arthurspooner13

Me and you both. I'm a big fan of what Belleville has to offer, but the boat pressure gets too high at times. I'm also a big fan of Ford lake. I normally fish for largemouths, but i've had some success with Smallies there. I'm interested in giving the Detroit River a shot this year. I've always shyed away from it in the past, but i'm really wanting to go after the Smallies it has to offer this season. I'm also looking forward to seeing how Iaconelli did on it - City Limits Fishing has their Detroit episode airing March 20th.

Spinnerbait

The most universal blade combo is the tandem - big willow/little colorado... However, as an avid spinnerbait fisherman(who fishes them more than any other lure), if i could only carry one lure it would be a double willow. As a matter of fact, the tandem combo is one of the last blade combos that i personally look for. Whenever i'm spinnerbait shopping, i first and foremost look for the double willow, then followed by a single or double oklahoma/colorado. AFter those, then i'll look for the tandem blade combo. So if you can only carry one bait, i'd highly recommend carrying a 3/8 oz double willow. The 3/8 oz is light enough to burn near the surface, and heavy enough to fish a little deeper. I'd also recommend buying some extra skirts. I've got an entire Plano dedicated to nothing but skirts. You can make that 1 lure very veristle by quickly switching skirts. In general, carry a white, chartreuse, and a dark color(purple/blue/black) skirt. This would be a good enough place to start. I once fished the same spinnerbait for almost an entire summer(a Terminator). I caught over 100 bass and pike on it before it eventually broke. But that $7 was well worth those 100+ fish... I actually kept a journal that summer so i had an actual count on the fish and it was indeed over 100. But if you can only carry one spinnerbait, and nothing more - i would recommend buying a 3/8 oz double willow Terminator T-1 in a chartreuse/white shad skirt. P.s. Trailers are usually to your advantage too. A lot of people would recommend a trailer hook, but i personally use a soft plastic trailer such as a 3-4 inch grub or twin/split-tail. Many times the difference between fish short striking and hanging on for that extra second is that soft plastic trailer. I can attest to this from a lot of experience. The trailer will also give the bait some extra action.

Absoultely not. I have had a ton of success on them in many different conditions - including water that is so still that it looks like glass.

I live in Michigan, and i'll probably start throwing one in two weeks(the first time i get out). The temperature is just starting to warm here - i think last week was the first time that all of the snow had melted. I've had success early in the season(beg of April) fishing them in very shallow water - basically throwing them along a shoreline with any kind of cover. And don't be affraid to fish them either. One of the my most successful early season trips ever involved me fishing a spinnerbait near the surface in shallow water - so i was basically burning it.

I just bought a pack of the watermelon w/ red flake at BSP last week. Haven't hit the water yet though...

Mustad makes "Big Mouth Tube" hooks, or something like that. I've used them on tubes ranging from 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 inches in length with no complaints.

Lol me and you both... I got there 5 minutes after 9, and there was about 8 or 9 spinnerbaits remaining - so i got the last 5 for 10 (although they were ringing up individually at $2). It worked out good for me because i wanted to get 2 double willows, 1 single colorado, 1 tandem oklahoma/colorado, and 1 tandem willow/colorado... And somehow of the 8 or 9 remaining spinnerbaits, i was able to get that exact variety in the blades. I could have cared less about about the skirt color as i've got an entire plano dedicated to skirts (thanks to Terminator and Northland). So needless to say i was fortunate.

I hope you have enough to money to eat for the rest of the week.

Crankbaits. My strongest is by far a spinnerbait, so basically i'll throw it in a lot of areas where others might throw a crank.

I've got a couple of ScrumFrogs and a few packs of Mann's hardnose swim toad. I really like the Mann's.

I leave them in the original bags, and store them in Plano 3730, which is different than the above mentioned. The above mentioned is simply a one compartment box. With the 3730, there are 3 dividers that run horizontally, so there's automatically 4 different compartments. Then you are given the opportunity to split it up into more compartments. I turn it into 6 compartments and store between 15-18 bags of soft plastics. I have two of these boxes: one dedicated to creatures, tubes, etc.. and the other dedicated to worms and plastics used as spinnerbait trailers. I'd highly recommend this method. Very well organized and any time you can keep your plastics in their original bags it's a good thing. http://www.planomolding.com/images/cmt/2-3730_m.jpg

I haven't had too much trouble with my Berkley. I'm the type of guy who won't even weigh a bass unless it's pushing 4 lbs... and i live in Michigan.

I just bought my first spool of it yesterday at BPS. (XPS Fluorocarbon - the stuff KVD uses). He said that he uses Fluorocarbon for 75% of his fishing applications. The only time he doesn't is when he's fishing spinnerbaits/topwater, because he uses mono. And when he's fishing the heavy, heavy stuff he'll use braid.

I've also basically been using nothing but EWG hooks the past couple of seasons. I use both Mustad and Gamakatsu in the 3/0 and 4/0... There sizes do seem to vary though.