Primus

I think one that's overlooked is the Lucky Craft Gunfish. You can fish it like a popper or walker and it can also jump out of the water. I would argue it's the most versatile as it's very capable of being fished in a very subtle manner but also excels when a fast erratic presentation is needed. If you can track down a Reaction Innovations Vixen definetely pick one though I understand they are discontinued.

I've done well with ... DT series cranks especially the DT6 & DT10 X rap- real nice jerbait Original floater- I like the minnow color Shad Raps- terrific finnesse crankbait

Good job on your post.

Thanks for the offer but I don't have the right rod/reel combo for that yet, hopefully will be set to go next summer.

I like the 1.5DD, it should hit about 7'-8' with the line you're using. I'm a big fan of that series of baits.

These are exclusive through Bass Pro Shops.

I was thinking about getting the original wood punkers in the 6" (2.4 oz) & 9" (3.5 oz) for next summer. What kind of rod would you guys reccomend for these baits? I would think your typical 7'6' -8' longhandled swimbait rod would be too awkward for these baits. Do you think the 9" bait would be too big for the Michigan bass that I fish for where Bass 7 lbs and over are rarely caught.

I have them in the Series 3 & Series 6XD, haven't fished the series 3 yet but did very well this summer with 6XD.

I'll add a couple of other colors that have been good for me which would include Smoke Purple, Junebug, Rootbeer Green & Blueberry. The Baby Brush Hog is a terrific bait, if gunning for the big ones it wouldn't hurt to pick-up a bag or 2 of the full size brush hogs as well.

I ordered the slow sink Matt's bait. The Tylure I was planning on fishing it in similiar situations as I would a Red Eye Shad. I saw an article written by Tyler Ream the owner of Tylure and I get the impression that it still maintains a swimming motion as you jig it up and down and that it sits on it's nose if you let it sit on the bottom. With the hooks being on Top of the lure it should be somewhat weedless if fished in moderate cover. I already have the regular Tylures Bluegill bait but I haven't used it yet but I plan on giving all these baits a good workout in the fall as a follow-up to lipless cranks to give the fish a different look and hopefully with the bigger Matt's bait take a shot at a lunker.

I ordered a Matt Lures Hard Gill yesterday along with a Ty Lures Bed Bait Bluegill. If anyone has any familiarity with either bait I would appreciate any tips that you may have. Thanks

I know it's getting repititive but I like the Lucky Craft RC 1.5 & 2.5 as well. Some of the handmade Balsa baits are no doubt great choices but you'll likely pay more in most cases and they are not as durable. However Balsa baits are very bouyant which is a great benefit when you are trying to worm your way through cover.

I like the Stors It brand.

R.I. Sweet Beaver or S.K. Rodent, also a fan of the Baby Brush Hog & the full size Brush Hog when targeting the big bite.

I didn't care for the Reaction Strike, stopped fishing it. I've done well on the SK King Shad and have caught a couple of good ones on the 5" Tru Tungsten this year. I can't catch anything on the 4" Spro BBZ-1 but I've caught a few on a recently purchased 6" BBZ-1 in a Perch color. I've recently added a 5" Tylure Kicker Sunfish to the line-up, looks beautiful in the water but I haven't fished it other than a few cast to see what it looks like. The bait that I'm real excited about is the 6" River to Sea Live Eye Bottom Walker which weighs about 2 oz. Started fishing it recently and the smallest size fish I've caught so far is a 3 lb bass and the largest is a 41" Pike with another 7 nice bass caught fishing it app 10 hours so far. It's certainly not a numbers bait but it does a great job selecting larger fish. The only drawback is with the heavy weight it's easy for them to throw it so keep em' from jumping if you can. The other thing I've observed is that the fish will bump the bait and I've had a couple come back and nail it. I've been throwing it in deep water and crawling it uphill on points etc. Gradually swimbaits are becoming a bigger factor in the way I approach fishing.

I would definetely reccomend the 7'6" for the deep divers, I'm guestimating that it's added 10-15 yards to the cast of some of my favorite deep divers which I throw a lot. As Delaware Valley mentioned your going to get your baits deeper and keep it the strike zone longer, I know my catch rate has went way up since making the switch. I've done well with the 7'6" Bass Pro Crankin' Stick MH which is available in a telescopic model for easy storage in your rod locker.

I would buy another BPS crankin' stick, I carry 3 on my boat for different applications. I would suggest a 7' Medium as a complement to the Medium Heavy that you already have. If fishing a hard pulling or deep diving bait I would opt for my 7'6" MH, most other baits that I like to throw I prefer the 7' Med. in my opinion it gives the baits a better action for example my Baby 1 Minus bait will wiggle a little more. BPS will usually have them on sale for 50$ on occasion if your not in a big hurry to get one but even at the regular $70 price they are well worth it in my opinion.

I don't throw stickbaits very much except around the Spawn time and when I do I use Senko's 90% of the time and I will occasionally throw a Yum Dinger for a slower fall. I've never been impressed with any other brands of stickworms that I've used so far. I will also throw a Jackall Flick Shake on a wacky jighead on occasion.

