Primus

I know in the past KVD used to use rods that weren't Quantum and he would have the Quantum label put on the rod though from what I was told he no longer needs to do that as he's really happy with the currrent Quantum rods. I live app 1/2 hour from D & R sports which is owned by his brother Randy who slipped that in at a seminar when talking about Quantum rods.

The Ghost & Copper Green have been my 2 most productive colors. That said I favor the Ghost in clear water. Also, don't overlook the 0.5 size RC this one has put fish in the boat under some tough conditions.

Early fall shallow cranks (both lipped & lipless depending on the day) in the flats are usually effective, up north in the later stages of fall I do well with jigs/ tubes & jerkbaits on outside weed lines around small patches or clumps of grass. The remaining green grass that's still producing oxygen is a big key, last year I did well when the water temp was in the 40's slowly shaking and dragging a football jig.

I use BPS floro for my baitcasters, a little stiff but strong & dependable and like the price. I use either Gamma or Trilene 100% on spinning reels, I found these lines to be more manageable than BPS which is important when using a spinning reel.

If your lake has cover in the shallow flats try cranking the BPS RC 1.5 if the water is clear or if under low light conditions or stained water try the RC 2.5., these 2 lures can load the boat.

A lot of good ones have already been mentioned. I have been doing well deadsticking a Yamamoto Slim Senko in shallow grass. I also like to tail weight a Zoom Centipede so it glides backwards. This year throwing a Kietch jig with a 2-3/4" Yum Craw Papi attached to it and shaking it has been good in deep water when Ive had a tough bite. One last one is taking a 3" stickworm and attaching it to a 1/16 oz Gopher Mushroom jighead (small shank hook), has a nice "death spiral" and puts fish in the boat when confronted with clear skies, clear water & light wind.

I like the Super Fluke in Baby Bass, Baitfish, Smokin Shad, Watermelon & Pearl colors. In addition to fishing weightless and fishing it deadstick with the occasional twitch I also like to use the " Petey rig", which I fish with a 1/16 oz sinker followed by a 10-12" leader making it a short C-rig. This is the method that Peter T used to win a major tournament a couple of years back and it's put a lot of fish in the boat for me.

My favorite is the RC 1.5, the 0.5 & the 2.5 have also earned a spot in one of my Plano boxes.

There have been a lot of great suggestions already, you may want to round out your selection with some finnesse jigs. A very readily available option would be the Booyah Baby Boo which comes in 3/16 oz. & 5/16 oz. sizes and works well in weedy lakes. If your willing to spend the extra $$ I have been very impressed with the Kietech Model 1 Tungsten jig, I use 1/4, 3/8 or 1/2 oz sizes. Also the Kietech Model 2 football jig came through for me during a tough cold front last weekend in the 1/2 oz size. I like using the 2.75" Yum Craw Papi for my trailer, I snip app 1/8" off, super glue it on and makes for a very compact package. I throw this on a Loomis BCR852 rod with the old Curado 101D spooled with 10 lb Floro.

I've been very pleased with the Flat Shad, especially when I'm fishing clear water on a sunny day and my gut tells me a rattle will spook the fish.

There are also lipless cranks available that are silent, the Sebile Flat Shad is an excellent option. Also, Ichiban tackle offers Daiwa lipless cranks in a silent, one knocker & rattling version.

Hey Stringjam I always enjoy reading your thoughts on the different cranks that are out there, for some reason on this one lake they seem to respond to this particular crank and I've had very limited response from the other deep divers that I've tried. The one thing about this bait is that I think they exaggereate the depth capalities a little on this bait (they claim 14'-18'), I think it's more of a 12'-15' bait. The lip in not as long as a DD22 which is a bait that can definetly hit the 18' mark. That said it's a bait that's been putting a smile on my face this season and another good tool in the box to go along with my other cranks like the DD22'S, DT series & Jackall Muscle Deeps. I've never tried the 600 series, I'll have to hunt a few down.

This bait rocks, doing real well on the Bluegill color. I've caught three 5lbers in the past week on this crank which are large bass in SW Michigan. It has a weight shift system like the more expensive plugs, cast like a rocket.

