Mac1

A trout magnet is also a good option.

I would try trout magnet. Nothing better for trout and crappie.

This year has been strange. I have caught all of my crappies less than 5' from shore. And all on a hot pink trout magnet 1' to 2' under the bobber. Also, all were caught while the magnet was in motion either from the wind or reeling in. 15 to 20 per trip. Lot's of fun.

They are a great lure. Good for casting and trolling. I have caught largemouth, smallmouth, walleye and pike on them. My most productive colors are ghost and yellow perch.

Welcome to the site. I have not fished red rock but fish the maquoketa every year. Jig and grub (blue pearl), beetle spins, x-raps and x-rap shads (ghost) always seem to produce. If you scroll through the smallmouth forum you will find a ton of information from some very knowledgeable river fisherman. There are also a couple of very good articles worth reading. Good luck, Mike

A Pflueger President 6730 and a Berkley Tactix 66MF are a nice finesse combo that run $100-$120.

Senko-Cinnamon Spinnerbait-Bleeding white X-rap-Glass Ghost Shad rap-Yellow Perch 1/4 Jig and Grub (Blue Pearl)

I use 40lb Power Pro on mine. Heavy enough for musky/northern (with a good leader) and light enough for other uses.

Nice Read. Thanks for posting.

I have also heard the wd-40 stories. Even stranger, I had a co-worker tell me his grandpa used preparation H as an attractant for the shark oil content. One way to multi-task your fishing supplies.

They are great lures. I like them best along weedlines early morning or late evening. I like to use a long sweep, short pause retrieve. The pause is when most hits happen. Baby bass, bluegill and shad are the colors I use. They are also good for trolling walleyes. You might also want to try the xrap shad shallow.

RW, Something you might want to give a try is an xrap shad or shad rap. They were amazing this year in Ontario. Both in deep and shallow versions.

Just returned from the annual trip to Ontario. The top producers this year were spinnerbaits, 4" Storm wildeye shads and jointed Rapalas. Rolo, just a guess...dead bait.

They are primarily a trolling lure. Great for walleye and I have picked a few smallmouth contour trolling. The depth they run at is stamped on the lip. Never really tried them as a casting lure.

I think it would work. The profile is not too different from a tube. And it looks like you could use spinner or jig skirts to replace the tentacles. The lip looks like it might be a shallow to med diver. What would be real interesting to try is adding weight to get it to suspend. Very interesting.