bleedingshrimp

Thanks. Do you have any recommendations on a good rod reel combo?

I want to get a decent setup for saltwater pier fishing. Can anyone recommend a good setup and maybe some ideas for rigging outside of the standard bottom rig? Will mainly be just drowning shrimp and squid for croaker, blue, flounder, trout and hopefully striped bass.

Lol. His drop shot is great! Heavy action rod?

That one is a bonafide hawg...nice smallie too. At least it looks like a smallie.

Fat Bottom Jig

Yep. They hit those things like a bullet.

I was sucessful using spinners for the first time today actually. I was throwing 3/8 oz booyah on 30 lb. braid. M/f 7'0 bc equipment. I paralleled the bank throwing from about 20 yards out. I was surprised just how shallow it could be effective at. Here are some tips I picked up.... + use a trailer hook. + reel slack, pop the rod after cast to get the blade moving + throw around and in between timber or any stick ups or laydowns. + don't be afraid to bump into said cover + vary retrieve, reel til you see the blade flash, then slow downand work it through the water column.

The buzzbait bite fell off rather quickly so I tossed a spinnerbait and caught several. wasn't a confidence bait for me until today. Here is the biggest. 4.2 lb. That's my pb since I've been using s scale

Ok. So a moderate action rod for treble hooks like spooks and cranks so it doesn't rip the hooks out of their mouth? Are there line and ratio considerations for cranking? How about jigging? Can you effectively use one setup for flipping and swimming?

I suppose I should say dedicated setup....including line and reel. Lots on here state 50 lb. braid for frogs, which is a bit heavy for most other purposes, no?

I know frog fishing does, what other techniques need a dedicated setup? Which setups serve multiple applications? I have a bps pq bc reel on a bps tourney special 7'0 m/f and a pflueger president spinning on a bps graphite series 6'6 m/f. 30lb Braid on bc , 8 lb mono on spinning. I figure that is sufficient , if not ideal, for weightless senkos, buzzbait, spinnerbait, drop shot, and light cranking. I'd like to add one...maybe two more setups...what you guys think?

Oh, maybe he was confused or trying to sell me.....lol...either way I didn't get one. Only had 6' 6 left in stock.

The bass pro near my house had these rods marked down from $100 on clearance for 70. The clerk said they were being discontinued....not sure but wanted to give yall heads up.

Butt crack of dawn..buzzbaits....long casts to shore. Once the topwater bait dies...I'm with you...sun burnt and nothing much doing. You could take the opportunity to try and work on new lures and presentations.

What..you mean why don't they just make the top solid colored and simple?....then how would they justify charging us $10 a pop? ;-)

Also. Every body of water out here that I fished is stained at minimum...so even obvious underwater structure seems undetectable after 2 ft or so.

Ok. Those are good suggestions...but without sonar (which I will have eventually), how do you decide where to throw a carolina rig , crank, or drop shot at without being able to reference the water depth. I feel like I'm not being productive just casting out to the middle of bowl shaped reservoirs.

Thats a good point too. Sometimes you don't want alot of movement out of your trailer hook.

In a pinch, those damaged rubber baits that can no longer be texas rigged are good. A tiny piece and stick the main hook through it and down to the bend will keep the trailers from backing off. As a last resort if you only have a few trailer hooks is to take the tubing, run it over the eye of the trailer hook so the entire eye has tube around it, then run your main hook through both tube and eye of trailer hook. This method is very secure but you sacrifice the ability to have the trailer hook move freely.

I can fish a jig as a finesse method but to make this technique a search or moving technique I guess I need to swim them. Are there jigs that are equally effective for both swimming and flipping? For instance cast to structure jig a few times....no bite...swim it back to boat.And better yet is there a length, action, and strength of rod that is good for both these ways.

I do own a few spinnerbaits and have never had much luck on them. Do you anchor deep and fancast toward shore or anchor shallow and cast parallel with bank. I am always snagging timber, do you try to keep the spinnerbait higher in the water column when fishing lay downs so you can see it?

Howdy BR- I'm not in a position where I fish large lakes and use sonar. I fish primarily small lakes and reservoirs under 200 acres. I fish from jons, and relate to visual cover and conditions and not underwater structure. So, topwater moving baits and spooks are obviously my best friend. Not because of the visual strike, but because I can recognize areas of the lake and conditions where this technique will produce, and it is evident (either the lure is churning along or not) if you are doing it effectively. Obviously, this limits me to certain areas of the lake and prevailing conditions to be effective What I need help with, bass resource, is more techniques or lures that meet the following criteria.... 1. Does not rely on sonar or knowledge of underwater structure to be effective, and is easy to visualize areas of the lake (banks,cover, shadow, vegetation) where it's effective. 2. Covers lots of water efficiently. 3. Provides visual or tactile feedback that helps reinforce proper technique. Easily recognizable strike zone. What are these techniques? How do you fish them and on what equipment? I hope that makes sense..lol. Thanks

Nice job! How far was your bait from the weight and how were you working it?

Nice smallie!

All the great info on these board has helped me immensely. Was able to convert to baitcasting gear and braided line without too much headache and the bps pro qualifier was an easy choice with all the feedback here. 2Lb 15 oz on zara super spook jr. Thx guys