SimonDM17

Look for jigs with a heavy-wire hook, Gammies or Mustads are okay, but I've bent some out with 20+lb braid. Use 1/4-3/8 oz. for shallow cover and skipping/pitching to struture. Use the lightest weight you can while still getting a good feel. Use a bulky trailer, like an Ugly Otter, a Sweet Beaver or a Chigger Craw. Most of your bites will come on the fall, and that bulky trailer will help. 3/8ths-1/2 oz jigs can be fished deeper, along submerged structure, or though heavier cover. One of my favorite jig techniques is to cast a jig to the back of some pads and slowly drag it through and drop it between pads. Use braid or heavy flouro. I like braid,a lot. I know most guys use casting gear for pitching, but I really like using spinning gear as well--I can skip 10x better, which is nice for getting way back into cover.

7'MH mod-fast, braid + leader==spinnerbaits, crankbaits, topwater, buzzbaits. 7' MH fast or x-fast=pitching, jigs, c-rigs, t-rigs And then there's another rod to play with, maybe a flipping stick/frog rod, maybe a swimbait stick, maybe a 7'M for jerkbaits?

I learned to cast a BC with a RH reel. Bought two, but I started really disliking the feel of it, and I felt that I was losing a lot of fish to hooksets because I couldn't set the hook on either side using my left hand. For example, if I'm holding the rod with my right hand, and the fish picks up a jig and moves left, I set back and to the right, and if the fish goes right, I set back and to the left. I kept screwing up with the RH baitcasters...if the fish went left, I'd set right, but if the fish went right, I'd still set right. Then I was up in Vermont fishing for smallies, and a day of casting a Super Spook aggravated a wrist injury. It was so bad I *almost* stopped fishing, and when I got back the first thing I did was buy some lefty reels. I noticed a substantial decrease in fish lost immediately following a hookset, which I attribute to the switch.

Falcon makes a 7' one rated to 1 oz. A guy I fish with swears by it, and it's a pretty sweet rod, TBH.

Stock VMC hooks are too easily bent or dulled from me. I've bent them out on 12lb suffix siege mono. Owners or gammies for me.

Seconding the extreme. I picked mine up (last year's model) on clearance when they went to this year's. I know BPS always does a Christmas sale, and man, I like the swept handles. Other suggestions: Look on ebay, find a mildly used reel. I just got a Daiwa Tierra for 60, and it's good as new. Also, a Cruxis would be a fine budget flipping reel, especially at those heavier weights. Obviously a Citica would too, maybe see if you can find a lightly used D series if you want to keep the price even lower.

4" watermelon red flake and a 1 or 1/0 gammie octopus or drop shot hook...deadly.

I'm currently using 6lb hybrid as a leader for finesse applications, 20lb as a leader for heavy cover or big baits, and running 12lb ultra soft on my crankbait rod. I LOVE the 12lb ultra soft, and I have yet to experience one breakoff with either the US or the hybrid. the US casts wonderfully on baitcasting gear. When i get my swimbait setup going in the fall, i'm probably going to spool it with 20lb hybrid, so i guess i'll see about the casting issues then.

Had some luck recently with a 4" Yum craw papi on a 1/8 oz jighead with a 1/0 ewg hook, very lightly texposed. Although I would have gone with a 3/16oz if i'd had one with me. worked with the chigger craws too, i just liked the smaller profile/faster action of the craw papi.

6'6" medium power fast action Shimano Convergence/ sedona 2500 reel. It's last year's sedona model, but I got the combo for 45. Spooled up with 10lb braid and using a 6lb yo-zuri hybrid leader, the whole deal comes out to less than 100. If I had to build a setup from scratch...I'd try to find a shimano reel in the 1500 or 2500 sizes, a sonora or sedona, and a Convergence if you can find one (great rod for the money), or a Clarus. I hear good things about the Triumph, too. IMO, braid with a leader is the way to go in terms of line.

Highly suggest a round braid (not sure if you meant fireline braid or the regular, fused-line fireline) for frogging, especially on a casting setup. Agreed on the Clarus, although I generally frog on a 6'6" MH Convergence, and it gets the job done...I do wish it had a little more power, though. I think they make the Clarus in 7' H. Also, I use 30lb P-Line Spectrex for frogging. Never had a problem.

