iceintheveins

Short jerks and pauses, but not always. Again, you have to experiment and there is no such thing as the "best" way to retrieve most lures, only some general ideas.

The Norman Fat Boy is a good one too. Wish they made some in bluegill colors.

Very true, and shows there is no such thing as sure thing in fishing. What worked today or what almost always works might be exactly the opposite of what they want tomorrow, or in another nearby water. When the water is dirty, a bigger jig is almost always better too.

Jigs do feel different going through grass, weeds, and other cover than soft plastic baits. Familiarize yourself with the way this feels, and then you can distinguish what these feel like and will be better able to know what a bite feels like. Usually the bite is either a tap or the line will twitch. Jigs work better for bigger fish IMO and are a great choice in dingier water or for working heavy brush, rocks, or timber. The slower the fall most of the time, the better. But again, that's not always true. Fluorocarbon will help detect light hits as well, and as the others have said, a good graphite rod helps. But if your ever in doubt, a hookset is free. And once in a while it pays off with an extra fish you might not have otherwise caught.

Slow is better for cranks IMO. I have a curado 200e5 for my crank reel. Go with the 5.2:1 pq and you will do fine. Load it with 10 pound mono or fluoro.

Bomber cranks rock, I think I've caught more bass on them than any other brand. The Square A is no exception, and casts very well for a shallow crank because it's heavy.

Go with the regular pointers. The action and durability of the live ones are JUNK!

I use 1/4 most of the time since I fish shallow water and want a slow fall. I use 3/8 a fair amount and occasionally 1/2 ounce. Seems the slower the fall, the better, almost all the time.

Black and blue jigs with matching trailers, especially with a bulky one. Same colors on Colorado or tandem Spinnerbaits. Don't overlook red or chartreuse lipless cranks, and loud buzzbaits and propbaits.

I use a 1/0 for the 4" and a 2/0 for the 5" when texposing. A #1 wacky style hook works for either size.

The diver frog definately has a great action and gets some mean strikes. The legs should NOT be stored with other plastics though, and they are on the flimsy side. Action and weed resistance are good. Have not tried the craw.

They just work, even though in open water they don't act like crayfish. In clearer waters, natural craw colors are awesome, and red hot or chatreuse craws in stained water.

San Pablo Reservoir if it's still open to the Public.

I plan to try it with a fluoro leader.

Has anyone here fished the Yo Zuri Hybrid soft line?

I just match the natural forage as closely as possible in really clear water. I also like clear topwaters like spooks, poppers and torpedos.

I throw #5 and #7 shad raps in the spring or when a subtle crank is needed. Yellow perch, gold, baby bass, and perch are my favorite colors. Both these sizes call for spinning gear IMO, though the #7 works okay on casting gear. I prefer a 7' glass or composite spinning rod and 6 pound test for the #5 and 8 pound for the #7 unless I want extra depth.

Big baits help keep the little ones off and keep you focused on bigger fish. However I feel a big bass is more likely to expend energy to get a big meal than a small one, so big baits can and do result in bigger average bass. That being said though, I've caught 6 pounders on tiny plastics and 1 pounders on Old Monster worms.

If you have enough rods and reels for specific techniques, fluoro is best for plastics. P - Line 100% fluoro is the best IMO. If you occasionally throw topwaters on your jigging/worm setup, go with mono. Mono is more versatile, braid and fluoro are more technique specific.

I get most all strikes on the fall. The slower the fall, the better usually.

MH spinning is good for lighter jigs. I only use spinning for 1/8 ounce bitsy bugs though. Since I like a slow fall on my jigs, anything 1/4 of an ounce or over calls for 14 pound or heavier line for me, thus why I like casting gear.

I've heard good things about the Winch series. Is it a glass or composite rod?

I have heard that nanofil has little to no abrasion resistance from a LOT of people. Never tried it myself though.

I have heard nothing but bad reports on the carbonlite. Go with the President. They are to spin fishing what Curados are to baitcasting.

Senkos are an awesome bait. Yeah they are easy to fish and sometimes get a stigma for that, but they are something of a sure bet in clear or lightly stained water. I throw them almost every trip, though I fish lots of different baits and plastics.