iceintheveins

I would use braid with a 20 pound fluoro leader. Go with at least 30 pound braid though. I don't like using mono over 15 pound test, and for heavy cover 15 pound is often too light, even for little bass. Braid is your best bet for cover.

Jitterbugs, buzzbaits, black skirted colorado blade spinnerbait, and a far jig and pig with a rattle crawled through the shallows. Prop baits work good after dark too.

I do a stop and go retrieve, varying my speeds unless I'm fishing at night. At night I will use a steady retrieve.

My favorite smallie tube is the 2.5" gitzit in motoroil color, rigged on a 1/8 ounce head. I like pretty much any tube in natural crawdad or baitfish colors in the 2.5" to 3.5" range for smallies. I think gitzit makes the best tube, but I like BPS tender tubes, strike kings, and power tubes too.

The only downside with adjusting your drag during the fight is that the time it takes to do it can give the fish some slack line or enough time to let him bury himself in cover. But when you hook a good fish (for me that means a 4 + pounder) you do need to back off the drag so the fish can run. That reduces line breaks AND hook spits. When I'm fishing heavy cover and I need to horse a bass though, I don't back off my drag at all.

That's another really good way to keep them.

If fishing heavy cover I like to peg my sinker to the head of the lizard or worm. The corkscrew bullet weights are great for thiz. When the rig is falling down, the tail of the worm or lizard really ripples. My favorite though, are the parasite weights. These are the easiest and most realistic to rig. http://www.parasiteweights.com/

I keep them in the tackle logic style binders. I keep soft jerks in one bag, tubes in the other, worms in one, grubs in one, creatures or lizards in another, you get the picture. I have so many of each though I have about 2 - 3 bags per lure category. I keep them in the bags they come in.

Always a good thing. Hope it stays a good fishery and people respect it.

Its P-Line CFX. Very good stuff. That would be it. The best fluoro leader there is.

Vanish is the most weak, brittle junk ever, and spiderwire fusion is the worst line I have ever used. That was your entire problem.

My favorite fluoro leader is the P - Line fluoro leader that comes in small 25 yd spools.

I had a feeling you were using vanish. It's crap.

I will also adjust the drag during a fight if I have to. If I hook a big fish in an area relatively free from heavy cover, letting it run if need be helps prevent them from coming unhooked, let alone line breakages. I generally don't have to do this with bass under 3 pounds though, with the possible exception of a 2 pound smallie in fast current.

I do well with the uni to uni knot. What type of fluorocarbon are you using? Are you using the old spiderwire fusion line? That stuff was garbage.

Rapala Risto Raps and Rattlin' Fat Raps are the ones I miss most, as well as many of the old colors for the Cordell Super Spots. It's more of a minnowbait than a crank, but the one I miss most is Rapala's Jointed Countdown.

I like using braid, 15 pound power pro to be exact, when using these baits. Gives them a better action IMO. Make sure you vary the number and intensity of the twitches and the length of the pauses.

Good guess! A few miles upstream from Pittsburgh. Are you a transplanted Steeler's fan?

The fines for most fishing violations are less than $100 and confiscation is only done generally for serious offenses. I support such regulations though if people are stealing fish. In fact Colorado is pretty lax on protecting fish and the penalties are usually small.

Ten pound is too light for really heavy cover, even for small bass. I you are fishing heavy cover, stick with braid and a fluoro leader. Moderate cover can be fished with 10 - 14 pound test line though. In open water, even 6 pound test is enough for bass.

Always use a fluorocarbon leader with braid. Connect with back to back uni knots. With topwater frogs, use a mono leader as it is more buoyant than fluorocarbon.

Anyone tried these yet? Are they as a cavitron and do they rise quickly and stay on top with a slow retrieve?

Cavitrons are my favorite by far, but Accent Hi - Riders B2's are really good, as are strike king titanium or bleeding elites, terminators, lunker lures, and booyahs.

When windy I like pounding the wind blown banks with spinnerbaits, lipless cranks, and big loud prop baits!

Beautiful smallie. My personal best is a little over 5 pounds and came from Colorado's Yampa River. Was this pig from the Allegheny?