bassinyea

Now that the fish are moving to their offshore spots, I have been having some luck with a hair jig fishing it on rocky ledges. I dont fish it a lot around stumps and brush because it gets hung up a lot. So far I have been using the cumberland prayer jig and I like it. I only have the 1/2 oz size. Just seeing if any of you on here have much experience fishing these lures and if so what size do you like the best. Have been wondering if the faster fall of the 3/4 seems to draw more strikes.

This is true. It definitely is a bait that has good action and will catch fish, just trying to say that it is not "the jerkbait" or magic lure of any sort like so many of the people pushing it are trying to make it out to be. 9 dollar price point for this bait is a decent price.

Shadow Rap came out with lot of hype because it was introduced at the classic and a few people caught some fish on it. At the end of the day it is just a jerkbait and pretty much any that you can buy will catch fish. I have one and laying side by side next to a vision 110, I would pick up the vision ten out of ten times. Both baits have erratic action, but it comes down to casting. Rapala should have made the shadow rap with a weight transfer system like the lucky crafts and 110s have. Helps so much with casting when the wind is blowing which everyone knows is when jerkbaits shine the best.

Aurora black and chartreuse shad are some of lucky crafts best colors. Buddy of mine has had the paint eaten off his aurora black gunfish.

Gunfish for sure. 95 and 115 sizes.

I personally like the ones with the inserts. My favorite is Reins tungsten they make a very high quality sinker.

Funny you mention those, when I just made my order at TW last night I was looking at the Uptons UC worms and thought about ordering some. Seem to me a lot like a lot of the custom pours and look very soft. As many worms as I run through on c-rigs it is hard for me to justify spending 6 dollars on a 10 pack of worms. I have always done well with Zoom trick worms as well but wanted something with the slim tail profile.

Anybody ever use this worm on a carolina rig? How did you like the action? I used to do really well on worms of this style on a carolina rig, one being the V&M super pork pin. Those are getting a lot harder to find nowadays though. The skinny tail seemed to add some good subtle action that really got bit.

Lake Gaston is a really nice lake. Main bass patterns throughout the year usually revolve around fishing docks and hydrilla, which there are tons of both at Gaston. When Kerr is getting a lot of rain and they are running a lot of water through Gaston it can get pretty muddy at times, especially up the river. Creeks usually have good water clarity year round.

Most people mess up by using snaps on lures that they have to actively set the hook on. Use snaps for your treble baits and don't ever fish jigs, worms, etc with snaps because you are creating such a violent shock on that connection when you set the hook. I have used them with treble baits for years and never lost a fish to one bending out. I use the mustads as A-Jay described and the kahara duo locks, both are quality snaps.

Deep divers, swimbaits, monster worms, jigs, flutter spoons. Shakeyhead and drop shots when the bite is tough.

If you are throwing really light lures with this reel, say 3/16 to 1/4 oz turn all 4 of the centrifugal brakes on, set magnets about halfway and then adjust the tension knob a little tighter than you usually would. This reel to me feels just a little bit more free on the cast control than my other lews I have. You may have to sling it a little harder to cast these lighter lures but it will still get decent distance and you wont have to worry about backlashes.

So I was going through my retired lures tacklebox that I have where I place baits that I thought either sucked or have caught a bunch of fish and were retired. Stumbled across 2 swimbaits that at first had no idea what they were. After some thinking I remembered what they were. They are original hollow belly swimbaits by berkley. Gotta say they look pretty nice. Just checked online to look at some and seems like they are no where to be found hardly. Did they stop production on these or something? Anybody got some info?

Blue Craw.

This. Obviously the heavier the bait you have will stay down better. Don't own any of these but the smaller the blade on the jig is, the tighter action and deeper it will run.

Up until about 5 years ago I never had one with me. Now after using one for the past five years, I feel like an idiot that it took me that long to get one. I fish a lot of crankbaits and literally would never be caught on the lake without one. I have mine attached to a 30 ft. retractable dog leash and it works great. The one I use is the one they sell at Bass Pro Shops its green and has 4 chains attached to it. I also added a 3 oz egg sinker above the retriever to give it some more weight and will sink down in the water against the resistance of the dog leash. That way I don't have to keep feeding it line from the leash so it will sink. Sinks a lot faster and hits the bait harder, too. Paid for itself first trip. I lost my lure retriever one day trying to get a bait back, the chains got caught on the hooks and something on the bottom and I pulled so hard trying to get it free that the leash broke. I didn't throw a crankbait the rest of the day just for fear that I couldn't get it back. I would say I have about a 98% retrieval rate.

An old one I have says Wiggle Wart on the bottom of the bill in small black lettering. The newer ones say Storm on the bottom of the bill.

Central NC they started to hit it pretty good a couple of weekends ago when clouds/front started coming in before we had a big rain. Weather has cooled down since then and they havent been on it quite as good. Im expecting it to be pretty good from here on until June, most fish around here have finished spawning with just a few that havent. If you know your fish are postspawn and not hitting on top yet, they still might be in the funk period right after they finish. Usually takes a week or two for them to recover but when they do they start smashing topwater.

Remember reading a while back that KVD is adamant about using a 5:x gear ratio reel for his squarebills as well as when fishing deep diving crankbaits.

I have been using these as well and they work great. Also freedom tackle has the same setup with football head design. It is nice to be able to switch the hook to whatever size you need and these heads will let you pull your swimbait through the heaviest cover you can find. I use my hydra heads around standing timber with a 5 or 6 inch keitech.

I have the spinning rod version of the avid x. It is a really nice rod. Little bit lighter than the regular avid and the guides are different.

what do you mean when you say the clutch is engaged before you start? Thumb bar down or up? If you press the thumb bar down and fling the spool as fast as you can and then engage your handle you are basically doing the same thing as engaging your reel in the middle of a cast which is not a good thing to do.

I have seen the megabass stealth flash color. It is very similar to another megabass color called deadly black illusion. The STX stealth flash looks a lot more silvery to me and not quite as dark from the picture I saw online. Megabass' stealth flash color is a very dark slate holographic color and has almost a gold tinge to it when light hits it at the right angle. Me likey..

I am thinking you are talking about the mustad grip pin max? Best hook I have used so far. Thick enough to keep from bending or flexing but thin enough to easily get good penetration. Grip pin holds the bait in place really well. First trokars I ever bought the point rolled over on them after just a couple of fish so I never bought anymore.

I like the revenge swimbait heads and also use some of the picasso smartmouth heads. You can buy both of these in a bigger hook version incase you want to fish a larger size swimbait on a smaller weighted head. I fish the keitechs on lighter jigheads than I do most others just because they are really salt impregnated and have some good weight to them.