.ghoti.

SD jam knot with flouro, and palomar with mono.

I don't use the drop shot rig very often, but when I do, it's just as Burley does, with one addtion. I add a good swivel about a foot up from the hook. The drop shot rig is the worst line twister ever. If you're going to do this a lot, the Stand Out drop shot hook is an easier way to go. Cheers, GK

I never see anybody in my neck of the woods using a Slug-go; except me. I remember when they first hit the market. A couple of local tackle shops were selling them one per customer for 4 to 5 bucks. That was for one bait, not one bag. Then they dropped out of fashion. One local tackle shop still stocks them, so I have a local source. I quit buying any but the 6" size. That's my best producer. I'm with Stringjam; flukes for numbers, slug-go's for size. I like using a bsit that nobody else is using. Gives me a little confidence boost knowing that the only time the fish have seen this bait was the last time I was here. Cheers, GK

Out of those two choices, I'm more inclined to throw a crank at 'em. Much deeper than 10 or twelve feet though, and I tend to leave the cranks in the box. Try running a crank right over their heads, to see if you can pick off any active ones, then show 'em the jig. Cheers, GK

Do what RoLo suggested; the Super Fluke. The Jr. is so small that it's very easy to overwork the bait. And, that's the key to these baits. Don't overwork them. The Jr. makes a good spinnerbait trailer, and is probably a good drop shot bait. Don't know for sure about the drop shot thing. I do so little drop shotting that my opinion is useless. I jumped on the Gulp bandwagon as soon as it came out, and jumped right back off. Too much hassle, too much stink, and two little fish. The stuff has no action. To the bass, Gulp may taste like Beef Wellington, with foie gras and truffles, but they don't know that if it doesn't get in their mouths. And, anything that looks like a dead stick in the water is unlikely to make it way into their mouths. I know some people have had success with Gulp, but I'm not one of them. Sorry for the Gulp rant, but I spent a bunch of money on this stuff when it first hit the market, and I do not remember catching a fish on it, other than a couple of bluegill. And, you thread hijackers, be quite about the Sluggo. Can't a guy have a secret bait around here? ;D ;D ;D

Here you go http://www.danielefoods.com/index.html

Yeah, thanks buddy. The bite here is awesome, but it takes a "special" rig to get down to them. I've been using one of my muskie rods; 6'10" heavy power, Quantum reel and 65lb braid. The "special" rig is a t-rigged senko. 5/0 EWG hook and a pegged 6lb sinker. I throw it almost straight up in the air as far as I can, and it punches right though the ice. Deadly! ;D ;D

Well I have some rods you can have. let me know the numbers of spinning and spincasting reels you have, and I'll fix you up. I'm in the middle of cleaning out my garage. Got a new roof on it, will have new siding in the spring, and need to make some space on the inside for a workbench. The more stuff I can give away, the better.

I'm a deisel fitter. What's that you say? I stand on the end of line in the panty hose factory. Every pair of panty hose that come off the line, I put on over my head. If they're tight enough that I can't whistle, i say dees'll fit her.

Hey Dom, you should have mentioned this when you called. I'll bring another spinning rod along with the Fenwick. Ya need any reels? I have a couple of spinning reels that could use a good home. Let me know. cheers, GK

Depends on the size of the tube. Owner wide gap's and rig'n hooks are good. Gammy EWG's are good. Anyhook with a wide gap will work. I use from 1/0 up to 5/0. I want the hook to penetrate the bait about 1/8" ahead of the tails. I put the weight inside. For small diameter tubes, a split shot works well. For larger tubes I like a bass casting sinker, with the hook run through the eye of the weight. I almost always shove a couple of crappie nibbles in ahead of the weight. I like the nibbles with glitter in clear water. 1/16oz of weight is usually just about right. Anybody know why they call those weights "bass casting sinkers"? You never see anybody casting for bass with them.

If you hadn't been doing this for thirty years, I'd say you've been watching me. This is exactly how I fish a t-rig. Except, my go to bait is the GYCB Big Kahuna Cut-tail worm, on a 5/0 EWG hook, and 1/8oz steel weight. Those salty ring worms look good. I'm gonna have to get some. Cheers, GK

Nifty idea, fourbizz. What are you looking for? Just the big swimbaits, or what?

