bassin95

off subject but how much longer will they be pulling water out of Priest? i drove over the stones river coming to work this morning and the water was ripping. just curious.

it's a price and sensitivity thing for me. braid is more sensitive and durable than flouro but braid is visual. flouro is not visual that is why is use the flouro leader.

all of my spinning reels are spooled with mono or braid. no flouro on the spinners.

fished with my pops and dad when i was a kid. we always caught bass but never appreciated it until a was about 25. for the past three years i have been obsessed. my wife calls it my addiction. i talk fishing to my dad almost everyday. I have to thank my pops for being so patient with me while fishing when i was a kid.

this is great. i think flouro is great when used as a leader to braid. i started using a mono leader a long time ago before i heard of flouro and have to say that i think the flouro is worth it. think about this. put braid on your reel and tie a 4' flouro leader on. go to this link and use the albright knot http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php. at the end of the knot wrap the braid around the fllouro 3 times before tightening. when you use this application you will use the same spool of braid all all year and the entire flouro all year maybe two. this is what i have on all of my baitcasting reels. trust me it works miracles. ;D

i have caught some of my biggest numbers of fish over the past few years in the winter time. last year the worst day 25 degrees and 20 mph winds i caught about 30 LM's seven over 14". i threw a floating lipless rattle trap SLOW rolling it. and a bandit 200 craw around wood. when pond fishing keep moving until you get a bite.

i have always attached the speed clip to the ring.

there is alot of really good info on the link. i ordered a lowrance GPS unit and it should be coming in the mail next week so hopefully i will be able to find smallies with my front depth finder and GPS unit. great advice. thanks

its frustrating to me bc i want to be able to say today i know where the smallies are hangin like i do with LM and go after them. i see guys weigh in some nice smallies in my club tournaments and i say i have absolutely no idea where he caught that fish. i have been throwing the shakey head for a few years and have never caught a smallie. i had no idea that smallies like shakey heads. thanks for the feedback

how big is the pond you fish and what kind of structure is on the shoreline?

I only tie direct,and retie often the speed clips give the crankbait more wobble action. and you can switch the bait much quicker without wasting line. retying often is a must expecially when fishing around cover

sounds right. i don't have the best eletronics in my boat right now so that could be the reason that i have not been able to find the offshore structure where smallies live. i read about the hair jigs in bassmasters a few issues ago also. thanks for the advice.

i live in Nashville and bass fish all the time. i am pretty good at knowing where to find LM's and spots all year round but am ignorant as to where or how to target smallies. i find schools of smallies from time to time (once a year) but they are few and far between. there is a great population of smallies in tennessee so i would like to know how and where to fish for these. thanks

right on! i use the owner 7/0 for the GY cut tail worms and the owner 11/0 for the 10" - 12" worms. good point.

i will have to agree with the crawdad colored cbaits.

i use wide gap hooks exclusively. i have never had a problem with setting the hook. i think with wide gap hooks give you have a better chance of keeping the fish on the hook if you make a mistake while reeling. it also gives you a better hook up ratio (think about it the wide gap gives the plactic more room to go when setting the hook). hopefully this helps.

i've never used the duolocks therefore i have no opinion on them. those of you that have experience with both speed clips and duolocks which do you think is better or have more confidence in. i think it may be preference. help thanks

right on! i have a bunch of the the paca craw and beaver baits in my bags and haven't used them in over a year. i have a tourny this weekend where spots and browns are dominant so i just might have to check it out. thanks

thanks for the feedback. looks like i need to catch up! i have a bunch of craw baits that i never use but now i am going to start putting them to use on the shakey head.

i know what you are saying about the speed clips BUT when you throw crankbaits of any size or model they are great. i never use the clips for anything other than crankbaits. i have never had one fail and have caught a few hundred fish on crankbaits while using the norman speed clips.

This is my first post on this site and have to say that it is pretty cool. i have been throwing finesse worms on shakey heads exclusively over the past few years and never thought to change it up with baits such as the tiny brush hog, craws, ect. until the other day. does anybody have experience with using baits other than the finesse worm? thanks