Craw

Looking forward to the show. I hope you can figure it out.

I like the Wacky Rig best of all. I experimented quite a bit with different hooks and settled for a Gammy 2/0 octopus circle hook to go with a 4" or 5" Senko. I also use those o-rings to keep them on the hook. It's been working great! No jerking required, just start reeling them in. For t-rigging I use a Gammy 3/0 EWG and always fish them weightless.

I ran into a deal on these baits today and bought a few Yozuri Rattl'n Vibes and a Lucky Craft LVR D-7. I'm curious if these will be effective through the winter months. I live in Va. so I'm talking about water temps in the upper 30s and low 40s. I'm guessing that these baits will have to stay in the tackle bag until spring. What do you think?

Thanks for the tip. I bought me a handful of silver buddies today in 1/2 and 3/4oz.

That's AWESOME!! The shakey head is no joke!

I enjoy this technique but my success has been limited to only "Hopkins" style spoons in that hammered silver finish. I haven't played around with gold or painted finishes and I've never used a dressed treble. I was wondering how much variation to the basic style do you guys employ? Is there anything I need to do to in order to get a few more strikes? Today I spooned up the biggest smallie I've caught in 2 months so now I'm anxious to get back out there and play around with it. Thanks guys.

Great fish and great pictures! Your wife fishes a jig? AWESOME!!

Very nice! I enjoyed that, thanks.

Chris, what are some good suspending crankbaits? Also, are there other times when suspending cranks perform better?

I agree, great picture. Your trip sounds like it was lots of fun. Got me wanting to go tomorrow, real bad!

Awesome video! Thanks, LBH.

Great fish! I'd take them like that all day, every day! Looks like it was a perfect day for it, cool, cloudy and a little wind. Awesome!

Great trip! Nothing like a great day on the water, except quality time with dad. You got the best of both worlds! BTW..any pics. of dad?

It's just a really well made jerkbait IMO. Rapala really did this one right. The feathered rear treble is an added bonus. Easy bait to walk, suspends well, casts like a bullet and to simplify things, they just flat out work for a whole lot of folks. The glass ghost has really been working well for me lately and has been my best producer as far as the xrap line but I like the black/silver, black/gold, olive green and clown as well.

I should be using the Carolina rig more and learning all I can about it. I know it's very popular and I know it works but it just doesn't click for me. I've been in the boat with my dad and watched him catch bass after bass with it but I can't get anything going when I try it. I hope that one day I'll get the Carolina rigging bug and develop a real passion for it but for now it's kind of a mystery to me. I know for a fact that this handicap is hurting my summer time success.

Here lately I've been obsessed with these baits. I've ran the search engine here and read everything I could find, pm'd a few of our members and sifted through every magazine I own to soak up anything I can about these lures. Not to mention all the fishing I've been doing with these things for the last month or so. Been having so much fun with these things it's hard to put them down. I wanted to put a question out there to you guys who have been using jerkbaits for awhile. I understand that the fish may respond better to a particular jerkbait on a given day for no rhyme or reason but I think that generally speaking, certain baits have a built in action(or lack of) that makes them more appealing in certain conditions. As I understand it, a more aggressive model is usually called for in warmer water and a subtle action in colder water. While I understand much of this is controlled by our retrieve I also know that different lures will have different actions even when retrieved the same. This finally leads me to my questions. Which models are more aggressive? Which ones are less aggressive? Surely the xrap is inherently more aggressive than a husky jerk. Where would a pointer or a rogue fit into this hierarchy? Since the water is only going to get colder, is there a particular model bait that performs consistently well in the coldest water temps. If I listed 5 different baits, how would you rank them in terms of action? 1-xrap 2-pointer 3-staysee 4-rogue 5-husky jerk Can this even be done considering all the variables with size or running depth? Am I leaving out any important baits I should be considering? Anything you folks can tell me would be great. Sorry this post is so long but as I stated earlier, I'm obsessed!

I'll run and gun until I figure something out.

Here's a tip I heard about. I haven't tried this myself but I'll put it out there for what it's worth. Use electrical tape and wrap it a couple of times around the middle of the senko. Push the hook through the tape and senko. This is supposed to last, fish after fish. It was also recommended to try different color electrical tape for a unique contrast if desired. Black is my favorite color for a senko so I figure a little black tape would blend right in. I plan on trying it the next time I'm on a strong senko bite. I've been using the o-rings with an octopus hook and that works pretty well. No need to jerk with the circle/octopus type hooks, just a gentle sweep of the rod while reeling will stick them really well. Those hooks are amazing!

I've got a Jack Russell that's less than a year old and I take him all the time. He absolutely loves to go. I believe he thinks I must be going fishing every time I leave the house. I'll let him eat an occasional redeye and sometimes I'll hunt up a crawdad for him(eats them to). He sure makes a mess in the boat with those things but it's okay, keeps him entertained. I also have a Lab but he's to rowdy in the boat. I've taken him before but he doesn't like to sit still for any length of time. If he sees water, he's swimming! It's my own fault for not training him. If you take the right approach, you can teach a dog to do(or not to do) nearly anything. Good luck!

12" is a real good sized crappie, and anything larger than that is definitely what I consider big. I'd love to see some pictures from your trip.

Welcome aboard. This is a great place!

All of my rods and reels stay in the house. Any tackle(that I'm not tinkering with) stays in the garage.

If I had a pond like that near me I'd keep 3 different baits ready at all times 1-1/4oz pig-n-jig(black/blue) 2-7" Berkley Power Worm(black) 3-5" GYCB Senko(black)

I've used "BANG" garlic for several years and I really believe in it. They make shad and crawfish formulas also.

Glad to hear that you like the RC series. I have two of each size and would like to buy a few more. I've caught some really nice fish with them. The 3.5 model is my favorite.