iceintheveins

Big spinnerbaits with a black skirt and a single Colorado black blade, buzzbaits, big jig and pigs, prop baits, and shallow running, loud crankbaits/wakebaits like a Bandit Footloose, Strike King Spence Scout, and the Mann's 1 Minus.

One of the best medium/deep fat crankbaits around. Great for banging off cover.

I do well on Spit N' Images, fish em just like a spook. The swim n' image is a great shallow crankbait, and the poppin' image is one of my favorite poppers.

I prefer jigs for heavy wood or rip rap cover.

I have caught bass on topwaters in the low 50s, but the bite turns on after the temp hits the low 60s.

I use them in heavy cover, especially once the weeds get thick starting in late May and early June.

Senkos all the way. I do like the gulp minnow grubs and gulp minnows though. If you buy gulp alive, be careful to seal it really well because if you don't you will get the liquid all over your tackle. The gulp grubs do have good action.

I always try to use as little amount of weight as possible. I use heavy weights in deep water or I peg the weights in heavy cover. Usually in deep water though, I use a carolina rig. Texas rigs are best in shallow areas.

Banjo minnows catch fish, but flukes, sluggos, and bass assassins are better. They cast further, have better action, sink better, and hook fish much better.

Safe to say I will go with the Shimano. How well does the VBS perform in minimizing backlashes?

Anybody here use the Xrap 12 for bass? I would think it should be pretty good when bass are keying on larger forage or when you need to get down a bit deeper. I have caught nice ones on it by accident (both largemouth and smallmouth) when pike fishing.

Are you going to be fishing free flowing rivers or reservoir/rivers like the Tennessee or lower Holston?

I see the Johnny Morris Signature Series baitcasters are on sale for $129.99. Are they better than the curados or not as good? Verdict on them?

I like the XR8s in olive shad, perch, and black/gold for bass. The XR 10s are good for bass as well though.

That's been my experience with them too. I have my best luck by far with a stop and go retrieve and then snapping a lipless crank forward.

1. Senkos 2. Flukes/Sluggos/Bass Assassins 3. Shallow Cranks 4. Spinnerbaits 5. Deep Cranks 6. Poppers/Buzzbaits For Topwater Time Pretty much the same rotation I always use. I'll also use big lizards and bigger worms but they aren't usually numbers baits.

Try frogs, like the spro bronze eye and bronze eye popper. Work the edges with buzzbaits too. Also try bigger worms and lizards of at least 6" rigged with a pegged sinker of about an ounce in weight to punch through the thick mat.

Ohhh yea that's it, they are really doing all of us an environmental injustice... :-? Just don't like it when government interferes so much in our lives that they harm our fishing opportunities by closing lakes to the public that owns them.

Thanks wrangler. They look sweet.

Interesting. I hook mine opposite of you. I hook mine through the belly, out the back and very slightly bury the hook point into the back. I also never weight them. Never let them get deeper than a foot or two... mostly I use an erratic, jumping out of the water, fast as all get out retrieve. Never let it sit for more than a second or two. As pure of a reaction bite as I can describe. I catch a bunch of fish this way, and it is not like they want it... they just do not want their buddies to get it! Even using this method I have a poor hook set percentage due to the slack line bite... I could not even imagine how many I would miss using a slower, more deliberate method. White, or a lighter color seems to work best for me regardless of water clarity or temperature. That retrieve will work. Usually I let mine sink a lot, an by using 6 - 10 pound test I can fish the fluke DEEP with twitches and long pauses, often in 10 - 12 feet of water. Seems the dying baitfish retrieve really mops the largemouth up. Smallies and pike like a somewhat faster retrieve.

Anyone here do that well on them? Seems to me they have great color and size selection, but their action is lacking compaired to Rat L Traps, XPS Shads, and Super spots. I have caught a few on them, but I don't have much confidence in them? Am I wrong and do they work as well as the others, or am I onto something?

I'm looking to get another baitcaster. What reel seems to have the best breaking system, ie controlling backlashes, for under $150? A higher capacity reel would be best, at least 150 yards of 12 pound line, but it doesn't for sure have to be.

All I can say is: SCREW THOSE ENVIRO MARXIST TYRANTS WHO ARE BASICALLY CHASING US OFF OF OUR OWN LAKES DUE TO "AQUATIC HITCHHIKING SPECIES!"

If you live in N. Idaho, go fish the Payette or Snake for big smallies, or even the Hells Canyon Reservoirs system.

Unless it's during runoff, go fish the Yakima. Might take you two plus hours from Spokane though, maybe three. I think FDR and Banks lake have good smallie fishing too.