Spankey

I keep a list on side of the fridge of stuff I need to replenish or a color pattern that falls in between or slight variant of productive colors patterns I’m using. Didn’t jump on the TW bandwagon at the holidays. Most of what I wanted to get was out of stock and no back order. List is not very long. Would like to find some McCoy and SunLine SuperMono in bulk spools, 1500-1700 yd. range or more. Only getting it at 600 yd. spools now. I’m always helping someone do something they can’t handle, never take any money for the work because I don’t feel comfortable doing it. Did sort of beat around the bush and have the word out for a gift certificate/card to places like TW, Cabela’s, BPS, DICK’S. Did score pretty decently at holidays, $100 TW, $50 Cabela’s and one gal hooked me up with some Googan Baits. You can sort of tell that a dude from DICK’S helped her out. Nice stuff but I’m not much of a Googan guy. Can get store credit I guess, give them to my grandsons or just fish some of them. The jerkbaits and top waters looked half decent. Word on the street is soft plastics don’t hold up well. Between now and the end of February I’ll have a completed short list. Just really need spring to arrive.

Good luck with that. I like the looks of it. Was thinking the same thing for river Smallies. A lot gets posted here, not much catches my attention. But that certainly did. Would you know off the top of your head whether or not that pattern is available in a 6’, 8’ or 10’ diver type?

That’s a nice color pattern on that firetiger/perch crankbait. Good luck with that. Good luck with everything really but cb caught my eye.

This is nothing new to me but does fall right in line with the same old same old. I have to get back into fishing jerk baits a bit more often. I don’t really fish them in the picture perfect way that articles and video would have you fish them. I fish them more like a jerkbait/crankbait style. A bit more swimming of it than maybe designed to. On the river over the years I’ve pulled off double hitters quite a few times on them. Granted not huge Smallies but it sure made it fun. Will throw them a bit more this upcoming season.

Soft baits by Zoom have been around in that pattern since the early ‘80s. Worth having a pack or two of that in a Brush Hogs. Decent working natural type color.

I don’t pre-rig all my rods. My early morning options, or something I’m sure to be throwing I’ll have tied on. Beats messing around in the dark with them. I don’t hook plastics or have jigs on until I’m ready to throw them. I generally will have an XD, a trap or a DT of some type tied on to start out with.

Trap, Skeet, Sporting Clays, 5-Stand, WildCat. We shoot all the disciplines. Club League shoots.

I’m pretty much a creature of habit. I have my favorite brands and their types of lures and stick to them. I’m a sucker to try a different color pattern within these lure. I love fishing RoboWorms I got turned on to them while fishing in Cali years ago. They were not out East and had not know or heard of them. They are still not all that popular. I’ve went out of my comfort zone a couple of times and tried others. Some never really built up good confidence. Didn’t go way out on a limb or drop huge bucks on any of the stuff. I just give it away. Have always done well with Berkley and Zoom plastics. Rapala balsa hardbaits. Bomber and Bandit Crankbaits. But I do like to pick up something new now and again. If I’m not feeling it when it’s on the shelf I won’t buy it. If I see something and it feels like that’s gonna put a fish in the boat. I’ll try it and It generally does work. I don’t think I have a crankbait that I have not caught a fish on. I’d like to venture out to a few Magabass hardbaits. But I have all season to do some research and mix a few of them in.

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with either of these. Should be an easy find. Local shops or even DICKS. Just use TW. On a local scale I’ve never seen D Walkers, but they look good.

You made a good choice with that Bass X. I bought my grandson one. He had choices and chose one of those. He caught his biggest bass on it this past season. Now he has a true pb to try to break this upcoming season. I’ll try to talk my younger grandson into the ML version of the Bass X. Have fun with it.

Great! Don't sell that SC rod you bought short. That's a great stick.

