J Francho

I've fished Anna in the summer. Has a lot of potential, but I can see the heartbreak part.

Cal's Light (purple) grease is great for light grease applications, especially if you are used to HS and RB grease. For better durability, you can use Either Shimano Star Drag Grease or Cal's Drag Grease (brown) for heavy apps, like main/pinion gear and worm drive idler gears. I think you'd do equally as well with Yellow Rocket Fuel, Shimano Bantam Oil, TD-Z oil, or Oust Metol. I've taken a liking to Oust lately. You can find most of those from OEM or http://www.smoothdrag.com/. Get the proper Carbontex drag washers while you're at it. best upgrade for your reels - better then high spec bearings. One I've been using in some particularly tough applications is http://www.tsi301.com/main.htm. Expensive, but really good.

There's a case where local knowledge is a MUST HAVE. Up here, you might as well be throwing rolls of quarters in the lake. Northern Pike have a definite preference for expensive baits that resemble a perch.

LMAO, making it castable. Sheesh.

Grease and oil. Three of the easiest to find, and yet least durable options out there. If you are cleaning your reels every 20 hours of use, then you won't see an issue. There are faster, more durable and hassle free lubricants out there. My own reels are a great test bed for different formulations, and combinations of oils and greases because with all the customer business I get, my own gear may go 18 months or more without a drop of oil. Over the past six years, I've built up a few "programs" for different levels of tune and duties. If you tell me you are only interested in max distance, I'll use something special for the bearings, and include a oiler with it, along with instructions for daily maintenance. If want to fish it for a year trouble free, then I'll use something radically different. It's all about application. There is no one magic oil or grease, and any setup comes with some compromise.

Newest at the top of the list: http://www.lunkerville.com/watchshow.html

No kidding! I think there are some misconceptions as well. Here is a typical umbrella rig, meant to be trolled while fishing for striper: And here is the CASTABLE umbrella rig for bass fishing: And those are big baits by my standards. Heck, I used a suggestion made by a friend to use 5" grubs, with great success. To say that trolling that thing above is the same as casting the thing below is a stretch. Anyway, I see loooong armed spinnerbaits with several blades evenly spced out in the very near future. The cat's out of the bag, so to speak. Now that there are rules to define the boundaries to work inside, let the innovation begin. Mankind

Most of the HS reels I open up are a brown, sticky, seized up mess. I don't need a chart to tell me it's durability is crap. It simply doesn's hold up to what we put our gear through. I've said it before: HS is for trailer queens, and mostly for looks.

You'd think with the dearth of decent trade workers that crummy workmanship would be a thing of the past. Same goes for customer service. I don't think it's a society issue. I think it's a lazy people problem. Going to college seems to be the bare minimum these days. I see very few that strive to do something they can do well. I don't particularly love my job, but I do it well and that goes a long way toward my satisfaction. I see lots of kids come out of college, and scoff at entry level jobs. Meanwhile, they look upon their peers that have spent that time learning a trade with jealousy because they are years ahead of them in terms of advancement and compensation. They don't realize how to use a simple piece of paper to their advantage, to get in the door and do a better job than others doing the same thing. It's almost like they are used to just getting by, or doing the bare minimum. No matter your background, education, trade or career path you've picked, one thing is for sure: STEP UP.

Enjoy! http://www.burniehaney.com/files/Cold_Water_Jerkbaits_LOO_Spring_09__1_.pdf

If doing things right is goofy, then that's me.

There's a great post!

"The effectiveness of the * rig"....to bring out the whining, LOL. It cracks me up how up in arms people get over it.

Then why ask for the advice at all? We're just trying to help. I'd use Cal's Light Grease and Bantam Oil in these reels. For moving bait reels, I'd pack any knob bearings in grease, otherwise oil the bearings. If you are going to subject them saltwater or other abuse, then ReelX is a better option for bearings, though you'll sacrifice speed. Toss your hot sauce in the trash, I wouldn't even use it to fix a squeaky door hinge.

For those that "think this" or "believe that," I say drop a few bucks on a YUMbrella rig and try it out. At least Tommy has actually thrown the thing.

I read it just fine. You made a comment about my neck of the woods, and offered some real world info. That's all. I disagree that it's more effective all the time, which is what most antis are claiming. These bass are going to scatter come summer. Good luck with it then.

Hard to make any recommendation since you haven't even said whether they are spinning or casting. Knowing the model and application goes a long way toward helping you.

What I am capitalizing is time. Do you not agree that the more time spent on the water with a jig makes a better jig fisherman? OBTW, they work on largemouth, too. If you are only catching smallies, then you need to examine your location. Or cast a little to left, since it's that easy, LOL.

Wow, really weird color morph on that fish! The eyes look darker than normal as well. Sort of like a piebald bass. Cool!

So, I've located the bait, and active fish, and I still have "guesswork" to do? Doesn't make sense. In my experience, it isn't that hard to catch fish in those conditions, if you know what your doing. The big difference is that a castable umbrella rig catches BIGGER fish than other baits. Here's what I think is AWESOME about the discussions. While all you guys jump on any of us posting our failures and successes with this new bait, we are out there discovering what works, and what doesn't. If you think you can tie up a bunch of Basstrix or Shadalicious and win a tournament, then that makes me happy. The less people that try this, or know how to fish it, the longer it will work when I need it to.

I like the jig to lie down, and use a worm with a high floating tail, like Roboworm. It's called "shaky head" not "standup worm." When yo twitch the head, the tail of the worm slaps down, then rises. If you want the worm to stand up on it's head, use a stand up jig like Spot Removers - they're about the best you can get for this.

If you think that's true, you are mistaken. The rig doesn't make fish magically appear, LOL.

My lips are sealed. For anyone else having difficulty, there is a message in there.....

What's more fascinating, is that they find a way to quote just about EVERY post, and have some irrelevant counterpoint to make. It's as if they know better than all the rest of us trying new things. Whatever.

OK, I just didn't want someone standing there in chocolate milk using 90 second pauses wondering why they listened to jerks like us, LMAO.