Curved

Great advice as usual WRB. Really appreciate the depth. I've been reading Iovino's book per your suggestion and its great. Thanks again!

The best one I can remember was this one time I was jigging for crappie. I felt a bite and set the hook. Reeled it in and everything seemed normal, except there was a bit more resistance than usual for the amount of fight. As the fish got closer, I could see it was a bluegill sideways, as though tangled on the line. As I took it out of the water, I could see what happened. The hook wasn't in his mouth, but instead stuck in some of its scales on its side. The fish must have spit the hook out before I set it, but the hook still caught some of its scales. I had a laugh, unhooked and threw it back in.

That tiny spinner is good looking. I have some small ones for crappie, but they aren't quite that quality. Thanks for all the recommendations everyone.

Thanks for the feedback all. I was considering getting a 100 pack of gammy hooks and just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out. Seems like the consensus is TroKars are good but only worth it if it counts, and for my purposes it probably doesn't. A Gamakatsu 100 pack is about equal to 20 TroKar hooks, so I think I'll be fine without going all the way.

Wish I could come but it looks like any more people and the boats will be sunk.

Have you used them and do you like them?

So I tryed a 4" powerworm on a splitshot rig. I have to say I'm sold after the first cast landed a fish and several more afterwards. I want to try dropshotting next. Also I ordered Don Iovino's book WRB and look forward to the read. Thanks for all the help everyone.

IMO, the best deal is whatever's on sale. At that price range, I'd be looking for some kind of carbon rod (doesn't really matter as long as its the right size/action) and a 6-10 BB reel. Just did this deal myself and couldn't ask for a better combo at that price: http://amzn.com/B00498225U By the way, I've been impressed with the Quantum Triax combos which are MSRP $70 but you can find them everywhere for $30-50.

I was at the tackle shop next to my home lake today and they told me the story of the most recent pike citation. While fishing for crappie, someone landed a 10 lb pike on ultralight tackle and 4 lb line! There's even pictures to prove it. A small miracle must have taken place to keep the line from being cut on the pike's teeth.

Just got a Quantum combo myself with a Q-Vex 10 reel and QX48 5'6" light rod. I made a thread about the 50% off deal I found for it. It's not at the same level as the other recommendations here, but it's a normally $80 combo that's being agreeable to use. Figured that I'd chime in and say I'm enjoying the lighter tackle and faster action versus my old medium composite rod.

Oh, I like this one. Hey, I was looking at it on the net and I saw lake fork also has a Live Baby Shad that's an inch smaller, and about the size of that crappie lure I've been using. Do you have any experience with it? http://www.basspro.com/Lake-Fork-Trophy-Lures-Live-Baby-Shad-Swimbait/product/10221552/#description

Thanks, I just picked up some zoom 4" shaky heads today for dropshotting. I talked to the baitshop owner and she said some of the wall photos came off dropshots, so that's a great sign. I'll keep my eyes open for a bag of those at the local fishing dives. That lure comes in some great colors. I have tried some tiny cranks in the past and didn't have a lot of luck. I'm planning on trying some again though so I'll keep the Little N in mind. I grabbed some locally poured 4" cigars today and will report back on how they work. Will keep the spinners in mind. Two recommendations for Norman products -- will definitely look into them. Similar presentation to dropshot recommendation above -- I'll try running in this direction. I've had some luck with a 3" grub and took a look at the f7 and f9 today. I don't think there's shad in my lake, but there's tons of baby sunfish. Thanks for the advice ... I'm starting to feel less crazy going so small. What do you mean by T-rigged, unpegged? I've got a pack of small yum craws that I'll put to good use. Diet has been something I've been trying to figure out. Sometimes I'll see a big 20" bass float by 5" bluegills and they don't give chase and the gills don't run away. I'm sure they could eat them if they wanted to, but they don't seem interested. I know there are crawfish in the lake, but I don't see them that often when I turn over rocks. The only thing I've positively seen bass feed on is fingerling bluegills, redears, and bass in the 1-2" range. I've seen bass up to 18" sitting in the shallows stalking these fingerlings. That's made me believe their staple is fingerling fish. I run 8 lb flouro. Do you think that's a good fit for the downsized lures?

Thanks MIbassin. I haven't tried dropshotting a whole lot so I'll have to give it another round.

Great advice here. I'll echo the part about being stealthy. Casting past obstacles and down bank is where I get a lot of my best surprises. I store my tackle in a small fanny pack that's barely long enough for my pliers/multitool. In it I'll keep 2 or 3 different rig loadouts that I'll switch depending on what I'm fishing for. I'll bring only one rod. Casting across body with the rod tip pointed down or twirling the lure around the rod can help in tight spots and make the lure land more silently.

I'm still pretty new to fishing, as in I started actually looking up how to fish and caring about technique in January. I've heard the most important thing to good fishing is experimentation, thinking about what you're doing, and listening to advice. So doing those things over and over, I've started to get better at catching fish. When I started I'd skunk every time, now I'm catching fish every time I go, and they're steadily getting bigger and bigger. So my home lake, Lake Frederick in northern VA, is heavily pressured and supposed to be tough to fish. I'm starting to get a bead on what the fish want there, and the pattern I'm developing is one I have not heard before. I spent months trying various normal sized lures -- cigars, worms, crawfish, cranks -- anything and everything. However, I rarely got a bite. I got frustrated watching big fish swim right by the lures I'd cast out. It got to the point that I started fishing for smaller fish since they're easier to catch. However, I started catching fish larger than what I was shooting for. That was a few months ago, and this morning I caught a 5 lb large mouth on a 3" worm wacky rigged. A few weeks ago I caught a 6 lb LMB on a 3" grub. I'm also having success with a 2" crappie grub, catching a few 1-3 lber LMB each time I go out. I sometimes go back to trying normal sized bass lures and -- nothing. Has anyone seen something like this before? Also, can you recommend me any lures or techniques if you think you know what's going on?

I'd say go smaller and slower/more wounded. When I see fish do that, I think what's happening is they see the lure and are deciding whether its real or not. A smaller lure is harder to see so they have more time to get excited before they are on it.

Heck of a deal for $10. I've loved ultralight tackle since I started using it. On my setup I have 6lb line on a 6'6" Quantum xtralite. I use it mostly for crappie and other panfish, but I've caught plenty of 2+ lb bass on it. Its a lot of fun to play the bigger fish while bringing them in. With the drag properly set and you can and land some large fish on UL tackle.

Yup, I use 8 lb flouro most of the time for my bass fishing and it works great. Also, the thin wire hooks I've been using lately set with light tension. Sometimes when the fish swim away they set themselves. The Lazer Crappie Rotating #2 has been my favorite bass hook for a couple months, but I've been going even crazier lately trying a size 12 baitholder hook (tiny) for bass fishing and it's been working pretty well. People laugh when I show them the hooks I'm catching fish on, but yesterday I caught a few LMB in the 2-3 lb range on a #12 hook rigged a unique way on a 2" tail grub and 6 lb flouro line. A little physics for you: the smaller the gap of the hook, the lighter the wire for the same strength.

I like me some Quantum reels, so I had to grab this deal when I saw it. MSRP is $80 and other places I've seen it around $65 shipped online. 10 BB reel & IM8 rod. http://amzn.com/B00498225U Intend to replace my SMB wade fishing setup with it. Figured I'd share and I hope someone gets some mileage out of this deal.