smalljaw67

Plastic worms are one of those baits that will catch a fish in almost any condition provided the presentation is correct and you are in the right spot meaning an area that is holding fish. What you should do is cover water, try using a spinnerbait or crankbait or even a fluke typ bait that you can cast out and bring back quickly, this will let you search and eliminate unproductive water and you don't have to catch a fish on it in order to find them, you may get one to follow the bait or perhaps make baitfish jump out of the way or you may see a fish roll or flash on your bait but you would at least know where they are so you could go back and fish slower with the worm.

Arkie jig with a ball collar with a 3/0 not a 3. I know that is what you meant because a size 2 is on a 1/32 oz jig a size 2/0 could go on any of the jigs you're looking for and so could a 3/0.

You have to be careful with light line on a casting reel, if you have a good reel then there usually isn't any problems but a value priced casting reel may have a little larger gap between the spool and the frame and light line can end up in there and talk about a mess. Most of todays reels in the 100 dollar price point should be fine as they are made with more precise but check to make sure before you spool up with the light line.

Do you have a pic or drawing? Those are really small hooks for the head sizes, usually a small hook for a 1/4oz jig is a 1/0, on a 1/2oz jif a 3/0 would be considered small. You need tyo recheck the hook sizes because a 2 or 3 is what you find on 1/16 to maybe a 1/8oz.

Some things for you to think about, the first is size. Tubes come in a lot of different sizes and so do jigs, so you need to match the size of the bait to the mood of the fish. I make a finesse jig and I also use tubes, my favorite size tube is 3.5" but I like to fish those on with an insider jighead with an exposed hook for river smallies. Now when I'm fishing river smallies I'll have a tube rigged lust like I explained and I will also have a finesse jig rigged, if I'm fishing in chunk rock with basically open water around I will throw the tube but if there is a laydown or grass near the rock then I'll throw the finesse jig. It all comes down to confidence and what you like to do, for lakes I use a flipping style tube which is usually 3.75" or 4" and made with harder plastic. Those types of tubes I'm fishing texas rigged with heavy line and the jigs are the same way, I'm using a minimum 3/8oz jig but more often I'm using a 1/2oz jig with eith a chunk in cold water or a rage craw in warm water. I really let the water conditions and situation dictate what I'm using, dark or dirty water I have a jig on, clear water I have a tube, if the fish are in heavy cover I have the jig in light cover I use the tube.

I know they are very versatile but I only use them 2 different ways, and that is on the back of my swim jig or Texas rigged to flip in cover, that is it. The Rage Chunk gets the nod for my casting jigs just because I have more success with a compact bait with more bulk but small profile with that type of jig but it has the same flapping action as the craw.

they are supposed to sit with the back end lower in the water, and as for the lack of action, well this is were people get confused. Frogs are designed to be used in slop with a dragging type retrieve and in open water you have to make them walk, they don't walk on their own, at least the ones I've used don't. To walk your hollow bodied frog you need to fish it almost like a jerkbait, you snap twitch the rod with slack line and it will pull the frog up and to the side and as you repeat this action the frog will begin to come back with a side to side motion. That is the difference in all these frogs, some are really easy to walk but others not so easy but whatever the case it is not a built in action like spooks and sammys, you have to make it work.

When I fish my swim jig I do it a little differntly than most and it is why a Rage Craw works so well. I use the swim jig with a slow retrieve and I fish it right against cover and after a few casts without a strike I'll often reel the jig up to a spot I think a fish should be and kill it and then fish it for a few moments like a normal bottom jig. If I get a few fish using that technique I'll change presentations and jigs, depending on how close to cover I'm getting bit I'll either switch to a flipping jig or casting jig but only if the fish let me know which is why the swim jig is such a great lure.

Welcome, and I too am from PA, east central part of the satate abot 30 miles north of Reading. I can help you with the Susquehanna, I fish it a lot!

They are decent lures and catch fish, but you need to change the hooks out on them, they bend and break pretty easy but in the same respect Strike King lures use lousy hooks too.

