Team9nine

Oh yeah, they break...but they are still great baits, just a bit more delicate.

Love me some Spook Jrs. Awesome bait. Personally, I replace the twisted trebles if they have them (w/ Gammis). Good intentions - bad design. Otherwise, have at it.

They play fine if you don't overpower the bait with your setup. Haven't had any issues going stock, and usually replace with same stock from broken 110s. If you want to upgrade, you could try eliminating one hook (run two) to offset the increase in weight and maintain suspension.

Beneficial - you want that weight away from the fish as much as possible when fighting.

There has been a lot of discussion among MF anglers over the years concerning hook size, much of which has gone on "offline." That said, the arguments for smaller hook sizes no bigger than a No. 2 include: has smaller gap and is more weedless, coming through scattered cover better do less damage to the fish, especially if fished barbless (Ned does most days) have shorter lengths that leave more trailing plastic (ratio) for better subtle action weigh less which helps with the weightless "no feel" aspect of MF usually have thinner diameters which arguably gives easier hook penetration

I’m pretty much a Gopher and ShroomZ guy most of the time. I do have a ton of the VMC Moon Eyes, and the only other head I use is by Dave Reeves. His Prescription Plastics Co. makes a custom mushroom head for MF called Ozark Finesse Heads. Fireballs would probably not be ideal in this application. You could probably get by with ballheads in many instances, but I’ve never messed with them for MF.

Personally, I’ve come to detest the term “Ned rig” these days - lol ? A simpler way to think of it is, “Would Ned fish it/do it?” This quickly eliminates all kinds of things frequently posted about like weedless and weed guards, deep water, current, large hooks, heavy heads, “brushpiles”, slop or hvy weeds, etc., etc. The short plastic presents no problem, as cutting down or modifying plastics is inherent to the style, which once included small hair and marabou jigs as well as curlytail grubs. I did great over the winter using 1/2 a ZinkerZ trimmed down by another 3/8 inch still in the coldest water temps of the year. The #1 jig hook is a no-no though for a variety of reasons, though there is the caveat that not all companies use standardized hook size ratings. One jig head option that Ned moved to with the closing of Gopher was the VMC Moon Eye jigs. Their 1/32 and 1/16 oz heads sport small hooks that match the Gophers.

Just guessing, but I dug around a little and found one other person who had owned such a rod who was from the Milwaukee area. Digging through some old records, there was a Henry A Larsen of Hayward WI that worked with the fisheries division in WI back in the 1930s and also ran a trout pond that was dated 1940. Might be your guy. ALso found this: The Fishing Pole signed Henry Larsen, with Reel, Pflueger Supreme has an estimated value on the current market for an average of $150.00-200.00 if sold at an auction ( like Ebay ) it would sell for a little less, at around $140.00-165.00, if this were sold in a High End Shop in a larger city it would sell for $200.00 and up depending on the condition. If I were selling it I would list it for $200.00

Just depends on the build. As mentioned, if it's too"whippy" you might have a problem. However, one of my favorite "crossover" rods is a Denali Rosewood crankbait rod, model 843CB that does a fantastic job with both standard sized cranks, lipless and jerkbaits (they also make a lighter 842CB version).

“You don't tug on superman's cape You don't spit into the wind You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger And you don't mess around with Ned” ? ? ?

Stacey learned it from Ned himself and a couple close friends who were early adopters. Took him a bit to come around, but probably one of the first pros to use it on Tour along with Shin and his version which Ned actually adopted part of.

Powell is also widely considered to be one of, if not the first, bass pros to be sponsored, with Creme paying him to fish and promote their worms while on tour.

Still quite heavy in my rotation through last year (going on close to 10 years now). Still works great on most waters I fish, especially smaller ones. Not seeing any big drop off from pressure, but I attribute a bunch of that to most people not fishing it "correctly"

Personally, I consider quarries and pits as their own separate category of water body, and approach them appropriately. If I had to classify them, I’d group them in with “ponds” and other small manmade bodies, recognizing there are differences even there.

Stuck another good one today fishing before the severe storms blew in. Had stocked up on some more Husky Jerks, and they once again came through. Picked off 21 bass before having to leave, including another over 4 lbs. which is a rarity on the handful of ponds I have access to. Landed this guy, got a couple quick pics and then called it a day. Post front tomorrow, but the promise of 20 mph winds has me ready to get out there again. Seems like wind has been critical to getting a good bite on the jerkbait, and tomorrow I should have plenty

I know we've covered the topic here a couple times, but I'm not a huge fan of digging up old threads. So, I don't believe this has been posted before, but just came across this R. Blaukat video that does a good job explaining the reasons behind backreeling vs. drag. Very similar in theory to what David Fritts has stated in regards to not liking infinite anti-reverse reels when deep cranking. Just thought I'd share.

Around green submerged vegetation, usually in the spring when it's first coming up good, and in muddy water anytime.

From a 1977 story detailing how to perform the "surgery." Haven't been able to track down the Bassmaster article yet.

Culverts/drains, either in or out, can be very consistent. But, in the beginning, I suggest fishing everything to start until you establish the "patterns" that your fish use on your particular lake. Once you have that down, then you can shortcut and fish only specific spots under specific conditions. On the many ponds and small lakes I fish from the bank, some days the deepest water in the place is where they are all stacked up, yet at other times, they get active and all flood the windblown shallow pockets. My advice is don't skip the learning process in the beginning.

Was never really popular, but back in the 1980s or so you could find the occasional article in Bassmaster and elsewhere about doing this, but you don't hear much about it anymore. That said, a few guys still go this route, among them Ned Kehde who is bail less on all his Midwest Finesse Cardinal reels, and the late Charlie Brewer.

So many possible answers, but combining the basic principles of Buck Perry’s Spoonplugging guideline with the concept of always looking at a body of water as though it were empty (Clunn) would rank right up there near the top for me.

Back when I worked with a boat dealer, some version of red was the most popular bass boat color selected by guys that ordered new boats, as well as the best selling color for rigs already on the lot or in the showroom, and hence usually ordered by dealers.

Yep - if you go back to the days when trick casters like Shag and Stan F worked the shows, they always used very soft action, short rods that loaded easily...and that you probably would rarely want to use for normal fishing from what I remember.

Agree with the above - it's not the cold water. Check your knot tying technique...something is amiss there. Not having any problems with that knot in the 44-46 degree water we have here now, and have used it in much colder water than that.