Spankey

Doing a bit of a search without having to go neck deep looking. There is not much to choose from or much there. But on the positive side Zoom, Kalin and Mr. Twister have a few things that are clear with flecks.

That is exactly how I’d be trying them. Light finesse fishing for river smallies. Same set up you are using. I should have mentioned smoke in my post. Has always produced. But I got hung up on white and didn’t want you guys to think I was talking about white. I’ve used a smoke put out by Case for years. Case stuff is hard to find nowadays for me. I’ll dig on line and find a few/couple of things that I feel good about trying. For the most part soft plastics are cheap to experiment with. It’s easy to try them. I’ll try them with optimism, looks like it could be a baitfish. Hopefully Mr. Smallie thinks it’s a baitfish.

Guys just getting your thought and experience with using them. In 50+ years of fishing I have never tried them. I’m not talking about white or pearl white or even a sand color, I do fish some of those variations. A true clear (transparent) with fleck colors to them. With lack of any real rains (until yesterday) water conditions have been low and clear. Thinking clear or transparent with fleck through it might be a good option to try in these conditions. In season I don’t do much of buying baits. Generally do my restocking or buying something new/different during the winter. Its been rolling around in my head to try it. Has it worked for you in these conditions? If I can find them I was thinking of trying it with 3” and 4” grubs and 4” or 5” ST and CT worms. Maybe a craw if I can find it. Just looking for opinions and experience in using clears. No need to give me specific baits you use. I’m not trying to fish anyone for that info. I’m willing to do my homework and legwork with what. I don’t think there is a lot of these baits out there. Which could be the answer to my question.

Certain reds will work for me. Some will not and I have not been throwing them. They tend to be crankbaits that are more of a cold color. A red Shad worm is I different story. I have no problem fishing that. There are some blues I will not waste my time or money fishing with. I have a couple of good producers that are blue that work great in the fall. I will not waste my time any longer fishing them at other parts of the season. My current PB Smallie was caught on blue. Caught in the fall. PB Smallie prior to that was caught in the fall on similar blue.

Hope I explain this correctly. I like cooking up Bluegill up on the BBQ Grill. But for the longest time thought they were a PIA to deal with as far as cleaning and scaling. So I quit doing all that. I take the Bluegill and lay him out on my filet board. I use a small electric filet style knife and make that cut from behind his ear toward the tail. Keeping scales and skin on them. Do both sides. Discarding heads, tails and internals. Wash then up good. Than I soak them for a period of time in a SS pan/bin of cold fresh water that I have salted. I prepare up dry seasoning in a plastic bag. Drain off BG pieces and shake them in the seasoning bag. Have my grill grates covered in aluminum foil. Have my butter melted. Place my bluegill pieces on aluminum foil scale and skin side down. I don’t flip them. Leave them scale side down the whole time. Brush butter on. No need to turn them. Skin and scales will start to darken and want to separate from the meat. They don’t take long to do. When done I remove them from the foil. Skin and scales stick together but not to foil. Meat separated easily to eat. Bones are a pit of a PIA but easier than other fish (trout) to deal with. I’m not a big fish eater but will eat Bluegills if I do them this way.

Not sure you are in the minority. I do like catfish if it is in a strip, chunk or small filets. Farm raised stuff. I’ve caught some big channel cats and flat heads in my smallmouth river but never gave any thought to eating them. As a kid on the lake I’d catch bullheads and smaller channel cats, stuff 15” or under and they would get cooked up.

I think you might have something there. I am not a big fan of eating fish. I generally don’t keep much other than trout and give them to friends that don’t fish and love to eat them. But I enjoy eating some Walleye and big Bluegills that I catch. Caught in colder water. Sometimes ice fishing over the years.

You guys got my belly growling early this morning. Enjoy the party.

