Primus

I've been happy with most of the braid that I've tried except for fireline. I've settled on Spiderwire Stealth because I can get a 300 yd spool of 50 lb. for $ 19.99 and a 15 lb test spool for the same price which are the 2 that I use. I've also have used the Stren with good results, haven't tried the Suffix but it's obviously a good product based on the positive feedback.

I find the BPS rods(Extreme, Bionic Blades etc) to be serviceable for soft plastics but I've stepped to Loomis rods for these applications and won't go back. However I own 3 Crankin' sticks and I have been very satisfied with them and I've seen no need to up spend more money for this type of rod. I also think they got the right action, enough give on the tip to keep your treble hooked fish buttoned but enough backbone for a good solid cast. This rod is an excellent value in my opinion.

I liike to add my 2 cents regarding floro on a spinning reel. I used to be reluctant to use floro on a spinning reel until I made a couple of small changes. The first is that you need to use a spinning reel with a large spool so that line comes off in large coils as opposed to a tight coil. The Shimano Stradic with a 4000 size spool would be a great choice because it still has a small frame. With a large spool like this don't fill it too close to the spool lip, at least 1/8" or even better 3/16" distance should work. If using this for a drop shot use a small salmon swivel, as a drop shot will sometimes spin on you. Also, after spooling I like to troll my line behind my boat with no lures or hooks attached to soften it up. Once I started to do all these things, I found my floro to be manageable to fish on spinning reel. I fished an entire season with 6 lb Gama floro spooled on one reel for drop shots (Loomis DSR 820 S rod) along with 6 lb Gama floro for wacky rigged Senko's & Mojo Rigs (Loomis SMR 811S-SP) WITHOUT birdsnest the entire season. This line proved strong and manageable. This season I'm going to try Trilene Floro on one reel because I've heard so many good things about it. I'm now a floro convert for soft plastics on my spinning rods, though I like the use Yozuri 6 lb Hybrid for a 6'9" Daiwai rod that I use for small cranks, floating rapala's & hard jerkbaits.

Awesome cranks Stringjam, look too pretty to fish. I've done well on Lucky Craft RC cranks in the Ghost color along with the Ghost Sunfish with the BDS cranks & pointers. I have 2 remaining Fat Free Guppy baits that has a black back, white belly with transluscent scaled sides that covered a reflective insert, I believed it was their old Advantage series. This bait has been a fish catching machine in clear water fished on 8 lb line. I would do almost anything for a few more of these baits.

I bought one last fall, only made a handful of cast to see what it looked like in the water, I threw it with the prop blade. This is one big noisy wake crank, I suspect it will do well in off color water.

I've done well on the Xcalibur Wake Crank when fishing over shallow grass or stained water, Ive had some vicious strikes on this last year. I've also tried the RC version, caught a few on it. The Ima Roumba looks promising for this application along with the new one from Mann's. This is definetely a bait style you want to add to your arsenal.

I believe most fisherman can get by with 3-5 combos and do quite well. However, I do believe to an extant more is more for my style of fishing. I have app 20 differrent combos that I use throughout the year, though I typically bring app 10-12 most outings based on seasonal conditions and the type of lakes I fish. During the summer I could use as many as 3 different crankin sticks in different line combos for fishing various lipped & lipless cranks and small swimbaits such as the King Shads. I like a 5:1 gear ratio MH 7'6" rod for throwing DT 16/ DD 22 type baits with 10 or 12 lb floro to get these baits deep. However I have 2 combos, one with a M & 1 MH rod for fishing cranks around shallow cover, I still use mono for this application. I use the M action rod with 14 lb mono the vast majority of the time, I only use the 7' MH with 20 lb line for oversize heavy cranks or ones with a lot of resistance or maybe for fishing a deep diver in shallower water. In addition I use a 6'9" M action spinning rod for fishing jerkbaits, 1/8 oz tiny cranks like the RC 0.5 or twitching rapalas. I also like a 6'6" M casting rod with 14 lb mono for topwater baits add a spinnerbait rod and I'm looking at 5-6 rods for hard baits, nevermind a combo for large swimbaits.The truth be told I could probably fish the majority of these baits with 1 combo, but to get optimal performance out the different types of lures that I use I think it's an advantage to have a few speciality combos. Without going into too much detail I have combos suited for C rigs, dropshot, shakey heads, regular jigs, small jigs, general T rigs and heavy cover, these are an assortment of M, MH & H action casting and spinning rods. I mostly use floro for these combos, though I have a couple of combos with braid for grass mats. As mentioned earlier seasonal conditions will have a major influence on the gear I bring, if the water temp is 42 degrees early spring for example I'll leave my topwater rod & lures at home. Everyone has to determine based on expierience level, available storage and fishing style what's right for them as to the amount & type of gear they use.

