smalljaw67

I had a 14' jon I used to float fish the river during the mid to late summer when the water was low and I would take 2 set ups with me and a tackle bag along with a small cooler. The way I would do this and still be effective was to take a set up that was pretty much all purpose and a set up for cranks and jerkbaits, my big boat tackle bag was at home while my traveler was on the boat. That bag had 3 plano 3700 utility boxes that I would switch out based on body of water and /or season. For example in the summer I would have a box that had 1/4 football head jigs, 1/4 casting jigs, 1/4 flipping jigs and 1/4 trailers. The second box consisted of 1/4 deep diving crankbaits, 1/4 shallow cranks, 1/4 mid depth cranks, and 1/4 topwaters. The third box is terminal tackle like hooks, bullet weights and that kind of stuff and in the side pockets I would keep a bait binder with 8 or 10 bags of plastics and another binder with spinnerbaits. Now if I was fishing the river in the summer I would have a box that would have mostly floating jerkbaits instead of deep diving cranks. The same thing applies when I go on my friends bass boat, I limit myself to 4 setups even tough there is room for 6 and I do the same thing with the bag set up, the key is getting a good all purpose rod and reel and I recommend a graphite cranking rod that isn't too whippy so you can throw topwaters and jerkbaits with, and a good 6'6" or 7' MH-F rod you can cast jigs or pitch jigs with or maybe texas rigged worms or spinnerbaits. If you put some thought into what you are going to do you can really limit your tackle and still not feel like you're missing anything but you need to think it through.

I disagree, I've fished that rod as my neighbor loves St. Croix and we fished his rod next to my Fenwick 6'9" M-XF and there was no difference in sensitivity and the Fenwick was lighter and had a better feel and it even made my neighbor sell his Avid and buy an Elite Tech. Not to mention that rod is too long for what Gall is looking for. The 6'3" M-F Fenwick is more suited to wading the small creeks that he is going to fish, anything longer will be problematic with low hanging trees and such and not to mention the price. I like the Avid, it is a great rod in my opinion but do;;ar for dollar the Fenwick is a much better buy as it is right there with the Avid in terms of Quality and performance at half the price.

I'm going to go out on a limb here but here is my 2 cents. You are using a 1/2oz jig mostly, that is a good jig and it probably sports a nice hook, pretty stout with some strong wire. If that is the case you can improve the hook up ratio with a simple tool called a hook hone. One of the biggest problems even with hooks Like Gamakatsu and Owner is even after a few fish the point begins to go away or develop a burr and it is only a tiny bit dull but when you use a stout hook like a jig hook it takes a lot more pressure to penetrate and then you include cover into the equation and it means even more to have a super sharp hook. Try it out, get the hook hone and after a fish or two or after you get hung up, just give the hook point a few strokes with the hone and go back to fishing, I'll bet it helps.

Robo straight tail worms work well, I have done well with the Stanley Sidewinder as it floats also a Basstrix Locamotion worm is another. I finally settled on what I think is the best shaky worm I ever used, it is a River Rock Baits 5" drop shot worm, it is fantastic as a shaky worm and it has been getting bit, they have put enough saly in it so it floats up at a 45 degree angle instead of staingt up in the air, sort of the best of both worlds but this type of floater seems to work better.

If the fish are aggressive I like the Devils horse but if they are a little spooky I'll go with a Heddon Dying Flutter, same type of bait only a little smaller and more subtle. The retrieve for a devils Horse is either a sharp jerk and quick pause or a long pull, reel up the slack and repeat. Both of those retrieves work great but you must remember to keep your rod tip low and pull or jerk more to the side instead of straight down.

6.2:1, 6.3:1.6.4:1. and even 6.6:1 is fine for what you want to do, I was using a 6.2:1 but now I switched it out to a 6.3:1 which makes zero difference. I find that when I'm using a crank like a DT Thug I get it down to wher I make contact with the bottom and then I begin to fish it almost like a worm in that I use the rod to move the bait while reeling to keep the slack out of the line.