I’ve seen where Rapala has introduced a new line of Shad Raps, they may be calling them Elites or something like that. They have a wire or a reinforcement in them. On smaller sizes like 5’s 7’s and 8’s I’m not quite sure of the thinking on that. Not a true musky size in my mind and if fishing bass or walleye with them and a Musky, Pike or big Pickerel would be more apt to break or teeth cut your line or leader. If you didn’t loose your lure I could see balsa wood possibly getting damaged. Any river Musky that I’ve caught and landed by accident while bass fishing has not damaged my lures. But I can see the reinforcement used for toothy critter sized lures. Maybe I’m seeing something wrong.

Thanks for that heads up. I’ll dig into it during the winter. I’m game for a couple of new patterns. They have been a producer on the river for me the last 40-50 years. Glad to see Rebel do something a bit more positive.

Nice find. That tan Wee Craw is a good producer. I’ve searched for a few years for that tan in a Deep Wee and the larger model craws but they are a no find. Don’t worry about your missed hookup they will come. Those shallow square bills will get crushed by smallies. Bit of old school there. Good luck.

That’s my plan for right now. Fishing the deepest hole.

Real Nice. That’s the right side. What is the green Shimano setup?

On my boat, for fishing I use various Rapala tools. I’ve had these tools for years. Don’t rust, don’t break. They get the job done. I’ve been in heavy industrial equipment repair my whole life making electro-mechanical repairs. Have never been short on the right tools. But can’t say I’ve used these hand tools for fishing. Have stuff in my truck to make an immediate repair for myself or someone else. Seriously. If you or anyone doesn’t feel comfortable buying expensive tools for fishing needs I can understand that. No reason tools from Tool Barn or the bin at Right-Aide Drug Store will not work. But if you can find a decent Splitring plier with a wire cutter and crimping tool built into it pick it up. Something like/similar to a decent Leatherman is a good all around. A decent long reach needle nose is a must.

My avatar pic is a dink of a dink. That’s an old pic from years ago. I was fishing a recirc discharge pipe into the river down by the railroad tracks. Generally is a good smallie spot. I got into a whole bunch of small largemouth right in that spot. I believe the pic has a Bandit 200 in Butterbean but it could be a Bomber 6a in white. Was a crazy morning that morning. Must of caught 10-12 that size. My avatar pic is a dink of a dink. That’s an old pic from years ago. I was fishing a recirc discharge pipe into the river down by the railroad tracks. Generally is a good smallie spot. I got into a whole bunch of small largemouth right in that spot. I believe the pic has a Bandit 200 in Butterbean but it could be a Bomber 6a in white. Was a crazy morning that morning. Must of caught 10-12 that size.

As long as you are having fun that’s all that counts. I don’t competition shoot across the country but get a lot of targets in during the course of the year. Like you and every one else on here it’s fish time for me and bass are on my mind. I shoot a winter trap league that runs from September to March on Sundays. Not every Sunday of the month but 50% of them. I’ll start shooting trap and skeet on mid week days soon. I have fun shooting at different clubs. What a great bunch of guys. And I sure you guys would be the same if we all got together. Clay sports are more of a summertime game. Sort of have myself on water this time of year and like most of you, I have stuff at home to do. Out here during the winter we shoot in the wind, snow, rain and whatever the man upstairs dishes out. As long as it’s not a safety hazard or state emergency. Winter winds and temps that might get to single digits is a treat to shoot in. But yes we will get cold this winter but winters have been milder the last 5-10 years. Can’t remember the last harsh winter. Have fun when you get out.

I hear ya man. Generally some good things will happen for me in September but I skipped work many of days on Columbus Day in October and had best days ever. Rain or shine. Doesn’t work out that way ever fall for me but PB fish have been in the fall.

I’ve been a B.A.S.S. Member for years. I have not fished a tournament since the early 90’s. I enjoy getting the magazine. And it is not quite what it was even 15 or 20 years ago but I still enjoy getting it. I’m a creature of habit and I’m not all that receptive to change. But in reality everything is changing and nothing is what it was. As someone else posted the BASS Times is a great publication. I like the environmental and conservation news that they write in there. I don’t smoke and I don’t drink very much, fishing and clay target shooting are my bad habits. A subscription is about the same price as a 12-15 case of Miller Lite and far less than carton of cigs.

