iceintheveins

What types of retrieves do you guys use for river smallies? How about for reservoir or lake smallies?

I like the teaser tubes too. I use those, strike king's bitzy tubes, or gitzit's 2.5" models.

It will work, you bet. Gives a different look to the traditional jig and pig or jig and craw.

Oh I forgot, rig them so the hookpoint rides up and the gap in the hook is between the line and the bait.

I hook them right between the eyes with a baitholder hook. They stay alive longer and walk better than tail hooking them.

I use the gulp alive minnows on a 1/8 ounce jighead, and slowly bounce them along the bottom. More or a walleye bait to me but it does catch plenty of bass, both large and smallmouth.

The weather is so hot in the summer it's almost unbearable. However in the spring and fall, and at night, the area lakes have great bass fishing. Lake Pleasant, Saguaro Lake, Lake Bartlett, Horse Shoe Lake, Roosevelt Lake and others. The Verde, Salt, and Gila Rivers have good bass fishing in certain areas, though the Salt River through Phoenix itself is sometimes dry due to largescale irrigation diversions at Granite Reef Diversion Dam. If it weren't for that, you could take a motorboat on the Salt River for most of the year.

Good baits for weightless use or on a carolina rig.

Rapala floating minnow, rapala jointed minnow, buzzbaits in the mornings and evenings, soft jerkbaits, and very shallow running cranks.

I've never bought anything of the BPS brand that wasn't good.

1. Natural Perch 2. Gold 3. Firetiger 4. Red Craw 5. Chartreuse Craw

Zoom ol' monsters and also the Baby Huey worms.

Little tubes are great baits, some of the very best multispecies lures around.

I love ugly sticks for cranking rods or topwater rods. You want a stiffer rod however for plastics. The ugly stick lites are great, I have three of them.

Due to the invisibility and the fact that it sinks.

Same stuff you use when it's not raining. A downpour usually sucks for fishing though, but I LIGHT rain can be very productive.

They are great lures, top of the line. I love the XPS Rattle Shad, the best lipless crank on the market IMO.

Most people I know don't like live pointers either.

Go with the 12. Fifteen would be better if the cover is heavy though. Generally if I have to go higher in strength than 15 pound test, I reach for braid. Try the CX premium as well. A little less memory and pretty much the same in strength and abrasion resistance.

The only thing I use fluoro for as a main line is for vertical jigging. I do use it as a leader a lot though. I use mono for just about everything except fishing really heavy cover or for jerkbaits. Braid with a fluoro leader gets the call then. If I need extra depth on smaller cranks, I will reach for braid as well. Good ol' mono is hard to beat if you are using the right one. Stren Original and P - Line CX Premium are my favorites. I miss Stren Magnaflex (EZ CAST) though. It was limp but not wimpy.

Go with the power pro. Don't forget to use a fluoro leader though. I would go with 8 pound or 10 pound, and I might even go with the 15/4 power pro.

I love the regular pointers but I think the live pointers suck. Hardly any action. Maybe I'm just fishing it wrong though. How do you retrieve it?

Cranks sure do work in clear water. I use smaller cranks in colors that match the natural forage. Go with fluoro or thinner mono. If there isn't much cover, don't be afraid to go as light as 6 pound test. You will need light line and spinning gear to throw little cranks.

I've caught lots of Channel Cats on spinnerbaits, cranks, and even one on a skitterpop once. Catfish are serious predators. The most unusual catch I have had while bass fishing was a 7 pound carp that actually took a panther martin spinner.

I think it's certainley worth a try.