Primus

Those are all good suggestions, another productive jighead to use with this bait is the Bite Me Jacobs Jig, it has a light weedguard, crosseyed bullet head with an excellent bait keeper.

I have used the RC wake, I have 3 of them so far. These, can be very productive baits when the fish are in shallow grassy flats. I generally consider this option during overcast weather when there is a 5 to 10 MPH wind. The one that has been the most productive for me especially in stained water has been the Excalibur Wake Bait, they will at times crush this bait. This bait really really calls them out, when you see this bait in the water you'll see what I'm talking about. Give both of these baits a try, if you use them in the right situations I think you'll be pleased.

Definately one of my go to plastics, usually fish with a 1/8 - 1/4 oz slip sinker. At times if fishing heavy cover I might peg with a heavier sinker or their are times when I fish it weightless. The smallie beaver is good on a jighead fished shaky syle. Also effective on a C-rig, a very versatile bait. It also seems to catch "jig fish" that is larger fish than what I usually catch on most other soft baits.

I generally prefer cranks over spinnerbaits in most situations. I have at least 4 situations where I may opt for the spinnerbait. The first would be night fishing, my first choice is a black 3/8 up to 1 oz spinnerbait with a large single colorado blade. The second is when fishing in the rain. The 3rd is in the spring bumping a spinnerbait (or sometimes a swimming jig) through emerging lily pad stems or later through the lily pads if not too thick. The fourth and most obvious is when the weeds are too thick to fish a crank, and they won't come up for a topwater or wake bait (either crank or swimbait version). I'm sure there are other situations but I hope this helpful, with all that being said I'm generally more confident in crank because of it's more realistic profile and the fact that it is easier to fish deeper water.

I'll get you started with the Mann's Baby 1 Minus for the upper part of the water color, the Bomber Fat Free series in different sizes to cover diferent depths would give you rasonably priced baits that are proven performers. As far as colors go, a little Chartreuse for staind water, Craw colors (esp. for spring), Shad & Baby Bass colors would be a good start. If your budget allows pick up some Lucky Craft RC series 1.5 size for the 2'-4' depth zone, these baits have been extremely productive for me.

I have 2 7' heavy action rods with braided line for pitching into heavy cover, both use a 3/0 Gama EWG Super Line hook, on 1 set-up I have a 1/2 oz pegged black tungsten sinker on the other I have a 1/4 oz tungsten sinker. I usually have a Zoom speed craw on the end of this rig. I have a MH 7' rod rigged with a 3/0 Gama EWG, usually use a 1/8--1/4 oz sinker and I usually use Baby Paca Craws, Zoom U tail worms, baby brush hogs on 14 lb BPS floro, this is my usual set-up for casting. There are times during the summer when I'll use the Baby Paca craw with a 3/4 oz or even a 1 oz sinker to get a reaction bite in clear water, when they hit this they'll pull the rod out of your hands. I'll also go to the other extreme and take the sinker off and fish Senko's and Flukes, but only if the water is calm and my usual presentations aren't working as I normally prefer to cover water. I also have another 7' Heavy action rod rigged with a 5/0 Gama Ewg, usually fished with 1/4 - 1/2 oz sinkers with 17 lb. floro for 10" Powerworms and full size Brush Hogs & 8" Zoom Lizards.I also carry 3 different rigs on spinning rods for finnesse plastics along with 7' H casting rods for a Carolina rig. I normally have about 7-8 rods rigged just for a variety of presentations for soft plastics. I can't say I have a favorite but my preference would be a bigger plastic on 3/8 oz sinker if they'll hit as the bigger baits tend to catch bigger fish.

TrippyJai, Texas Bass Tackle website has the Berkely Power Slugs it looks like they have been reintroduced. I've never used them tell me what you like about them?

I only have 2 left of the Excalibur Fat Free Fry in the Advantage series, I believe it's their shad color. It has a white belley, clear sides, black back and a reflective piece of metal on the inside. This bait is an absolute fish catching machine in clear water. If any one would like to sell....

I have a couple, store them in a Plano box with my other lipless cranks I haven't had a problem so far.

