Team9nine

Most frequently we either used them deep with a pumping retrieve from post-spawn on, or very early spring for slow rolling over deeper grass just starting to ‘wake up’, or points for staging pre-spawn bass looking for a big meal.

“Back in the day,” they were one heck of a diving crankbait. Still have a tackle box loaded with them. Had the weight to cast long distances, and being cedar, were easy to drill out and modify to get the depth profile and/or buoyancy you desired.

I’d sell half of them and take the money and go buy real jig trailers… No reason why they wouldn’t work, I guess, but not a fan myself. I reserve them for mostly TR’s & CR’s, with a little Ned rigging thrown in using tiny’s, mostly around spawn/post-spawn.

That’s pretty much the deal for me. You throw one or two cranks reasonably chosen for the conditions (depth, color, etc.) and give them a fair shot in the rotation. If it doesn’t happen in the first 30-60 minutes, it’s probably not happening. I like to cycle through options rather quickly, unless the trip is geared with some specific goal in mind.

Craig DeFronzo @earthworm77

All it took was one afternoon of dragging football head jigs around with Wheeler some 15 or so years ago. The Big Game came off, the fluoro went on, and I’ve never looked back (outside of a couple specific presentations). At the highest level, there is simply too much on the line to be “stuck” using some line type your sponsor wants you to promote. Doesn’t quite happen that way. If they’re using it, it’s because they feel (right or wrong) that it is giving them some type of advantage.

Troller here - yes, it’s a lost art, at least in the bass world…because sometimes you simply can’t reel fast enough to trigger a bite (among others). Also great for covering long breaklines like channel edges/drop-offs that can run for miles, or roadbeds that might cross an entire lake. If you pay attention while trolling, you’ll also find plenty of good casting locations, fish holding cover, or unique bottom features to return to and fish however you’d like.

Never more than 3/32-oz., but I’m an originalist mostly fishing originalist water. The recommendation to adapt to what you fish (water type and species) makes a lot of sense.

No such thing as the lure being too big for the Palomar - you just adjust the loop size accordingly. I’ve tied fully dressed out A-rigs with the Palomar. That said, I’ve been moving more and more toward the SDJ lately with my own stuff.

The front has moved the fish on me…or they’re so pegged to the bottom the electronics can’t pick them up. Grinding out a few each afternoon under blue skies and pleasant temps.

Beforehand and planned, unless I’m just really desperate. Not terribly tough to set up if you always keep a finesse rig on hand - it’s just a hook and a weight - unless you’re a straight braid guy.

This is a small watershed reservoir, about 400 acres. It would probably just be considered a small creek arm on most larger reservoirs (> 2500 ac.). There is a submerged roadbed and small bridge that crosses the entire reservoir, and it sits about 1/3 of the way down the lake (lake aligns N-S). Everything N of the road is 10’-11’ or less; everything S is 13’-14’ or more (main stem). Every fish that uses that shallower upper third of the lake for spring spawning, but moves downlake to deeper water the remainder of the year (max depth ~26 ft) has to pass over that roadbed. It acts as a natural pausing area for those fish. It usually takes about a month or two for all those transient fish to complete their move, then the roadbed spot goes dead, other than a handful of resident fish that hang there through the summer. When fall arrives, the roadbed reloads again as small schools of bass following and feeding on migratory shad schools get pushed together at that natural bottleneck location.

Been waiting out this one structure situation that is probably the best spot on the lake for numbers of bass right now. Been holding a lot of schoolie size bass, but hoping the bigger females would eventually settle in as they move back out deep after recuperating from the spawn. Today they started to finally show. Sat it out in SW winds of 15 mph with steady gusts all afternoon to 25 mph. Caught a bite window fairly quickly, putting a dozen bass in the boat deep cranking after not getting a bite on jigging spoon. That bite finally died down after an hour or so with just a random bass on the crank after that. Never could get a fish to fire on the spoon despite them grouped up good, so pulled out the Nightcrawler Secrets rod and scored another 15 or so bass to finish out the afternoon. Probably too hot the rest of the week to get out. Now I have to decide whether to retire the NS rod or keep playing with it. Hmmm…

You only have to do it a time or two. I found it a great mental reset from the normal routine and grind year after year. Opened a few more doors I’m poking my head into to see what might be in there.

What a fun change of pace. A 50 year old 9’ Nightcrawler Secrets rod built by Fenwick, some 6 pound line, and a dozen keeper bass. The technique dates back 60 years to when it was first written about (1966).

“Nightcrawler Secrets” - IYKYK 😎

There is no pound test of Floroclear I would put on my casting reels

Back in the 90s, it was pretty straightforward. You were likely either Texas-rigging a tube designed by Guido Hibdon like the G-3 or G-4, usually with a hook similar to the Eagle Claw HP by Shaw Grigsby with lighter weights and often on spinning gear (those two guys won a ton of money doing it), or you were flipping a heavier, beefier tube like the Strike King Denny Brauer Flipping Tube (various spellings and offerings over the years) or Magnum Flipping Tube (w/EWG and heavier weight) like what Doug Garrett used to win the '97 Megabucks event, or Brauer the '98 Classic.

I see it - a fairly recent development - but I’m running ancient stuff and not going to try clearing everything out and updating. Bad things usually happen - lol. I’ll live with it.

Probably already know this, but “Spoonplugging” and the home study course, along with old In-Fisherman stuff dealt heavily on lake classifications and approaches to each type.

I regularly use traditional jig heads without keepers and just add my own mono keeper. I actually do the same on other styles of baits like spinnerbaits, buzzers and Chatterbaits that don’t come with a built-in keeper. It works just as well, if not better, than factory keepers, IMO…and I can confirm your theory of less plastic damage. I can often go all afternoon on a single minnow trailer or two. I typically use 15-20 lb. mono and simply tie a 5-turn uni on the shank. Add a couple half-hitches to the flat piece of line that forms the base afterward to get two projecting ends of the knot. Cut each end, leaving about 1/4-inch tag or less depending on trailer, etc. Holds well on the shank after a good tightening, but a drop of superglue gel will help lock it up - I usually don’t though. I also like to locate this a bit further down on the shank than some traditional keepers coming out from the head. I want the body of the trailer to have to be pulled over the entire knot and slid up tight behind the head. Makes for a better hold.

I thought I was the only one who had that "funny" self-imposed rule...

I have 4 community reservoirs near me, none of which is more than 13 miles (20 min) from the house, the closest (3.5 mi., 7 min), so roundtrip, 15-45 min. Not a fan of driving to fish these days like I used to do when younger, but have plenty of other big water options within an hour and a half if I ever get the urge.

A warm 78 degrees yesterday with plenty of sun and wind, but the bass acted like they had never seen a bladed jig before, so it was a fun afternoon. Water temps already up to the high 60s. Here’s a few out of about a dozen.

Just tie on a lure and go fishing. It will naturally get stretched into fishing shape. Might have to make a few random false casts to start just to avoid a big mishap. I routinely go 2-4 years on reels spooled with fluoro without issue.