backwater4

20lb is fine. The whole craw is also good if your looking for a bigger profile. I normally cut the craw down a little, but I do trim the skirt back a good bit. For normal conditions I trim the skirt to about an inch behind the hook. For lighter, more finesse jigs I trim it back to about 1/4 or 1/2 behind the hook.

I've been using more twin tail grubs and craw style baits as trailers, then traditional chunk types. They seem to be workin better lately. As for line, I go with 15lb Berkley Trilene Big Game (Lo vis green) seems to hold up real well for most types of jig fishing all around. For really heavy stuff I go up to 20lb.

I make my own, but for flippin grass I go with a 3/8 or 1/2 bullet style. For pitchin around wood, docks or rock I go w/ a 1/4 football. For finesse or spawning I go with a 3/16 football w/ single wire guard. For colors, all black, brown orange or green pumpkin.

Different jigs for different applications. A bullet style head for grass. A football style for rocky areas. I personally use footballs for most of my jig fishing, unless its in the grass. I use them for rock, wood and docks. Shallow water I mainly use a 1/8-1/4 football w/ a traditional fiber guard, but also a 3/16 football w/ a single wire guard. This is a smaller profile jig that works great on smaller waters or when the bite is tough. I trim the skirt back to about a 1/4 inch past the hook and it really flares out nice. Add a single or twin tail grub and finicky bass can't resist it.

Bring your own food. Soups, snacks, even some frozen stuff in a cooler could last a while saving money. Microwave, travel coffee pot, etc. Practicing for tournaments on large bodies of water, it might be better to trailer to different launches instead of running by boat. It saves on oil and wear and tear, probably on gas too.

Jerkbaits and hair jigs. I was thinking of going myself. I have a tournament there Thurs and Fri. Weather looks nasty for Sat. Don't know if it's worth the 2hr ttrip.

Jerkbait, jerkbait, hair jig and jerkbait.

This sport is an addiction. You are DEFINITELY not the only one. I'm glad the season started, now I can consentrate on fishing and not what I don't have and could possibly one time under a certain condition need. The only problem now is I lose baits and have to pick up more.

You can't go wrong matching, but adding a different color trailer sometimes might just be enough to get a few more bites. I sometimes add a black trailer to a watermelon or brown jig. Instead of using a black and blue jig, I might just put a blue craw on the black jig. A black trailer will work on any color jig. It's all just your preference. It's a confidence thing.

Why dont you put the bags in one of those worm binders? BPS makes some nice ones I just picked up. I leave the boxes for the hard baits.

I've been fishing a lot of small ponds lately, I've been finding inline spinners, 4" grubs and 1/8 jigs have been deadly. Gold for the spinners and black for everything else. I also agree with senkos and possible a small floating rapala. Even though these baits are small, I've been getting alot of fish in the 2-3 lb range. Don't underestimate small baits. Hope this helps.

Jersey has some real good fishing. I've spent a bunch of time on Greenwood and Hopatcong. I actually bought my boat in Jersey.

Went to a local Nassau County pond Fri, Sat and Sun, fished about an hour each day. My son and I managed 20+ largemouth during this time. The fished ranged from 1-3lbs and they all came on black grubs, spinners and finesse jigs. I think all the rain we've had is helping the fishing. On Fri. they were bunched up in a hole by an inflow pipe. Sat and Sun, they were more spread out.

Went out for a couple of hours to a small Nasssau County pond. Weather was nice, but a little breezy. Had 14 largemouth between 1-2.5 lbs. 1/16 blk finesse jigs, blk grubs and in line spinners were the way to go.

Here in the northeast it's jerkbaits. I like a susp. Rogue. The waters just starting to warm up. The spawn here won't be until the end of April, into May.

Champlain, St Lawrence (1000 Islands) Any of the bays off Lake Ontario, these have some great largemouth fishing, plus smallies. In CT, Twin Lakes and Highland offer some good fishing, as well as Candlewood (which someone mentioned) Bomoseen (spelling?) in VT. There's just too many to list in the Northest.

Living rubber has more of a flair to it than silicone, but silicone skirts have much wider choice colors. I use both and really never had a problem with them drying out. I prefer the silicone. Hair jigs are a totally different jig, I use hair jigs in colder water where there is not much heavy cover, They are not designed to pitch and flip like the other jigs are. Just my .02.

When I need fish, my go to finesse set up is a 3/16 Spider Slider Head w/ a 4" straight tail worm, either a Luck E Strike Razor, Berkley Finesse or Brewers. I only use different styles of worms because I like a specific color from one better than the other. My rod/reel set up is a Team Diawa Tony Bean 6' spinning rod (old) and an older Team Diawa SS1300 Tournament. Line is Trilene XL 8lb lo vis green.

For both hard and soft jerkbaits I use an older 6' Team Diawa extended pistol grip and a Team Diawa 5.1:1 reel w/ 10lb Trilene XL line. The rod is short enough to jerk down, the reel is slow enough to fish the baits real slow in cold water and the mono line has good stretch.

All great suggestions, I'd add a hair jig also.

Not always,but sometimes I add about 2" of a finesse worm. Normally in the same color as the jig. I use mostly all black, with an ocassional brown.

Not from the south, but I've fished frogs around laydowns and docke with good success.

Thanks for the info. I'm definitely going to try them. I won a bunch in a tournament last year and never gave them a thought. It just dawned on me they might work in the same areas that I would use a jerkbait. I have both styles and also some that came with no hooks, these are smaller. Bill, I still have those jigs for the tournament for you. We have to hook up. ;D Dom

Thanks, this info helped a lot. It has a knobbed tail, is a rainbow trout color w/ single top hook. The bait is approx. 6" long. I want to try this on Candlewood (lake has a lot of trout in early spring), as a option to jerkbait. I also have one with the treble on the bottom, if this is more of a mid to top range swimmer, I'll probably go with this one.

I live in the northeast and was wondering if anyone has had success with a larger swimbait this time of year. I won some last season and thought it might work well, due to the fact that the lake I'll be fishing has the same size trout around the shoreline this time of year. This is an Optimum swimbait with the hook built in. Do you just cast these out and retrieve or do you have to add action? Thanks.