The local tackle shop down the road has them on sale for $75 off a 7' MH casting rod that normally sells for $ 209. Anyone here try these? One thing I like is that they are made in the USA. Thanks

I'm in Michigan and I've thrown 10" powerworms, 8" Zoom lizards during the day with good results. Last year I picked up a couple of 7"- 9" Slammers and with limited usage caught a couple of 3-4 lb bass and had a miss on a 5 plus. This bait looks awesome in the water and I'm confident it's going to catch some nice ones this year if the Musky don't get to it first. Though not a huge bait I've found the SK King Shad to be a productive bait in my area catchting a larger than average size bass.

I'm not from the South, but I bought a few that will no doubt see some action in 2009. It's no secret the Red Eye Shad is one of the best baits in its class.

Last year I tried several different brands of hollow belly swimbaits, I personally like the original BassTrix the best with the Berkely a close second.

I usually start with one, if it's a crank usually I'll pick up at least 2 different colors that I have a lot of confidence in. This is how I started with the Lucky Craft RC series & Jackall Muscle Deep. The RC has proven it self to be a 5 star bait in my mind, after using them about 3 years I now have app 30 or so in different sizes and colors. Last year was my first with the Muscle Deep, I really liked them plan on adding a few more before next summer.

I bought one last year, haven't had a chance to use it a lot. I did fish it for a little over an hour one day last summer and had a couple of nice 3lbers crush it, looks like a promising bait. I like the appearance of their ghost color, has a little purple in it besides being transluscent.

I hope they are good, just ordered app. 10 106S & 107S lipless cranks, these are the non-rattling versions. I also ordered some OSP Blitz & HPF cranks ( Thanks to Stringjam for his reccomendation) & Lucky Craft LV0 cranks(used app 6-7$ each). I picked up a lot of used lures from Ichiban Tackle to help offset the shipping charge.

12#, 14# & 17#, BPS or Pline for my casting reels. I prefer to use Gamma on my spinning reels, good combination of strength & manageablity.

Unfortuneately I have minimum expierience with these baits, but the first one to gain a lot of notoriety was made by Poor Boys. The one that's been the most popular with Great Lakes smallmouth fisherman the last couple of years was the Gulp Goby. These would be 2 good ones to start with.

Stringjam (from page 2)thanks for your comments on the BPS, the color that I bought was the Green Craw which is a good color for my neck of the woods in SW Michigan. At the very least with a relatively low price this would be a good selection in the lakes that have a lot of toothy critters, looks like I might have to get a few more.

Since we are on the subject of trap style baits, I was wondering if any have tried the BPS versions? I've bought a couple but haven't thrown them yet. I also read in article from the latest North American fishing club that Bill Lewis will soon be releasing the Vibra Traps which they claim has similiar frequencies to their BioSonics units.

Baron49 another color that's works well for me on the King Shad is the Morjarra, I've also had success with the Baby Bass for largemouths on overcast days and early mornings. I also heard that some of the Strike King pros already are fishing a smaller version of this bait and that it will probably be released shortly after the Classic.

If you want to spend $15 on a Jackall crank try the Muscle Deep series, or you can pick-up 1 Rapala DT 6 & DT 10 for the same price. If you have little self control like myself get all 3

Though I'm fond of the Lucky Craft brand I was disapointed in the Live Pointer, fortuneately I only bought one.

I'm surprised the SK King Shad was mentioned, I've caught some nice 4 & 5lbers on this bait along with a 39" Northern Pike.

I've beeen fortunate enough not to have a lip break on the DT baits that I've used, in my area I'm usually fishing outside the weedline, ripping through grass or ticking the tops of stumps. I have ripped a few lips from some nice bass with them

This is the exact same bait as the Gary Yamamoto version that I've been using for several years. This is one of the best soft plastics ever made, I usually fish on a jighead as light as a 3/16 oz all the way up to 3/4 oz for a reaction bite.

You are going to really like this rod for crankin', been very satisfied with mine.