Primus

Thanks for sharing the Mad Paca, looks like it will be another winner.

I use Sweet Beavers, Brush Hogs, Baby Brush Hogs, Speed Craws & Baby Paca Craws Carolina rigged or Texas rigged with 1/8 oz sinkers up to 3/4 oz for casting to get a reaction strike. Sometimes even heavier sinkers come into play when flipping grass mats. I'm going to have to try the *** Brush Hogs sounds like they are an improvement to an already great bait.

If you have limited time to fish and a limited budget to spend on fishing tackle you can get by well with plastics & jigs most of the time. However if you fish tournaments or are looking to take your fishing up another level you'll want to gradually incorporate other bait syles & techniques. One example is early spring on clear water lakes, I've seen times where if your not fishing a suspended jerkbait your not going to get bit. I would also pick up a few crankbits which I think is the most effecient lure category for covering water. I used to fish soft plastics app. 90% of the time, now I'm probably 60% plastics/jigs and 40% hardbaits(esp. crankbaits), since I've been doing that I consistantly catch more & bigger fish than I ever have.

Another great spinnerbait that's out there is made by S.O.B. lures and he'll customize them to your specs, I'll be ordering more this winter. They are also reasonably priced and made out of premium components. I was looking at the Talon website and I was impressed with their jigs, looked like they are very well made.

I appreciate the comments guys, looks like I'm going to have to give in and buy a few.

I have to agree with the others, for the price range the DT series & the Fat Free cranks are both good choices. If your budget allows pick up a few of each.

Cabela's has the shallow running version on sale for $4.88. I haven't used their Flat Cranks should I pick a few up? How have you done with these cranks? Thanks.

I never cared for the 85 size, like Roadwarrior I like the 100 & 128. Another must have is the Gunfish, cool bait.

I picked the Vixen as a favorite, however I like and use all the ones selected.

The Bass Pro Crankin' stick 7' medium action would be a good modest priced offering.

I'm curious for anyone that's given them a fair chance, how have you done so far? I have 1 of the fast sink Natural Shad, I threw it for about 10 minutes and definetely looked good in the water. Unfortuneately the fish in more area won't be able to give me their feedback until next spring. If you've used it would you buy more? Thanks.

Salamander I can't comment on St. Criox rods because I don't own any but in my expierience the Mossyback is a fantastic rod for a little over a 200$. This rod is a major step up over the GL2 & GL3 rods, similiar to the IMX in my opinion. Their are certain/lengths & actions that are only available in this line that are not available in the IMX so my choice is dependant on what I'm using it for. I can afford the GLX I just choose not to spend the extra money. I feel if you need a sensitive rod for deep water applications you can be very confident in an IMX or a Mossyback if you want to spend the extra on a GLX you'll be very happy as well.

TRIG, I agree with you on the Flash Minnows, I've had some great days with that bait, a great complement to the Pointer especially when you want a more shallow running jerkbait.

So far a lot of good suggestions, I would like to add the IMA Flit as another great choice.

I have a couple of Mossyback rods, 1 GLX and a couple of IMX rods. I have been very pleased with all my Loomis rods. Though the GLX is a fantastic rod, I think your performance gain is going to be minimal which is why I will be sticking to Mossyback & IMX rods for future purchases.

I appreciate both your comments on the line specs & rod. I'm limited to 7' rods because my boat is 18' & my rod locker can't store a longer rod. I typically use 12# Yozuri on my crankin stick, though I realize if I went to 10# floro I could probably will get it a little deeper. The bait that I usually throw is a Jackall Muscle Deep crank, with a longer cast I get the bait further away from the boat and more importantly keep it running it's max depth longer. Big O, I'm intriqued by your comments about the Revo STX. I admit I've only used Shimano up to this point which makes it hard to try anything else but I might have to try the Revo next year if it gives me a significant upgrade in distance. Coincindentally the Revo Winch is in the BPS Xmas flier, I noticed that it also has a little more line capacity than Shimano.