Spinnerbaits are my absolute favorite way to catch smallies and I've done a lot of experimenting with size, color and blade configurations and the advise you got here is really good, and that is to go with a 3/8oz spinnerbait. 3/8oz is what I call the universal size, and for those just learning the bait I will push them to get a 1/4oz or 3/8oz bait. The deal with that size bait is it appeals to all size fish a majority of the time,while it is true tha smaller fish will hit a bigger 1/2oz and 3/4oz bait , it will not be a majority of smaller fish. The 3/8oz appeals to big fish as well as small and when you are just learnig big fish aren't important, it is getting bit that is important as it will teach you how to retreive it to produce bites, what bites feel like, places were you get the most bite, etc. A 1/4oz bait also has its place and if you didn't like a 3/8oz bait the next one would be that.

A lot of anglers like using cranking rods for spinnerbaits, but for me spinnerbait rods are mediun heavy rods with a fast action, the secret to a good spinnerbait rod when it comes to a fast action rod is that the tip has to be somewhat stiff but not too much because you want it to load up to cast so you can achieve both distance and accuracy. If I were you I would get a cranking set up, you could try using spinnerbaits with it and see how you like it but even if you don't you'll still have a cranking set up and your worm/jig set up should do fine as a spinnerbait rod when you need it to be.

I have and still use th Augertails!!! In fact I have a bunch of discontinued Manns baits that fish haven't seen and when fishing gets tough I'm reaching for them. Manns Dragin' worms are incredible teamed up with shaky heads and the best is the Manipulator worms, not a better worm is made.

You want a medium power, moderate to moderate fast action for mid depth cranks which in my book is anything less than 10'. Most crankbaits in that range are usually 1/4oz to 1/2oz and my recommendation would be the Falcon BuCoo, the biggest reason is it is light and has a great action. The Powell Diesel would be ok but it is glass and would weigh considerably more, some like the action of glass others like myself like the light weight and feel of graphite cranking rods.

You are right and you are wrong. While you can fish every lure with one set up, that is every lure that is in the rod and reels respective ranges of weight, you are really not being very efficent. The reason you have crankbait rods and flipping sticks and medium powered and medium heavy powered rods comes from years of people fishing and quite honestly, missing fish. When you miss a fish it is an "oh well" moment but when you begin to miss fish a lot you begin to wonder why, this is why we have different gear ratio reels, super sharp hooks in different sizes and so on. Saying you don't need more than one set up for everything is like saying all a golfer needs is one club, because that is how you see it. I can make a case for why a golfer needs one club, why does he need so many, if he is far from the hole he needs to swing harder, the closer he is he needs to swing softer. See where I'm going? Yes, you can use one set up for everything but it is much better to have set ups that are made to do what you want to the best of your ability, it also makes for an enjoyable time on the water when I'm not fighting my equipment or trying to fish a jig on a whippy rod or fish crankbaits with a pool cue. A staement like the one you made means you either are a new angler just learning or you don't take the art of angling too seriously and that is fine but in order to learn more or help others learn we need to look at everything with an open mind.

Anytime I'm throwing a jig or plastic I'm using a high speed reel, just about every technigues which involves using the rod to move the bait is going to be high speed. The Revo Winch to me is a crankbait reel, what you get with slow gear ratio reels is more torque so it is easier cranking because the big lipped crankbaits have a lot of resistance so using a reel with more torque makes it much easier, it has nothing to do with winching fish out of cover, that is what your rod is for. If you go it for flipping and pitching I suggest you either trade it for a faster one which should not be a problem or just keep it for cranking and get a higher gear ratio for flipping. Now, you can use it, but you are going experiece problems with hooking fish as a lot of times the fish are tight against cover and they will run stright toward you when hooked and this is were the winch is going to hurt as you aren't going to be as fast getting the slack up and turning the fish until it is well under the boat. For fun fishing you don't really need to worry about it but if you are fishing touneys and you're flipping you make sure you have a fast reel. And remember, the power to move fish is in the rod, not the reel.

My own... I began making my own as nothing on the shelf matched what I wanted and needed.

I'm very old school in that I use shorter rods than most but I have used them so much I'm actually pretty good with them. My flipping set up is a custom 7' Shakiri heavy powered fast action blank, paired with a Pflueger Supreme casting reel which is no longer made but it is built like a tank and perfect for flipping. For pitching I use a 6'6" Quantum Superlight PT medium heavy powered fast action with a Quantum Smoke 150, I just switched to that reel last year and it is great for pitching, I can put a 3/8oz jig in a 16oz coffee can from 35' out consistantly.

