smalljaw67

You mean you have them in 1/16oz and 3/32oz, I haven't seen a 5/32oz spin jig . I don't use theirs as I make my own but I do make what I call my "micro finesse jigs" in 1/16oz, 3/32oz and 1/8oz and they work well, I use the tails from torn up straight tail worms as trailers as well as tiny chunks like the Venom lure Ron Yurko finesse chunks. For rod, reel and line I use a 7' ML-F spinning rod with a 2500 size reel and 6lb or 8lb mono depending where I'm throwing them. Most of the time the water is clear or lightly stained and if I'm fishing boat docks I'll use 8lb line, if I'm on bare backs or rock flats I'll go with 6lb. These jigs get a lot of mixed reviews because the hooks are small and light and what that amounts to is anglers using tackle that is too heavy for that type of fishing, if someone feels they need a larger diameter wire hook, they need to stop trying to finesse fish and just stay with heavy tactics. If you are going to use braid I suggest 10lb or 15lb with a 6lb or 8lb fluorocarbon or mono leader with a medium power rod with a fast or extra fast action with a soft tip or a medium light rod with a fast or extra fast action.

Is that a worm hook or drop shot hook? I know VMC makes a size 3 but I wasn't aware Gamakatsu did also.

Yes, you can throw it on a casting set up, but there is a problem. The problem is that the jigs that are made to fish things like a ned rig are made with Aberdeen hooks, they are designed to bend when hard, steady pressure is applied to free from snags and then you bend them straight again and fished with the prober tackle you normally won't bend one, even on big fish. I make small hair jigs on a size 2 Aberdeen hook and I've landed smallmouth over 5lbs and I was sent a picture from a friend that landed a 6lb 10oz fish on a 1/32oz marabou jig with a size #4 Aberdeen hook that I made for him. The reason was the proper tackle was used and so throwing a ned rig on a medium light or BFS casting rod with a BFS casting reel with maybe 10lb or 15lb braid with a 6lb or 8lb fluorocarbon or mono leader is great but most will throw it on a medium or medium heavy casting rod with 30lb brad and a 12lb fluorocarbon leader and then blame the jig when the hook bends from pulling a fish in. I see experienced anglers with light rigs using casting rods and I think that is great but when you use a ned rig with a casting set up remember what kind of rig it is and the type of hook it uses, because the entire thing may be heavy enough for casting but it may not be stout enough. The other example is the spy bait like the Duo Realis Spinbait 80, it is 3/8oz but it doesn't mean you throw it on a medium heavy rod with 12lb to 14lb line, in fact the bait doesn't work great with 10lb line and even 8lb slows down the subtle action, most recommend 4 to 6lb to be optimum with a spinning set up but you can throw it with a casting rod but the bait loses the very subtle action it has.

Walking baits and fluke type baits, those are great when the fish are busting bait.

There are a lot of variables, like what kind of rod and line where you using along with the size of the fish and what kind of cover. Then you have to know what kind of hook, for example, I had a guy call me and tell me he bent the hook on a shaky head I made for him, and after taking to him I found him to be using really heavy tackle for a 1/8oz shaky head with a medium wire hook. The brand of hook isn't as important as the type of hook, so where you using a worm hook or was it in a jig and if so what kind of jig? Most small ball head jigs are made with a type of hook called an Aberdeen hook, these hooks are generally light wire and penetrate with little pressure but they are designed to bend so if you get snagged you simply pull very hard and the hook will bend and then you bend it back, the hook is meant to do that, but if you are using the right tackle you can bring in any fish with those hooks. With worm hooks you have tempered and forged, a tempered hook will bend a little, you here anglers that flip super heavy grass with 65lb braid with 2oz weights talking about using a hook that doesn't flex, and to have that you need a forged hook. Most standard wire and a few heavy wire worm hooks are tempered, they are good because they seldom break or bend but they can, and will flex when used with extreme tactics. That brings me to forged hooks as previously mentioned, forged hooks are often called super line hooks, these are heavy wire hooks and they will not bend much or flex, instead when they become over stressed they can break, I've had a bad batch of forged jig hook and had one break and I've seen it happen with some very expensive hooks. Most won't break unless you over stress by using too small of hook with too heavy tackle but every so often you will have a bad batch meaning the hooks might not have been tempered correctly and if that happens you need the pack the hook came from and you can tell the manufacturer and give them the UPC code which will let them know which lot it came from and if they have any other bad hooks reported from that lot then they can look to see if there is a problem with their tempering process that needs to be addressed.

