zbass

yes and yes. I have had days where they won't hit a bait without a dot on it. Also, read somewhere the fish see that as sort of a "kill" dot. They use that to target the bait. I add dots to my shad colored baits and have even used a sharpie to add it to spinnerbaits. It is not a majic thing, just an extra thing I do.

Is the water that low for a winter draw down or is that because of the drought? Nice fish!!!!

Welcome. Been in that neck of the woods once and loved it.

Like snuffy said. 68 deg in central IN. yesterday. 40-60 mph winds last night and 28 deg this morning. Welcome to IN.

Welcome. Hope we can help

I'm thinkin' a Jethro bowl of mint chocalate chip Bryers witha double fudge brownie mixed in.

Jeremy, Keep it basic. Don't go wild with different baits. concentrate on the fishing portion of it and you'll do fine. 1/4 and 3/8 will handle your shallow stuff. 1/2 and 3/4 for your deeper stuff. Football heads for rocks. Blacks and brns for your colors. Twin tail grubs for your trailers. Or paca chunks. Hope this helps

Nice work paca! I like that football.

PM sent.

Welcome. You're up there!

I have always thought that it was the head weight on the bladed baits. Thanks for your research Rooster. All the added components add the extra weight. It makes sense. i wonder if the bullet weights of different materials would way exactly the same.

I hope that all gets well there soon. This year seens like it was bad for wind.

Here I thought I self promoted.

I would also recommend using the lipless in more open water. When I throw a lipless on flats and such where there is grass, it will always be on braid. i let the bait get in the grass and rip it out. Mono or flouro have too much stretch for that. Other times I burn it back to the boat over the grass. Sometimes you can't crank it fast enough. On the crankbaits with lips, there is usually a depth rating om the package. 9 times out of 10 it's not correct. You can usually deduct 10 to 15% off that number. Say it says 8-10 feet, I figure 6-8 feet. All of that is relative to the size of line you throw it on. The larger the line the less depth you achieve. As far as the bills, a square bill is a fairly shallow bait and deflects off rock and wood very well. The baits that have a bill that is almost at a 90 deg angle from the lure is a very shallow bait. The ones that the bill runs parallel with the bait is a deeper diver. These are great fish catchers and you should have fun with them. There is a ton of info you can read on crankin'. Experiment and find what works for you. Hope that helps.

I do. That is just my personal preference. I beleive that it helps get the bait just a tick deeper and also allows the suspending models to hang just a little better. Once again, IMO.

Thanks Strike King. I found that also last winter but had forgotten about it. Thanks for refreshing my memory banks. :

Traps, jerkbaits, big worms

Thanks for the quick replies! I've got a long winter for practicing tying knots. Thanks again! Merry Christmas!

Welcome and Merry Christmas.

Working! Waiting on the official "Get out of here!" statement.

I prefer baitcasters also. Only the smallest of minnow baits, aka rapalas, do i throw on spinning gear. The action you have to impart on a jerk is just more comfortable with bc gear.

I didn't want to bump the other thread on this so I started a new one. Do you guys use the same knots mentioned in the other thread to join a flouro leader to braid? I experimented with this during the past year with very mixed results. some knots the braid cuts the flouro. Some knots would not hold under pressure. Some knots held during a pull test but not on the hook set. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

X2 I respool often so I don't worry about time on the deck. Unless you leave them out for days at a time it shouldn't matter.

X2

I actually gave up the power pro in favor of spiderwire stealth. I was having issues with the pp and tried the stealth. For my money, it will be stealth from here on out. Been using it for as long as stealth has been on the market. There are some problems that occur with braid as a whole. I always use a backer line. Also spool the braid on as tight as possible. I take a cloth rag and grip the line so it has to perform a couple of bends through the cloth before it goes on the reel. Don't reel too fast and you will have to change positions about every 50 yds. or so Hope that helps.