Cranks4fun

Non-Square bills? Bandit 200, Norman Tiny N in craw colors, Shad Rap #5, DT4 & DT6, and Bomber Fat Free Guppy Medium Diver in Tenn. Shad.

I have used several, and I suspect you mean finesse drop-shot, because now there are "power drop shot" guys out there who use baitcast reels and fluorocarbon in the 10-17 lb. test range. I am not knowledgeable on the power drop shot stuff, but on lighter spinning gear, I do have experience. A good reel in your price range would be the Pflueger President. The online reviews are great and I have used one for that purpose with 8 lb. InVizX line and it performed VERY well. I have also used Shimano Symetres, but I have read the newer ones (post 2014?) are not as reliable, but I am not sure. If you use braid with a fluoro or mono leader, almost any spinning reel will work. If you are a straight fluoro guy, the medium-grade & higher-end spinning reels tend to have less line-twist issues. One BIG tip that I promise you will help you once you find bass: Do not move the bait much. Slide it slow, twitch/ bounce it lightly, and then let it sit motionless, repeat. The hook set is just a firm lift of the rod. HANG ON!

Strike King cranks won't catch anything! Just kidding.. I think they all (crankbaits) have their time & place, but sometimes certain ones shine more consistently for me. Some years a certain crank will really produce and then the next year it is not so hot. There are a lot of guys who love the Strike Kings on here, but I have not used My SK's as much as I have my Rapalas, Bandits, Cordells, H2O's, Normans, etc. I may try them more this spring.

That second picture does look like a "Little N" but it is fatter I think. I think that is the old Jumbo style Big O, but I could be wrong. I don't know if they still make that big 3-inch size. I have a BIG balsa "Original Big O" - re-issue (copy of the originals) that I got on sale at BPS, but I hear they are not fish catchers like the real originals. I have never used that one.

Just bought one yesterday. They have an interesting flat-but-fat body style. Looking forward to getting it wet. They come with great hooks and awesome colors and they are very LOUD rattling cranks. I got the "Sunrise Perch" color. Looks cool!

I am not exaggerating when I say the BIG O (medium size cheap plastic one) in the brown crawdad color was my best (I mean absolute best!!!) smallmouth bait in the rivers and creeks in SW Missouri this year (late spring & summer). I caught some on a DT-6, H2o Squarebills, a couple of different jerkbaits and grubs, and quite a few on a Bandit Footloose, but nothing worked as consistently as that bargain bin ($2.97) Big O. I went back to get more in that crawdad color but could only find one. I have found other colors, but I am not sure if they will work as well. I did make one modification to the bait. I put EWG Gamakatsu trebles on them. That bait did not do as well in Grand lake or some ponds we fish, but it is a clear creek killer! Got a pic below... It is kind of scratched up but that happens to awesome baits!

Reading this reminds me that my most productive lures often change from year to year. I have concluded that the things that trigger bass bites are not quite as clear as some anglers think. Anyway, this year it has been these three cranks: a Bandit Footloose in chartreuse/blue for shallow & top water. A little deeper (2-4ft) and in clear creeks it has been a cheap Cordell Big O with Gammy EWG trebles and a Norman Tiny N in a seemingly irreplaceable brown/red craw color (lost that bait in the jaws of a smallie). From 4-8 ft it would be a 3-way tie between a #7 shad Rap, a DT6 in green craw, and an H2o Xpress CRULD -Deep UL in some shad color. In previous years, a Norman Fat Boy, Mann's 1-, Bandit 200, a Fat Free Guppy, a Bomber Flat A, and a Bomber Long A suspending Pro jerkbait have been in my "necessary" box.

If the temps are falling drastically, the bass may be moving to deeper water. Do the canals lead to deeper pools? After cold fronts bass will often stick close to cover and will refuse to chase baits. You can still catch them by dragging soft plastics or jigs very slowly through cover. Of course, some cover is better than others. I have a stretch of river that we fished in spring and we caught 26 bass on about 150 yards of shoreline. Went back to the same area in the summer twice and could not get a bite. Mysteries, mysteries. ??

