BARON49_Northern NY

14 or 20 lb Fireline when using spinning tackle 30 to 50 lb Power Pro on baitcasting tackle No leader no matter how clear the water is, unless fishing in zebra mussels, then use a 3 foot leader of fluro.

For cold water like that I would try a lipless crank bait first, then a jerk bait, followed by a jig with a real pork frog, or a tube. If all of the above fail to catch a bass try a wacky rigged soft stick bait fished dead slow.

I think with a crankbait all the extreme detail is a waste. How often do you dead stick a crank bait so the bass can come over and take a good look at it? More importantly IMO is using the right colors and shades of colors that give off the correct flash to imitate the bait fish the bass happen to be feeding on.

If I had to I would give up lizards for brush hogs. Both have their place, but I am finding from year to year I use less and less lizards. Brush hogs on the other hand I use a lot of.

I use the DVR to make sure I get to see these shows. Of all the ones out there these actually show and teach you something.

I have a lot of "favorite" ways of fishing, but this one is gaining more and more of my attention as it is catching bigger and better quality fish each year. Jointed Hard Swim baits I started fishing a Strike King, King Shad a few years ago after they came out and caught some monsters the first time I tried them. Now after using them for a while have found some things that seem to work the best. With the King Shad a long rod is a must to get the most distance on your casts. Had George Roth build me two 7'5'' swimbait rods, but until then I found a 7'6'' St. Croix Legend 7'6'' MH Moderate action worked quite well. A large capacity reel is also a must. I use either a Quantum or a Abu Garcia, both are 5.3 retrieve speed. 17 lb Trilene XT has proven to give the strength to haul big fish in, but still have a controlled amount of stretch to get good hook sets. Tried the Sebiles next and while they do catch fish I have not had the success on them that I have with the King Shad's. One thing I do like about the Sebiles is when the bass want a bait that is really moving you cannot reel a Sebile 125 too fast for a bass to nail it. These baits run straight and true, but I feel the hooks could be sharper right out of the package. I have had to sharpen the hooks on everyone of these Sebiles I have purchased. The baits I started using last year are the Jointed Rapalas. They are about 7" long and weight over 2 oz. With a cost of only $9.99 each I had to give them a try and was glad I did. You must have a good swimbait rod or a heavy flipping stick to throw these baits as well as handle the fish that hit them. Big reels and lots of line capacity and good drag system make fishing these a lot more comfortable. Went to 50 lb braided line because the trebles on these baits are huge and I could not get the decent hookset with mono. The hooks need sharpening on these baits as well. Fish these baits over and around thick weed beds and especially weedy flats. I start with a slow speed wobble and adjust the speed from top water waking to allowing the bait to dive a few feet along the weed bed edges depending on what it takes to get a strike. Last year I worked with all three of these hard baits and caught Smallmouths, Largemouths, Pickeral, Northerns, and even Walleyes hit these baits. The bass were averaging 3 to 6 lbs on these baits and I had two Northerns in the teens one on the Rapala and the other on a King Shad.

I use x-fast in my St. Croix Avid spinning rods. One is for drop-shotting and the other is for shakey head fishing. Found the x-fast tip was a lot more sensitive to a light pick up or strike.

Go for the Legend!...for that money you are getting a great rod at a very good price.

I like St. Croix Legends and American Rodsmiths. Both do a great job for what they were designed to do.

Have used telescopic rods since back in the 80's with Allstar and Fenwick and today have St. Croix Legends that are telescopic. Never broke one and they are just as sensitive and any other high quality rod. All the telescopic feature does is allow a long rod to be collapsed inside of itself by 12 to 24 inches to save space in you rod locker or truck. My personal favorite for frogging is a Legend 7'3'' MH with a fast tip.

Awwww, you poor guys. I would like to see what you would do if you had to cut through several feet of ice to be able to get the outboard in the water. ;D

I really like Revos, but the Revo S is a little touchy when you horse on them for a long distance cast. Especially with a light weight lure into the wind. You might find turning on the brakes will make the reel work a whole lot better and will require only a little adjustment of the cast control knob to stop over runs.

I used both years ago and when I started having trouble with them Shimano said it was all my fault and jerked me around on service. Abu Garcia stepped up to the plate and took care of me first time I needed help. Gave the Shimanos away and have been with Abu Garcia ever since. I have dozens of their round reels and about 18 of the new Revos. Also have 3 Morrum 1600's that are a work of art. Used them for a good many years with flawless service.

