J Francho

Gluzik used a 1/16 oz. pegged weight. If cast with a low trajectory, almost skipping, the bait does loopty-loops on entry.

Second biggest NY fish. 4" Flick Shake on a Zappu hook. 7-1.

I got one with stripes, another with a checkerboard. I had to donate the plastic sleeve, and sacrifice the EVA, since the new knobs are glued onto the sleeve. In the meantime, Power Grip II knobs will work. Contact him. I can't remember how much. Not too expensive, but not cheap either. They have held up well.

The Rams left St. Louis? (kidding)

That's a great observation. I feel like there's a correlation as well.

Why has no one been able to prove any of the ridiculous claims about lifting a bass by it's jaw? It's absolute rubbish science - no data! There is no issue when they held properly vertical. Besides, how do you get the hooks out? What does Mr. PhD suggest?

A transom saver has to be one of the most misinformed purchases and accessory that is unnecessary and may actually cause MORE harm to your transom. The M-YWedge Tom mentioned is the proper device to use.

Negative. The 3000 spool is just deeper, for more capacity.

Have @S Hovanec make you some custom turned knobs. I love mine.

Senkos will kill on Cayuga when fish are just off the deep weed edge. It takes a while for them to get to that 10-12' depth, but bass bite them, and the northern will mostly ignore them. I'm not surprised that KVD got in on the intel. Pete Gluzik won there a few years ago using a senko. The fish in my avatar pic are from Cayuga. Fun, tough lake.

That's the behavior I exploit in the technique I describe in my article linked above.

I use the same typical 6-8 M/XF stick I use for spinnerbaits.

Really good info. I know they work outside of early spring and late fall/winter, but there are so many other baits that I enjoy more as the water warms up. They are an option, and they do work though.

Yeah, we're fishing just bit after ice out. Finger Lakes, 30-45 second pauses between three to five twitches. Sometimes throw a slight rip at the end. It's a little boring, but it beats the skunkings we used to get that time of year. The bonus, they're usually pretty decent fish.

Champion Extreme always felt a touch crisper than LTBs, that I do love. Dobyns reel seats are the best in the biz. No stupid threads digging up you finger.

Just curious, when I tried fluoro, the line would end up on the bottom, causing me to lose contact with the bait. We use crazy long pauses, though. So maybe that's my issue with FC? You run into that ever? I don't feel like the CXX causes the bait to rise, though I'm usually only fishing in 6-10 FOW. Just curious.

I have the Guide Select, and it's a great rod. I use it as much as my custom swimbait rod.

Butch knows how to hold them.

Oh, I am sure it works - never doubted that part. If your Hard Gill is a floater, you can add a big Duo-Loc snap to the line tie, and that will pull the gill down, nose first, very slowly. Ask me how I know how effective this is.... The drop shot is a fun one - again, a little fussy to cast like the C-rig, and not my first choice, but when all else fails, like the article said...

I do not prefer fluorocarbon or braid for fishing jerkbaits slow. I don't feel there's any stretch going on with just the bait. I know some very good anglers that prefer braid and a leader. Not me, it's simpler to use the same line I use for topwater. I'm generally imparting VERY light twitches. If you're yanking hard enough to stretch the line, you are doing it wrong. I use 10# CXX. With a good, sensitive stick, sensitivity is no issue. In fact, if you can't feel a bite on jerkbait, you might want to get checked out by a doc.

Those big, cruising females will taunt you......

I know what Carolina rig is. Just wondering what makes it more effective than an easier to accurately cast Texas rig. What issue are you overcoming by using this rig? Typically, I see a c-rig as a semi deep to deep search rig, not really a sight fishing rig. It's definitely not an easy rig to pitch cast. I definitely disagree with this statement: "The rig works well because it keeps the bait on or near the bottom better than any method out there and it covers lots of ground." A Texas rig or jig is better at keeping the bait down, and why do you need to cover lots of ground? The beds is often less than two feet in diameter, and you should be able to see it. I'm not saying it doesn't work, but I'm dubious as to it being a better method. Anyways, I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a fork than fish a Carolina rig. It's boring, slow, fussy to tie up, and I always feel disconnected from the bait. As far as weight goes, I do agree with you. Sometimes I use an ounce or more fishing drop baits in beds on a Texas rig. In fact, in the article I linked, my friend Burnie was using a pegged one ounce tungsten weight and Sweet Beaver.

I haven't had the opportunity to handle a Stealth. I only just received the Assassin. It feels better than most other composite frame reels costing $30-$40 more. Seems like a decent reel for the budget minded angler.

No, but I used to run a reel cleaning/repair/soup-up business, and had anywhere from 200-300 reel pass by my bench each year.

We have "weed eater" machines up here. What kills me is when they run the thing in places where there no safe boating lanes or docks.