BARON49_Northern NY

Fishing the wrong jig in the right place can cause for a lot of frustation. For example fishing a 3/4 oz football head jig in the weeds would not work as the jig would get covered with weeds each cast. Same thing for using a pointed head jig in rocks or rip rap. You need to take a look at where you are planning to fish and get the right jig and trailer to do the job you want. Deep ledges with rock and sparce cover a 3/4 oz football head with a double tail trailer would be good. Blacks and browns with a little orange are good colors. In weeds or thicker cover a pointed head jig like a 1/2 oz Booyah with a Chigger Craw trailer works well and does not get hung up all the time. Green pumpkin and Watermelon great colors here. For anything in between like pitching to docks, boathouses, wood, stumps, etc. a 1/4 oz arkie head jig with Zoom chunk trailer in black blue will work well for you.

I just got two brand new tubes for Christmas myself.....

I like my trailer to normally be a contrasting color to the bait. A Pumpkin with green flecks, or a chatruse zoom chuck would work well with this jig.

Had a very nice Christmas as well. Sexy Shad KVD kit from BPS 4 Fat Free Shads Bags of Zoom worms Power Pro line Gamakatsu hooks Trilene XT line 2 Sevile 125 Magic Swimmers Two new Revo Winch reels

I will be sitting on the water in sunny Florida around mid Feb....can't wait!

No problem here either, just placed an order with them on Friday and it was shipped the same day.

Very interesting and I have to agree

Two Revo Winch reels and two custom built rods by Geroge Roth.

I simply use a couple of old reels and flip braided line as needed.

I have been using them for a couple years now and find the 4.5" Shadolicious and the 5" Monney minnow to be the most productive. I use a 6/0 EWG hook with 1/4 oz of lead most of the time. I do not like the hooks with the spring on them as they seem to rip out of the bait with each strike. I like fishing these baits on a slow steady retrieve, they will go through an amazing amount of weeds and cover and draw strikes. You do not get a big explosion out of a Bass when they hit these lures. In open water the rod loads up like a weed is on the line or you will see the line just start to move in a different direction. There are a lot of ways to fish these soft swimbaits, but the most productive has been a slow steady retrieve in the depth or zone you want to work.

Picture a texas rigged Super fluke with a bobber stopper holding the worm weight about 12 to 24 inches ahead of the fluke.

I tried several kinds and sizes of braid and braid with leaders on this rig early on and found the braid did work as well as using fluoro or a good co-poly. The number of bites dropped significantly. Went back to 12 lb fluoro and have stuck with it since. Personally I think the fluoro by design sinks and causes the bait to work better because of it.

:-[ Guess I did not proof read my post well enough. That should have read bobber STOPPER. In my case I use a plastic Carolina Keeper so I can vary the length of the leader as needed. This setup has worked the best for me during the Summer months and right into the Fall for both Largemouths and Smallmouths. Not many places this rig will not work. With a 1/8 tunsten weight it will fall to 12 to 15 feet quite quickly. I have thrown it in water as shallow as 1 foot and worked it out to close to 20 feet all with good success. I learned not to limit myself with this rig as it does catch better then average size fish.

Thanks for the information, I was wondering the same thing.

I use the same rods and reels I use for fishing Largemouths. Here in my area of Lake Ontario the Smallmouths are running bigger then the Largemouths and we are catching them in the same areas.

