MNGeorge

I've neber had or used a Johnny Morris reel so I can't say what the comparison will be like. However, I have several Extreme rods and reels and have been very satisfied with their performance, especially considering the reasonable cost.

X 4. I have some red shad Culprit worms that have turned the bag red.

Definitely in the 4' to 10' range.

It's not just the "weighted" aspect of the hook shortage, it is also finding any hook big enough for some of the bigger swimbaits.

We have fished the upper Mississippi for many years and while we don't have the depth of water you're talking about, my guess is some things are true regardless. When we have fast current due to high water, we have been most successful concentrating our efforts near shore, looking for any current breaks no matter how small. We have actually had some very good days in high water conditions. We just keep moving and working shoreline pockets, flooded grass and/or timber, eddies and bottom ends of islands.

Glenn, Very well done. Thanks.

We use buzzers all the time for river Smallies. We are continually amazed at how fast you can reel a buzzer sometimes and still get Smallies to hit them, especially in the faster water in the summer. We are also continually amazed by how far they can miss the bait altogether, even on slower retrieves. We've had then jump right over the bait and never touch it. Always fun though.

Hey RW, What is the minimum water temperature you would use this "swimming Kreature" presentation? Thanks.

Black with blue tentacles and/or baby bass which is kind of a light watermelon color.

Yamamoto sells a Segoi offset worm hook. It has a longer shank design that looks like it would work well for you.

Just wanted to report a pretty succesful day with the Fat IKA and thank RW for putting me on to it and explaining how to rig it and how to fish it. No monsters today, but we caught about 30 Bass and the Fat IKA accounted for the two biggest ones, a 17 incher and a 17 3/4 incher. It was a tough day with high winds making boat control next to impossible, then we had some thunderstorms just to make it interesting.

There is a lot going on there for a 4" bait. Should prove interesting. How durable does it seem by just looking at it? From the picture, it looks like it may not last through too many fish/hooksets.

I had somewaht of a different experience with Siege, but I will add right up front that I tried it on a spinning reel. It was 8# test on a Symetre 2500 and three different pretty good fishermen couldn't get the line to behave. It was constantly wanting to jump off the spool. We finally gave up on it and went back to Trilene XT. Based on the recommendation of RW and some others here, we are now experimenting with YoZuri Ultra Soft.

What are they? Pix?

Great idea, Glenn. Unfortunately for us Minnesota Bass fishermen, it is illegal here. :'(

The reason for the closed season is to protect the Bass during the spawn. Most years, by Memorial Day Bass Opener, the Bass have completed their spawning. As for how it is enforced, so long as you are not obviously fishing Bass on the beds, you usually will not get any attention from the DNR. The open season runs until the end of February for Largemouth. For Smallmouth, open season runs until early September, then it becomes C&R only until the end of February.

I'm with ya there. Tried flouro and am rather un-impressed. Pros - Strong, nearly invisible cons - very stiff, bad line twist I did hear that seaguar is more managable.. I'd like someone else to try it first because I dont want to take my trilene mono off. Seaguar was the first one I tried and it was the worst of all I've tried. It was a couple of years ago when I tried it, but unless they've changed their formaula, you will find it to be VERY wiry.

We use BPS 3 1/2" Tender Tubes in Black Neon (#14) in dirty water and Puke (#22) when the water clears up some. We rig them with the internal rattling weight on an offset fine wire wide gap worm hook. This set up is very snag resistant. The weights and how to rig them are shown on page 351 of the 2008 BPS Master Catalog.

I want to use 10# flourocarbon on a baitcaster to throw flukes. I have tried Seaguar, Vanish, Vanish Transition and Trilene 100% Flourocarbon. The Trilene 100% has proven to be by far the most manageable, but even with the KVD line conditioner, it still requires a fair amount of thumbing to prevent over runs or loosening of the line on the spool. Is there a really manageable flourocarbon out there or do I just have to practice more with what I have? Thanks.

Are the new Finesse jigs going to have the heavy hooks also? If so, how long will we be able to get the existing ones with the lighter hook?

We use them for river Smallies any time the water is clear enough. We rig them on 5/0 or 6/0 EWG Gammie Superline hooks. The superline hooks are made from heavier gauge wire which adds weight to the presentation. This helps get the bait a bit deeper. We mostly throw them in and/or near slower moving water. For Largemouth, we use them over the top of and around shallower weedbeds. In both cases, minnow imitating colors generally work the best.

For soft plastics, also try fluke type baits. We do very well on them in the upper Mississippi here in MN.

Thanks. I found it at Tackle warehouse also.

Sorry, missed the laughing face.

What is it? Haven't seen this bait before. Who sells them? Thanks.