Big-O

My favorite hook is a 5/0 to 6/0 EWG wide gap. You will notice on the back of the Toad, there is a small depression just ahead of the legs and it is designed for your hook point to rest in and just skin hook slightly in the front of the slot. The chin area of the Toad is also keeled different than the body so that if in fact it lands on it's back on the cast, it will immediately flip upright. Might ck to see if one of the feet are out of position slightly from the packaging etc. and if so, just put it on it's back on an aluminum cookie sheet in 170 degree oven for about 10 min.'s Won't hurt if you leave it for 20 minutes. Alot of people use hot water to reform baits but I like this better. Try it out and let me know how you do. Good fishing, Steve www.ragetail.com

It's a homemade lead ball jig with a 60 degree offset parallel eye, 3/8 oz in green pumpkin and reddish brown skirt. Green pumpkin Rage Tail Chunk. This set up is an all around jig that can be fished in most all types of water. It's a old style stand up jig that I've been using for about 35 yrs. There are alot of companies producing similar jigs but I like different hooks and skirts. As to info on where and how to fish it, that could take a day or two to explain. If you ck out the other jig fishing threads on this Forum, I'm sure you will get some great info on jig fishing. Now, go catch some fish and come back and tell us how you did. www.ragetail.com

5/0 EWG is my favorite on Shad and Toad. You can rig the Shad with a heavy 5/0 to 6/0 keel weighted (swimbait style) hook and run it as a swimbait too. Run it faster and it will buzz the top as well. Good fishing www.ragetail.com

Gals that love to fish! Just aint enough of'em. Welcome to the group www.ragetail.com

Ck out the past threads regarding frogs and toads and you should get plenty of reading and opinions. Frogs are great in just about any type or style of shallow water. Plus you can fish most of them in the slop with good results. Search around, I think you will learn a thing or two. www.ragetail.com

Right again Fluke, Your on fire. Just so happens one of my favorite patterns is jigging deep water timber at creek bends, ledges and roadbeds. When Big Blue is standing on a stump, or even better when he is with a couple of his friends, you white knuckle that rod handle cause you might get it yanked out of you hands. The boys will learn Fluke, just give'em a little time. www.ragetail.com

The only advantage to the chunk is that it is made from a slightly stronger plastic to punch with and to hang on the jig hook better. The durometer (hardness) difference is about 15% for durability. Steve www.ragetail.com

If you added BIG to your name, where would you add it? I bet you're gonna say both places. Welcome to the forum www.ragetail.com

Fluke is on it. I'm in Texas and herrons hanging around is a gooood thang

Good post WRB www.ragetail.com

Yeah I've played with a bunch of trailers and I came to a similiar conclusion that you did. 'Curl tail' things slow down fall rates better than 'straight tail' things. I've used a beaver and a hula grub as my primary jig trailer for years. On a side note...y'all over there at Rage Tail/Strike King did one heck of a job developing your stuff. I absolutely love the Rage Tail Craw for just about every application in bass fishing. I haven't tried the shad or frog yet, but most definitely will. Make Wal-marts in Texas carry watermelon-red in your shad Hey Brian, Wal-mart orders there color schemes a year in advance as do most large retailers and that color wasn't on their list. I think Academy and BPS have them. When you ck out the Shad be sure to run it as a swimbait as well. 5/0 keel weighted hook will suffice. Lot of folks using it that way and I just heard about it the other day. Ckd it out and it works and it will run on top like that as well. Huh' learn something everyday. Good fishin www.ragetail.com

Congrats Matt, glad to help out. Sounds like you guys didn't need too much assistance, you slammed 'em. www.ragetail.com

A girlfriend that loves to fish, Hang on to her - she's a keeper! On your fishing situation, you might think about finding some shallow flats and locate ditches and drains that are near by. Start with your favorite above mentioned baits and if not successful try some bottom bumping with Carolina rig or drop shot rig. Be sure and talk to your friends and other fisherman at the dock to see what their using and what types of water depths they are having the most luck in. Most are happy to to help out a fellow angler. Good luck and let us know how things work out for you. www.ragetail.com

Welcome to the group

Like Sir Arthur, that has a ring to it.

