as long it’s plum with green flakes (junebug) or watermelon red. You can’t say that about any other bait, but the trick worm is almost as good. My favorite way to fish the trick worm is on a carolina rig, but the texas rig and wacky rig works as well and perhaps better around docks. The best colors for trick worms are junebug, watermelon red, and red bug.

Rattletraps and shallow crankbaits are also really effective here, but you need to find active fish for these baits to work. Rattletraps work best when ripped out of hydrilla, yo yo ing it off the bottom, and cranked between and over grass beds. The best colors are gold with black back and orange belly, chrome with green, blue, or black back, and chartreuse with black back. I tend to stick with Bill Lewis Rat L Traps and Xcalibur Xr50, but the Xcalibur seems to hold up a little better and run a little truer with a better shimmy.

Paralleling weed lines and banging timber with a shallow crankbait is also effective here especially in the Fall. My favorites are the Bandit 200 series and Lucky Craft 1.5. My favorite color for the Bandit is Rootbeer and Copper Perch for the Lucky Craft. You tend to lose a few of these baits on timber so I’ll use the Bandit for this situation since they’re 3x’s cheaper and run just a true.

Early mornings provide the best opportunity for exciting topwater action. The best topwater baits are Zara Spooks, buzzbaits, and frogs. Black really works well for all these baits, but my favorite for my Ribbit frog is junebug.

One of the most effective baits that’s overlooked on these lakes for pre spawn and post spawn bass is the suspending jerkbait. My favorite is a olive green X Rap Rapala and I like to work them everywhere I use a rattletrap. I’ve even used them to get bass off of beds. You can just drag it into the bed and let it dangle in front of their face for a long time. The firetiger color is the best for bedding bass since it resembles those pesky bluegills they’re constantly chasing away from their eggs. Pre and post areas will be just outside of spawning coves and shallow water flats in the middle of the lake with deep water close by. Just make sure the water is on the clearer side during winter and spring. Slow down the retrieve as the water gets colder in Winter and speed it up during Spring.

The summers are probably the slowest time for fishing here, and I’d target deep water docks and the handful of places with deep water and cover with senkos and trick worms. Sometimes you can find running water after some of the tropical storms and hurricanes we get during the summer and it can be just phenomenal fishing. The water runs into John’s Lake from Black Lake so it’s the only place to find running water here.

You don’t have to spend a fortune at Bass Pro Shops to catch fish here. Just get some senkos, trick worms, rattletraps, ribbits, and jerkbaits and you’ll catch’em as good as anybody. Now the only thing you gotta do is locate the fish which is the hard part. You’ll catch a lot of small fish here, but there’s also some monsters out there.

A List of My Tournament Rods

You need to have a lot of good rods and reels to fish tournaments effectively. I’ve compiled quite a few already, but always thinking I need a few more. The set up that I have currently is as follows:

• 7 ft medium with extra fast tip Shimano Crucial with Shimano Curado 100D spooled with 12 lb Seguar Inviz X fluorocarbon for fishing worms
• 6′6″ medium with extra fast tip Shimano Crucial with Shimano Curado 100D spooled with 12 lb Seguar Inviz X for fishing weightless senkos
• 6′ 10″ medium heavy with extra fast tip Shimano Crucial with Shimano Curado 200E spooled with 15 lb Seguar Inviz X Fluorocarbon for worms, spinnerbaits, and rattletraps (my favorite)
• 7 ft medium Shimano Crucial crankbait rod with Shimano Curado 100D spooled with 15 lb P-Line Flouroclear
• 7 ft medium heavy Rick Clunn signature crankbait rod and reel (he knows a little about crankin) spooled with 12 lb Yozuri Hybrid
• 7 ft medium heavy with fast tip Shimano Crucial with Shimano Curado 100D spooled with 15 lb P-Line Flouroclear for spinnerbaits, spooks, and Rat L Traps.
• 7 ft medium heavy with fast tip Shimano Crucial with Abu Garcia Revo STX high speed spooled with 65 lb Power Pro for froggin & pitchin
• 7′2″ medium heavy Shimano Cumara with extra fast tip spooled with Seguar Inviz X for wormin
• 7′2″ extra heavy Shimano Crucial with 65 lb Sufix Performance Braid for froggin & pitchin
• 7′ 6″ medium heavy Shimano Crucial flippin stick with Abu Garcia Revo STX high speed spooled with 20 lb fluorocarbon
• 7′ heavy Shimano Clarus with Shimano Citica spooled with 15 lb Berkley Big Game for Rat L Traps, big spinnerbaits, and Carolina Rigs

In the near future, I think I need a drop shot rod with spinning tackle for shaky heads and drop shotting. I’d also like a 7′11″ heavy flippin stick. There’s also the new Kevin Van Dam crankbait rod that’s supposed to be released pretty soon. I tell ya, it never ends.

New Curado

I think I need to start saving some money for the new Shimano Curado E reels. I own several Curado 100 D’s and love it other than the fact that it doesn’t hold too much line. You can cast it a mile and the drag is silky smooth.

The Curado E is supposed to be lighter, smaller, and hold as much line as Curado 200 D. They only come in 7.0.1 or 5.0.1 which is a disappointment since I like 6.2.1. I guess I might try the Citica which looks virtually the same.

I’ve been wanting to see one in person, but Bass Pro Shops says it’ll be a month or two before they start stocking them.