gobig

What rod are you throwing it on. Sounds to me like it might be to light. Around heavy cover like the delta I use a med/heavy rod with 17lb floro. It also takes a fairly good hook set to drive in a weedless hook.

Thats what mendit is for.

I have caught well over 50 5 pound plus fish on this rig and I have never had one failure. I have been using 70lb coated 7 strand. This is the same leader I use for sturgeon rigs. I was told that the coated wire tends to slip but I have had no problems.

What do you mean tearing up Hudds?

I rig mine the Butch Brown way.

Another thing that may help is wacky rigging it with a flick shake weighted hook.

I would get a good high end rod and use braid with the floro leader as suggested. The nice thing a bought senkos is that the fish tend to hold on to them.

I generally fish hollow bodies in 10ft of water or less. In deeper open water I feel there are better options. I generally rig them one of two ways. With a 6/0 owner beast or on a swim jig. With hollow bodies I have had the best success on a med to med/fast straight retrieve.

I'll second the slammer.

I fish rock all the time with a DS. You are going to break weights off, thats just part of it. The more you fish it the better you will get at not getting hung up. The best style weight I have found in rocks are the pencil style or bannana shaped.

I think you should join the sierra club.

I might be late on this one but Bullards Bar is a amazing spotted bass fishery. It's not uncommon to have 25-30lbs of spots. Nice setting also. As far as the camping boat in sites are available but the other camp ground is a about a mile and a half from the lake.

Another vote for amber lenses

You want at least a 300 series reel. Smaller reels with grenade if you are throwing big baits. I throw my swimbaits on Calcutta 400's and Curado 300's.

You need a boom stick!!!

Not using braid is like taking a knife to a gun fight.

And this is why I dont like EWG worm hooks. The hook up ratio sucks and there are better options.

I have to agree with Tom. One of my best big bass spots is a hump near a creek channel and there are fish on it year round.

Hey deep you get anything on that deadtwitch yet?

Lamiglas SR705R in my opinion one of the best crankbait rods ever made. To bad they don't make them anymore.

The Dobyns Randy McAbee cranking rod 805 handles deep divers well.

This is a loaded question. It's like asking if you should buy a Ford or a Chevy. It will depend on who you ask. The reality is that most any reel in that price point will be pretty decent. I would suggest going down to a Bass Pro Shop or a place of that nature and try the different reels on your new rod. See what feels right. With that said, personally I am a Shimano guy. They are the only reels that have held up to the abuse I have put them through. As deep suggested I would go with a Curado 200 with the 6.5 gear ratio.

You dont need to have grass for a frog to be effective. You can fish them in open water. Being that the lake you fish has alot of pressure your frog may be more productive than you think. Most people wont think to throw one there.

Though I have never used top shelf it is similar to an osprey and I have caught a ton of fish on ospreys. Very under rated swimbait.

I am with J on this one.