Spankey

Gonna be hot but I’ll take the dog day.

Why St. Croix stopped making and selling the Premiere Series Crankbait Rods is beyond me. First true crankbait rods I bought and still use. Love that rod. Paired with a couple of old Curados. I’ve had them a long time. 15 years? Maybe more? Abu Garcia puts out a Veritas “Winch” series of CB Rods. Fish 2 of them. Love them. They don’t break the bank to boot. Call me crazy, there might be higher dollar crankbait rods out there. What sets them apart I don’t know. SC and Abu both have a nice 7 foot version of a spinning rod. Medium and Moderate action. Not bank breakers. $100 rods. Abu is spinning “Winch” version, St. Croix is an “eyecon” series for crankbaits. In the walleye series rods but it’s a bass rod as well. Hard to find a nice soft tip spinning rod these days. Everything is fast or XFast.

I know nothing about the combo in question. I agree with you 110% on the need for a soft, floppy, moderate tip. Fast or X-Fast tip is tough for crankbait fishing. The right spinning or bait casting rod action will change that around. Slow tip rod. Reaction strikes, buy a decent 7 ft. Rod. Sensitivity of a rod I relate more to bottom fishing. Soft plastics. Crankbaits more the feel of a shock absorber. I fish the 1.5’s on mono without any issue. But it’s not like I’ve never missed a fish. Part of fishing. I think the OP will enjoy crankbait fishing more with the right rod. I would not be interested in a fast or X-Fast rod with braid line to fish crankbaits.

You Mass. guys look to be having a good time up there. Nice looking fish. Good luck, good fishing.

You are right. That’s exactly what it is. I’ll try a couple, I like what I see and feel real good about it. I fish Strike King more and more. I’ve gotten a few fish off of the OG Slims this year. The Rapala freak I am I could not resist. I wished they rattled. Majority of my water is stained. I fish the DT’s and Shad Raps a lot. Just looking for a bit of noise. Would not be too difficult to install, easy experiment. The DT-8 will fall right in line with how I fish also. Looking forward to try a couple.

Heck as hot as it’s been in mid-Atlantic so far and it is not August yet. I’m getting bit and putting fish in the boat. Could use some rain. I’m not looking for flash floods though. A nice crisp 55 deg. morning would be nice.

I hear that my friend. I just try to keep it real. I’m not living in the bass Mecca of Penna. or the country. Over the years I’ve pulled off some nice ones. I know what the potential could be, I just try to fish hard. Try not to give up. It has been extremely hot out my way. Surprised the bite has not dropped off to nothing. River is very warm. On the weekend I’m gonna fish some of the deepest sections of the river and around bridge pilings. Slow with soft plastics. Gonna get off those hardbaits for an outing or two. I love fishing them but in my mind in these warmer temps I want to try to keep a bait in a zone a lot longer. Might be able to dial in on a couple of nice ones. Who knows, might work? Good luck, good fishing.

Crankbait fishing is a big part of my fishing. I have a tendency to fish it too much. But like the reaction strikes. Soft plastics is my favorite way to fish.

The pocket frog and Jr. was a bust. But I’m not dejected. I’ll continue to use them. They are light and worked perfect on medium spinning gear. MH with braid is overkill for river Smallies. I will make something happen with them. Action on them is great. Too great for a fish not to like it. All was not lost on the Topwater bite got 2 on a Skitter Prop. Pretty time proven bait for me for years but fish were nothing to brag about. All in all I’m not gonna kick on my day. Boated about 15 fish with a few being Greenies. Largest fish only 14” (greenie) was a bit sour about that, was taking that “Fishing For Monster Bass” approach. Got hung up throwing nothing but crankbaits my whole time out but every Rapala, Lucky Craft and Bomber I threw caught fish. When I get back out in a few days I’m doing nothing but a soft plastics approach. It will be a lot slower fishing but bait will stay in the zone longer. I have to switch gears I have nothing to loose. I’ve alway had the bar set to 15” to call my River Smallies respectable. A few guys at the ramp are taking a skunking, so they say. Not sure of their approach. At least I’m getting bit. Just looking for the big bite.

Brian, I’m proud of you. And what you have there will catch fish.

I scaled my stuff back a bit. I have two pocket frogs and two pad crusher jr’s. They are only 1/4 oz. I’ll go at it with spinning. I have a half decent set up for heavier baits. I’m really no frogger, pitcher or flipper, I just give it my all. I have never caught a Smallie frogging. But than again I’ve never really tried. I was surprised how they were short strikes on the larger frogs. They bumbed them. I have this one creek that feeds the river. Can fish it like a point. Water goes from inches to 6’-8’ quick. No real vegetation to talk about. Can fish it in a semi circle shape. Has always been good for a pop-r type bite. I’ve been off the river for a few years. Mother Nature I feel ruined it. It was my home. I think it is trying to come back. I would say truly that it is. But being a laker the last few years my bait choices have changed and I want to put them to use on the river. I catch myself overfishing the same old same old but I’m just trying to make the best of figuring the old river out. Can only hope next season is better than this. And the one after is better than next one.