Good post Micro, I appreciate the bed fishing tactic you described and a good write-up on the Clackin' Rap. I've used the Koppers Live Target Craw but haven't tried the Shiner yet. I've had some success with it the spring of '09 and for some reason didn't get around to fishing it much this year perhaps to the new bait syndrom that I'm sometimes afflicted with. I mainly either slow rolled it or ripped it off grass when I did use it and I do remember it falling in a similiar manner to the Aruka Shad but I never checked to see if it would stand on the bottom the way you described. I do remember having a favorable impression of this bait and catching some nice fish on it.

That's the lure I was talking about in my post as well, I've thrown it a little bit and I'm excited about it's potential. Very unique lure, let me know your opinion of it after you get a chance to fish it.

The Red Eye Shad is one of the best lipless baits on the market and a must have in my opinion. I probably have about 30 of them if you include the back-ups. What you'll like about this bait is it has a nice shimmy on the way down and doesn't fall flat on it's side like some lipless baits. I'm not sure if it's the best but it's definetely one of the best baits in it's category. Other lipless baits that perform well for me are the Spro Aruka Shad, Sebile Flat Shad, Yozuri Rattlin' Vibe & Jackall TN 50. One cool bait that I'm trying this fall is a Custom Lures Unlimited Ikonic Wrap which is a wood trap. This bait almost suspends about 2 feet deep in the water and it looks real good when you jerk it. This is a silent vibration bait and the paint jobs are absolutely fantastic for a wood bait. I've only fished this about an hour so far but I'm very intriqued about it's potential for catching spooky fish in pressured clear water lakes. I definetely will be giving it a workout this fall. Another lipess bait that I'm trying out is a Valley Hill K's Labo/ Dekahara, they have a very cool Bluegill pattern. This bait falls very slow for a lipless bait, should excel when fishing weedbeds that come close to the water's surface. Again, I have limited expierience with this lure.

I bought some this spring and still haven't fished it even though it's in one of my Plano boxes. I do remember when it came out that I had to have it! Since you brought it up I'm going to make a point of fishing it this fall. I'll be sure to share my impressions when I finally use it.

I agree with the idea that you can be a good fisherman with simple tackle and a limited number of rods and reels. That said, if you want to maximize the full potential of certain bait styles it does help to have specialized equipment. I'll use fishing crankbaits as an example. There is no doubt that someone catch a lot of fish with 6'6" or 7' Medium action Ugly Stick and fish a wide variety of crankbaits with it. I've fished with guys who struggle to catch fish with Deep Cranks because they simply are not getting a long enough cast to allow the lure to reach it's maximum depth and they fatique quickly and get discouraged because their rods are underpowered for these high resistance baits. I fish these baits on a 7'6" MH Crankin stick with 12 lb. Floro and I know for a fact that my success with this bait style has went way up since adding this to my arsenal. I do not like using the previously mentioned combo for fishing small shallow running cranks like a Baby 1 Minus. I prefer a shorter 7' or 6'6" Medium action rod because I'm often target fishing and a shorter rod makes it easier to make the neccesary accurate cast around boat docks etc. Also, a MH Crankin' rod in my opinion deadens the feel of this type of bait and it doesn't wiggle as well as the Medium action rod. I also use a 6'9" medium action spinning rod for tiny & light cranks like the Lucky Craft RC 0.5 or Rapala Shad Raps, I also using this combo for twitching Floating Rapala's and fishing jerkbaits. So that's 3 different combo's for fishing cranks and I also use a 4th which is a 7' MH rod for fishing small 1-2 oz swimbaits and larger wake cranks and this rod has 17 lb. mono, this combo doesn't get used as frequently. I could probably fish most of these baits on one combo but not as effectively as I can with these 4 different set-ups, keep in mind that I'm a diehard crankbait fisherman and I realize that for many this is not a go to bait for them or they may not have the room in their budgets or their boats to dedicate that many set-ups to one bait style. If that's the case pick your best jack of all trades master of none crank rod and you'll still catch alot of fish. I also feel that a high quality rod reel combo is going to help you catch more fish when fishing jigs & soft plastics because you are going to have better feel especially in deep water. I do think there is a point of diminishing returns, if I'm fishing soft plastics there are a lot of $ 100-$ 200 dollar rods that are going to give you a better feel and catch a lot more fish than if you took the same angler with an Ugly Stick and ask him to feel a fish pick up his football jig in 20' of water at the end of a long cast. However, there is only a slight performance edge if he upgrades to a $300-$ 400 rod. The point I'm trying to make is fish confidently with whatever equipment you have and if you make good cast and decisions on the water you can catch a lot of fish. However if your budget allows and you want to take your fishing up another level or 2 it does help investing in rod/reel combo's that will maximize the presentations that you are trying to make with various bait styles.

Shallow Cranks, lipless rattle baits & jigs. Late fall blade baits.

I prefer a 6'9" spinning rod for this application. I had a custom rod built by Patriot rods that's been perfect for this application.