Bluebasser86

Also a good reel but I don't feel a big difference between them and the Pro Qual. The BPS reel is a very popular reel and has been used by many for years but the Lew's are still fairly new. I have no doubt that the Lew's will last fine, just something to think about. During the spring sale you can get the Pro Qual with a long, powerful BPS cranking stick for about $150. I put mine on a 7' 8" Mojo "Big Crankster" and have been very impressed with how much easier it makes to fish a deep running crank. The combo set me back around $175.

I've used part of a pit boss as a jig trailer and it's the same good action as you get with just a T-rigged pit boss just on a jig. Haven't tried the chunks but I'm sure they stay on the jig better.

I grew up fishing the Shimano TX I believe? Not the highest quality thing out there but I caught a ton of fish on them. Now I have a Sienna and Sedona that I use for panfish and trout and on float trips for smallies so if the canoe dumps I don't have to worry about losing nice gear or them getting water inside them.

Watch your line as your bait is sinking. If the line twitches or jumps it will usually be because a fish has inhaled the bait. Sometimes you will see your line stop sinking for a moment then it starts again, this is a fish eating your bait and then swimming off. If the water is shallow enough you can engage the spool immediately but if the water is very deep you can't engage the reel when the bait hits the water or you'll pull the bait back towards the boat on an arc as it sinks and if may never even hit bottom if it drops fast enough. If I detect a bite as my bait is sinking I'll usually engage the reel and set the hook immediately. If I can't engage the spool I'll put my thumb on the spool so my reel doesn't backlash. Hold your rod in a position that you can set the hook very quickly.

Next time brew your coffee with cans of Red Bull instead, you'll be able to feel colors.

Basically you're aiming for the water just in front of the dock and casting sidearm at a slightly downward angle towards the water with a spinning rod. If done correctly your bait with hit the water and skip like if you were skipping a rock and end up far under the dock. It is basically the same movement as if you were skipping a rock but instead you're holding a rod and you have a specific area you must hit for your cast to be effective. You can go down at too sharp of an angle or your bait will bounce up and hit the underside of the dock and your cast will be ruined and you may spook the fish under the dock. As for your bait a tube with an insert head, like an 1/8-1/4 ounce, or a Texas or wacky rigged senko are a couple of the best baits you can use for skipping a dock. Most of the time with the Senko if there is a fish under the dock that is going to bite you won't even have to move it, the fish will just catch it on the way down.

Shimano Sellus or Lighting Rod Shock are both good cranking rods in that price range. No experience with the Academy rods but I know most guys that use them really like them.

I fish copoly or fluoro in winter. Some L&L will help but if it's really cold stuff is still going to freeze up on you, just something you have to deal with when you're fishing during the winter time.

Paca craw, Zoom speed craws or big critter craws, twin tail grubs, or half a senko.

Get a 5.1 or 4.8 Bass Pro Pro Qualifier during their spring sale for about $75. I got one for my deep cranking set up this summer and really like it so far. The combo of that reel and the long, powerful rod I got for deep crankbaits has made fishing even 6XD's much easier.

Roadrunners and beetle spins both can be surprisingly effective on river smallies. Seems like the solid colors like white, brown, and black are the best colors for me most of the time.

Bass will come shallow to feed on warm, sunny days even during the winter time. Dragging a jig, slow cranking a single colorado bladed spinnerbait or rattle trap, or slowly fishing a jerkbait in the same areas should get bit. I really like rocky shorelines with a fast drop near the shore that have the sun shining on them during the middle of the afternoon in winter time. The warm weather will call crawdads and baitfish out of the rocks to feed and in turn attract the bass to them.

I've stored my fishing gear in an unheated garage for years with no ill effects that I can think of. I know if you aren't going to use them at all you're supposed to loosen your drags all the way to reduce stress on drag washers I believe, I'm sure some of the reel experts can elaborate more on that though.

I've got a 7' 1" ML/XF St. Croix LTB with a 25 size Pluegar Supreme and a 6' 8" ML/F Shimano Crucial with a 1000 Symetre. I prefer the St. Croix for most situations but the Shimano gets the nod if I'm fishing light weights in shallower water.

If you can get away with line that light I'd probably opt for skipping a senko or tube instead of trying to pitch under the dock. You'll be able to get further under the dock that way. If you're set on pitching just watch a couple videos on Youtube to help you learn how. It will be a lot easier to learn how by watching someone doing it than it will be for someone to try to explain how on here.

If someone was looking for a SI unit that didn't break the bank what would you suggest? I don't really need a new unit but after fishing out of my buddies boat with dual SI units the possibilities of what I could find and learn from having one is very tempting.

They will catch fish in all but the coldest water but that 50-65 degree window seems to be best for me in the spring and fall. I love getting around milfoil and and ticking the tops of the weeds or burning along the edges. Wind blown points and windy pockets in the fall are great times too. I like a 7' M/F with a 6.2:1 reel and 15lb copoly for a vast majority of my fishing with them. I'll switch to braid in heavy weeds to help rip the bait out of the weeds though. In deeper weeds letting the bait sink into the tops of the weeds and ripping it out and just repeating that the whole way in gets some crushing reaction strikes.

I love all Havoc baits, except the Devil's spear. I've fished them on my best lakes on days when it didn't matter what I put in the water and have yet to get even a bite on one. Just one of those things that's maybe just a mental thing or maybe they really don't like that bait around here but it's doubtful I'll be buying any more.

1. Jig, black and blue or PB&J depending on water clarity 2. 1/8oz shakyhead with a GP trick worm 3. LC 1.5 Chart/black back or chartruese shad depending on water clarity 4. Tandem 3/8oz chart/white spinnerbait If I can't catch fish on one of those baits I'm probably not going to be able to catch them.

Yum makes a tripod rig that's like an ultralight 3 arm A-rig. I'm sure it will work for bass but I have yet to catch a bass with mine.

All but our power plant lakes are iced over, that means only fishing one day a week now It gets a lot harder once hunting season is over at the end of January but at least our water is usually back open by mid March.

I'd use it in saltwater or fishing for big catfish but that's about it. Maybe reserve it for when the Strike King 10XD hits the shelves, you may need something like that to crank those beasts

Planning on it. I live about 30 minutes closer to it now so that helps a lot with the drive time.

The 4" bluegill may be half that but it's certainly not a 4oz bait. I'd guess it's probably 1 1/4-1 1/2 ounces. You'll need a little stouter equipment to throw the bigger bluegill bait but a regular MH-H bass rod will work just fine.

Well so far so good. I don't see any meteorites, tornadoes, lightning, aliens, or fires out the windows here at work, not yet anyways