Spankey

Over many years of Smallie fishing on the river I've caught a 100 or more channel and flatheads by accident. A couple on soft plastics worms, craws, grubs, spinnerbaits. But the majority on crankbaits. Patterns from Firetiger to shad to black. Don't find it a nuisance because at first you don't realize it's a cat. Than reality sets in.

I don't think you are overthinking anything. I'd stick with it. See what other mfg. out there offer that have the working combinations of colors for you. I like that idea of playing around and painting those jig heads also. Find that exact blue you are looking for. Ride the confidence that you worked on. Rubber worms and crankbaits are not that expensive. Try one slightly different. I'm not setting the world on fire yet with my soft plastics. Mostly because of lack of throwing them. Doing it on crankbaits so far. Bluegill and shiner shad variations have been getting it done. I do not throw real image cranks, they just don't work. At least for me. Good luck.

If you get a chance go through the RoboWorm colors. Pretty sure that variation exists.

I won’t be out real late, but I’ll be out before sun up. Last weekend the water quality was no prize with those heavy rains Saturday. And some of the better stretches of grass have carp in them now. I’m not much for fishing around carp but others thing it has no effect on bass. I think it does. This year it will be interesting with COVID and unemployment. More people are fishing. But it’s all good. What can you do. Try not to think about the people numbers. As long as they respect your space. I spend a lot of time on the river. Just can’t do it tomorrow because I have to dog set this weekend. I’m gonna head up to Pike County after the Holiday for a few days. Fish a few new spots. Good luck when you get out.

I’ll be there in the AM tomorrow. But I’ll be throwing the opposite. Last weekend after all the rain on Saturday afternoon I thought I had it figured out what it was gonna take for Sunday. 8-9 runts. Taking a bit different approach this time.

Sent it back. I try to never buy a rod sight unseen/untouched. I’ve had Cabela get me 4 rods in take the ride to the store and leave with the one that felt the best with the reel I’m gonna use. Most time that’s not the one I thought I would be buying.

One of my favorite baits as a trailer is the 4” Zoom Curly Tail Worm. Body is perfectly cylindrical, tail is very ribbon like. I just bite the body length off to what I want. I have no rusting problems. Do look to see if my hooks are sharp. Might be more important than rust.

You can use hydrogen peroxide in your livewell tank as well. A good working tank is necessary. Circulation and aeration.

I have not one complaint about my Tracker. 19 foot Pro Team, Had a 17 foot Pro Team prior. If I were to be looking for another Bass Boat. Most likely would be a Tracker.

No ex addict here but amen brother. Glad to see you are pulling it together, god bless you.

Just put together a nice care package or upgrade the one for local trips you take. Look in your fuse box now and take along a few spares. You really can’t assume you will be able to find it there. I go down to Virginia and fish some tidal. I’ll I really want to do is fish, charge my batteries, and get some rest. No running around all over the place.

Go with radials. Towing is night and day different. I replaced mine last season just because. Did a road trip also and that was all I came up with that could/may be an issue. My tire would have been fine but I was glad I did it.

Have batteries that are in good shape. Load test them. A spare prop is nice to have. Trolling motor prop is cheap enough but may not be readily available on the road. Be safe have fun.

Good bait. It’s one of my river Smallies baits. A skitter prop may work slightly better for me. But like all those baits pieces of floating surface grass kills them. The whopper plopper is the worse when it comes to grass.

I just got delivery on my second “Winch” reel. I kicking on going up to MH Power on this one just because it will let me go to 1 oz. baits. I have No real plans on tossing that heavy yet but deeper cranking is how I’ve been headed the last few seasons. I hate to buy the rod untouched but in my area it’s gonna be tough to find it. I’m 100% satisfied with the medium power moderate action I’m using now but my mind is telling me to go up a power size. Abu Garcia is one of the few that I like the feel of the moderate action.

I’m probably going against the grain compared to most of these guy but for on the river for Smallies I’m using a spinning 6 foot medium action with a moderate fast tip. Using Mono. For small spooks, chug bugs and pop-r types it works fantastic.

It’s cheap enough to try. I’ve only used KVD and Reel Snot. To me they work equally as well. I’m so anal about changing my line that I’m not really giving line conditioner a chance to work.

I’m pretty much a Shimano guy but I’ve been fish a Garcia setup with the Revo Winch. I like it so much I’m in the process of getting another exact setup or very close to it. The Winch Series Rods to me are more of a moderate action which is what I’m looking for. But to each his own.

You’ll work for your fish at the Nock.

I won’t persecute you. But you are misinformed or a non user of St. Croix Rods. Heck everyone can’t like them right. But I’m with you as far as having your own opinion. To each his own.

Same as a couple of you guys, I have in the works now for to duplicate a Abu Garcia Winch setup that I currently use. 7’ Medium - Moderate Action. I love this setup. I generally set myself up around St. Croix Rods and Shimano reels. Over the last few seasons I Randomly picked up a few Abu Garcia Rods and reel setups that I love to fish. I’ll always be a huge fan of them. Fished their stuff for 40+ years. But went outside of the box to try some Abu Garcia stuff. I stayed away from their lower end stuff and am very satisfied. There were some bad rod reviews but I link about 80% or more of those issues to user mistakes. I have had no rods break.

Nice!

That’s a smallie and those spots are not a problem. He is not diseased. Good fishing and hope you catch more of them. Try for one 15”+.

?MickD? do what he is saying your problem will be solved. I made this repair to a Quantum Reel back a few years ago that I use quite a bit. Still performing like new as of fishing with it Sunday. Your problem is a factory problem because the housing is not machine to the right tolerance. Should never rotate. In my case I had a bit of a bbbbb fest with quantum and the came out and told me this was a problem and was willing to take the reel back and I pay $80 to the new version. That wasn’t gonna happen. Not like I bought a $20.00 reel. Easy enough fix for you. But I can only suggest to use some isopropyl or QD contact cleaner on the seat and outer face of bearing before applying loctite. Put it on with a Q tip or something like that.

I highly recommend this series of rod also. I bought for my one daughter (36 yo) who gets out with me a few times a year this series of rod 6’8” ML and the Carbon Fire Reel last year. Just wanted to keep it all Lew’s. It is nice and sensitive. And cheap. At my DICKS the rods were $39.00 so go check it out. That series of reels were on sale also. Whole set up under $100.00. I realize you are asking about a casting rod but I looked at that series when I was there. The Carbon Fire is a good stick. I fished it prior to her using it and after a few times. Positive results fishing soft plastics.