iceintheveins

Mono for the swimbaits, braid with a fluoro leader for hard jerkbaits. Jerkbaits just dance on braid.

Chronarch 200e5.

I was impressed with the action, throwing them on 10 pound mono and a baitcaster. They dive about 4' - 5' or around the same as a DT4. Only fished them a little bit, had one hit but not long enough to really make a verdict.

I would use the Bandit 100 in fairly open areas, and the KVD 1.5 where there is a lot of rocks and sticks. X2 on the excalibur as well.

Yep he hit the nail on the head.

For me it's a spinnerbait. Jigs second place.

I like 4" and 6" robo worm fats, but the reaction innovations flirt is more durable and also has great action.

Also, the fish are more likely to be tight to cover, and to really key in on morning and evening periods.

Oh and don't overlook a 3" - 5" single tail grub fished with a light weight and on a weedless hook.

I usually downsize and slow down as well, but if it doesn't produce I will try other tactics. For plastics, I like senkos, flukes, finesse worms, centipedes, tubes, and fat ikas fished with as light of a weight as possible. Drop shotting is good too. Instead of a jig, I will use a smaller creature bait or grub, especially something like a hula grub on lighter line with a lighter weight. If going with cranks, I will use shad raps and tight wobbling baits. If there is a bit of chop in the water, slow rolling a spinnerbait is till a good tactic.

If I were limited to two lures, it would be a jig and a spinnerbait. In clear water though that's not too deep, nothing produces as consistently under most conditions as a senko.

Thanks guys I will try the said tips.

I will do that. How do I get the tip off without breaking the rod?

I have lost several inserts for rod tip guides in my rods. I don't want to replace the tip, just want to find a good guide insert that will fit, be it ceramic, titanium, or whatever. Does anyone know where I can buy them? BPS, Tackle Warehouse, and Cabelas don't carry them.

That looks good. My favorite soft swimmer is dynamic lures FX Fury. But they only have a 7.5" version now. They plan to come out with a smaller one.

I have been using bright colored mono with a fluoro leader for my jigs, and still feel little ticks. I put on a 3' fluoro leader to reduce visibility. The reason I do this is I'm a line watcher when jig fishing, and I have a hard time seeing even 17 pound fluoro. Plus fluoro sinks faster than mono and I like my jigs to have a slow fall, since I rarely fish water deeper than 15 feet. Yes, good fluoro is more sensitive than mono, and braid even more so. With braid though they are more likely to feel you and spit.

By far the best swimjig I have ever used is the Fred Roumbanis swim jig from Pepper Custom Baits. It comes through grass and weeds very well and is versatile enough to use as a pitchin' jig. Very nice big gamakatsu hook on it too.

I use mostly Mr. Twister Split double tails (the ones with four total appendages), and zoom swimmin' chunks for swim jigs. Reaction innovations little dipper is a good choice too. I've hammered bass this spring with swim jigs, especially with the split double tails.

Since I am not talking about wacky or shaky rigging, or drop shotting, do many of you guys fish finesse style worms, such as zoom, robo worms, and reaction innovation flirts on plain texas rigs or split shot rigs? If so, how do you guys generally fish them to impart the best action? If using a texas rig do you just use a light free sliding sinker?

The worst garbage I have ever used, extremely brittle with TERRIBLE knot strength, even though I lube the knot like with all fluoro. I go with P - Line 100% fluoro. Memory isn't too bad, plenty strong, and good knot strength.

The general rule of them is that tight is best for clear water, cold water, and turned off fish, with wide wobble baits best for stained water, active fish, and warm water. That said don't strictly follow that rule all the time. I've caught plenty of bass in mid 50s water temperature and clear water with wide wobbling cranks, and plenty in stained water and warm conditions on tight wobble baits like shad raps.

Yep I've never had a problem with it at all. As Glenn said, it DOES melt in high temperatures in the sun, so I keep it in a cooler. If it melts, all you have to do is shake it up really good, then stick it in the freezer for just a couple minutes. Problem solved.

I've caught lots of bass on a black scumfrog popper. More than even my spros.

I get most of my spinnerbait fish with a slower retrieve in deeper water, that's why I prefer the slower reel. When you have clearer water and shad based forage, burning seems to work better than when it's bluegill and crayfish forage, which are what my lakes are, even our clear ones.

I think I will go with a decent ML, 7' spinning then.