BARON49_Northern NY

I am not a big fan of using scents for the scent, but use Mega Strike to lube my swimbaits so they come through cover easier. Also use Fish Formula "Gamefish" to keep my plastics from drying out. I have tubes and bottles of this stuff that is several years old and it is still good.

Thats the best advice I have seen posted here in ages. I have tried the Chigger craws, as well as the similar Yum Craw papi, and the Paca Craw blows both of them away. Neither the Yum or Berkley have "THE" flapping action the claws on the Paca Craw have. Actually the best "flapping" craw trailer I have ever used for the action in the new Ragetail chuck. I just catch more and bigger fish on the Berkley Chigger craw.

This depends on the rod action and line you are using. If you are using a MH rod, a rod with moderate or moderate fast action, or if you are using heavy mono go ahead and set the hooks as soon as you see the strike. All these have a delay before you can get the rod to load or get the stretch out of the mono line. If you are using a H action rod with a fast tip and braided line. Keep reeling or doing whatever you were doing with the frog before you saw the strike. Once you FEEL the weight of the fish then set the hooks. Other wise you will actually pull the frog away from the fish by reacting too fast. Takes a little practice and nerves of steel, but you will increase the hooked fish dramatically if you take the time to learn this.

Sounds like a good time, but I will be down in Florida thinking about the long trip back home. Is this something you guys do on a regular basis?

Terrible story, but a stark reminder for those of use that "forget" to put a PFD on when running the big motor.

Fishing down South and seeing all the wildlife is one of the things I look forward to each year. Gators are all over the place. A few years ago I fished Rodman Res. Got some great pictures of some HUGE gators. Snakes are every where and a little common sense when fishing under willow trees in needed. Cottonmouths are sneaky critters and give no warning. With all that aside the birds in Florida come in all sizes and shapes and colors. It would be quite easy to forget about fishing at times just to watch all the activities of the birds and wild life. Actually got close up to a beautiful bald Eagle and did not have the presence of mind to take a picture. Was fishing in a small canal last year off one of the smaller lakes and got to see some wild boars rutting around and deer are quite plentiful as well.

Been using "clear" for the past few years in mono and until I started using braid in Moss green color and getting good bites even in crystal clear water decided to go back to "green" mono this year to see if it makes a difference. Used to use nothing but green Berkley Trilene XT and got away from it. Guess what goes around comes around.

I use them in any colored water except muddy.

Look for jigs with somewhat pointed heads that have the line tie in the nose of the jig instead of those that have it sitting on top or at an angle. The reason is the pointed jigs with the line tie in the nose come through weeds better and don't collect weed strands under the line tie. I have used both Booyah and Strike Kings jigs for swim jigs, but there are many others.

My goto lipless baits now are Excaliber and Strike King Red Eye Shads. I have a number of older Rattletraps I found that work and are in good shape that I save for special occasions. the newer ones just don't seem to have the quality anymore.

These are my top choices too and silver or gold with black back seem to be top producers here locally in the Smithwick or the Husky jerk The hot pink x-rap for smallies is a super producer.

These are my top choices too and silver or gold with black back seem to be top producers and locally in Smithwick or the Husky jerk The hot pink x-rap for smallies is a super producer.

I think this is a good rule of thumb. The execption to the rule for me the past several years has been the color green pumpkin. I am throwing it a lot more in jigs and in worms and catching good fish in the clear waters here in NY, stained and muddy waters in the mid Atlantic region waters, and in the tanic waters of Florida. Maybe it is just me, but I have gained a lot of faith and confidence in using this color in a number of different plastic baits and jigs.