If you tie a palomar knot to the split ring you'll be fine, a loop knot was used for baits that didn't have a split ring. On baits that suspend perfect I will not use a snap but when I do use a snap on jerkbaits, I'll just attach it right to the split ring and I don't have any problems. With a square bill I'll either attach a snap to the line tie and remove the split ring or I'll tie direct to the split ring, and now I'm wondering why I do that. So, if anyone knows why they don't use a split ring with a snap feel free to let me know why because I do it on fast moving baits and I'm not sure why I've been doing it.

It is location, right now the shad should be going to the creeks but if you still can't find them then look for isolated cover like dead falls or weed patches and try a buzzbait or look for small flats adjacent to deep water and burn a square bill over it, that is a good tactic right now.

I believe it has to do with angling pressure and the fish getting conditioned to certain things. One lake I fish was great for my favorite bait, spinnerbaits and I was really doing well for quite some time but then I noticed my catch rates were going down and the same time it was going down I noticed other anglers throwing spinnerbaits. So I strated using the swim jig and that was great for the last 2 seasons but now the fish are seeing it more and the bite has really slowed and this year square bills have been the major player. So pressure has a lot to do with it because once someone finds a hot bait or tactic on a certain body of water the word spreads and soon everyone is throwing it and the fish become conditioned to it.

I have a bunch of Fenwick rods and the smallmouth series was excellent. I don't know where clackerbuzz purchased his but he is the only one that described the blank in that manner, most will say it is has a crisp, responsive action and is incredibly sensitive, the only real problem was some of the reel seats would strip out, I had one do that on a casting rod but the spinning rods have been excellent. I took my neighbor out with me, he his a St. Croix fanatic, I let him use my 6'9" M-XF smallmouth spinning rod, he went home and sold one of his Avids to get 2 of the smallmouth rods and to this day he uses them for his finesse techniques. Now, regarding the new Elite Tech and the HMG, the new ET bass rods are a little heavier and the reel seats were made better but they still have a really high level of sensitivity, the HMG isn't a slouch either, I have a 7'2" M-MF casting that is my square bill/trap rod and I'd never give it up. The rods you are looking at I'd go with the ET 7'3" MH, the reason being is you only have the 7' in the HMG and then you can go to the 7'6" as you wouldn't want the 7'2" as it is more geared toward reaction baits with a treble hook. There are a lot of good rods out there in that price range, I like the Fenwick rods because they offer me the performance I'm looking for and the actions fit my style of fishing, the actions are how I expect them to be and at a price I can deal with, I was a G.Loomis fan for years and still am but I can't afford their rods anymore and the E6X isn't above the rods I'm using so I stick with the Fenwick rods. The only other rod I want other than the Fenwick rods is the St. Croix Avid X, the regular Avid is a good rod but not better than the rods I'm using but the Avid X, that rod has the same feel as my smallmouth spinning rods which I can no longer get, just a change in components really made that rod come to life and if you can find one of those I would put that on your list.

You are correct, they had complaints of bad split rings and it was fixed.

I fished those rods and the 6'9" ML-XF is the one you want. Most medium light rods are now closer to actual medium power and the 6'9" ML-XF certainly follows this trend. I fished that rod using a tube with a 1/8oz head, I also fished a 3/16oz finesse jig with tiny paca chunk trailer so for all the baits you have listed I think it is the perfect stick.

I was going to include a Shadow Rap but I didn't have enough time with it yet but from what it did for me in the spring I'd have to say that if it works as well during the fall, well I'll be all in. It may be good to get at least 1 regular and 1 deep diver.

The Rebel craw that was all black with the chartreuse belly was a known secret in the late 80s and early 90s on the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers. If you were fishing and it was tough, that bait would catch fish, I got away from them for 2 reasons, the first reason is Rebel discontinued the color, I traveled to 24 different tackle shops across the state to buy all the ones I could find and I managed to only get 11 of them as most river anglers knew of that color pattern. The other reason I got away from them was they were notorious dink magnets, I loved them when we couldn't buy a strike on any other bait because it saved our day quite a few times but all the years we fished it I only caught 3 decent sized bass on them but perhaps it was due to me only using it on the toughest of days. You are the first person I ever saw mention that bait on a forum, it brings back a lot of memories for me.