I’ve been a St. Croix fan boy for a long time. The Avid series of rods being my favorite. I don’t like the direction St Croix has gone with their rods for the last handful of years. They seem to be making a push for you to buy their higher end rods. But this is probably only my opinion because they discontinued a few rods I’d like to replace or have as spares. The Victory series of rods are nice and I do like them. For me the Victory rods had a learning curve to get over. At first I had an issue with the type of fore grip and balance but I got over that. I don’t want to dis St. Croix and won’t. I have my grandsons fishing soft plastics with M & ML Bass X rods and they are doing well with them. I’ve never fished a rod 7’6” but XF and Fast vary a lot between manufacturers.

Welcome aboard Scott. Enjoy the forum and if you have to reach out use the mail/PM function.

Like many of you guys I’m in that Dogdays part of summer. No rain that amounted to anything for weeks, none in the immediate future. A true drought. Slow bite. Dinks and runts on flats and creek mouths. Dinks and runts tight to the bank. My crankbait bite has been down to nothing. Pop-R’s, tubes, grubs and finesse size worms are getting some small fish. Gonna change up tactics a bit my next time out. Fish only the deepest holes and drop off on the river with pig and jig and try to suspend some jerkbaits. Varying the depth. Have nothing to loose in my quest for a nice one. I’m in that rut where crankbaits are getting bit by channel cats. Fun yes but you’re thinking it’s a nice smallie. Don’t know how much control I have of the situation. None I guess. Have to break this cycle with a respectable fish.

I can’t talk a glide bait game with you. I don’t fish that large of baits. Maybe I should try sometime. But color for river smallies I’ll lean toward bone, white, pearl w/ black back, lighter scale patterns, silver scale or albino patterns this time of year. Colors like sexy Shad, summer sexy Shad, bluegill and perch are great patterns and are working but lighter patterns are getting hit more. Maybe the lighter patterns appear bigger to the fish? Not a glide bait guy just comparing to my results with Bomber 8a, Bandit 200/300, SK XD’s.

That was a great worm. Killer on River Smallies for me. But they became nonexistent for me many moons ago. The Zoom 4” CT is a good worm, I use it as a trailer on small SK buzzbaits. The old Culprit was not salted. Back a few years ago I found a company called Dry Creek. They are putting out a 4” very similar to the Culprit. I bought a good supply in case they went belly up. That Co. has some nice soft plastics for Smallies.

I do like split shotting a worm but find that I’m often fishing a bullet weight or slider fishing as much. The old Slider method has been a long time productive favorite. I usually have myself rigged up these three ways ready to throw a 4”, 5” or 6” worm. I really like a few worms I fish. There are curly tail, straight, ribbon tail and cut tails that I’m always fishing and have confidence in. There are worms from manufacturers back years ago that are discontinued. I believe they are/were far more productive than that of what is available today. BUT this is only in my case and where and how I fish. Everyone has their own gig and favs. Never thought I’d use a term “vintage worm” but now and again I tie on some of these that I still have some of. Sure wish they’d bring them back.

Got back out on the water yesterday for first time since dealing with the bout of pneumonia. Trip down to the river. Did not stay out long, caught the coolest part of the morning from 5:00 - 8:00 am. Thought it would be the easiest thing on my lungs. I feel 100% better but not sure if I am 100% better. Have a dr. appointment on Monday and I guess they will let me know where I am. I think it will take a bit longer to be all the way out of the woods. Didn't set the world on fire with anything of size. A couple of 13” smallies being the largest. Primarily throwing Pop-R’s and a few Flat Worms before packing it in. A Rapala Skitter Pop and Storm Chug Bug are a long time favorite and no. 1 go to but I was throwing around a few newer baits (new to me) BPS XPS Poppers in 1/5 and 7/16 oz., I found them to be a good bait. Don’t know if I would have made out any better if I had fished Rapala, Storm or Rebel I normally fish. They caught fish. Hope I’m getting out from under this Pnemonia. I’ll see, but I think so. Some of the chronic symptoms are clearing up. We need some real rain. The lake and the river needs some new water in it and a bit more flow. Good luck to you guys.