Swimming jigs became a habit many years ago when I was getting hits when reeling a jig and pig back to the boat at the end of the retrieve. Instead of just reeling a jig in now I hop and swim it in. Amazing how many bass clobber it. As to the where and whens of fishing a swim jig? Around docks with some weed cover is my favorite and any time of the day seems to work. A white jig with a white zoom chunk casted as far back under or along a dock as possible, just slow roll it back and keep your eyes on the jig. If they want it they will swim out and grab it. Another place is over and around grass with holes. Cast the jig as far as possible and swim in back, but kill it and allow it to drop into the holes in the grass along the way. This also works in Lily pads, but is a pain when the line gets caught in the V of the pad. I am sure there are many more ways of swimming a jig, but these are what has worked for me the best. Don't forget to always swim any jig you are fishing back to the boat at the end of the retrieve you will be surprised as what happens.

Due to this very thing I have chosen to leave them behind and look for other lipless baits and to be honest have found several that actually work better and have had little or no problems out of the package.

I swear by the Rapala X-raps, but have yet to spend any money on these deep diving ones. I get worn out jerking the x-raps all day long and assume the deep divers might pull quite hard. Would be interested in the feed back on how well they work from anyone who has used them.

I agree...this makes perfect sense for your situation and tackle.

I am not usually one to get "hooked" on a color. However, I was given a couple crankbaits and a King Shad in the Sexy Shad color and gave them a try last Fall. Had two rods rigged with the Sexy Shad colors and two other rods rigged with my usual most productive color baits. The King Shad even after going through areas with the other color first, the Sexy Shad color not only caught more, but the bigger fish on several different lakes. Did the same test with the crank baits, while there was not as much a difference between the Series 6 sexy shad v/s a Citus DD22. There was a marked increase in numbers with the smaller Tour Series 3 v/s my favorite colored Bomber 4A. This was enough for me to invest in several more King Shads in the Sexy Shad color and bought the KVD kit of crankbaits when it went on sale at BPS. We will see what happens over the course of the next year with them.

Can't help you on the Summit reel, but if you go to at least 50 lb Power Pro braid you will find it helps in your hookups to landed fish ratio tremendously when fishing both buzz frogs and floating frogs.

1) Jig and craw trailer 2) King Shad 3) Boggie Bait 4) Tube 5) Worm

The Berkley Chigger Craw with its solid body design works well for a jig trailer or as a t-rigged bait and holds up for quite a few fish. The claws stay on the bait through several fish catchs. Depending on the what you are using the Chigger Craw for would depend on the size. You can always buy the 4" and pinch it down to the size you need. I use a 4/0 or 5/0 Owner Wide Gap hook when fishing these t-rigged and fish both the 3" and 4'' size on 1/4 to 1/2 oz jigs. Down South I have used the 4" on a 1 to 1 1/2 oz jig when punching through thick hydrilla with good success as well. I have used both the Paca Craws and Chunks and while the Chunks make a good jig trailer, the claws come flying off way too easily for me. The hollow tube of the Paca Craws do not lend themselves well as a trailer on a jig. The hollow tube design as well as the soft plastic tears up very easily. T-rigged they seem to hold up a little better, but not as well as the Chigger Craws.

When I hit a school of smaller fish I will work a heavier bait to get underneith the school or work around the outside edge of the school in search of bigger fish. The school is there for a reason, usually forage fish and big fish being lazy will usually pick a place to ambush the the wounded bait fish as they fall. I would never say leave fish to find fish, but take the time to pick apart the area where you found the smaller fish. There might be one or two big gals hanging around for an easy meal too.

For those who don't know about it Cabelas on their web page have a Bargin Cave that is like BPS clearance section. Never know when you might get a get buy. Check it often.

You said it better then I did....

I've got Hot Sauce in a Daiwa for about a year. I've also used it in a couple of Quantums. I've seen no negative effects other than it actually stains brass gearing. It is fast stuff, and easy to apply since its RED. At the recommendation of a qualified reel mechanic and tech I started using Hot Sauce and have to say I am impressed. I get 180+ days a year on the water and have been using Hot Sauce oil and grease on my Quantum and Revo reels with no problems at all. In fact, the first thing I do when I buy a new reel is to take it apart and relube it with Hot Sauce. It holds up in hot and cold weather and especially under the stress of throwing swimbaits and crankbaits all day long.