Primus

Junebug is one of my favorite colors for stained water, overcast conditions no matter the water clarity and heavy grass cover. Another terrific color is Smoke Purple which can be a great choice at times in clear water.

Thanks to guys like 5Basslimit & LuckyCraftman I put $200 down on a SHR822S GLX rod and a Shimano Stradic 3000 FI to pair it up with, my local tackle shop didn't have the rod in stock. They matched the Cabela's offer that would give you a $75 discount for an order over $500 and the good thing for me is I don't have to pay shipping or take a long drive to Cabela's. I can't wait for spring to get a chance to use this combo after all the positive reviews that I've seen on this rod. Just don't tell my wife

I think the name is decieving, if you are going to name it U.S. reel then you should make it in the U.S.A.

If I could have only one topwater bait this would be it. I've done well with the Bone & Bream colors.

Rapala DT 10, Lucky Craft 2.5DD, Lucky Craft 3.5 DD and the Bomber BD6 Fat Free Shad would be good selections for the 10' or slightly deeper range. The Lucky Craft baits are available through Bass Pro and usually sell for $ 15.99, but if you are patient they usually have have them on sale a couple of times during the year for under 10$.

I like the old Exclibur Fat Free baits with the advantage finish especially the small Fry cranks. I only have a couple left of the one with the dark back, white belly with clear sides that have a silver reflective insert. This has been a very productive crank for me.

Catt is right about spring fishing having different phases to it where certain lures & techniques really shine. After ice out & early spring... Blade baits like Silver buddies, drop shot small plastics, small grubs on jigheads,skirted jig/ trailer combo's & suspended jerkbaits fished with long pauses will get bites. The key at this time is to fish slow, and then even slower if you can. Once the water hits app 48 degress up until it's in the high 50's I will catch most of my fish on horizontal baits with the suspended jerkbait fished progressively faster as the water warms being my most productive bait along with trap style baits falling in as a close number 2. When the fish get into heavier cover then I'll turn more to spinnerbaits, swimming jigs, soft swimbaits and flukes to get them out. The one monkey wrench is a major cold front which will sometimes back them out to deeper water where I'll turn to jigs and slowly fished plastics like leadhead tubes, Carolina rigged plastics or if the lake has heavy cover in shallow water pitching a Zoom Speed Craw or a R.I. Beaver also will factor in to the mix. As the water gets into the 60's and where I live around a late May full moon fish will bed up and spawn. In these situation soft plastics are tough to beat with Senko's, Spider grubs, Trick worms, lizards etc. will usually be the featured baits. Of course this a general list, oftentimes especially in late spring there may be multiple patterns going with some fish spawing, some early spawners already in a post spawn phase and there could also be prespawn fish still available to catch all at the same time. The other factor is there will be some variation as to how different types of lakes are fished, I had clearwater natural lakes in my mind as I wrote my post.

The most obvious component to catching fish is location, if they ain't there you're not going to get bit. Depth, retrieve speed, technique and then lure selection are the next factors to consider. Last is color, sometimes in my expierience it's critical especially in clear water and there are other times when the fish are aggressive enough that you can throw almost anything at them and get bit. That said the refining any of these components can turn a bad day into a fair day and a good day into a great day.

Very nice popper, my second favorite next to Yellow Magic.

It's definetly a productive color where I fish.

I'm going to try to do the opposite with my soft plastics, the attempt will be to use up a lot of what I have and except for certain key baits not restock at all. Unfortuneatly the hardbait addiction especially cranks is uncontrollable and I 've already have added to my collection this winter and by springtime I'll have plenty of baits ready to make their debut. Some of the baits I'm anxious to try would be the Black Dog mini Shellcracker, Spro Little John Deep Diver, some new colors for Lucky Craft Staysee & pointer jerbaits, new colors for Lucky Craft RC cranks, Brian's wood cranks, Rapala Dt Thug and the retrying the DT 20 because I had 2 and lost them right away. Plus there are a few baits yet to purchased that will be getting a workout.

They've already been mentioned but I agree that the DT series cranks, original floating model, X rap & Shad raps would be great additions to anyones arsenal. I've also been hearing good things about the DT Fat shallow runners but it's a bait that I haven't got around to using yet, maybe I'll try it next season.

Great advice on using Floro, I use 12 lb Trilene 100%.

If I understood your original post correctly you're using the Med action rod for deep divers, try the MH you will see a big difference.

I don't have expierience with the 2010 version of the Crankin stick, that said with the previous version I use the 7'6" MH for crankin' deep divers like the DD22 and it does a terrific job for that application.

Question for flippinstick88, I have all Shimano casting reels and the only one that I would consider besides theirs is the Ardent because it's made in the USA. I've been a little reluctant to try it because of some of the negative reviews that I've seen for this product. I've thought about trying one for deep cranking because it's supposed to excel for distance, my question is how would it compare to a Chronarch B (if you've tried one) ? I bought 2 Chronarch B's last year when Tackle Whse had them for $ 188 and I've been pleased with the casting distance, the narrow spool seems to be great for that application and I've had a hard time coming around to the E series reels because for me they set too low on the rod for my preference. Thanks

I agree to an extant, as the jigworm has been fished since the 70's however the Shaky Head is a refinement of that technique and this has become a go to technique for most of your everday bass fisherman as opposed to something that only few know about and use.

The Senko would be number one but certainly Shaky heads & swimbaits are also making a mark as viable options.

I'm by no means a swimbait expert but I've done well in prespawn throwing hollow paddletail tube like the Basstrix or my new favorite by Pro Swimbaits in similiar situations where I would consider a spinnerbait. Also, in the summer and fall I've done well throwing the SK King Shad in low light conditions such as cloudy windy days when the fish are grass flats.

Rapala, they have a great line-up baits and most are under 10$. Floating Rapala, X raps, DT cranks are some of the terrific baits that they offer.

I used to wonder why bass hit some of the lures that they do. A few years back I saw a bass go airborne as she ate a dragonfly, we also know that they will also eat mice, frogs etc these are critters that are not a normal part of their diet. Bass are opportunist and in the bodies of water they are found they are one of the top predators or in some cases the top predator. If something moves in the right way and if the bass thinks it can fit in it's mouth it's potential prey even if it's something she has not seen before or is a normal part of her diet. Also, in nature fish often have to make a quick decision as to whether to strike or not (Example think flipping with a heavy sinker which in my opinion is a reaction strike ), fortuneately for us fisherman they screw up enough so we can have some fun. Regarding the the smokin' rooster I haven't tried it yet, but watchting the way it moves in the Strike King videos I've seen if I were a bass I would certainly try to kill it. Regarding colors, whatever colors of soft plastics that have worked for you in the past will likely work for this bait. I would probably get a bag of Green Pumpkin and something dark like a Junebug if I were trying the bait out.

If I were allowed only one I'll choose a Yellow Magic Popper, give me two colors. I'll choose Bone for overcast days and the Bream color at other times. I can walk it ,skitter it and spit it. This one does not need to be modified it's perfect right out of the box. I throw this on a 6'6" Med rod with 14 lb mono.

The Strike King Flat Shad is one that impressed me this past fishing season.

This is one topic where there may not be an absolute answer, I'll stick out by saying I use both. I'm righthanded and I prefer lefthanded reels for soft plastics and jig fishing, I like my stronger and more coordinated hand on the rod when utilizing these techniques. I use RH reels for spinners & cranks, for whatever reason this system works for me but I imagine it would seem awkward to some.

In addition to what's already been mentioned it's also effective when you slow roll it, last fall I caught bass with the water temp as low as 45 degrees doing this.