Cgolf

I use a small Plano double sided box right now, with no issues. Where I ran into trouble with the rigged bait on the rod when I throw it back in the truck where it stays most the summer. Had a old clean small Plano box I am going to let the used bait sit in while it dries so the hook doesn't rust. Now trying to find the things around here sucks, only place I found is the new Cabela's which had 2 colors of the Zinker Z and of course one was out of stock;)

Once I feel a fish on, I give the rod a decent but not violent sweep. Use a medium power rod with a med to slow tip. As for playing a fish, dinks get reeled in rather quickly, while bigger fish I take my time with and never horse them in. I don't play them to the point of exhaustion, just try to not put a ton of pressure on a big fish. Never though do I surf a fish in, kind of takes the fun out of it lol.

Bandit 100 as you can almost always find shallow fish.

Anything is possible, but couldn't have been much quicker on the set, as I have to reel constantly to keep slack out of the line and the line from dragging the bait funky through the current. They were just hitting the bait funky with the one fish almost pulling the bait out of the o ring. I could get with the fish stunning the bait by head butting it, could look like a craw and that is there main diet, the craws are all over the river. All I was getting was tail grab like hits other than the fish hooked outside the mouth. If I give it another shot I will either trim down the bait or use a smaller stick bait. Who knows this may not be a good moderate heavy current rig and I am trying to put a round peg in a square hole. After getting tail hits on a tube tonight, going to switch to 3" grubs and Crankbaits for a while till they snap out of this mood. May give the flick shake rig a try again when the short strikes stop and see how they hook up. Water is around 62 so that may have something to do with it too.

Sorry, wasn't going strictly on ethical reasons here, just the fact that I couldn't get a clean hookup or take with the rig. Also fishing in current, so waiting is not really an option due to line drag in current and hook set issues. Just more of a question do smallies hit a bait different then largemouth. If that is the case I have plenty of soft baits and Crankbaits to catch river smallies on and give this a shot on the lake chasing largemouth. Also could the short shank hook have been an issue?

Tried this rig on the river with disturbing results chasing smallies. Rig was a big bite cane stick with an o ring around the center and a fireball jig head which has a real short shank. Originally missed a couple of hits, one grabbed it good and almost pulled the bait out of the o ring and then I got very lucky. I managed to land a 19" Smallie that was hooked just behind the eye, and luckily I was able to get the hook out easily, tissue pulled away a bit and snapped back with a little bit of blood, but watching the go pro footage the eye was undamaged. I know a bit sentimental about a fish, but I have been catching this old girl off and on for 7 years. I switched rigs and won't use it on the river ever again, but wonder if others have similar issues with this rig. I am pretty sure smallies always go for what they perceive to be the head, do largemouth do the same? If so how do you keep from foul hooking bass?

In my limited time with the bait this year, family stuff is keeping me out of the boat, it was awesome. The only issue I had was converting strikes when paused to hooked fish, but that is on me because I don't fish jerk baits much. Once I get dialed into the bait I see myself catching a lot of fish. Water temps were mid 50's and the most I paused was about a second and a half. The only bummer is pike and musky like them and will take your bait with them if your not careful.

Number one for me is a tube, super versatile bait. Hop it on the bottom to imitate craws or swim it to imitate baitfish. Second is a 5" Kalins grub. They have a super soft tail that moves at very slow retrieve speeds. The rest I will use whatever is working, worms, craws, etc and when that stops I rig up numbers 1 and 2. Curious that I didn't see the hot rig on the boards mentioned yet?

Won't the hook rust if I toss them in when done fishing for the day?

I will still keep working with them, wish they weren't so hard to find in shops though. I keep the spares in a new Plano box I picked up, realized that was safe when the guy on here that did the float tube video used one. The reason they were on a ziplock bag on the floor of my truck is I fish most days. Don't want to put a still wet bait in a sealed bag or box and have the hooks rust out. Might pick up a small Plano and take off the lid on that to let the baits sit in and dry, thinking the walls of the box will keep it more protected. Once dry I can it in the box with the others. Do like that these seem to snag less while still bumping rocks as the tumble downstream.

I have a question about what happens when these baits come into contact with a plastic they don't like. I have been keeping the rigged bait in my truck sitting on a ziplock bag instead of the rubber floor mat or the seat with zero issues. Then I had a empty plastic soda bottle that was sitting on it and after I removed the soda bottle I noticed some crusty white marks on the bait. When I picked it up some fluid was coming off the bait. Is this how they start to break down when they react to something? If the baits are that finicky I am not going to wate my time with them, it isn't worth it. While they did snag less and caught some fish, it is too early to tell if they were any better, I need the spawning carp that are so thick you could almost walk on them to clear out before I can do a true comparison.

Today is a perfect example of why I retire a lure. In this case good fishing karma, I will take all I can get. I have been using some questionable power pro line and broke off a crankbait yesterday on a snag. It floated loose and I was able to wade in downstream and grab it. Then tonight I snagged a large carp with the same lure and when lifting it out the line snapped leaving the lure in the carps back. The carp were thick tonight swimming in schools of 30 fish or more and I saw multiple schools. About 15 minutes later I snagged a carp with a softbait and as I was reeling it in I saw the Crankbait in the carps back. I was able to land it and get my Crankbait back. The odds of this happening were crazy low that I would re snag the same carp and land it, first carp I have landed on a soft plastic snag.

