smalljaw67

I make a finesse jig with a 3" craw trailer that isn't bulky, the jig is modeled after the Eakins jig but in a 1/8oz, 3/16oz, and 1/4oz sizes with a 3/0 flat eye hook and that jig catches a lot of fish. I use the smaller jigs in cold water, shallow clear water situations, and it the summer when it is really hot out and the bite shuts down. In the natural lakes I fish there is little oxygen in deep water and when it gets hot the bass will move toward the gass and weed beds in around 4' to 8' of water and it is the perfect time for the little jig and trailer. You let it fall and when it hits bottom you give it a little pop and let it fall and then fish it like you would a shkey head were you slowly drag the bait 6" at a time instead of hopping it. Try it, you may find you like using it.

For the price of the Citica you can get a quantum Kinetic, which I think is a better reel than the Citica but that is based upon my equipment useage which is pretty hard at times and fishing both reels and owning the Kinetic. I am not brand loyalm, I have a Pflueger Supreme casting reel that was discontinued but mine is going strong, along with a Patriarch, I also have 2 Quantum Skoke reels, a 100 and a 150, 2 Okuma reels, a V-System and an Induron, an Abu Revo STX and ofcourse the Kinetic. I don't own any Shimano reels after my incident with 2 Symetres but that is another discussion. I say this because my response isn't a fan boy or bias response, a good solid workhorse reel can be had with either the Citica or Accurist but for less money than the Citica and a few bucks more than the Accurist you can get a Kinetic, it is solid, smooth, and perfroms very vell, my old one is going on 5 solid years and my buddy has his newer red model for 2 seasons now and it hasn't skipped a beat.

I love that and it is where I get my base colors from, I just wish they had more than 4 colors. The black is a matte finish but I add like 30% clear powder to it and it makes it nice and glossy and it fluffs nice and is easy to work with, a good buy for sure!!!!

The Veritas uses 36ton graphite blanks while the Vendetta uses a 30 ton graphite blank. The Veritas uses a nano resin which makes it about .25oz to.50oz lighter depending on the model. Both rod series fish well above their price point.

I need to add them too. I would fish a Rapala DT Fat 3 and if the fish were a little lethargic of if it was cooler water the DT Flat 3 would always work, I've used flat sides for years with my first ones being the Poes Cedar flat sides. Thanks for that info, a 1.5 flat side will be a killer bait.

when it comes to an all purpose type set up I will always go MH, and the reason is most MH rods have no problem with baits that are 1/4oz and it will allow you to use it on a greater range of baits and even let you fish in cover which the medium won't do. I like a medium powered rod for finesse jigs in open water, and senkos around docks and they are also great for jerkbaits and soft jerkbaits.

I don't think there is a GLX mossyback.

You may end up with the box warping but the baits should be ok unless you have the 3X or Z-Man elaztec , those will melt and they react to other plastics not just heat so as long as you don't have any of that you'll be fine.

You need to remove the handle and the drag star and under the drag star there should be a nut, take that off and the side plate should come off.

I like fishing a lot of the plastic type swimbaits with a jighead rather than a weighted hook. I tried several, I even bought a mold and made my own weighted hooks but I just rather the jighead as it fits my use of them more which is slow swimming with stopping it and letting it fall straight down in 12' of water so the jighead works for me.

I hate closed loop spinnerbaits so I make strictly "R" bends and so I use the Little Blue Bender, it cranks out a ton of wire forms and does it cheap and will work with .029 to .41 wire, you just can't make closed loops or wrap with it.

I too like the darker one!! I get worms in a color called "oxblood" because they have the same "earthworm" type color. While I like the darker one I think any of them will be great and just like baitfish, earthworms vary in color from place to place depending on the nutriends in the soil, the ones I find in my yard are a little darker so the laminate wouldn't work as it would need to be the same color to match them here but great job on matching the one you have in your hand.

No trailers for me 99% of the time, and the very few times that I us one it is a normal curly tail gurb, 3" for a 1/4oz and 3/8oz bait and a 4" for a 1/2oz and larger.