It sounds to me like you overfilled the spool, try leaving about 1/8" of the spool lip uncovered.

Trilene XL is a good line, a lot of people get the impression that lines that don't cost 15 bucks or more for 200 yds. isn't very good line and it is far from the truth. I fish a few tournaments and do pretty well and fish a lot and have been fishing a long time, in that time I've tried a lot of line and have my favorites and you'd be surprised. My favorite all around line is Silver thread AN40, it handles well and is really abrasion resistant for mono. I also like Cajun Clear Lightning, this is really close to flouro in that is is really clear, has the lowest stretch I've ever encountered with mono, and the abrasion resistance is excellent, the downside is is made specifically for casting reels and it is more for jigs, worms and big moving baits, it is a little too stiff for finesse fishing. I only use power pro braid and I only use it for frog fishing or jig fishing in really heavy cover. Trilene XL is perfect for a spinning outfit as it handles nicer than XT, it doesn't have the toughness of XT but it holds its own so you got a good line.

Please don't get mad at me, I'm only trying to help but the words are going to sound harsh. What you have is a typical all purpose walmart special, I'm betting that it is a medium powered spinning rod with proabaly a 2500 to 300 size spinning reel attached. While the rod may or may not have line and lure ratings I'm going to say that it is intended for 6lb to 12lb line and 1/8 to 1/2 oz lures give or take an 1/8oz or so. The sweet spot for that kind of setup would be 8lb line, preferably a good copoly, these "generic" rods usually don't have guides that deal well with extended use of braid so stay with mono. Cajun Red Cast is made for spinning reels, it is very cheap but it is actually a pretty good line, stay away from red lightning, that is made exclusively for baitcasting reels and is a good line but not on a spinning reel. Like I said, try that in 8lb, it will make a nice setup for Texas rigged worms, small jigs and topwaters.

Grimlin is the market they are most trying to hit. We all loose and break a fair amount of tackle throughout a season and so it is the hope of the manufacturers and companies that when you stock up that you at least try their product and this also leads to brand loyalty. For example lets say I needed some 3/0 EWG hooks for fishing 3.5" tubes, well after seeing all the commercials I go buy a few packs of my old standby but I do buy 1 pack of Trokar hooks just to try. Now out on the water I tie on a new hook and begin fishing and all of a sudden I get a bite so I set the hook and bring the fish in and then I see that the hook penetrated really well and at the very moment all the commercials and hype for a product kicks in full in your subconcience, you look at the fish and the way it was hooked and think there just may be something to this new hook and just like that a new customer is on board. The downside is it can lead to the loss of customers too, imagine the above scenario but instead of landing the fish it got off and you realize the hook broke? That is a person who will never buy that product again and in this day an age the angler goes home and instantly hits the forums and tells of his bad experience with the product. The truth is most companies set out to make long time customers but sometimes a bad batch of product will get into someones hands and that is why we see some who lovea product while other hate that same product, it all comes down to what kind of experience we had with the product plus how much hype we already have embedded in our brains.

It isn't the fish that makes us anglers use 50lb braid, it is the cover. If you fish a frog in heavy matted grass and a bass comes to the top and bites your frog, you need a line that is going to cut through the matted grass and has very little to no stretch so the hook can be set. I can't tell you how many times I reeled in a 2lb bass with 20 lbs of weeds on the fish, so remember, the cover you fish also has a bearing on what kind and what size you to use.

Go to Bass Tackle Depot if you want a quantum, they have the Kinetic on sale for 80 dollars and it is head and shoulders better than an antix. Truth be told you should go with a BPS pro qualifier, the bigger companies less expensive offerings tend to be junk, it sounds harsh but it is the truth most of the time. Stay away from anything under $120 from Shimano, Anything under $170 from Diawa and anything under $100 from Quantum, Abu has better low price reels but the silver and black max are over priced, the pro qualifier is a better reel.

BPS pro qualifier, bass tackle depot has the new Quantum Kinetic on sale for 80 dollars which is a very good reel, look to see if the Citica E from Shimano is around, those are now discontinued but leftovers are in your price range.