The Bait Monkey ate me up today. I went to Rogers, Arkansas and visited the Cabelas there and found some sales! The Spro Little John XL 70 (larger 7-9 ft. diver) was on sale for $7.29 (reg.$11.99) so I bought TWO! They rang up $12 but they gave them to me for tag/ sticker price. They had a few Storm Arashis for $1.88 so I got 5 of them and I hit the Academy and picked up a 6th Sense Flat Crush 75X that was on sale too! Anyway, There is not much information on Bass Resource or other forums yet the productivity of this larger Spro Little John. People rave about the "50" size and I want one of those too eventually, but what do you guys know about the productivity, fish-catching ability of the BIG Spro Little Johns? Any experiences? Special conditions? Just a cold water bait??

Were you fishing by the bridge at the Newport News Park? I saw that you liked those lakes. I have been there when i could not go under it and I have also been there where you could ONLY if you curled up in the boat floor. I lived in SE Virginia most of my life (Chesapeake, Suffolk, Carrollton) and fished at Newport News Park several times. Nice fish in the pic, by the way.

20 inches... By the way, that is an awesome looking fishing hole behind you.

Berkley 10 inch Power worm (ribbon tail) in either red shad or Tequila Sunrise 5/0 EWG Gamakatsu, weights vary from day to day and depth needs. Zoom Finesse worm in motor oil/ chart. tail T-rigged on a Daiichi offset 1/0 worm hook (1/16 or 1/8 Oz) Various Senkos and Dingers 5" wacky rigged weightless. Tried the Zoom Baby brush hog this year and was a little disappointed. Going to chunk it out some more next year and try it Carolina rigged. I hear good things about it but It hasn't come through for yet. OOH YEAH! I almost forgot! We had an awesome year with Stanley Ribbit frogs. We rigged em on the heavy weight Owner 5/0 EWG hooks. Tried the double take hooks by Ribbit but had too many losses.

Some of those pricier UL rods & reels are extremely nice, no denying that, but I use a fleet of Shimano Saharas (1000fd, 500fd, 750fb) on various rods (BPS Extreme UL, Berkley UL Lightning, BPS Microlite) and they have been serving me well for over 4 years now. The Pflueger President UL has become a classic UL reel in the last decade. The reviews on them are about as good as they get. I also have two old vintage aluminum silver Daiwa 500c's (I love the old stuff too). I also have a old Shimano Sedona 500f that is still fun. I even have an ancient Shimano Mark UL (black & tiny & before infinite anti-reverse clutches). Lots of good choices somewhere between $50-$550. It is lots of fun! You don't have to spin a fortune for good UL tackle, but if you can and want to, go for it!

Yeah. That bait monkey has my number for sure. Surprisingly I only own one chatterbait but have never caught a bass with it. My fishing partner has caught a few on his but I remain unimpressed for now.

I am a crankbait, jerkbait, and worm guy. I like flukes and Kinami-style baits too, but I mostly fish cranks, jerkbaits, and T-rigged worms. However, I did have my best day ever on a spinnerbait yesterday. I have never fished spinnerbaits (safety pin type) much and had only caught about 10 bass on them in my whole life. The wind was howling yesterday at 20+ miles an hour and we were on a smaller, 10 acre body of water. My buddy and I were having a bad day at it. I'll bet I tried 20 baits (worms, cranks, jointed Rapalas, etc.) but the wind was really affecting our ability to grip some lips. I caught two bass on shallow Bandit cranks and then just kept hauling water and weeds. Worms were doing nothing for us. I suddenly remembered KVD talking about spinnerbaits shining on windy days. So, out of frustration and desperation, I went to a chartreuse Booyah Spinnerbait with 2 gold Colorado blades. Wow! I caught 13 bass on that thing! I ended the day with 15 bass and my friend only caught 4. We had no other spinnerbaits in the boat and when I offered him an old beetle spin as a consolation gift he turned up his nose. I have a renewed interest in spinnerbaits baits now. I am putting new skirts on my old ones and I am adding them to my most-used tackle boxes. I may even try some little in-line spinners again. I used to do well on them with bluegills years ago. I love learning new things on the water. I keep learning that bass sometimes demand a very specific presentation. I was lucky enough to guess what it was yesterday.