Would go with corn, that is what people, not me, use around here. A quick search showed grass carp like this too. Also hold on carp are tough fish, but will give you a fair fight on med spin tackle with 10 or 20 lb braid or fire line.

Glad to hear things are looking pretty good up north with the ice coming off in time for the opener this year:) love northern Wisconsin bass fishing, almost everyone goes up to fish walleye and musky leaving the bass untapped and plent of big fish. That shadow rap was really good to me too on the opener till A Pike stole it. Looks like Rapala has another winner.

I have 2 that have caught 90+% of my river smallies over the last 8 years. Bandit 100, comes through rocks very well, and the 2.5" yum Crawbug. Both are capable and have caught the biggest smallies in my river system. While other baits catch fish, these have been very consistent for me from the opener to ice.

In the front pocket under the Velcro flap are the lip grippers. The main compartment I have Plano 3500-22 with plastics, a smaller Plano box for cranks extra jigs and flies, water temp guage, split ring pliers, and a hook cutter. Hook cutter is a new addition, carry a big one in the boat, but found a small one for the bag. Unfortunately it is one trip too late, have my fingers crossed for the health of a fish. I have also carried two of the 3500-22 boxes, but have cut down on cranks for a bit. Bag works great and hang it off my right side while fishing.

I know there have been some almost similar threads, but if we could show off our bags, we could all snag some ideas. Plano 3380 bag with needle nose in the front zip pocket, scent and fish counter on mesh end Scissors, snaps and split rings, knife, and tape measure in zippered end pocket.

Haven't tried it yet, but wonder how it would work on a slider head? It should still float up in the tail because of the plastic. Slider heads are underrated by many, love those things.

So my 2 cents on the rig for river fishing. I could only find 1 bag of the Zinker zs locally so I am using those cut in half. I have had had good luck with the rig so far, catching 3 dinks and an 18 an19" Smallie. The biggest plus for the bait is the bouancy. While I would still snag on and bounce off of rocks which is what I wanted, it hasn't wedged itself in a snag or even snag such that the hook would be damaged. That right there makes it a winner. Is this going to be my best bait this year, who knows. But it definitely has found a spot in my river box. As for the lake I see it as a tool, you could switch between brands and the Z man plastics will give the bait a different fall rate, fall attitude, and action on the bottom vs half a senko or dinger. I am guessing each would work at different times.

Agree the senko is not that great of a bait, never got the hype. Swim senko yes, but the plain one no, could be due to how and where I fish too. I am more about finding active fish, so senko is not that. Not sure about near shore fish being spooked, as I had a pair of 40+ muskies 2 feet in front of me hit a lure. Also had a 20+ bass directly under me on a pier strike a Crankbait I pulled along the edge of the dock.

As for plastic craws, I am loyal to the yum crawbug. That bait has been my number 1 producing river smallie bait over the last 7+ years followed closely by a Bandit 100 (catch fish on both in the same time window even though they are at opposite end of action spectrum). It really doesn't flap or anything, but the smallies don't care, they kill the thing. I have tried the flapping craws (Berkely and Zoom) and at least for smallies on the river they just don't produce as well as the craw bug. As an aside I may have to rethink my stance about realistic baits not mattering, because that is the one the the crawbug has going for it.

I use multiple rods for cranks, current river rod is an old pinnacle medium 6' with a fast tip, and the reel has 50 lb power pro. No issues even with the med fast tip, drag pretty tight, but I do take my time bringing fish in, and don't over pressure them. I will say this rod is much stiffer overall compared to the rods below, not sure if the medium is a mislabel or not. Lake rods are the wright mcgill clunn glass square bill rod and 6' 6" Cabelas medium action slow tip prodigy rods. I can put a bit more pressure on fish with this setup vs the river setup. I run a mix of 50 lb power pro and 30 lb suffx 832 on the reels. Eventually will end up with all 832 when the power pro wears out. Love braid and cranks, especially when dragging the bottom.

One question, did you see the fish that you lost? Right now I am dealing with the carp spawn and during many retrieves I snag big carp only to have the bait slip loose after a bit. If your not seeing what you hooked this could be a possibility.

I will throw out that a couple of years ago I had a week where I lost a ton of fish, trying different poles, drag settings, harder hook sets, adding a second or third set while retrieving, nothing helped. Then all of a sudden the issues disappeared, with no notable change by me. The worst are when you play a fish halfway to shore and they come unbuttoned when you have steady pressure on them. Sometimes it's just fishing, don't let it get into your head and slay them next trip out.

For fishing jigs on the bottom, color probably isn't a big issue, pick one or two and your good. Where color comes in to play is with swim jigs. First trip out I went with a gold flake skirt head combo with a carp colored swimbait and caught fish. With the swim jig you really are trying to match the hatch so to speak, so lots of color options become more important.