That look good HookSetDon!!! I make finesse jigs with the skirt back like that for smallies, the only difference is I often let for of the strands stick out the top, they call it a crop top, it will add action and slow the fall of the jig down but I like the look of what you did there, I may have to try that myself, great job!!!!!

I will use the stock hooks on a bait when I first use it and you usually can tell after 3 or 4 fish if the hooks are any decent. I love Rattlin' Rogue jerkbaits, the hooks are reasonably sharp but a good solid smallmouth with have at lest one treble bent so I change them out right away. Strike King in general are a little better but they too will begin to bend after a few fish so I switch them out with Mustad Triple Grips and I don't up size, even though some pros like to do it but I worry about changing the action of the bait too much.

They are being released at the Classic so they aren't going to be on a website catalog yet.

I have a box full of rogues, the floating shallow diving rogue, the ARB 1200 series is my all time producer of smallmouth during the summer so I'm ready to grab a few of these!!!

River Rock Baits Standard Stick, this is the only Stick work I would say is comparable to Yamamoto as the fall rate is almost right on and they catch fish. For the big manufaturers I got to go with the Yum Dinger, it doesn't fall like the Senko but there is something about that bait that the fish like but I've had more succsee with GYCB and River Rock Baits.

I argee with this or even the 7' MH-F is a good jig rod, in fact it is really good, a lot of feel for what you pay. There is also the new "***", in quotes because the name is strange if you haven't heard of them. A lot of guys that fish high end rods are calling it the $100 *** Black rods the best rods you can get even up to the $200 dollar price point. The have a 7'1" MH and a 7'1" H or the 7'3" MH or 7'3" H, take you pick.

I've broke 3 bills off the DT series, 1 off of a DT 4, 1 off of a Rapala X-Rap that I hit a rock while fishing in 34 degree water, and 1 off of a shad rap years ago and Rapala replaced every one. This isn't a lot considering that I really beat up a DT Thug off rip rap every season since they've been released and the reason I keep using them is they don't get hung in the rip rap, the fish have been killing them, and I still have yet to break one. I will agree the Normans are built like tanks but I also have to run them in clear water out of the box because every single one on my Middle N cranks had to be tuned, I don't mind as they are fish catchers too but Rapal has always been good with CS to me. 3 broken baits and 3 baits replaced with the same model, size, and color.

Usually if you call them and let them know what the problem is they will send you a new one along with a return label, when you get the new one you pack the broken one up and put the return label over the original and send it back.

I love the shad rap and I have a nice selection of #5's and #7's but the #5 is a better producer and the only crank I use on spinning gear. On 8'b line the #5 will dive around 4' on 6lb line you will get it to go to 5' but this isn't a crank that you want dragging the bottom, this is one you would use as others have said, in colder water between the high 40's and high 50's. I throw them where I have "45 degree" banks which are steep banks that just a few feet from shore the water is deep and gets like that gradually. I fish it over water between 6' to 12' deep depending on weather, water temp, and where I'm seeing fish on the graph.

I fish similar conditions and it is why I started using a shakey head presentation on a regular basis. I would go with a shakey head no larger than 1/8oz, a 1/16oz would be better with a 3/0 hook, attached to it would be a 4.5" to 5" straight tail worm or slender stick worm such as a senko. Senkos fished weightless texas rigged or wacky rigged will work but no weight and natural colors.

There is nothing wrong with either, the 12# Yo-Zuri will get your cranks a little deeper if that is a concern but otherwise there isn't any thing that would make one better suited for cranking than the other

I have the same length, power and action on a first gen Vendetta, the cheapest rod I bought and I really like it. Spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, chatterbaits work well, I've also used it to throw senkos in a pinch and some small 1/4oz jigs although it isn't the most sensitive rod for that. One thing I found that I now dedicate that rod to is soft jerkbaits like flukes and slug-o's, the reason is the medium is more like a medium heavy when it comes to how stout the rod is but it does load really well and is a great casting rod with a lot of power to set the hook through plastic.