I am a frog fishing fanantic and have spent way too much money and years in trying to get the best set-up for both buzzing frogs as well as floating frogs. For now I have found these setups work the best for me. Heavy slop a 7'6'' American Rodsmiths H, 1 piece Flipping stick, Revo S reel and 65 lb Power Pro line. This outfit works well so I can get a big fish up and moving out of this thick cover. I use this mainly for floating frogs, but will throw a Horny toad on it if the fish are active. Lily pads and floating cover a St. Croix Legends 7'3'' MH, fast action, Revo reel 65 lb Power Pro for floating frogs when casting deep into the backs of the pockets. For buzz frogs I use the same outfit only with 50 lb Power Pro as I can cast the lighter frogs like a Ribbit a little further. For open water the same outfit as above with 30 or 50 lb Power Pro for both floating and buzz frogs. After years of fishing frogs I feel the #1 most important part of the setup is the braided line. I rarely lose a fish and have caught some monsters in the thick stuff with these outfits using braided line. Can you get by with a co-poly or mono? Sure you can, but why would you want too? With braid you have the advantage of no stretch to get a good hook set and the power to get the fish up and moving out of the cover. Why would you not want the best shot of catching a big fish by using anything that gives you an advantage.

I have a Revo Winch and honestly don't think it would hold up to casting the heavy weight lures for Muskies and even with the drag at a 24 lb rating I would have to wonder if something that small would hold up for long. I have tired a lot of reels for Muskies and Stripers and always have come back to Abu Garcia 5500's and 6500's. You just can't kill them. I still have a very old 6000C that I still use to this day for Muskies and trolling for Stripers.

I have fished jigs for many years and finding the right rod has been a major problem. Had the chance to use an American Rodsmiths jig rod and was amazed at how light and sensitive it was. They have several models in various price ranges. I have several of their rods now and highly recommend them.

I had a simular thing happen with BPS. Ordered a reel that was on sale and after I received it they hit my credit card for the difference between the sale price and the retail. Had to call them a couple times and ended up speaking with a supervisor before getting it straightened out. I printed the order form out as well and this helped get the matter resolved as well.

I tried these smaller blade baits and was disappointed in how they ran. They rolled over on me all the time unless I fished them painfully slow. Went to the bigger ones and found I had more control, could add a lot more and different style trailers. The bigger baits work better for me in all kinds of water. Plus I can vary the rate of retrieve to suit the conditions I am faced with.

I was wondering if these lures were just retailers hype or were for real. You do see him on TV catching fish with the Fat Free Shad.

The only split shotting I do is with spinning tackle, light line and small finese baits. The Petey rig I am throwing a Super Fluke in and around heavier cover like weed beds, weed lines, docks, etc. Plus I have a sliding weight on the line, compared to crimping a split shot on the line. I guess you could do the same thing with an heavier split shot rig.

I have seen several people say they feel they can buy eveything in the Sexy Shad kit for less. I did the math and it does save at the retail price of $59.99, but saves even more as it is on sale at BPS for $49.94. You get, 1...3700 box........................................................................$6.29 4...KVD spinnerbaits @6.49 each...........................................$25.96 3...Redeye shads @$5.49 each..............................................$16.47 5...1 each of the Sexy shad Series 1-3-4-5-6 @$4.29 each.......$21.45 5...1 each of the Chartuse Sexy Shad 1-3-4-5-6 @ $4.29 each..$21.45 This totals out to be $91.62 and BPS says in the ad it is a $83 value? Did I miss something here? I tried this color lure last Fall and did very well with it in the King Shad and the Tour model Series 5.

Have been away from reading the posts for several months and just getting back. Have not had a chance to get past most of the recent posts. It is like starting all over again to get caught up...

I see 6 pages were devoted to fishing a C-rig. However maybe these old eyes missed it but I did not see anything mentioned about Peter T's "Petey rig." For those who don't know what it is: Peter T uses an American Rodsmiths Hibbon Hammer 7'3'' MH, Revo reel and 12 lb Trilene 100% fluoro. Then a 3/0 Gamakatsu hook rigged texposed in a Zoom super fluke, about 2 feet up the line he has a bobber stopper and a very light 1/8 oz Tru Tungsten worm weight. I started using this rig a couple years ago and have been flat out amazed at the fish it catches. The main trick is to fish the sinker and not the bait. This rig casts amazingly well and with the fluoro line strike detection is easier then with mono. Just wondered if anyone else has tried this light weight c-rig or used other baits like creatures or trick worms with it?