Excellent jerkbait, have done real well on the Ghost color. Gets a little deeper than pointer and seems to roll more due to the almost triangular shape. If your a fan of Xraps & Pointers this would be a nice addition to your arsenal.

T-rig I've used it twice so far, probably an hour's worth of cast. The bait has good action but I'm still waiting for my first fish. I appreciate the video, I like how it looked when they were pulling the bait which is a retrieve I'm going to try the next time it comes out of the tacklebox. When I cast it the line it does seem to wrap around the hooks a little more often than the other cranks that I use but not enough to where it's a problem. One thing that will likely improve over time is color selection though they picked 3 good ones to use for their debut. I think the bait has good potential but obviously I need to start catchting a few fish on it before I can endorse it, that said I haven't given it enough time on the water yet. As a side note, I nailed some big ones today on a bandit 700 series in the Bluegill color, it's definetely a crank that I will give 2 thumbs up.

VMC hooks are very inconsistent, I've never used their worm hooks but I have bought baits that have their trebles such as Rapala crankbaits. I do the thumbnail test and some are very dull wheras I've has some close to Gamakatsu in sharpness., it's been about 50/50.

In my opinion if you are using a heavy action rod with braided line there is no need to texpose the hook, with a good hookset it will easily rip through. In the past I've used heavy wire Gama EWG hooks, recently tried the Youvella Straight Shank with the built in bait keeper and so far I've been very impressed.

Some of my favorite sof baits would include... Zoom Super Flukes- I like Pearl, Baitfish & Baby Bass colors Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver Zoom Speed Craws & Baby Paca Craws Zoom Baby Brush Hogs Roboworm Straight Tail & Fat Straight Tails woms Zoom Trick Worms Yamamoto Senko Yamamoto Slim Senko Zoom Centipede Yamamoto 4" & 5" Hula Grubs Strike King Rage Tail Worms Stanley Ribbit Zoom U Tail worms 10" Berkely Powerworms 3" & 4" tubes For most baits Ilike to use variations of Watermelon & Green Pumpkin shades, Junebug & Smoke Purple

I just picked up a few bags of squirrell tail worms this week, the action looks great on shakey head, though I've caught a few last night & tonight I can't say I've fished it enough to decide if I like it better than the other Shakyhead worms that I've tried so far.

It certainly won't help me in deep water but when shallow I'm very confident with the RC 1.5 in the Ghost color, this has been my favorite crank the last 3-4 years.

I just got 2 in yesterday, I threw it for a handful of cast it just wasn't a day where I could get a bite on deep diving cranks. It sinks app 1 foot per second. I plan on fishing it hard the next few weeks to see if it deserves a place in my tackle box but I think this bait has a lot of potential. So far it looks like they only have 3 colors, hopefully they will add more as time goes on.

There are a lot of good ones out there, my favorite is the S.O.B. lures Mini Me in the TJ special color. I also like the Strikezone Nite Bite spinnerbaits for night fishing, though the last night outing that I had used a Black Rattlehead with a large Colorado blade and was very impressed.

Used them yesterday flipping some heavy cover, have to say that so far I'm very impressed. I had one rod with 1-1/4 oz tungsten sinker for punching through the milfoil the other had a 3/4 tungsten sinker for fishing the holes, both had on Zoom Speed Craw in the Junebug color. The bait keeper design held that bait on perfectly, it was fun slamming that hook into them. Both rods had 50 lb Spiderwire Stealth line, the hook didn't straighten and it is still plenty sharp.

It's my favorite popper, great bait. The Excalibur Zell Pop has an almost identical action and it sells for $ 9.99 @ BPS, also an excellent popper.

In addition to the Magic Swimmers you may want to consider their Flat Shad, I like the Natural Blue Back & Hollow Mullet colors. It's a great alternative to other lipless cranks, runs silent and is transluscent. I like to use it in clear water around pressured fish. I have not tried their other baits, I do have the Ghost Walker but haven't thrown it yet.