ChrisD46

Strike King Sexy Dog in Green Gizzard - Charlie Campbell is / was the greatest walking bait master that ever roamed water !

*Agreed - mostly shad colors and craw brown colors are what I would lean towards ... Also I suppose you could divide Fall into : "Early Fall" and "Late Fall" tactics .

OP here : Of the shallow diving cranks currently available , do you favor mostly shad colors for Fall shallow cranking OR do you favor other colors such as craw and bluegill colors in the Fall ?

Thanks smallieking : Curious if you typically have a bluegill color and a shad color on hand for using shallow diving cranks in PA. lakes or choose colors on your shallow diving cranks using different criteria ?

*RichpenNY : Agreed on your last Z-Man Ned colors response ! Additionally , we have gone from using half a Zinker for a Ned rig (still use them !) to the small / large TRD and now a host of new Ned elaZtech Ned bait from Z-Man which are showing wonderful innovation ! Lots of fun experimenting with Z-Man Ned rig options for sure ...

As the title states , what is your current favorite favorite shallow 1.5 shallow diving (i.e. approx 2' ~ 4') crank bait and why do you favor it ?... 6th sense , Bill Lowen Ima , Lucky Craft , Strike King , Xcite and I'm sure others are in about the same price range (i.e. <$9.00 ea.) or even lower if you consider H2O cranks ... Your thoughts and experiences ?

*That pretty much means you are limited to using Green Pumpkin , Green Pumpkin Goby and maybe California Craw ... I believe there are instances where other Zman TRD colors could work depending on water conditions and forage you are trying to imitate or match the hatch with (such as Black & Blue , Junebug in the Spring and White Lightening or Smelt in the Fall ) . It may be a weird color in NY to use , but try to tell a guy fishing Table Rock Lake in the Midwest that PB&J is a poor color choice to use for bass ! Green Pumpkin color and derivatives will catch the majority of bass - but there are still other colors not in the Green Pumpkin color family that have their place in the line up .

I like the 4" version on a shaky head - Aaron's Magic , Perch , Aaron's Green Pumpkin , Blue Gill & Oxblood Light are all good colors on a shaky head using a hop , drag or glide tactic (the tails are slightly neutral - they do not float as the Z-Man TRD's do) .

*Would you put a similar priced Abu Garcia Revo in the discussion with Lew's , Daiwa and maybe Shimano ?

Thanks for the replies - I see there are Daiwa fans - the Tatula CT is a TW "best seller" and close to the price of a Lew's MB ?

I keep coming back to the Lew's Tournament MB Speed Spool bait cast reel as a best value in that $100 ~ $150 range ... Are there any new models from other manufacturers in the same price / performance range that persuaded you to "jump ship" from the Lew's MB model ? If so , please explain - conversely if you came back to a Lew's MB model that is useful information as well ... Thanks in advance to share your thoughts & experiences .

*Merderinc : You are in Indiana - Midwest , USA ... Don't hospitals there provide a Ned Rig set up at birth before sending you home with the parents ?

Now my only wish is for my local Cabela's to carry BPS brand soft plastics , hard baits and line for bass .

I like Daiwa 2500 ~ 3000 series spinning reels from the Revros or Legalis series on up to what ever you can afford . If you are closing the bail by hand , pulling the line taught when you do and still having line twist issues - then go to braid plus a FC line leader using a FG or Crazy Aberto knot to join the two lines . Lastly check out VMC swivel #1 drop shot hooks used with Zman Trick Shotz soft plastics .

+1 This ^^ !!

*While I like the River to Sea Bubble Walker - I now believe the Megabass Pop Max to be worth it ... I'll look to add a couple next time TW (or similar) has a sale .

OP Here : Thanks for all the replies ... Maintenance on 4 strokes is cost effective as compared to two stroke costs it appears (oil costs alone) .

Though not quite the same as the Zell Pop , the Booyah Boss Pop in the smaller size is still quite a good copy . The Ghost Shiner color sort of looks like everything which a few tour guys have gravitated to . *As far as the Cavitron - is that not THE nicest buzzbait or what ? ... I love those things !

OP here : I still will rig the standard Ned way I use (#4 size hook bent out 1 degree on a 1/24th ~ 1/16th oz. mushroom jig head , 1/2 a Zinker ) which does not get hung up too much at all ... If I had to use a store bought Ned jig head with a larger hook and a heavier weight than above such an approach could work at being weedless as well as keeping the soft plastic straight . As for how to fish the Ned - there are perhaps better references on "how to" from the Mid West members here as well as Ned himself .

Check out this weedless Ned Rig tip from this Bass Resource video at 4:00 minutes in : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DwFngT9SYg *I definitely will be rigging this way in the rocky reservoirs I fish !

*Similar to Megabass Pop Max if you are cost sensitive - take a look at the River To Sea Bubble Walker 80 in Loon , Bluegill , Bone and I know It Colors (these colors would cover every situation - see them at TW) . Also check out the Yo-Zuri 3DB Popper in the opaque and translucent colors (similar to above) .

*I believe you and other posters are correct - this would then make cost of 4 stroke outboards maintenance much less costly if DIY .

+1 This would be ideal - however I use a lot of Bite Me ball head jigs with the sprout style hook A-Mart is so fond of (i.e. sprout style hook) ideal for grubs , smaller swim baits and shaky heads plus has a 60° degree line tie which I like for swimming grubs , smaller swim baits , etc. .

I was surprised to read that most 4 stroke outboards require maintenance every 100 hours to the tune of approximately $700 ... Of course , two strikes require oil mixed with gas - the more gas you use then your two stroke oil costs go up . *I thought with four stroke outboards your maintenance costs were reduced (i.e. oil) but now after reading the high cost of maintenance every 100 hours - I'm not so sure ? ... Evinrude is now offering no maintenance for 500 hours and 7 years transferable coverage on their E-TEC two stroke outboards ? This is a head turner - two stroke outboards appear to be making a statement !

I am mainly intrigued with the bait as a chatter bait trailer , spinner bait trailer and a bare jig head (where I don't want as much action as a boot tail swim bait) .