The factory hooks are VMC 8540, I get them from Lure Parts Online as they seem to be the only ones that have them. I will use a single Owner ST-36 in the middle or front hook but only 1 because 2 or more will make the bait sink but most often I use the VMC 8540. I was told by Luck-E-Strike to use that hook because that is what is on the bait from the factory, a light wire VMC. For those that don't know this, the Katsuage out barb hooks on the Megabass 110 are also made by VMC and they too are light wire, the reason is they we made to be fished with light tackle, spinning rods and 6lb to 8lb line. When you use 10lb or 12lb line we tend to pull a little harder on the fish that will bend the hook, and a hook that bends out isn't bad, it just means you are using heavier tackle than what should be used. BTW, I've landed 5lb smallmouth with the stock hooks and didn't bend them out and they held fine, I got myself a 6'6" ML-M casting rod and fish the bait with 10lb line with a loose drag setting, in the cold water it adds about a minute to the fight but in cold, highly oxygenated water it isn't a bad thing. The one mistake they made with that bait is they made it suspend too good, if you use a hook with just a tiny bit more weight like the ST-36 from Owner, it will make the bait sink, because the Megabass 110 is a slow riser, a slightly heavier hook will make it suspend a little better but the hooks aren't junk, just light wire hooks that work fine if you use the right tackle. We all know the RC STX is a direct copy of the Megabass 110, they copied right down to the hook, as I said before, the 110 was designed to be used with a spinning rod or light casting rod with 6lb to 8lb line and when using light line you want thin wire hooks with wicked sharp points so they penetrate with little pressure. You can change out the hooks and mess with it if you like but I catch plenty of fish and the hooks hold out fine and when one bends I'll replace it with a VMC 8540, simple and it works.

In my waters I find that they do fantastic for both large and smallmouth bass, I do tend to target largemouth with them because I've had 2 bills break after coming in contact with rocks so I stay away from hard cover which is where the smallies usually are. I find that the 110 is the most dangerous jerkbait with water temps in the 58 to 62 degree range, and when you get down to 50 and below there are other baits that work better. In 60 degree water it takes roughly 10-12 seconds to rise 1' and that is when it is a suspending bait, when the water temp is down to 50 degrees it rises 1' in about 7-8 seconds but still good. I have a couple 110 Hi-Float models and to this day it remains the only floating jerkbait I ever caught fish on when the water temps was below 50 degrees, when they are on a 110, nothing else will come close.

Vinyl paint works well but the fumes can cause massive headaches, and then you have airbrush paints like Createx but they require a top coat of some sort. If you just need color the CSI Quick Coat Lure Markers are fantastic, they aren't like a Sharpie, they are actual paint and they come with a few different shapes of felt tips to make dots as well as thin and thick lines.

I actually like these baits and I have quite a few and yes, I also own the original 110. I fish the 110 when the water is a little warmer, the RC STX suspends much better because the 110 is not a suspending bait, it is a slow floater. You won't get the RC STX to suspend nose down, not every bait does that and it is something some people like and some don't. I like the LC Pointers and Rogues because they suspend close to level, the RC STX will stop nose down and then suspend just about level, it is made to do that, the 110 does it also but because it is a slow floater you don't have it stopped long enough to see it. I have both sizes of the RC STX and I have maybe a dozen of each size and they are killers on smallmouth, don't think that because the nose isn't pointing down that it doesn't work, places that have mainly a shad forage base like the baits to be floating nose down because a shad does that when they get cold shocked, chubs, darters, and other types of minnows do not so don't sweat it.

I started making my own spinnerbaits close to 18 years ago as I couldn't get the right kind of bait but as far as being cheaper, not really. It takes years to recoup the investment, I got a pouring pot, 200 blades willow leaf blades, a mold, 100 pre bent wire forms and skirt material, hooks, and beads I cost me close to $300 and it took 4 years to recoup the initial start up cost. I started my own business 5 years after I got started because it took that long until I was confident enough that my baits were good enough to accept money for but I only made enough to continue buying supplies, very little profit in making lures unless you are spin casting. Once you have all the basics then spinnerbaits aren't expensive and it is a lot of fun making them but getting into it to save money is the wrong reason and most guys quit within the first year when they discover there is more to it than dumping lead into a mold. If you need any help please feel free to ask, the spinnerbait in my favorite lure and I have learned a lot about making them but remember, I'm not making cheap baits, I use top quality components so you can easily go to Walmart and buy a bait for less than what it cost me to make one because I believe if you are going to make them, do so the right way and make a high quality bait.

I use more casting than spinning but the 3000 reel with the 7'MH-F HMG would be a worm and jig rod in spinning for sure. Take the same reel and pair it with a medium power, fast action rod for lighter, finesse style soft plastics like fluke jr.s 3" and 4" Senko style worms, shaky heads and tube jigs. The Pflueger President, is this a spinning or casting set up? I can't help with that not knowing the specifics. The Abu Garcia ? 6.8:1 I'm assuming is a casting reel with a 6'9" MH-F rod, that would be my all-purpose meaning jigs and worms along with spinnerbaits/chatterbaits/buzzbaits, pretty much any single hook type presentation. The Lews speed spool in the 7.5:1 I'd pair with a 7' to 7'3" MH-F rod for jigs and worms but you can also go 6'6" to 6.9" medium power, fast or mod-fast action rod for jerkbaits and topwaters as the reel speed would suit those techniques perfectly.