Buzzbaits have done well for me, the one wildcard would be an excalibur wake crank which has done real well for me this year. The strikes on these 2 baits can be very violent

6 lb 2 oz largemouth came in on a 1/4 oz texas rigged Berkely sabre tail worm Watermelon Candy. My other 6's have come on a 3/8 oz watermelon strike king jig with a zoom chunk, 1/8 oz green pumpkin sweet beaver and the other came on a white snag proof frog.

I own a lot of $200 - $ 400 rods for soft plastics and jigs because I'm willing to pay more for the extra sensitivity. With that being said I own 2 BPS cranking sticks and have been very happy with them. The one I use for the majority of my cranks is the 7' med. model, I use the 7' MH when fishing cranks that have a lot of resistance such as the Norman DD22.

Lot's of great recomendations so far, I'll add the Jackall Muscle deep cranks to this list.

I've had a different expierience than the other posters, I own 4 of them and have been using them a couple of seasons and have not had one break. I've also have caught a fair number of 3-4 lbers along with a couple of fives. The key to throwing this bait is wind, with it running only a couple of feet down the fish need to be roaming the shallow flats, early mornings are a prime time. What I like about this bait is that I can fish it with a fast retrieve without it turning on it's side, another positive is that it can be thrown on a regular cranking stick with no problem. This is one one of the better swimbaits I've tried along with Matt Lures bass, MS slammer and the River2Sea V joint wake minnow. I also own the Jackall Giron and this has been the most disapointing one that I've tried, anyway good luck if you decide to get one.

Suggestion Bobby, would you consider an unpainted version? The black jighead looks odd on that fluke style bait, but other than that Im looking forward to trying it out.

I've done well skipping a Zoom Centipede with a Lunker City nail weight rigged on a 2/0 owner offset.

I haven't used the Gulp frogs, but I've used the Gulp leeches & gobies on a drop shot. These baits are very productive in this rig.

They are available through Jann's Netcraft.

Ghoti, using 12# hybrid. I have app. a dozen Shimano baitcasters, some are the old green Curado's. I use LH reels for jigs/ worms, but I prefer RH for cranks & spinnerbaits. I set the Citica on 1 break but they keep popping out after a few cast, I'm to going to send it in. I use to consider myself nothing but Shimano because I wanted all my reels to have the same feel,but with all the changes that have been made that no longer is feasible. As mentioned in my earlier post I'm not impressed with look of the new Curado's/ Citica's so I thought it might be time consider another option.

I appreciate the feedback, going to BPS store Friday to take a look.

I will be using this on my BPS 7' MH cranking stick to throw DD22's and silmiliar cranks. I was also looking at their David Fritts cranking reel. I've been tossing these baits on Citica D and have been disapointed in the casting distance which is imperative with a deep diving crank. I've been reluctant to go with a longer rod because of limited room in my 18' G3 boat. BTW met a Shimano rep at tounament this weekend where he showed me the Curado E, I personally didn't care for the extra small frame epecially for this application.

I usually prefer the 1/4 oz. size, my favorite is the one from outkast tackle. I like their double barb for holding my trailer which usually is a Yamamoto grub.

I have 4 of the Magic Swimmers, what I did with one of them is drill holes in all 3 sections and fillled it with mineral oil. It looked good in the water but I still haven't caught anything yet. Another expieriment that I'm doing is I took a lip off a Bagley Crank and put on a Jackall Giron, I'll let you guys know after I give them a fair chance how my results turn out.

I just got my order in from tackle whse last week, 7" size Baby Bass color, so I had to throw it last Friday morning and within 5 minutes during 1st light caught a 2.5 lber followed up by a 3 lber about 10 minutes later. Last night had a 5 plus follow it to the boat. By the way fishing was slow last weekend, can't wait to see what happens when they are more aggressive I see the 9" will be on the next order.

I like to use florocarbon on the main line because mono is going to have more of a "bow" in it as opposed to florocarbon which sinks and has more direct angle to your sinker which allows for a better feel and a better hookset.