i was recently fishing one of the lakes here in Phoenix and had the privilege to take out the owners of Fish arrow Co. with me. They were using 4 and 5-lb- test line on all of their soft plastic presentations. i was getting my butt kicked to say the least. We didn’t have the translator on my boat, but afterwards i learned two very important lessons - buy the best line you can buy and know how to use your drag. if you have a high dollar Shimano or let’s say a daiwa Steez - my favorite - let that drag help you, not hurt you. These guys have the drag set really loose almost to the point of where they can’t turn the fish out of cover or towards the boat. take a look at Mike Folkestad as he landed an eight pounder up at Havasu on 6-lb test, just by having his drag set correctly. Getting back to the line, Seaguar and Sunline are both great products, but you should definitely try another brand out called nitlon darm made by the line manufacturers of YGK. The braid that i have been using is called the G Soul. not one back lash in about two months with throwing topwater baits. it’s so smooth, you will never want anything else on your reel. The diameter is a touch smaller than the rest of the competition and it’s double coated to give you maximum strength and resistance to abrasion. i never lost one fish at the U.S open while fishing with 5-lb test due to quaggas. now that’s saying something. in closing, i’m not knocking any other manufacturers out there, but if you’re fishing out of a 60k bass boat and have
15k worth of rods and reels in your boats, don’t be buying the $2.99 cent pack of soft plastics. Step it up a notch and put quality baits in your boat. not quantity!
Andy Manahl will be in attendance of the 2012 Bass-A-Thon at Angler’s Marine. he can be found at the Lobina Lures booth offering ricos three for $25. he is sponsored by Lobina Lures, never Slip Bait tape, Fish Arrow Co., Mattress Depot LLC, A and M Graphics, Lowrance, Costa Del Mar and Mercury Marine. You can contact him via facebook or his website andymanahl.com. he also suggests the following websites lobinalures.com to see the new Klicka Shad rico, neverslipbaittape.com for a demonstration on the bait tape and www.thehookuptackle.com for Decoy hooks.
Issue 5
October 2012
11