I've been using these for a few seasons, even before Casey Ashley won the classic but I was using them in summer for suspended fish in clear water. Yesterday we had a cold overcast day and the water temp was in the mid 50s, down from the 62 degrees it was on Sunday. The fish weren't moving but we did manage to get a few early on finesse jigs and a smoke colored grub but the fish we caught were in 7' to 12' of water and they seemed to be holding close to spots where there was a gradual change in depth, not on drops but where the flat was 5' and then dropped to 8' and back up again, basically small ditches and an old road bed. Well I decided to give the fish head spin a shot in cold water to see how it work, I mean I've caught them in warm water but never really good, just a few here and there. Well yesterday was an eye opening, the 3rd cast and I had our biggest fish, a 3lb 11oz fish that just ate it, 2 cast later and solid 2 pounder and I ended up getting 4 more, 6 fish in 2 hours after we spent 2 hours to get 4 fish which all but 1 were dinks and the other was a small 13" fish. I tried it up in the water column reeling fast, and then slow, I tried hopping it and ripping it like a jerkbait but the only way they would hit it was to reel it very slow along the bottom, I would let it hit bottom and start reeling and then slow down to feel the bottom and when I'd hit the bottom I'd go just a little bit faster so that I was just ticking the bottom every few feet, that was how they wanted it. I caught 4 of them with a 4" Easy Shiner as the trailer but I switched to a 4" fluke to see if it made a difference and I caught 2 on that so it seems both an action type trailer as well as a simple fluke both work. I think if I would have simply fished it the way it was working I could have done even better but I really wanted to try it out to learn how this works in that cold water situation and low and slow seems to be the best bet for the fish head spin. I now have another arrow in my quiver so to speak and I think if you fish cold clear water it may be a good investment to pick a few up, I was using a 1/4oz with a 3/0 hook, if the fish are more aggressive next time I'll go with a 3/8oz with the 4/0 hook.

It cost me more than a dollar to make my spinnerbaits because I use high grade wire and top of the line Worth Ball Bearing swivels, those alone are 70 cents each and then 20 cents for each skirt tab with a minimum of 2 so right there with swivel and skirt I'm at $1.10 not counting the wire, hooks, blades, beads and spacers, lead, 3D eyes, paint, top coat, and of course, time. So, if I used the cheapest pre-bent wire forms, crane swivels, and cheap hooks with the Chinese 3D eyes that are cheap but lack the quality of WTP Eyes, I probably could get my baits down to about a dollar. I'd love to see 1 of your creations and since you're looking for a cheaper place to buy components I was wondering where you were buying them from to begin with. I'll see if I can paste a picture of one of my baits for reference.

Most custom soft plastic guys that do tubes will match the color but be prepared to buy 10 bags or more, it doesn't pay them to do a color match for 2 or 3 bags of baits.

Yo-Zuri 3DB jerkbait is very good, for less erratic acton you can go to the Yo-Zuri 3DS minnow. The Elite 8 Rattlin' Rogues have been fantastic and my best value award goes to the Storm Twitch Stick!!! The Storm Twitch Stick is an incredible $5 bucks at TW but it has good hooks that are pretty stout and it has a triggering property that I only ever saw on a Luck Craft Pointer, when you stop it dead after a few rips, it has a little wobble or vibration, awesome bait and even if it was 48 or $9 bucks I'd still get some. The size 10 suspends pretty good between 54 and 48 degrees, the size 8 needs a single suspend dot. If you shop at Cabelas they have an exclusive Rogue called the G-Finish Rogue, those are getting used a lot when I have sunny conditions, the black glass and Tennessee Shad have been my favorites with an honorable mention on Tablerock Shad when it is overcast and the water has a slight stain.

I have been using a 7'2" M-MF Fenwick HMG casting rod going on my second full season and it is, without a doubt, the best square bill rod I ever used. Not only square bills but traps and medium divers like the DT6, DT Flat 7 and even a DT 10 all fish really well on it. The rod was strange to me at first, it is rated 3/8oz to 1oz but it is a medium power, kind of odd and I thought maybe it will be too light but not at all. The rods has a soft tip section found on a typical medium power rod but it gets into the backbone quickly like a fast action but being it is a medium power the flex will go further down the blank than a fast action and all of that together makes it great. The soft tip lets the fish get the bait but it hits that stronger section really fast so that pulling a bait through cover or ripping traps off of grass doesn't take but a quick jerk, but then when you hook up, you apply pressure and the rod really loads but it isn't quite parabolic, soft on top but strong through the lower mid section, it is awesome and at the price, well that makes it that much better.

Get a medium power, fast action carbonlite from BPS, the MH is going to be overkill for the finesse stuff.