I wouldn't throw a spinnerbait in open, very clear water on a windless, mostly cloudy (but not dark or pre-storm--then i'd throw a Colorado spinner) day. In that situation (clear, open water, no wind, little sun), I'd be throwing a crankbait for the realism. Also maybe if the fish were feeding right on a rocky bottom, it would be easier to get them with cranks than to try bottom-bouncing with a spinnerbait. On the other hand, if there were: wind (especially with sun) weeds timber a cold front (burning them for a reaction strike) stained water lilypads etc....i'm throwing a spinnerbait at least some of the time.

I caught my PB bass wading in a small, muddy pond with a 6'6" MH spinning rod and 30lb braid, skipping a frog under very low-hanging trees. I tossed the frog over a thick mat, and saw this bulge race at the frog from about 6 feet away under the mat, it looked like a torpedo in the water. In retrospect, I probably should have kept walking the frog, but all I could do was hold on. The bass slammed the frog though the mat, stripped out 15 yards of line in about 3 seconds (I'd set the drag before the trip to 6.5 pounds), and made a run for a bunch of bushes where i'd lost some good fish before. I honestly thought the rod might snap, the fish was thrashing around so much. It took me about a minute and a half to bring it over, and when I went down to lip it, I saw that the thrashing had worked a big hole in the soft area between the upper lip and the eyes...right as it tossed the frog, i reached down and nabbed the lower lip. A nice, fat healthy 6.

another vote for the chigger craw...better price, better durability, better action, better profile, slower fall, more versatility (easier to t-rig if you want a smaller profile)...it's a great bait. I haven't tried the Rage Tail craws, I bet they're awesome, but I just can't see myself spending that kind of money on soft plastics that I know will get torn up easily...

I'd call that muddy water, not stained. I actually think bass can "see" much better in stained water (although they definitely see some colors better than others) than in muddy water. On the flip side, I get way, way better reaction strikes in muddy water. For muddy water like that, I agree with what's been said already--colorado spinnerbaits, dark colored plastics that have a big profile and/or vibration. I'd also like to add a white frog in there. Twitching a white frog, either a Spro or a floating sizmic toad on a 3/0 EWG through shallow reeds and weeds in muddy water=magic.

I liked the jig idea too, but I can't see it working with line choices...maybe if I did a DS with 10lb PP to a 6lb Yo-Zuri Hybrid leader. Actually, that doesn't sound too bad. As for jigs vs. DS, I would use a football jig if I was working a very rocky bottom, a heavy grass jig is there was tall (over 1') weeds on the bottom, either one if I wanted to get a feel for bottom structure, and definitely some kind of jig with a weedguard if there was a lot of timber on the bottom. On the other hand, if there were sharp weedlines or weeds that weren't as high up as my hook, isolated rock piles, and especially drop-offs, or if I needed a more finesse presentation, I'd go for a DS.

Super Spook, clown color or the saltwater one, silver body with a red head. Get BIG fish.

When to fish a spook: Open water, little weeds or pads. Dawn or low-light, but light rain also works very well. You can throw them over points, or near to cover and then walk them away...or anywhere else.

Since I like fishing those jerkbaits with light (10-15lb) braid and a leader, spinning gear makes it a lot easier to have such a light main line.

I've heard very mixed reviews on the Triple Grips. I picked up some Owners and Gammies, I like the Owners better but they're both great. I've blunted and bent out VMC hooks on wood, rocks, etc...bent a treble straight on 12lb. mono. I switched all my VMC hooks to Owners about a week ago.

I throw a Super Spook. I go big for the topwaters...that thing goes a mile. I tie direct with a double improved clinch for braid, or if it's mono, a uni knot. I don't like the loop knot, it seems like it could delay the hookset too long.

I use a double improved clinch. Pass through one, like you would for the IC, pass the tag end though the eye again, wrap around standing line however much you like (I usually go 4 times with 30lb braid), pass back through both loops, and then through the loop created, and carefully cinch it down tight. I've never had it slip, and I've bent out many hooks on it.

I bought a new combo, 6'6" Med casting fast action, that I really am liking for spinnerbaits, and it feels perfect for hard jerkbaits. I have 12lb Ultra Soft on it right now. Do you think I should switch over to 20lb braid? More sensitivity for the slack-line presentations...

Sizmic toads in high-floating will float up a 3/0 gammie.

Football jigs for rocks/gravel. Flipping jigs for everything else, trimming the weed guard depending on how I plan on using them. I use 1/4 oz for shallow cover, 3/8 for rivers or deeper cover, and 1/2 around pads or brush.