My favorite round reels, and the only ones I still use all the time, are Daiwa Millionaire CV-X103's. Daiwa discontinued these, and replaced them in their lineup with the Luna. If I ever wear out the ones I have, I wouldn't hesitate on a Luna as a replacement. I gotta say, the Calcutta TE's are sweet. I used a friend's one day, and didn't want to give it back.

That's for YOU? Lynn Walnuts really does not have that special ring to it now does it?

silvercliff, I like your style. If I read you original description correctly, it almost sounds like one the cork rings has separated from it's neighbor. If that's the case, you may be able to inset a thin spatula between the rings, and work some thinned woodworkers glue in the joint. That will probably leave you with some minor damage which could be repaired with the cork dust glue mix. You may have to go through several bottles of wine to find a real cork. Many vintner's are using something else now. I don't know what it is, but it's not cork. Sounds like some fun, in any event. Cheers, GK

here ya go buddy http://www.animatedknots.com/rapala/index.php I'll tell you, I've found this to be almost useless. Maybe I just can't tie one properly, but this is the weakest knot I've found. For all my topwater baits, which is the only application where a loop knot makes sense, I've installed oval split rings. Then a four turn clinch knot. Cheers, GK

ya think maybe he's spent a little time practicing?

I don't. Every time I think about it, I say to myself: "self, there's another rod, or a reel, or a big box full of cool cranks" and I just can't do it.

Hey Al, that "twirling" knot is probably the San Diego jam knot. Easy to tie, once you get the hang of it. I did my own pseudo-scientific testing last year and I can't find my tabulated results. I intended to put it in a spreadsheet, and can't find the notebook I wrote all the results in. Anyway, the basic results for me were as follows. The palomar was the best for mono. the SD jam knot was best for flouro the standard clinch knot was better tied with four turns instead of five And the loop knot and trilene knot were by far the weakest, and I've stopped using them. The main conclusion I came to was knots are very inconsistent. Minor variations in technique seems to caused major variations in results. The main lesson for me was to slow down, and try to do it exactly the same every time. Getting in a hurry really does not do the trick. The other result was I now use the palomar for plastics rigs using mono, the for jam knot plastics and flouro, and the four turn clinch for all treble hook baits. These were all tested using my Rapala lok-n-weigh. I did not do a shock test. I have no way to do that. alger319 makes a valid point about that.

If money is no object, and you want the toughest reel around, check out these. http://www.vanstaal.com/

Ok guys, I'm going to modify my offer. Fluke sent me a PM saying Senko77 needed a place to stay for a couple of nights. I PM'ed him, and he will be occupying one of the spare beds for two nights; Monday and Tuesday. There's another bed available for Sunday through Wednesday night. We'll be leaving Thursday morning. I'm not charging Senko77 for the room. I'm won't charge anybody else for the other bed either. Need a place to stay for four nights, or less? It's yours, if you don't mind sharing a room and bath with Senko77. Again, the only thing I insist on is no smoking in the room. Send me a PM if you want it. First come, first served. Cheers, GK

Yep, that's it. Those are the variables you have to experiment with. For a general answer, and you know how good a generalization is, heavier weight for deeper water, shorter distance between weight and hook for less active fish, experiment with the retrieve. The whole idea behind the drop shot is to target inactive fish by putting the bait in front of them and leaving it there, hovering and twitching right in front of their noses. Keeping it moving all the time just might be something they haven't seen before. I would guess that if you're going to be casting quite a way and doing a moving retrieve, you'll need some extra distance between weight and hook, to keep it up off the bottom. Haven't tried it that way. I'm just speculating.

FishingBuds, might I suggest the Fishing Articles section of this forum. There's enough reading there about all aspects of plastics fishing to keep you occupied for quite a while. Not trying to brush you off, but you asked a question for which there are many answers.

I like one that I haven't seen anywhere for a few years. The Berkley Tournament Strength Power Worm. A little different body and a much slimmer, longer ribbon tail than the regular Power worm. I'm down to about two dozen out of a couple of 100ct bags I bought 5 or 6 years ago. They're like a smaller, smellier version of the Culprit worm.