That foil color with a green back and stripes looks good enough to hang on the wall!

Nice-looking, Old-school Bagley's there, Team9nine! You have at least 2 colors I don't have. Good collection. I rarely use my old Divin' Killer B's anymore. I might need to take them out and get a few of them wet.

I got a chance to get out and fish the Bagley Sunny B 05 this past week. I only casted it about 10 times because we were in a rocky stream and I am uneasy fishing balsa baits around rocks. They break easily. However, I got a good look at the action, and while I cannot speak for any bass, I liked the way it looked in the clear water. I need to get it out on a reservoir to tap into the fall crankbait bite with it. I will report back after I do. BY THE WAY, I have been killing the smallmouths with a crawdad colored Cordell Big O! A cheap $1.97 (literally) bargain bin W****** bait with upgraded trebles (gammys). I own Lucky Crafts, SK cranks, Excaliburs, H2o's, Luck-E-Strikes, Fat Frees, Bombers, tons of Rapalas, etc., but this cheapo is nailing those bass. I went back and bought several different colors. I tried a shad color too, but the bite slowed so I went back to the brown one and wham! The game was back on.

I did wonder if there was fishing pressure that I was unaware of. i find these textbook dream sites and nothing. Maybe they are moving up into shallow water when I am still hammering the deep stuff. I will experiment some more. The challenge keeps me in the race. Thanks for the advice.

I am fairly new to smallmouth fishing in clear creeks/ rivers (SW Missouri Ozarks). I am actually new to smallmouth fishing altogether (2 1/2 years only). I am a relatively good largemouth fisherman and have fished lots of lakes and ponds in many states and caught lots of largemouth and some good-sized ones (8-9 lbs) too. Largemouth seem to be relatively easy quarry to me though there are challenging days (post frontal, muddy water, etc.). MY PROBLEM in these newer SM streams is figuring out the/a pattern. I go to a creek area and find riffles pouring into a deeper channel of water and boom! I load up on smallies right and left. I move 400 yards down stream and find almost identical conditions and nothing!!! Some days a stretch of creek will produce a few big brownies(16-17 inches is a big SM to me) and lots of little jumpers and then two weeks later the same creek with very similar conditions gives me only one or two small bass. I rarely have that issue in big lakes unless conditions change between trips. I appreciate and will definitely try some of the above advice, but I wonder if smallmouth move to different feeding areas often in clear rivers and streams????

Late on the topic, but I just bought a Berkley Wild THang in Vintage Craw, mentioned above by Bluebasser, on clearance at A****** for $3.68. Looks cool. Gonna try later this week with my new Bagley Sunny B's. I have lots of new cranks to break-in!

Thanks for the info on the deep Sunny b's, Smalljaw67. I Caught a real nice smallie on a green craw DT6 back in March. I will check the Rogers Arkansas A****** store to see if they have any deep runners left. I love the bluegill color scheme. The Rapala bluegill is good but just a little too green. This Bagley one looks just about right for the bluegills around here. Primetime, I probably have a fortune in older Bagley baits, but I am not ready to unload them yet. The only older ones I have used in the last 5 years is the "Bagley Small Fry bass". I caught a 5 pounder on that lure once. It's an awesome slow retrieve crank. Thanks again for the insights!

Darren, I see you fish Lee Hall Reservoir. I fished that lake many times and camped there in the Newport News park on occasion. I lived in Chesapeake and Suffolk Va from age 4 to 23. I moved back to Carrollton, VA, just outside of Smithfield, in 2000, when I was 37, and stayed for 10 years. My parents and siblings and one son are still in the Tidewater area. There are some great places to fish down there.

Both? I think different occasions require different jig fall rates. A bigger trailer on a smaller weight slows your jigs fall. Heavy weight and/ or a smaller trailer make for a fast fall rate. In my experience, Bass want it differently at different times.

They are midway between a balsa shad rap and a DT4 in thickness. They run about 3 foot I believe. There is a deep diver too but they were sold out of those. A YouTube video show the construction process and they look pretty sturdy with a through-wire design for hangers and eyelet. I will give a report after I fish them this week. They come with VMC Hooks too.