This is good iformation and I agree with it totally. The difference is going to be in cosmetics, components, and a different feel not sensitivity but overall feel. Sort of like the difference between a GL3 Loomis and an IMX, the sensitivity is really close and on the SJR series I prefer the GL3 because I like the handle and feel of it over the IMX. The same type of deal here, if you like the feel of a split grip you'll got for the LTB but if a full crip is preferred then the Avid is the rod. Either way you go it is going to be a significant difference from what you got going on now.

I often say that a jig is the easiest lure to fish yet the hardest to learn. A big problem is confidence, you know they catch fish but until you get one the cofidence is a little shaky and when it gets like that you tend to only use it for a few casts and then put it aside. This is a lure that will also show you the difference between a waqlmart special rod and a good graphite stick. If you truly want to learn the jig and catch fish on it then you need to get some small jigs like Booyah baby boo jigs or strike king bitsy bug jigs along with normal 1/4oz, 3/8oz and 1/2oz jigs as you will have a jig for just about every situation. The best part about fishing a jig isn't shown on T.V. or even in magazines, what we see is anglers flipping and picthing and moving along at a fast pace but the jig is great in that you can keep it in the strike zone right next to a piece of cover and do very little and it is still appealing to the fish. The next time you are out I suggest a 1/4oz jig with a rage chunk trailer and target laydowns or the edge of a lilypad field or holes in weedbeds but somewhere you can feel the jig without having to decipher what is grass and what is a bite. Once you catch a fish make note of the cover and how deep the fish was and by hitting different spots with similar cover and depth you should be able to pattern the fish. After a day of that it will give you a basic understanding of how to use the jig and where it will work, and another thing you will learn is that a jig for the most part isn't a numbers bait but a big fish bait, in a days time you may find you catch less fish but you'll notice an uptick in the average size of the fish you catch. Good luck and don't give up, you will see why so many fish a jig.

Red on Oneida, I made spinnerbaits for a guy that wanted them in a specific color just for Oneida, it was a color I call smokey gill but the guy won a tournament on it so I now call the color Oneida Blue. It smoke with blue flake, nothing fancy and it was interesting hearing that red works good there.

I make a jig that color for a guy who swears by it for stained shallow water in the sun. The jig is a 1/2oz flipping jig with 40 strands of black and 20 strands of red but not just plain red, it has to be barbed wire red, which is red with black jagged stripes across it. He told me it is his best producer when the sun is out in 2 to 4 feet of water when there is at least 1 to 2 feet of visiblity, and darker he goes all black or black/blue. Try it out, you may find a hot color on the waters you fish.

I didn't run a deeper square bill but I ran the shallower flat side and it also produced. I always used the flat side baits in colder water in the fall and the early spring but I've only recently began using them in places I would throw a spinnerbait, not in the weeds but wood cover and it is working but I believe it is the difference in action as the fish are seeing a lot of wide wobbling baits much more than a tight wiggling bait. The day we were out a lot of guys were throwing square bills and that is why I thing the difference in action is what got the fish to bite. I will keep an eye on this type of thing from now on and see which produces better and when.

2/0 without a doubt. I would also go with very little weight on those as the more weight the less action it has.

3/8oz to 1/2oz jig is what I normally go with, if the fish are just tapping it and spitting it out or if they grab the trailer I'll downsize to a 1/4oz jig or maybe even a 3/16oz finesse jig depending on how deep and how thick the cover is. If you are wondering how you can tell when the fish grabs just the trailer, it is pretty easy to tell and just about everyone who throws a jig regularly has had it happen. You know it when the line moves like the fish has got it and is taking off and you set the hook and nothing, usually when they have the jig a run with it you got a good bite and if you don't land the fish you will hook it. I had it happen to me on time in clear water and I saw the fish with just the trailer, this is also a reason that the legs or claws get pulled off a lot and is a good signal to downsize.

That bait is going to catch you a monster, no doubt about it!!! Really nice work!!!!

