iceintheveins

If you are shore bound I would use light line for long casts. Fish rocky riprap areas. Curly tail grubs on 1/4 ounce or heavier jigheads, 4" senkos, 1/4 ounce lipless cranks, and deep running cranks are your best bet. There are a few largemouth in those lakes, except for Powell which has TONS of largemouth. In the other lakes they are few and far between.

I use a double uni knot to connect braid to fluoro or mono. I use about 3' of leader.

For mono I prefer Original Stren and P - Line CX Premium. For fluoro, I like the P - Line fluorocarbon or Seaguar.

If you are going with braid I would use 15 pound test. Casting reels call for braid of at least 8 pound diameter though, so usually around 30 pound test.

I like 6 - 10 pound test mono for the lightest poppers, walkers, and prop baits. For topwaters 3/8 of an ounce or over, I like 12 - 14 pound mono, and buzzbaits I use 14. For frogs, minimum 30 pound test braid with a 20 pound clear mono leader.

They seem to sink worse if I add weight on them.

I caught all the fish on curly tails and spinnerbaits. Do buzzbaits and topwaters work good when it's warmer? I love fishing buzzbaits against the current here on the Yampa. Pig smallies and pike crush them. Suskydude, what are your favorite lures for your namesake river?

My only time fishing that produced some big smallies like that, a channel cat, and a follow from a 35" musky. And the river was in flood stage when I was fishing it. I think it was over 20,000 cfs when I hit it. Now it's only about 4000 cfs.

Is that right by Binghamton or more toward Owego and Waverly? I love that river, and I've only fished it once. I have a great smallie fishery here locally in the Yampa River, but the Susky is better. Not to mention lots of eyes, big muskies, cats, and pike. How do the Chenango and Chemung Rivers fish for smallies?

Heber isn't that far from Logan so I would go fish Jordanelle.

Jordanelle Reservoir near Heber City is one of the best trophy smallie fisheries around. Deer Creek reservoir also has decent smallmouth, and of course Flaming Gorge and Lake Powell are fantastic smallie fisheries.

I'm already catching bass well on poppers here in Colorado, with water temps in the mid to high 60s.

Bass assassin makes a 7" mag shad assassin. Lunker city also makes 7" or bigger sluggos and fin s fish.

I love wiggle warts though too, as well as the fat free series.

Four Shad Raps (two size 5, two size 7) Two Bomber Fat A 1.5" Two Bomber Model 4A Two Bomber Fat A 2" Two Rebel Deep Wee R's Two Luhr Jensen Baby Hotlips That should cover you from top to bottom. Buy some in firetiger or black colors for murky water. Also buy natural baitfish and crawfish type colors.

I like power grubs the best, but Gulp Alive grubs might be even better. I like Yamamoto and Kalin grubs as well. Mr. Twister's exude series is pretty good too.

I've caught them in water temps as low as 60 on buzzbaits. They will begin to work about now up here in Colorado, so they should for sure in 'bama.

I fish them like a senko. They lack the same action a senko has though. They do catch fish, but senkos are better.

The store here in Grand Junction is still open but they don't restock as much.

They are best used as crankbaits. One of the best subtle cranks around.

I like to hook minnows throug the lips. Don't hook them through the brain or they will die, but don't hook them on the outer parts of the lips or they will fly off.

Since I have a small boat, I carry only three of four. One cranking rod, one light plastics rod, a heavier rod for buzzbaits or spinnerbaits, and a casting rod for heavier plastics, deep cranks, big spinnerbaits, or frogs.

That's lethal!!!!

I fish them pretty much all year. Shallow cranks when bass are shallow or in the mornings, deep cranks during the day when it's hot.

I like throwing them texas rigged weightless and also on carolina rigs. Good lures.