deep

Tom's smallmouth hair jigs!

Wow man Clayton, some of your posts remind me how lucky I've been (so far anyway). No useful inputs from me, but I sincerely hope you sort this out. Good luck. P.S. I didn't know you had a daughter too!

Pretty colors!

Yes Sir, that is a Kistler Helium3. The only custom part is the foregrip, added by yours truly.

Me three! Sure feels good to wet a line after a long time. The two 12 inchers were just bonuses. Water temp was a hair over 41 about 5 feet down in the column.

You should have posted:

May I suggest you start with a slip shot rig as opposed to a true carolina rig? It's so much easier to feel bites when there's no swivel etc involved. Just put a bobber stop or two between the bead and the hook. You can adjust the leader length on the fly, and there are two less knots to tie.

Half the time I set the hook on bottom bumping baits, I don't quite know why I set it. Curiously enough, I almost always have a fish on the end of my line after those hooksets. Yes, I occasionally end up with a snagged bait too lol.

Tom's jigs: *close up photos of a few jigs and pork trailer. The pork trailer is a copy of the old Pedigo 4” lizard made for me by SuperPork*, now out of business. The jig is my own design that dates back to ’71; a stand up viper shape that goes through rocks extremely well, not good for brush. I use a Gamakatsu #114, 5/0 on the 7/16 oz jig. This jig is ideally suited for casting horizontal presentations in deep structured lakes..*

Nope.

^^ nailed it. It's not about the price. It's about catching fish.

Is a scratch/ dent resistant super durable coating on a jighead a good thing? (yes, it looks good, I'll concede that) Does anyone use enamel paint to paint jigheads, a coating that's actually more susceptible to getting scratched and peeled off, AND give off a different sound when dragged over rocks?

Thanks Tom, on behalf of everyone. I believe I already have the sketch you're referring to. I'll be happy to post it here- with your permission- if anyone's interested.

Luckily there's at least one online vendor with some superpork available. Tom, could you tell us what to look for in pork trailers (size, floatation, action etc)? Should we shave a little fat off where the hook goes in, and also where the claws start?

staysee 120 is the one I like.

So cool. Job well done gents.

Just thought it was ironic. That's all. P.S. My apologies. It did come off too strong.

American shad is no bueno for me. Chartreuse shad, ghost minnow and chartreuse blue are the ones I like.

Tatsu is the ****! Gift cards are 10% off too, for just a little extra discount.

If that's what you're used to, any Curado would be not a step up, but a jump up! I love G's and E's equally. Both are solid reels, and the G is lighter. The D is absolutely a beast, but not good for casting anything under 1/2 oz (in my hands). The B feels to me a little clunky (not performancewise though). No idea about the Red Tomatoes. Didn't fish for bass back then. Watching Ike and Gluszek fishing the Delaware river on the TW Vlogs, and Gluszek is using a Curado B!

If they die they die. Nothing in nature goes to waste. I'd be more concerned with people keeping/ mounting big bass, as you should be too OP. Remind us about you and your brother's 6 pounders, will you?

You get only partial credit. That should have been written as **Maybe your just better at spelling and grammer then they are?**

Not difficult at all if you can read, understand and follow simple directions. Tom has been in this game a long long time, young'un. Show some respect. That rig is very easy to fish and effective, even for beginners. The best weights I've found for the rig are Vike's cylindrical tungstens, less than a buck each on TW, even cheaper during a sale. I like tungsten, and use a brass clicker between the weight and the bead. Something about the brass and glass noise that bass like! I don't like to peg the bead. Tried that, and found it put a kink in my fluoro. I use a rubber bobber stopper below the bead. Works well to peg the bead-clicker-weight, and it's more sensitive since obviously the bobber stopper has less mass than the bead. Try that rig out.

Every morning I log into the forums and read a bunch of drivel from the same few dudes. If you don't know something about something, isn't it better to keep you d**n virtual mouth shut? I didn't know jack when I was your age either, but there's a reason God gave you two ears and one mouth (too bad He also gave you ten fingers to type with). #rantout #feelingtestytoday

If you want a solid feeling reel, buy a D series Curado.