Not to take anything away from all the talented people in here, but on lures that are not too badly beaten up I use a little automotive touch up paint and after it dries I coat the lure with "Hard as Nails" nail polish and you would be amazed at how long the paint will hold up. I started doing this on jigs where the paint came off. I was quite surprised at how well this touch up would last. Started experimenting on other baits and due to the fact I am no artist this works for me.

It seems the color purple is making a comeback in many forms. I see it here with the PB&J colored lures and in a lot of jig skirts, as well as in the paint on some crankbaits. I can remember when a purple worm was the #1 thing to use for catching bass.

One that works! Seriouly.... In a soft swimbait today they are all mainly the same, one thing I found with the Money minnow is the slit in the belly seems to make rigging the bait easier, the hook ups more solid, and the baits seem to last longer. In hard swimbaits I fish the East coast so I use mainly shallow running baits to cover a lot of water in and around cover like milfoil and hydrilla. These 4 to 8 inch baits need to be durable due to the toothy critters that live in the same waters. Personally I look for baits that I can control the depth like the King Shads run from a surface wake bait to about 3 to 6 feet down and can be cranked fast without them rolling over. Sebiles you can fish deeper as they sink and they also can be cranked very fast without any problems. One that is producing well for me is the big jointed Rapala. It is a heavy lure with a great profile. Big fish hammer it and the finish is holding up well even with the toothy critters chewing on them. So to answer your question I am looking for swimbaits that are durable, have a good finish, track well on any retrieve, and baits I can control the depth I want to work with them.

I was having trouble with the hook set with EWG's as well and was told to try Owner's 4/0 screwlocks. Any one else heard of using these?

After fishing jigs for more years then I care to admit to you might want to try 50 lb Power Pro braid. It is 12 lb diameter, super sensitive, and due to the no stretch will help you drive the hooks home. You will need at least a MH rod with a fast tip and a reel with a good drag set to slip just a slight bit when you set the hooks. I switched over to braided line for jigs years ago and never looked back. I tie directly to the jig and even in all the clear water I fish have seen no reason to use a leader other then around Zebra mussels. Their shells are like little razor blades and cut through braid and mono very easily. For this reason only I will use a leader of fluoro.

I use a spinning rod for all the reasons mentioned above. However I am trying out using a heavier baitcasting setup this coming year after reading a lot of interesting articles about it. Basically it is nothing more then flipping or pitching in shallower water with braid or a minimum of 17 lb mono to holes in weedbeds or other cover to get the bait presented up off the bottom. From what I have read a craw seems to be the best bait, I am sure a t-rigged soft stick bait or worm would work as well. Going to try this method in Florida in about a month just to see if showing the fish a bait presented in a different way might work.

Of all the shows his is probably the worst of the bunch. It is VERY little fishing information and a ton of commercials rarely interrupted by him catching a fish.

Great report! I too switched over to braid and found the sensitivity increased dramatically. However instead of tying directly to the leader I use a small black swivel between the main line braid and the fluoro leader. While braid does not show the twist as badly this almost eliminates any line twisting. The other thing I discovered after a couple years of using braid was using 10 lb Fireline worked better then my favorite Power Pro. The Fireline has just a small amount of memory and stays on the spool better then the limper Power Pro.

Jig and real pork pig. Over the years in really cold water especially right after Ice out have been a proven winner not only for catching bass, but catching big bass. A light 5/16 oz jig with a #11 Uncle Josh pork frog falls slowly and can be worked in short hops or just crawled along the bottom and in most situations works perfectly. If I think there are some big fish in the area I go to as heavy as a 1/2 oz jig and use a #1 or a Big Daddy pork frog trailer. Both of my personal best Largemouths a 9.3 and a 9.1 have come on these baits. FYI....for those Smallmouth fisherman this setup works great for Big Smallmouths right after Ice out as well. Have lost count of the 6 lbers this rig has caught over the years.

At $21.98 per bait on a company that is not very well known is a turn off to me. Especially when the toothy critters around here will bite off a $3 lure just as easily as a $20 one.

X2 The only time I use a leader on braid is when fishing gin clear water. I NEVER use a leader flipin and pitching in heavy cover. That is basically a reaction bite your looking for. What I will do is take a sharpie and color the braid in segments to break it up. I fish nothing but gin clear water all year long here and in the lakes of Florida and never use a leader due to clear water. The only exception is when working a bottom bounching bait around zebra mussels I will then use a fluoro leader as their razor sharp shells cut through braid and mono like butter.

I agree on beefing up the braid to at least 50. Personally I use 65 lb Power Pro and do NOT use a leader. Never saw any need for a leader when flipping. Just something else to go wrong.