MIbassyaker

Aaaand it's live!

if you buy a cheap "medium" spinning rod (whether it says "fast" or not), the action will probably be pretty moderate.

Pics of my latest "catch"......acquired some classics for the home library: Is it April yet?

I don't know if they're "the best" lures, but they are definitely good lures for covering water from the bank...they are very effective catching bass in shallow cover, and they get hung up less than trebled lures. My current personal best largemouth was a spinnerbait fish. The previous one was a buzzbait fish. Both were caught from a kayak, but from spots that you could have cast to from the bank.

I do this too -- I use the Strike King football shakyhead, which has a bit bigger/longer hook than most ballheads, and will go in closer to the tail. Also, it has a 60 degree eye, which ends up at 90 degrees rigged this way.

very similar to a slider, but better quality light hook.

4" power worm 1/8oz owner finesse bullet ultrahead Technique: cast to shoreline, hop it back slowly...

Strong, with relatively-low stretch. Check out this series of tests posted a couple years ago:

Old thread, but a fluke is a good option as a trailer on a Zero Gravity Jig: http://www.tackletour.com/reviewcluzerogravity.html

Use an MH or heavy spinning rod, which is what I used for every one of these things before I started using a baitcaster. The limitations of spinning for these things are more about awkwardness than power. The places I usually fish are probably much more similar to yours than they are to a typical smallmouth lake.

First thing I checked was to see if the kit has burner craws......Yup! Great pitching craw.

I have been using baitcasting for three years after being a lifelong spinning-exclusive. I now use them about half and half. Here is what I have found: baitcasting has a huge advantage casting and retrieving efficiency with heavier lures and heavier line (say, over 10lb test). While you can use heavy spinning gear with braid, being able to palm a reel is much less awkward than managing a heavy spinning reel. I also find it advantageous for cast-and -crank presentations, as spinning reels add a twist in the line every time the bail goes around. so if you're spending a lot of time cranking the reel, you add line twist on spinning fast. This isn't a problem with baitcasting because there is no twist. A third advantage is thumb control of the spool, which makes it more efficient to make a series of pitches one after another Where spinning has advantage is casting lighter lures and the ability to use much smaller-diameter line that would dig in on baitcaster. Also, because the line comes freely off the spool, baits fall with very little resistance, which makes spinning very good for vertical presentations, espeically if working a vertical drop from some distance away. I also like spinning for retrieves where I am not cranking constantly, especially if I'm fishing at some depth. I use spinning for all light baits and light line applications, and I even prefer it for casting texas rigged plastics whenever I'm fishing deeper than about 5 feet. One thing I do not see is any clear indication that baitcasters are inherently more accurate than spinning. I suspect casting accuracy is determined much more by practice level than by any inherent property of the gear. I have long experience with a spinning gear and am highly accurate. I can get close to that level of accuracy sometimes with a baitcaster, but no with every rod, not consistently, and certainly not at longer distances.

Field and Stream gave the curly tail grub the top spot in their "50 greatest lures of all time" feature several years ago: https://www.fieldandstream.com/photos/gallery/fishing/bass/2006/04/50-greatest-lures-all-time A 3" on a ball jighead was one of the first artificial lures I learned to use, along with an in-line spinner and a floating minnow rapala. They caught almost everything, anywhere. Nowadays I only use grubs for river smallies, but I don't have any good reasons to not use them more often -- they never stopped working.

What Doug Hannon didn't know was statistical methodology and confounding variables.

There is no secret....it is actually pretty exciting.

Seen the map yet at least? http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/SPATIALDATALIBRARY/PDF_MAPS/INLAND_LAKE_MAPS/GRAND_TRAVERSE/SILVER_LAKE.PDF

Not the best pics, but I caught the same fish twice a couple years ago 1 month apart almost to the day, different spots a few hundred yards from each other along the same weedline. Hit a buzzbait in june, and finesse worm in july, and gained a 1/3 lb in a month. I only realized it was the same fish when I noticed the individual scale markings on the side were the same in the pictures:

They always seem to work just as well as any other creature or worm, as far as I can tell. I like the zoom and the Mr. Twister super lizard. Good for pitching (vertical) and dragging (horizontal), to make use of the limb and tail action. I'm not convinced they are uniquely effective around the spawn, or that they are less effective than anything else the rest of the year.

I don't get it -- why are you confused? Considering water temperature, it seems your experience basically fits KVD's story -- you're above 48, and they're shallow. Bass don't know what month it is, only what their conditions are.

I use them as bladed jig trailers -- best I've used; they simply look "correct". Haven't tried them on a t-rig though.

Yup -- regular pumpkin, not green, but with green flake. GYCB's version is another one of those that's darker and more reddish than I like, but I use it in the 4"senko like you have here, also the hula grub, and 5" single-tail grub. I use these (relatively) redder pumpkins in brown/tannic stained water, which I find in my local river systems. The green flake I like for (somewhat clearer) algae-stained waters that I find often in my local natural lakes. Are my preferences rational? I honestly have no idea. They simply exist.

Zero stock for me too. Sorry.

a lot of companies make a GP magic that is a sort of holographic silver flake that may reflect multiple colors depending on how the light hits it (Zoom is a good example). "Candy" usually has both green and purple, sometimes other colors in there too. I like 'em both. For some reason, green flakes in my lake waters (usually pretty clear, or with light to moderate algae stain) seem to outperform any other flake color. Is it really the fish, or is it just me? I can't tell. But as long as I can't tell, may as well go with it. In fact, my favorite color in the world is a light/medium pumpkin with green flake that many companies don't sell. Best example of a bait I can find with regularity in this color is the Berkley Chigger Craw. I wish I could get every plastic bait in that color. Sometimes I find a "rootbeer" or amber green that is close, but a little darker and redder than I prefer.

I am exactly the opposite. GP works everywhere for me all the time. Watermelon red? Can't buy a bite. Is it the watermelon? Nope -- Watermelon seed, watermelon candy are also great. No problems there. Is it the red? Nope. I can get bit just fine on other reds: Red shad, Delta red, red bug: again, no problem. So what is it? I conclude it's me. I'm the one who doesn't like watermelon red. For whatever reason -- maybe just chance, accident of history -- my opinion of it was formed from a handful of initial failures. And once the attitude took root, it began infecting me every time I tied the color on, affecting my patience, my concentration, my confidence, my willingness to persist before changing colors....from that point on, every 5 minutes trying watermelon red without a strike has only made it feel like yet more evidence watermelon red is ineffective, and I was right to dislike it all along. So I don't buy or fish watermelon red anymore. And I don't worry much about it. I catch bass on other colors instead.

don't know breaking strength, but TW lists the diameter of 12lb CXX as .0148", which is approximately the diameter of 15lb Trilene Big Game (.015") and that's what I use for bladed jigs. I'm sure the breaking strength is over 15lb.