iceintheveins

Lizards and brush hog type baits.

Cavitron hands down.

SK Red Eye shad in 1/2 ounce, bluegill color. Also really do well on CC super spots and Rat L Traps.

Green pumpkin pepper jig with a green pumpkin rage chunk trailer. A finesse jig in the same color is another good one. Try light swimjigs too with a twintail trailer.

Finesse worms are great to save a day.

If it's fairly clear, senkos, finesse worms, centipedes, finesse jigs, fat ikas, ect.

Cell mate, spooky nasty, nasty shad, spooky shad, citrus shad, chartreuse nasty.

The president and some lures! It performs better than other spinning reels from other manufacturers that are twice as expensive.

Got a Tournament MG yesterday in the 5.4:1 ratio. Can't wait to try it out.

Probably strike king. I really love bombers, bandits, and many others though.

I use the rage shads, not really a frog but it's the same concept. A 4/0 or 5/0 EWG hook, with 12 - 14 pound mono around sparse cover, and 50 - 65 pound braid through slop. I prefer a MH glass or composite rod for these soft buzzbaits.

Minimum of 14 pound mono, 20 around heavy wood cover. For slop and thick vegetation, go with a minimum of 50 pound braid, 65 is better. I use a fluoro leader always when pitching a jig.

Very good shallow running crank, one of my favorites.

Going to have to try a few packs.

Bomber Square A

I have a sliding, hound dog type lure retriever AND a telescoping one. The telescoping one works better and will get a bait back if it can reach it. The sliding one works most of the time but not all the time.

Still catches bass of all sorts for sure.

7' M or MH BPS crankin stick.

I am a Pflueger man, and I have five presidents, they make up the bulk of my spinning reel arsenal. They just seem to be much better quality than Shimano is now, and I used to really be into Shimano. I still have two Sedonas that work reasonably well, but go with the Pflueger. The Supreme MGX is a great $100 reel.

What's the water clarity and main forage? What type of cover and structure will you be fishing mostly? Then I can help point you in the right direction more. Water temps should be mid 60s up there by then but I could be wrong.

A big, black spinnerbait with a single colorado blade, black or gold is HARD to beat. Jitterbugs, buzzbaits, and other noisy topwaters can be good too. As the others are saying though, DON'T overlook big jigs and plastics in black/blue or other dark colors. Also, bigger swimbaits that fish near the surface and make a lot of commotion can really work well. Bigger and louder is almost always better after dark.

So tough to say. If I had to have one lure for all conditions, I would choose a spinnerbait, albeit slightly and reluctantly over a jig. If the water is fairly clear though, I love soft jerkbaits and stickbaits.

I miss the Fat A I cannot find them anymore either. The Model As are still there though, which IMO is the best all around crankbait for bass out there.

Power pro all the way.

A new reel shouldn't start doing that after one use. If it was older I would just say take it apart, degrease it, then put a small amount of grease on the gears and oil on the bearings.