Primus

Awesome jigs, I use the casting jig & football jigs with the smaller hook I put smaller trailers and use as a finesse jig.

Why ? Because they make the best stickworm, yes they cost more but are worth it in my opinion. The Yum Dinger has a similiar action but falls slower, I also throw that on occasion. That said I prefer fishing more aggresive baits like cranks & swimbaits, I turn to weightless Senko's only when other methods aren't producing. Even when fishing soft plastics I usually opt for heavy T-rigs over weightless slow presentations if I can get away with it.

Stasher1 how do you like to rig it ? I've done well fishing it in the past on a Mojo Rig though for whatever reason haven't thrown it much the last few years.

That's sums up my approach as well. I also don't care a lot for chrome color hooks when fishing clear water, bronze seems to be the least noticeable.

I appreciate the nice words but I still consider myself fairly new to this type of fishing, I expect to know a lot more before the season is over.

I'm definetely looking forward to adding these to my swimbait arsenal.

See Matt Lures who has hard & soft swimbaits that are as close to a Bluegill as an artificial bait can get. His new U2 Ultimate Gill looks like it's going to be another great lure in an already impressive line-up.

I'm not a big fan of the Jackall Giron though it looks good when you twitch it. I fished my Tru Tungsten with both tungsten weights for a faster retrieve.

Pointer 100 is probably the all time champ in my opinion. As deep pointed out their are variations in action and depth that should be accounted for. I would definetely add a few X Raps as has been suggested when they want a more erratic action. I would also look at the Jackall Squad Minnow & DD Squirrel, Ima Flit & Megabass Trick Darter for a finnese bait. Obviously it would take a lot of coin to purchase these baits and you need to spend time on the water to learn them. I would start with either a Pointer 100 or Squad Minnow 95SP and throw in a few X Raps. Colors that have done well for me would be Chartreuse Shad, Ghost Minnow, American Shad & Sunfish for the Lucky Craft baits and for the XR10 I like Olive Green, Glass Ghost, Silver & Perch.

I like the Pure Poison as well.

Another vote for both, good luck and follow-up to let us know how it's working out for you.

I have not tried the Culprit bait. What has done well for me is the small White 3/16 oz Strike King Poison with a White Ice Super Fluke Jr. as a trailer. The smaller chatter type bait has done better for me in the clear water lakes I usually fish than the full size baits.

eyedabassman the idea that square bills should be fished only around wood cover is a myth in my opinion. I've been very successful the last few years throwing the Lucky Craft RC baits by ripping them off of shallow grass. If the grass is too close to the surface I might change to a Mann's Baby 1 Minus or a wake crank, that said the RC is my all time favorite shallow crank. I did get a chance to fish the Strike King Square bill a little last fall and it looks like it could be another good option in that lure category.

The Miatachi/Youvella hooks do rust like a pair of 99 cent needle nose pliars. Check out the new Mustad Ultra-point KVD tube hook as an option if you like that keeper style. Thanks, I will have to check it out.

I prefer the one made by Pro Swimbaits it's very soft, swims well at slow speeds, has a hook slot and looks terrific. Basstrix is a true tube bait which I like to fish behind a jighead. The RI. Skinny Dipper is another terrific choice.

I like the keeper on the MiHatchi hooks, what I didn't like is that the ones I purchased started rusting.

I like to fish a 1/32 or 1/16 oz small shank hook mushroomhead by Gopher Tackle with a 3" Dinger or Senko, absolutely deadly for tough conditions.

Just got 3 of these in, they offer both a silent and rattling version. I went with the silent version. On the back of the package the bait claims to stand up when it hit the bottom, threw it in a bucket of water and it did each time. The finishes are nice for an 8$ bait though nothing extroadinary like Lucky Craft's American Shad. The one disapointment is the hooks aren't very sharp, not a big deal to change which I will. That said the bait looks like it has potential, will have to wait a few weeks to get feedback from the Bass when the ice clears off.

Based on what I've used so far I would go with the Matt Lures Hard Slow Sink Male Bluegill. I've also done well with the 6" River to Sea Live Eye Bottom Walker. This year I will be expierimenting with a variety of recently purchased swimbaits and it's likely some new contenders would be added to the list. Glad to hear positive reviews on the 3:16 Wake Jr as I've added this one to the arsenal a couple of months back.

I'm a big fan of their Flat Shad lipless cranks, one of the best out there in my opinion.

I'll add the Ima Flit & Megabass Trick Darter which have been 2 of my most productive jerkbaits the last couple of years.

For most of plastics I use these colors... Junebug Smoke Purple Green Pumpkin, regular & various flake combos Watermelon, regular & various flake combos Favorite 6 plastics (not easy) Zoom Speed Craw Yamamoto Senko (not just weightless) Strike King Rodent (used to use R.I. Sweet Beaver) Zoom Baby Brush Hog Zoom Trick Worm Zoom Super Fluke- this is one where I prefer different colors with Baby Bass & White Ice being my 2 favorites

If I were picking between the Rattletrap & Rattlin' Rap, Bill Lewis wins this battle. That said I can think of several lipless baits that are more productive. As mentioned the SK Red Eye Shad, Yozuri Rattlin' Vibe, Spro Aruka Shad, Sebile Flat Shad, Jackall TN series & Imaktsu Buzzer Beater etc are what I prefer to throw. Bill Lewis & Excalibur are solid baits if your just burning it in but these other baits are better if you need to lift & drop, slow roll etc.

Get a 5" Tru Tungsten (better bait) or if you are willing to save up a little extra money get a Matt lures Hardgill (much better bait).

I don't have one yet but I'm also interested as I've had a lot of fun fishing wakebaits the last few years.