ChrisD46

The new Berkley Power max line of baits are a different deal for sure (material wise) ... The Green Pumpkin color in the General is a great place to start and does look good in the water with action as such described by the OP ... I just haven't put them in an area where bass are yet or tested in detail (that's on me !)

For what it's worth - I first bought the WP90 size but wasn't in love with the design rolling on me , having coming up to plane issues , etc. I then moved to the WP110 and find the design more satisfactory and a bit more ideal in size for spotted bass than the WP130 (although I'm sure spots will probably hit the WP130 as well) ... *This may sound controversial but I'm losing confidence in the WP being a bit of a one trick pony with that one constant retrieve speed which is deemed optimal ... How soon before bass get conditioned to stay away from hitting it ? The more erratic nature of walk the dog baits and poppers (or hybrid lures that do both) are more appealing to me at present and thus improve my confidence . Your results may be different so I urge you to try the WP110 but I would limit to just Bone , Loon and maybe Monkey Butt which should cover most of your needs until you see how you do with it (after a fair evaluation) .

Anybody held or used the new silver / grey color Lew's Custom Speed Lite HM85 spinning rods ? ... They have a few technique specific spinning rods (i.e. dock sniper , drop shot & shaky head) which look interesting and at an approx. $169 would put them in a category well below technique specific spinning rods from G. Loomis and St. Croix LTB series . *With HM85 blanks you would have to think they would be extremely sensitive for finesse application and the Winn grips are a plus - your thoughts and experiences ?

Not sure about the current batches of Kanzen but at one time it had a reputation as a braid that broke very easily .

I have the new Berkley line spooler - I use it but it's a pain and believe the older version was better as other posters have noted ... Save your money and instead buy a spool of expensive line you have been wanting (lol) !

Upon further review - The Megabass action is rated as "moderate fast" - a little surprised as I believe a good shaky head rod should be XF ? ... I noticed the same with Dobyns and St. Croix as once you leave that approx. 6'8" spinning rod length they are rated as F and not XF ... Comments on the actions I have noted for these rods ?

*Sorry to hear the zebra muscle situation where you are - a shaky head would cause a lot of break offs for you then . I appreciate the replies - I believe a veteran poster here once stated : "For a shaky head application - try to buy the best rod try you can afford (i.e. feel / finesse application) . The St. Croix , Megabass and Dobyns would all reflect best in class for a shaky head application , so I will look into these suppliers rod offerings for shaky head in more detail (i.e. TW) .

When it comes to the best shaky head rod , many who have the St. Croix Legend Tournament Spinning Rod 6'10" Medium XF indicate: "it doesn't get any better" as far as a shaky head rod spinning rod is concerned . *With that said , do you still believe this to be the case - or have you found another shaky head spinning rod you believe is better in the same price range (or less) ? ... Thanks in advance for replies .

Sponsor Seibert Outdoors has all you need - excellent quality , variety and service ... You can't go wrong !

T-Rigging a fluke higher or lower in the nose makes it dart differently as well - cool bait !

Good replies - you never know until you try !

In the S.E. most favor the green pumpkin and watermelon colors for worms (i.e. some form of green color) with the occasional MM III for overcast or stained water conditions ... A local store got in some Oxblood and Pro-Staff Peoples Roboworm colors in and although brown / tan in color had a certain nice natural look to them . *Question is are the Oxblood and Pro-Staff Peoples worm more of a West Coast deal or have those in other parts of the country had success using the Oxblood and Pro-Staff Peoples (brown/tan) worm colors ?

Thanks Team9nine ... You would think Zoom would simply streamline the Trick Worm nomenclature unless there is some difference they are trying to differentiate ?

*I'm going to call Zoom this week to see what the deal is ...

Cool - thanks ... I tried to search but wasn't specific enough ... All three of the versions of the Zoom Trick worm formulas (i.e. Original , Better than Salt and Super Salt Plus) I see all look the same (the Z3 hand poor of course being a different manufacturing process) ...* I thought perhaps depending on what was written on the Zoom Trick Worm label they might have a different level of fall rate , ability to ride tail up on a shaky head , etc. ?

To better clarify : 45 degree "tail up" position on a shaky head worked s-l-o-w (up to and including dead sticking) which is often what works best in the heat of summer here for Spots in clear highland reservoirs... Now back to the post above !

As the title states - how many Zoom Trick Worm formulations are there ? ... So far , I have seen : *Original *Better Than Salt *Super Salt Plus **Of the above Zoom Trick Worm formulations - which one provides the better stand up action for say a shaky head ? ... It doesn't have to necessarily float - but at least provides a decent "tail up" position that will stay up while working the shaky head (especially at rest) versus just dropping lifeless to the bottom . Thanks in advance for experience , advice on above !

I think River to Sea will have to spend some time marketing the WP 75 differently ... Too many web reviews dedicated to: "How to make the former WP90 retrieve better" pretty much resulted in the WP110 being developed (for those that didn't want to go with the larger WP 130 which retrieves great !) ... For Small Mouth and Spots the WP110 is a great size and retrieves well - if I lived in CA. , TX. or FL I would use the WP130 with no reservations for LM Bass .

*Any need for different drop shot soft plastics (i.e. more buoyant) if fishing from the bank (due to the more horizontal retrieve required from bank) ? ... Curious if Z-Man floating elaZtech soft plastics would be an advantage on a horizontal drop shot retrieve from bank versus a soft plastic that just hangs straight down ? Ditto for hooks (such as the VMC Spin Shot Hooks) ... As an example - a Z-Man Finesse Worm (elaZtech) on a VMC #2 Spin Shot drop shot hook retrieved horizontally would ensure the bait spins up and is riding up above the line on a horizontal retrieve versus the bait riding below the line ... Your thoughts ?

There were a few bright spots at ICAST '18 , mainly from Berkley, Z-MAN and a few others ... I really don't need anything but always will look and listen !

*Thanks - just what I was looking for to get started ... Starting out with just the Silver Flash Minnow color which looks very shad like ! *Should have stated "newer" as they were developed as an in between size bridging the gap between the 2.8" & the 3.8" . Any particular colors you had success with at Table Rock (i.e. spotted bass) ?

For those who have tried the new Keitech FAT Swing Impact 3.3" size swim bait - what is your rigging method? I was thinking of a 1/8th oz. 2/0 jig head but may need a smaller hook (1/0 , but hard to find ) ... Your thoughts ? Thanks in advance ...

+1 ... I won't buy it .

I enjoy reading what those from other parts of the country are throwing in the summer ... For me : *WP 110 *SK Ocho ("drop dead" technique - VMC weighted EWG) *Keitech FAT Swing Impact 3.3 (Keitech tungsten ball head jig) *Booyah Finesse Jig (Netbait Paca Chunk trailer) *Shaky Head (Picasso Shakedown Ball Head ; SK KVD Fat Baby Finesse Worm)

*I ask because the current trend to use braid mainline + FC / Co-poly leader may mean a Fast spinning rod could replace a Extra Fast spinning rod or perhaps allow more ML action rods to come into play if you are in the braid + leader camp for spinning .