I don't have any E series Curado's/ Citica's yet, for crankbait fishing do they offer increased casting distance over the D series? Thanks

I think in terms of sensitivity line choice plays a large role. Most of my worm/jig rods are spooled with Florocarbon for fishing deep and/or moderate cover. Higher end rods have definetely helped with bite detection, my choice is the Loomis IMX series though I do have 1 GLX drop shot rod which I'm very happy with. I do have a couple of rods for slop fishing spooled with braid, this an area where I can get by with a rod that might be a step down ( such as my Roque rods which are still very good but not on the IMX level). With braid line having virtually no stretch and combined with shorter pitches a GLX wouldn't in my opinion give me better performance than my Roques for this application. Roque rods are app $ 170 vs $350-400 for a GLX.

I wish Eagle Claw was close to the quality of Gama, Daichi, X point & Owner. If they were close I would gladly use theirs because they are made in the USA, unfortuneately their quality is unacceptable. I often tell people if you caught 7 with dull/ mediocre hooks you problably would have caught 10 with premium hooks. In my opinion the most inconsistent hooks are made by VMC, sometimes fairly sharp (though still not near as good as Gamakatsu etc.) but oftentimes as dull as Eagle Claw. I do feel that's it's easier to buy American with my rods which is why the majority of my rods ( I have over 30) are either Roque's or Loomis.

rboat, I bought the Skinner a couple of weeks ago. Unfortuneately, I can't use until next season with my boat in storage but first impressions it is a good looking bait. I had watched an FLW fishing tournament and one of the pro's was using it as a topwater twitch bait. I'll be sure to give you guys an update next spring 8-)

I like the S.O.B. Mini Me. It has the weighted hook, plus they'll customize it with whatever Blade/Skirt combinations that you want if you order direct.

I am by no means an expert on Big Swimbaits, but I bought a 7" in the Baby Bass color. I caught a couple (3-4 lbers ironically), had a miss from a huge one, with the limited amounted of time that I put into fishing it I was impresssed enough to buy the 9" Slammer which I'll be throwing next season because living in Michigan our season will be done within the next 3-4 weeks. Next year I plan on giving these baits a good workout, I'm not looking for numbers but hoping this will attract bites from a larger class of fish. The retrieves I've tried so far have been waking, twitching and a slow subsurface swim. I've also combined twitching and waking in the same retrieve.

Thanks guys, I appreciate your comments. I'll have to try a few of Gman's jigs next year, they look like they are well made.

I was wondering what is your favorite football jig and why. Though I have been a jig fisherman for a few years I have been slow to come around with the football style until this fall which has been a real eye opener. I was struggling at a local SW Michigan lake with water temps in the high 40's until I pulled off the skirts on the few football jigs that I had, put on a Watermelon color Yamamto Hula Grub, threw outside the main weedline in app. 12' of water and then caught eight 2-4 lbers in a little over an hour. I fished it super slow, I waited app 30 seconds after the cast and then would try to rock the bait for a few seconds, inched it along then repeated the rocking motion and then Wham! I learned why on that day that the pro's fish these so much. Unfortuneately, the 3/4 oz head got bit off by a Northern Pike, I believe it was the Bass Pro brand that had an EWG Gama hook with a flat spot on the head, when I tried a couple of others that were 1/2 oz. heads w/o the EWG my hook up ratio went down and it didn't seem to rock as well as the heavier jig (this was on a revisit to the same lake). I am now planning on buying several football jigs this winter. I obviously am going to fish unskirted jigs with the Hula Grub next year, but when fishing the Skirted versions what trailers do you like and list your favorite brand and why you favor the one that you use. Also, if you have used the Skinny Bear or Kietech brands what do you think of theirs since they have caught my eye as potential options. Thanks.

Brian, you might want to add some transluscent colors like Ghost and Pro Blue there will be times in clear water when the extra flash will spook fish. Regarding rod and reel, for me it's a personal preference but I prefer a 6'6" medium action spinning rod for most jerks.