iabass8

Downsize that weight. Rate of fall can be everything. A 1/2oz weight /w a pit boss weighs am awful lot more tham a 1/2 oz jig and falls like a rocket.

yes it's a smaller, lighter spool which is why they are very good at throwing light baits.

cane thumper adds a little more side to side action to the vibrating jig. despite what *** just posted, they aren't durable for #%^# but I do like them as a trailer.

which lock and dam/pool? I'd probably be able to give you more specifics as I fish pools 9-13 all the time.When the water is stable directly below the dam the fishing can be fantastic and almost every cash can produce a fish. When the flow/stage increase the largemouth move back out of the stronger current in pockets that can be pitched to as close as the shore line. If there is any sort of cut /creek that leads to a backwater area below the dam (most do have some sort channel or deep pocket within a short distance) the baitfish you are seeing right now (the shad spawn) will move out of this current into "lesser" current but and the fish will stack up right out of the current. this is a big pattern up and down the pools right now. the the smallmouth don't avoid the current right now as the flow isn't that high. they will still be there. football jigs are your best friend right now. you will be able to feel the boulders and drop the jig off them on a slack line so they fall straight behind them. they are the current breaks for the smallmouth. As far as color goes I've tinkered a lot of the yearsand finally came up with 3 solid patterns that will produce almost everywhere on the river but white is not one of them...unless it's a swim jig. swim jigs/football jigs/squarebills are all I'm throwing right now in tournaments and fun fishing with the occasional spook/frog. This is a great year for fishing on the river. almost forgot..shakey heads are killer on the boulders as well. rage tail baby craws seem to work better for the small mouth and zoom 7' finesse worms work better for the largemouth. you can pitch trig beavers or craws on these rocks where theres lots of feeding and catch tons of fish but the average size will drop a lot. as far as jig size 3/8 is plenty. you don't want to dead stick the jig in the boulder or you are just going to lose them as the heavier weights will get caught up more. 3/8 seems to be the perfect median to keep the jig in one spot on the rocks but still moving if that makes sense. i only use 1/2 oz footballs in strong flow dragging downstream towards me or i'm in a little deeper water.

squarebills, rattle traps, swimming caffeine shad, 1/4oz blade baits.

get one 3700 plano box for cranks/topwaters. it will save you space with other boxes.

the majority of the reels have fluoro and i only fill roughly the same as brian above(65ish yds). The reels that have braid on them i usually use more of the spool with braid and less backing because i need extra line to bomb swim jigs/frogs in certain areas. 1 spool of fluoro gets me 3 reels and 1 spool of braid gets me 2. each reel only costs roughly 9-10$ to spool using this criteria.

A good day for me is finding that magical school of largemouth and smallmouth all feeding on baitfish in the same area where you can throw any lure you want and it will get bit. I love those days.

3/8oz brush jig in blue craw /w rage craw matching trailer.

the lettering you see represents the current model. i.e G is the latest model and E was the model prior while D was before that etc..the number after the letter i.e 200e7 means it's a 200 size in the E series in the 7:1 gear ratio. e6 is the 6:3 and 5 is the 5:1(might be 5:3 but you get the idea)I like the 50 size reels for trigs/jigs as they palm easier and are much more comfortable. make sure you put the different sizes of the 200 and the 50 to make sure you know which is more comfortable when using them. if you pitching and use jigs/trigs as much as I do then wrist fatigue and comfort is something to look into. line capacity is a non issue unless you are routinely trying to bomb jigs every cast (i'm usually pitching maybe 10 yds..casting on occasion..and use 16-20# line on 51es and 51 mgs and don't have to change fluoro out that often.

i always cut the skirt around 1/4 in below the hook bend. it gives the skirt more flare.

palomar

dobyns champion extreme 745 would be perfect. it's one of my favorite jig rods.

for some reason or another pink (bubblegum) is a smallouth killer. I'm sure the orange color you purchased will work somewhere. white will work almost everywhere and can be altered very easily with jj's magic/spike it.

the 893 for sure would be the ideal rod for you. Most rep samples do come with the Wild Card but for safety measures make sure yours comes with it or there could be a very costly mishap down the road.

drew benton and cliff pirch are both phenix rod pro staffers. there are also numerous other pros listed on their face book page

you will learn hopefully sooner than later that it is so much easier to just take a treble hook lure off rather than leaving it on in your car before you have to conduct surgery on coats, boots and seats.

that's an easy one. asking how many anglers use a leader that punch mats or thick vegetation in florida. all that is done with straight braid. one could argue that doing so is a "reaction bite" but you will often punch the mat and the bass will follow the bait to the bottom and wait for you to shake it on the bottom until it bites. it would depend on the water clarity as well. if the water is extremely dirty then it would be more than possible double digit bass was caught dragging large creature bait or pitching to brush. I'm sure there's more than one person on this board that has done it as well. clear water bass are obviously more "weary" of presentations that it takes perfect presentations to fool the older, larger bass that didn't get that big being fooled by fishing pressure.

I can't believe roadwarrior deleted his comment in this post. I hope more people than me saw it. It was hilarious.

I purchased a handful of the zoom WEC cranks for a price that was almost unfair it was so low. they seem to constantly out perform most of my squarebills so i only use them if money is on the line.

it just means they don't come with salt is all.

I use a rod by the company "ESP". 6'6 UL i primarily use it wading streams for trout but it is a great panfish rod as well. Has a Tennessee grip as well. i use a sahara 1000 and 4# stren magnathin.

I've been interested in these rods for a while now. I too haven't heard many negative things about them. The only drawback to the rod is the one year warranty that steers me away.

my home waters are the mississippi river pools so i have to have a dedicated swim jig rod. i throw 1/4 oz most of the time. i throw them on a dobyns 733 in just about everything.

i fish quite a few dobyns rods from savvy to champ extreme.i use braid on a couple set ups with no issues in grooving. you are fine it's just noisy. enjoy the rod, it's a nice one.