iceintheveins

Yep, I cast them a MILE on my baitcasters with 10 or 12 pound test. The quarter ounce Rat L trap casts fairly well too.

I think because you can fish them at so many different depths and retrieve speeds/methods. A slow rolled spinnerbait is also a good coldwater presentation for neutral or lethargic fish. So a spinnerbait is always one of the first lures I reach for in the early pre spawn.

I've forgot it a couple times but they said just make sure to have it next time. One made me quit fishing but the other said I could keep fishing since he knew me. Getting caught without one is a $100 fine around here first offense and 5 or 10 points on your license (20 points means a suspension). I think the whole confiscating gear is HORRIBLE and of questionable constitutionality, but they generally only do that for severe offenses, of which I think it's fine UPON conviction. If you get your stuff taken, even temporarily, for not having a license (unless you're a habitual offender), the punishment DOES NOT fit the crime.

Well d**n they only sent me one when I ordered one.

Has anyone used the new P line tactical fluoro yet? The original 100% fluoro from P line has fairly low memory and decent strength, but the abrasion resistance is only mediocre. Hoping the Tactical will be better and stronger, it's only a couple bucks more expensive for the size of spool you get.

I would float with a raft, canoe, or oar powered John Boat. Wouldn't want to take a glass boat on it in the free flowing areas. Perfection would be an aluminum boat with a Jet outboard.

Can't go wrong with a Veritas winch for an under $100 crank rod.

If you can get a Tatula for 100 bucks, go with that. Otherwise, the PQ is the best 100 dollar reel out there. I have four, and they have needed a bit of maitenence for the first time this year, after five hard years of use. They cast heavier baits better but still cast most 1/4 and 3/16 ounce lures quite well.

I use the Strike King 3 XD as my favorite small deep diver in depths of 7 to 12 feet. However it's casting distance is just mediocre. I picked up a couple Berkley Dredger 10.5s today, and automatically noticed they are heavier at 1/2 an ounce. How do they fish in comparison, depth wise, effectiveness, and also do they cast noticeably further than the 3XD?

Water Temp 40 - 50: Hard jerkbaits (water with 2' of visbility or more), lipless cranks, deep cranks, drop shot, jigs, and sometimes standard cranks or slow rolled spinnerbaits. Water Temp 50 - 60: Still the above, except I stop fishing jerkbaits when the water is consistently in the upper 50s because I just find other lures seem to produce better. Spinnerbaits get better and better at this water temp as well. Don't overlook Carolina Rigged Centipedes and Ring Fry type baits, or Ned Rigs if the water has around 2 feet of visbility or more. Use darker colors like black blue, red craw, firetiger, chartreuse craw, ect.

For value, you cannot beat Dynamic Lures J spec and Travado, or Deep Travado jerkbaits. Rattlin' Rogues work great and for under 10 bucks, X raps and Shadow Raps are fantastic. I love Lucky Craft pointers and have my share of them, and they catch tons of fish for sure and come with more quality hardware. The others fish as well as a pointer for me though. Still the pointer is worth having and I wouldn't hesitate to stock up, just have a telescoping style lure retriever and a hound dog type lure retriever as well, and you will seldom lose a bait.

I use 1/4 ounce lipless cranks a LOT, and most of them will throw a mile on baitcasting gear with 10 to 12 pound test, especially a red eye shad. Anytime you need them to stay at a depth off 6 feet or less, reach for the 1/4 ounce. The 1/2 ounce is perfect for moderate to moderately deep water and will throw like a rock on line up to 17 or 20 pound test. If you are fishing clear water with depths of less than 10 feet that doesn't have much cover, a 1/4 ounce is better, especially for a slower retrieve or a yo yo type retrieve.

The red eye shad for me is the best lipless crank, and it's pretty reasonably priced. Rat L Traps and Cordell Super Spots are a bit cheaper and they also work very well, they just don't yo yo as well. For a steady or stop and go retrieve with twitches, the trap and Super Spots are awesome. The Red Eye shad does it all though. The Savage Gear Fat Vibe is an awesome mid priced lipless as well.

Bass generally hang deeper in gin clear water, often in the 25 - 35 foot range. They can still be caught on hardbaits and spinnerbaits in low light or windy conditions, and topwaters still work in the cloudy and low light conditions, although they can work all day when schooling pelagic forage like shad are around, and you find a school busting on the surface. When conditions are calm in clear water, it's tougher, but drop shotting with colors that mimic the natural forage, shaky heads, ned rigs, and carolina rigs (especially centipedes and ring fry type baits) will still get you into some good fish. Since you have them on heavy cover as well though in the shallows, I would use compact or finesse jigs in green pumpkin or watermelon with a subtle trailer like a zoom super chunk junior, or a somewhat more aggressive trailer like a double tail grub or a paca chunk. The more wind and the lower the light, the more you can get away with bigger and more high action lures. Don't overlook senkos and flukes either in natural hues.

You can still get bit on spinnerbaits and crankbaits, especially with some surface chop, with a stop and go retrieve just outside the spawning areas. But for me post spawn is plastics, jigs, and topwater time.

Senkos, flukes, jigs, creatures, worms, and most any soft plastic you can think of. Also topwaters, generally in low light or cloudy conditions.

Correct, I was saying Blue Stone is copper sulfate. Sorry for the mix up.

They use Copper Sulfate I believe.

Correct, I know they aren't harmless but my research still shows the threat to be overblown. They need to start allowing bait shops, boat shops, and even anglers to inspect their own boats as long as they are certified. There are private sector solutions that don't limit liberty and our right to fish our own public, taxpayer funded waters. Even having anglers pay mussel fees and then sending that money to the public utilities in exchange for better access and more convenient inspections wouls be great.

Pepper custom baits spinnerbaits are compact and awesome. The 3/8 is the size of an average 1/4. They also have a clear water elite spinnerbait that is 1/2 of an ounce and has a 1/4 ounce profile.

I'm so sick of this mussel problem, mostly because of the inspection garbage, more than the way they effect the watersheds (which really isn't that bad).

Send me a private message. We have lots of harvest hogs/legalized poachers that keep bass just because they can. Our fisheries management wrongly has a hostile attitude toward bass as well since they are an introduced species

Yeah two times they have wanted nothing to do with jigs for me. It's all been on crankbaits or lipless cranks.

My two favorites are the Red Eye Shad and the Savage Gear Fat Vibe. Great action on the drop. Rat L Traps, Cordell Super Spots, and others catch plenty of fish though. For colors I like gold and silver chrome, firetiger, chartreuse sexy shad, red craw, bluegill, brown and green craws and also shad colors. The green gizzard shad color for the Red Eye Shad is a great general baitfish imitator for most species, whether shad or panfish. Fishing wise, it's usually a matter again of letting the bass tell you what they want by trying several different retrieves till you get bit. Usually I use a yo yo retrieve, a stop and go with twitches, or burning it. Since last fall, the bass for me have wanted a yo yo retrieve almost exclusively, the hits almost always coming on the fall.

When the water is cold, under 55 and less than 18" of visibility, do you guys prefer a thumping, high action chunk like a rage or paca or more of a dead action chunk like a zoom super chunk? As a rule I use the less active chunks in colder water, but was wondering if the thump would attract more bass in the low visibility even in cold water.