All rods will feel a bit differently on the water. But if you know what the intended purpose of the rod is going to be used for, you can get a good idea at the shop to tell whether the rod has an x-fast, fast, mf, or moderate tip. You can somewhat check flex to the rod, ratings of the rod and sensitivity. Better if you can bring your reel with you. I’d never buy a rod untouched. Unless I’m using the same series of rod and was maybe getting a longer or shorter version of something I already have. Just that right rod can be a hard thing to find. A shop with a crap load of rods is hard to find (everywhere). MOST Wally Worlds are not the place for good rod selections but some of you guys have great Wally worlds. Other guys opinions are great, guys on here I respect their opinions. BUT what feels right to me may not be for you. I like St. Croix and Abu Garcia Rods. I’ll comment how I like a certain rod, but I’d never say or tell anyone that a certain rod is a say all do all rod go get that, greatest rod in the world crap. To each his own. I never buy a rod without trying to touch a bunch of them first. Even if you have to get someone like BPS or Cabela’s order you in 3 or 4 rods and you take the one you like best. Make your search fun.

You’ll struggle with lure and rod performance throwing crankbaits with fast and x-fast tips. More noticeable with a spinning type rod than a casting rod but still noticeable. Reel ratio and line retrieval per revolution comes into play also. Lower ratio and moderate action makes for a good crankbait rod.

Hope your site doesn’t become more of an issue. I use to use the cocoons when they first came out for a few pairs. Fitovers. I do recommend them. I think they put out a quality product. I got tired of the fit over situation. I have to wear prescription lenses and just went for prescription fishing sunglasses with progressive built into them and everything has been great. Experimentation with different colors led me to brown/amber. Suits my needs in all light conditions while fishing. And found they enhance target colors while shooting sporting clays also. But I believe site and lenses color is a to each his own thing and what works out for each can be different. I wish I had 20/20. Options are endless.

Great post. You've been quite lately. I was wondering where you got to. St. Croix Premiers matched with the Nasci is a nice set-up. I'm using a couple 2500 and 3000 also. Hope you kick butt with those S/C rods. Good luck.

I’ve seen a few swim baits in bass pattern along with the others you guys have mentioned. Pretty impressive realistic patterns on them. Big bass eating smaller bass. Happens quite often I’d suspect?

Could not agree more. It has only been a handful of years on certain types of lure presentations that I fish now. Had a real phobia of even trying to fish a few of them.

Be nice to have one in hand just to feel the consistency of the plastic. But if I were a betting guy they are probably of good quality. Id bet dollars to donuts if you called them, they would send you a couple samples.

I can’t tell you anything but thanks for the insite. I like the looks of the 3.5” grub. May work great on river smallies. I’m not opposed to trying a couple of packs. sort of like the “Electric Craw and Green Pump. Flash”

Roadkill camo = smallies

I only use the “Case Plastics hellgies. Might be able to get pretty easily. I use to order them direct out of Virginia. Not sure of Case Plastics position any more. I still use a lot of their tubes. They had the Smallmouth market at one time.

I have stuff to do around the house all the time. But I get some winter trout fishing in and this Sunday I’ll be shooting sporting clays with my shooting buds. I shoot clay targets of one discipline or another one day a week after work.

You’ll have to go look at a decent amount of rods to find the feel you are looking for and spec wise what you are throwing. The max I throw are up to 5/8 oz. on crankbaits. I’ve fished (2) St. Croix Premiere Series Crankbait rods for a long time (still do). They have a decent moderate action to them. Over the last couple of seasons I sort of jumped the shark and have myself using Abu Garcia “Winch” set ups also. I love the rod actions and I’m 110%+ Satisfied with the Winch reels. I put together a med. and med. hvy. setups. This is coming from a Shimano fan. These Abu setups I really tried to put together for XD type baits. This has been working great for me. Through TW I’ve been able to buy this stuff at great sale prices. Not sure what your wallet has in it. Abu doesn’t break the bank. Not sure how quick you need something. But I’d take my time through this winter and look at a bunch of stuff. Go touch it. Feel it. I’m not gonna say St. Croix, Abu, Shimano. Whoever. If you go look and feel enough stuff you’ll put together exactly what your looking for. Go look at everything that is suggested to you.

There’s an old saying, “If it’s free, it’s for me.” Well for the most part that has never worked out all that well for me. But, the TW tee shirts seem to fit well and have caught some nice bass while wearing them. Can’t kick on their freebies I guess. Maybe they are magic tee shirts.

I think you’ll like the rod. My one grandson I bought him that for fishing soft plastics. Have a Shimano Nasci on it. He’s pretty young and learning. What was bought was what felt best to him. He want back and forth between that and the Mojo and wanted that. I fish quite a few Premiers and Avids. Everyone has their own opinions but I feel also that the Bass X has a better feel to it. Just my opinion.