As a matter of fact, some chunks do slow the fall of a jig if in fact they have or cause enough resistance to do so. Many of the chunks on the market today have relatively no water resistance as you have mentioned. Any chunk or trailer that has a noticeable swimming action definitely slows the jigs fall rate to some extent over no action chunks of the same weight and size. With this said, thru testing many of the most popular trailers on the market, I have found that a twin tail trailer is much better for achieving this result over a single tail. If you have access to a swimming pool, I would encourage you to test these findings for yourself and I advise starting with a 1/4 oz jig and your favorite chunk styles. Mine as you probably can tell, is the Rage Tail Chunk. During the design phase, I took the time to make sure that it not only had tremendous action but also slowed the fall rate of the jig to hold it in the strike zone just a little bit longer. My challenge was to achieve this along with the slightest movement of the rod tip providing a flapping motion to the pinchers. Took a while, but got'r'done. Also had to take into consideration the durability factor, so I asked the Plastic shop to design a more durable plastic that would accomodate this effort and "WA-LLAH" the Rage Tail Craw and Chunk was born. Kinda makes me tear up a bit just think'in about it. Hope you get a chance to ck out fall rate info as discussed and would like to hear your findings. Bend a rod Steve Parks www.ragetail.com

Caught my first 7lb smallmouth when I was a kid, there just below Wilson dam fishing with my uncle, Jab Buttrum. "1960" The river was full of 'em. Even caught some LM's during that trip. Those were the day's. Not sure if that part of the river is still that good but it doesn't have a chance if folks don't have a little common sense and conserve the resource. Mark Rose is one of our Pro's and he said it is still a very healthy river system. He won The FLW on Pickwick in 07. He used a green pumpkin football jig and pinched a green pumpkin Rage Tail Craw for a trailer. Dragging it over shell beds. Good luck to you and I hope you get into 'em. Let us know how you do. www.ragetail.com

Flipping a small jig along the creek bank just ahead of the boat is a prime method for creek fishing. Alot of the feeding in a creek takes place along bank structure. And most creek fish can't resist the jig. www.ragetail.com

Agree with RW on this, footballs are hot for brownies and swimbaits should be a winner as well but I haven't tried them. www.ragetail.com

Craws, jigs and tubes www.ragetail.com

Glad you like'em BFM, I call that set up my "Cab" (Catch anything baby). www.ragetail.com

Not too familiar with that particular reel but I'm sure that it has brake adjustments on it like most of the newer models. Practice with releasing your brakes a bit more as well as bearing and spool tensioner knob on the reel handle side. Throw it every different way you can adjust it to feel the differences it makes. Not only will you start casting farther, but you will also learn all of the adjustments that are necessary for throwing into the wind, cross winds, etc. Some say that practicing and learning a new reel is almost as much fun as fishing it. Not ;D You'll figure it out and once you do, let us know how you did it, then you can teach us. www.ragetail.com

I do get a chance to film my grandson fishing from time to time but at my age I have a hard time remembering how to work all those buttons. Heck, most of the time, he tells me how it works. And just when I get somewhat proficient with a particular camera something happens to it (like I forget and leave it on the deck of the boat and it falls out), and come to find out they don't make it any more. I appreciate the offer though LBH, on assisting in the editing and mixing challenge. Might take you up on it. Mark Davis and I are fishing on 4-21 that will be filmed to promote a new bait design. If I can get some cuts from it before it airs I'll post it on my website and pass it along to the group. Big Mark is great to fish with and is a world of fishing knowledge. Bend a rod

The bigger the better. 6 or 7/0

Sounds like "Nessy" to me. Big cat's have a habit of doing that and I am sure that you could have snagged on an old carp that was nosing around, but I'm kinda leaning toward "Ole Nessy". www.ragetail.com