I have no idea how much longer I’m meant to be on gods green earth. I’m going to retire a couple of years early and this coming early spring I’m pulling the plug. There are some guys on here that I’m going to reach out to and see if we can hook up. It tough while you are still working because it’s a haul to some of your areas dragging my puddle jumper and I have no desire to be pushed for time or if we hit bad weather situations. I’d like to catch some Smallies in the Upper Mississippi River, Pickwick Area, St Croix Area, St. Lawrence/Lk Ontario Area, And somewhere along the line I need a spotted bass.

Timber Doodle Silver Buddy

Sorry for your loss and I feel for you and your family. Our "Jack" pass close to 25 years ago. He was a Chocolate. Pet loss is tough.

You are actually better off going to CVS or Wally World and picking up one of those small squirt bottles you use for vacation that you load soap or conditioner or some crap like that in. Get a bottle of the liquid Super Lube Synthetic Oil from Grainger. Manufactured by Synco and is good from -40 deg. to 300 deg. Most likely better than anything you are getting in the box. Time proven product in industrial repairs for me over the last 40 years. Never had a failure from using the stuff. I believe they put out like a Sportsman’s version in a dispenser pen type.

Grayish, off white (hard to find), green pumpkin, dark brown are all I really need but there are so many nice ones out there with some variation to them that I fish others as well. I’m not a big fan or user of much Zman stuff but they have a color called greasy prawn. Like a sand color. I’m pretty sure I could do real well on the river with it. Finesse worms in sand produce very well with the Smallies. Sand color is great for August and September when rains are minimal and water gets real clear. Local shop is big into Zman but he is reluctant to get them in for me. I realize I’m only one guy , Homie ain’t looking for anything for free, I’ll pay you up front for them. But all and all the shop doesn’t mean a lot to me, what they have or do not have is on them. I’ll order a few packs on my own. But that off white grayish is a decent color out my way. The old Guido Bugs had a perfect color match to that. Still have a few.

Of the gizzard shads the blue gizzard is my most productive. At least of the SK patterns. But the green and oyster and a few of the sexys I make no hesitation to tie them on. I’m not into the real image looking crankbaits. I will not do well with them. I tried. Have a real mental block about them. (Story for another day) The finish and patterns to the SK crankbaits looks cheap and tacky. I hope the do not change a thing because they flat out catch fish.

I don’t eat them but agree about the profile. I’ve thrown various colors in the same spot with the same fish catching results. I can’t say color doesn’t matter because it might. Many different species of crawfish. Easy enough to find out that is local to you by fish commission. So many soft plastic on the market, something has to get you close to what you have.

That oyster has gotten me a few fish is season also. Started throwing it last year some. Not fishing it in a squarebill but in XD’s. Great natural color. What’s not to like about it.

I’m a fan of black in those situations also. Never fished the black 6th Sense. Black Bandits is what I use.

Wish I had temps at 70 deg. 80+ on the river stinks. Think it’s holding some of the bigger fish low and back.

I like that new DT-8. That falls right in line with the DT-6 that I fish the heck out of. Hitting a bit harder with the xtra 2 feet will work out great. Quite a while before you can get one. I’ll try a few of them in my better patterns. One of the new patterns I saw I can make things happen with that also. I’ve been picking up fish on the OG Slim. Decent bait. Not sure if I’m interested in an 04 series or not. Good Rapala colors on those Slims. Decent look.

Gonna go at it a bit different this week. I get to throwing those dang different style crankbaits and patterns a lot. Love fishing them but sometimes a couple of hours go by. Yes catching some fish but got to change it up sooner. No reason for it, have all my stuff layed out. More T-rigs, Shaky Head and Split Shot rigs. Tubes and grubs, they all work. Just too dang anal.

I came across one of those small pocket frogs and have toads. Gonna switch up my hard Topwater baits to some soft plastics this weekend. I won’t be in grass at least not at first. Going to toss the up onto stone rock points and drag them off toward me. Will do the downsizing. Majority of my river smallies have not been what I call “respectable”. But I’m ok with that. I am getting some nice ones, and the river seem to be rebounding some. It’s not a matter of frog fishing for small Smallies. More of getting Smallies on soft frogs.

I just lite T-rig them and split shot rig them. Drag and pop them around. They seem to work decent for a bite when I use them as a change-up. I don’t fish huge lizards. 4 1/2” - 5” size.