MIbassyaker

I haven't looked at a physical BPS catalog in years, but when I was a kid I would pore over it, dreaming of one day owning every color of worm and every variety of Rapala crankbait.

It took me awhile to realize "grass" meant any vegetation in the water, and not only actual grasses.

I've never truly gotten the hang of a swim jig...every time I catch one by swimming a jig it seems completely accidental. Of course, people use them successfully all the time around here, so I'm sure it's just me. But bladed jigs get hammered quickly and often. One thing I like about them is vibration gives a lot of feedback about what's going on with the bait, especially useful for feeling my way around weedtops and weed-edges. And I've never found water clarity to matter at all -- I've been just as successful in 10+ feet of visibility as I have in water with a foot or less. I agree with avoiding chatterbaits around wood, though.

No, actually. I have some favorites (Junebug is one of them; so is Red Shad). But I can't really think of any color I have (1) tried a lot, (2) not caught anything on, and (3) however, I do well on the same baits in other colors.

I throw loose plastics in a tray for re-use and have never had a problem with powerbait mixed in with other plastics...it just loses it's pungency a bit from being out of the bag (not sure if that reduces it's effectiveness, though).

Bass season is year-round for catch and release in MI now, but ice and my work schedule conspire to keep me away from the water until the last couple weeks of April. However, I may scout some places from shore as the ice starts to retreat over the next month or so, and throw a line in here-and-there.

A - Lester B - Menendez C - Gustafson D - Hanselman E - Buck

Ah, I was afraid of that. When they discontinued that line I looked everywhere for a lefty but no such luck. Thanks for checking.

First week of March is my usual time to do some scouting. Starting Sunday, the weather projection all week has us getting some consistent sun, with temps above freezing almost continuously day and night.

Did you call to find out if it's a lefty?

All these spinnerbait threads are getting me excited. Still hard water here, and over a month and a half yet before I can get out anyway... but by then it will be spinnerbait season and I'll be ready.

I think that's the "Sintipede"

I like your style.

Of the spinnerbaits I own, a War Eagle with dual copper Indiana blades, chartreuse/copper skirt is my favorite for this sort of thing. In general coppers, oranges & reds have a visibility advantage in muddy, brownish water over other colors based on light penetration. Also, many variations of chartreuse have some fluorescence that adds to visibility when there is low light penetration. Blacks and whites are fine choices anywhere, any time.

Surely, you will want to take them out of the packages right away at least to inspect them for defects!

Indeed. Shad patterns make a passable imitation of crappie as well.

Start with three styles: (1) Shad, (2) crayfish, (3) Bluegill/sunfish. There are many, many varieties of each, but just pick a couple of each that look good to you. The most basic shad is just a white body, black back. Crayfish in browns, reds or oranges are popular. Bluegill or sunfish...anything that looks kind of like a bluegill or sunfish.

You know, I have one of these and I don't think I have ever thrown it.

I demand a youtube video of Glenn fishing with this reel.

Anything by LiveTarget. (Actually, that's not completely fair -- I've gotten the hollow-body frog and the crappie crankbaits to work. But they're all overpriced)

The correct maximum number of colors on a reel is Two. Three if one of them is black or silver.

Welp, I guess there's a market for everything.

FYI Presidents Day sale at Overstock bait has some copper war eagles for $5 each.

This is where I've landed too.

I saw these too, I think, on same site and almost got a bunch. And then I remembered just how many worms I have. I may have more worms than I will realistically be able to use up for the next couple decades, likely longer. I resisted, but it was a close call.