iceintheveins

Unless the water is murky, nothing beats grubs and tubes for all around effectiveness usually.

I fish Colorado's Yampa River, which is a steep dropping canyon river filled with big smallies. In fall, rivers are at their lowest of the year and clearest (unless a recent rainstorm has been through). I like fishing deeper areas with cover, especially rocks. The more rocks and more current breaks, the better. In the evenings, smallies will be in water barely deep enough to cover their backs feeding on crayfish. I like natural crayfish colored tubes and grubs with 1/8 to 1/4 ounce heads. In really slow areas a 1/16th ounce head can be best. Medium sized crayfish or baitfish colored cranks, 1/4 ounce spinnerbaits, senkos, and inline spinners round out my repertoire, but don't forget buzzbaits, prop baits, and poppers for topwater bites. I would go with low vis 6 - 8 pound test mono or copoly.

I use the telescopic lure retriever from bass pro shops that's 18' long. If you can reach the bait with it you WILL get it back. The hounddog type retriever with the heavy weight doesn't work as well but it can go deeper than the 18' pole and can get some baits back.

Thanks guys. A lot of info was pretty much what I expected but some was different.

Good idea.

Vanish is total junk, for either a main line or leader. Weak, brittle crap!

All the brine leaked out of a jar of my pork frogs somehow. To keep them from drying out, would it be okay to use a brine of dechlorinated tapwater and salt to replace what was lost?

I do well on most all topwater lures, but I was just wondering what in conditions do you select the following baits over another type of topwater? When to select a popper? When to select a prop bait? When to select a dog walker? When to select a frog? When to select a buzzbait? When to select a jitterbug?

DON'T SET THE HOOK TILL THE FISH DRAGS IT UNDER AND YOU FEEL HIM PULLING!

Tubes, Grubs - 6 pound test Lighter cranks, jerkbaits, 1/4 ounce and lighter spinnerbaits, and inline spinners - 6 Pound Test Poppers, prop baits, senkos, soft jerkbaits, smaller walkers - 8 pound test Heavier spinnerbaits, deeper cranks, buzzbaits - 10 - 12 pound test With smallies I don't go lighter than 6 pound test, and heavier than 10- 12 pound test is rarely needed. You wouldn't have to use heavier than that with largemouth either if they didn't live in such heavy cover.

I'll look into them.

Does the stiffer texture of the Tru Tungsten's make the hook setting tougher?

Does the frog float at rest?

AGREED But sometimes the skirt will get caught up in the blade. Just trim the top part of the skirt and you'll be fine. I've had that happen a couple times with them too.

I do well not pulling the lure away from a fish on a topwater take, but I think overall I still do better on unseen strikes.

For me, usually the slowest possible retrieve and letting the spinnerbait fall, using a stop and go retrive works best.

I still think so. Our highs right now during midday here in Colorado are around 80 degrees still and the high and bright sun still makes the bite tougher.

Most of us know that having your crankbait make contact with and deflect off objects like rocks or wood triggers a lot more strikes than a simple straight retrieve. Does working the crank with a stop and go retrieve, adding the occasional jerk, or changing the direction in which you are reeling tend to have a similiar effect in areas where there isn't a whole lot of cover to make contact with?

Nope. It works slow on the surface and has a unique action. Great buzzbait.

The spros get strikes for sure, but sometimes they leak like a sieve. One day I did hook 8 bass on a spro but all spit the hook. That was on mono though and not braid.

I need to try the ragetail shads.

Dang I feel bad for you throwing those lures out. Spinnerbaits work best in certain waters, as do buzzbaits. There are waters they don't work as well in, but they are almost always a lure you need to have in your boat. I carry spinnerbaits year round and buzzbaits anytime the water is over 60 degrees. Generally I find a stop and go retrieve, as slow as possible, works best with a spinnerbait. With buzzbaits, working the lure as slowly as possible while still keeping it gurgling on the surface seems to be the key to me. Some of my biggest bass have come off of buzzbaits. Spinnerbaits might be the most versatile lure around.

X raps are my favorite jerkbaits. I throw them out and get them down to working depth, which is usually about 4 feet. When I jerk the bait I jerk the rod tip straight down, and sometimes will throw slack into the line and twitch on the slack line, which seems to make it move side to side more. The main thing is to vary the length of your pauses and the amount of jerks, and intensity of jerks between pauses. X raps are the most aggressive, with LC pointers more subtle, and Husky Jerks even more subtle than pointers. I find with the more subtle jerkbaits, your "jerks" shouldn't be as hard.

Direct tie with a rapala knot.

I fish on average about 50 - 60 days per year, or about 1.3 times per week when averaged out.