I just had a good day not too long ago fishing a Rapala DT Flat 7 and the guy who I was fishing with mentioned that he was out just a day before fishing KVD 1.5s and 2.5s and he didn't get a strike and he was fishing the same area, but things can change overnight so I didn't think about it. Anyway, we made our way pasts some docks that where in really shallow water and right past the dock there was a drop, not a real big drop but pretty good as the flat was 2' to 2.5' deep and the water drapped into 5'. We got to that spot and my buddy began probing the edge of the drop with a 1.5, I had the same thought but since I was catching fish on the Flat 7 I began casting a DT Flat 3, well 2 cast and it was fish on, it didn't take but another 2 casts and another fish. So my buddy goes back the the DT 7 since he didn't have a flat 3 and I wouldn't give him one since I only have 2 left, and he begins fishing the outer edge of the drop and he hooks up with a fish in a short amout of time, so after catching a few more we called it a day. Now reflecting on that day and seeing how many people, including myself, are throwing the KVD 1.5s and other types of shallow cranks, is it possible that not many are fishing the flat sides very much. I've been using the Flat 3 for a few years now as it is a great spring and fall crank for cold water and it has only been 3 years for the DT Flat 7 for me and the same cold water, wood cover bait but how many of you use a flat crank? I even find myself not using them as I did long ago, like in the late 80's early 90's I used the Poes cedar flat sided cranks with success but I have gotten away from them over the years butil recently. Anyway I think with everyone throwing square bills and stuff it would be a great time to show the fish something different, it seemed to work for us and I bet it would work where fish are seeing 1.5's all day too.

I would take a serious look at the 6'3" M-F Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth rod, it is perfect for what you are going to do.

Any of the 3 power BCR GLX rods will work for that.

Most people use rods 7' or longer to pitch with, for myself I can do a good job of it with a good 6'6" MH/F rod.

It isn't that it needs to run perfectly straight as we all know the erratic action is a great triggering action. When you hear about cranks tracking straight and/or true, it basically means it is running as it was designed without rolloing on its side or consistantly going to one side so much that it basically tumbles once it goes so far. The best action is to have the bait run straight and every so often make a sudden move to the left or right and then come back to normal, this is what they mean when you hear someone talk about a "hunting" action. The reason that type of action works is a lot of times when fishing a crankbait, fish will follow a bit before hitting it, it happens a lot and the fish is following the bait and closing in and then all of a sudden it makes a move quickly darting left or right and I guess the fish thinks it is trying to escape and they hit it, that movement is a great triggering quality and you can make a true tracking bait do that by suddenly speeding up the retrieve for a few seconds.

I would look at a 2000 or 2500, I have a 2500 size reel on my Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth spinning rod and it is perfect. I think that size reel is just better suited to a medium powered rod but the 2000 would work without a problem.

X2 !!!

I make a finesse jig that I had a pic of on this site, anyway I use a craw for it made by River Rock Baits, it is called a Jakes Craw and he makes the colors you listed, I get a color called summer craw and another called blue craw that isn't on the site, the summer craw matches the craws here in summer and that is a dark pumpkin brown with burnt orange claws and the blue craw matches the craws in early spring, and that is green pumpkin with blue claws. The fish haven been killing it this year, a very good craw with a natural fall.

I always start big and then downsize and over the years I found on average that bigger baits catch bigger fish. That doesn't mean small lures don't catch big fish or big lures don't catch small fish because they do. My biggest smallmouth was caught on a Zara Spook, it was the original 3/4oz version and my biggest largmouth was taken on a Smithwick Super Rogue, the 5.5" version and the reason is just basically the law of averages. A smaller lure appeals to every size fish but when you start going bigger and bigger you begin to eliminate fish that will hit a large bait but there are times you will get the bluegill that hits a 3/4oz spinnerbait but you won't be catching them all day like that.

If you want a glass rod to handle the DD22's you need a little more power, the Diesel is nice but I would probably use it for shallow to mid depth cranks and maybe a DT14. A glass rod that would probably work and won't break the bank is the Lamiglas Excel 705 Glass.

I give you the same suggestion as I did in the other thread for inexpensive cranking rods. Get a Falcon BuCoo, the 4-17 is a medium rated for 1/4oz to 1/2oz, and the 5-17 is a medium heavy rated for 1/4 to 3/4oz, both will work for what you want. BTW, Rapala doesn't make a DT5, only a DT4 and a DT6 but a 5 would be awesome.