Boomstick

Looks like you got a nice haul for $70! As for the Strike King burner spinnerbaits, they have smaller sized blades so they are designed to fish a little bit faster than your standard dual willow blade spinnerbaits. They're particularly good towards the end of the summer and fall when the bass will start chasing faster moving baits. As for the buzzbaits, you can fish them year round, but they are most effective post spawn. Black ones are quite effective at night, and white or white/chart for dawn. If you are getting short striked, try changing colors. As to where to fish it, generally in shallow water where you might fish a crank or spinnerbait is a good bet. I will often fish them when I have rocky bottoms where a spinnerbait might get snagged between rocks, which saves me from snagging. Try running one over shallow grass or along docks as well.

That doesn't sound like junk fishing at all to me actually, it sounds like a fairly well formulated plan to hit an area. I guess what it might share with junk fishing is using the same lures every single time and not mixing it up for conditions and cover and structure you find yourself fishing in but even so in some days, throwing your top three baits might be just perfect. I usually look at the weather, water and cover before deciding what to dish. Is it clear water? Dirty water? Is there any grasslines? Can I fish along the grasslines or would I be fishing in the grass, etc.

Glenn did a video of re-arranging a bunch of fallen branches to wench out a bass his wife caught. I'd link it if I could find it, but I don't remember the title and honestly don't even know which category it would be under. But in short, there's often no easy way to get them out when the cover gets really rough.

^8. I am truly surprised at how well he did here, I never would have guessed he had the voice for it! And now for something completely different... Any Black Sabbath fans here? These guys do the best Black Sabbath since... well Black Sabbath.

I have heard from others that every Berkley rod in their Walmart was very curved as well. It seems the bad batches might go out together. The rods in my my local Walmarts may not be perfectly straight, but they're not too terribly far off.

I am left handed, but for whatever reason reeling with my left hand just feels really awkward to me so I use a right handed casting reel.

I would get proper neg rig heads. They are flat on the back so the head is designed to put the back of the head on the bottom and stand up the trailer. Also while you can cut a yum dinger in half, the TRD's are super stretchy and not only do they stay on the hook really well but they generally last for quite a few fish as well so you'll get your money's worth. The X-man ned rig heads are fine but they generally lose their paint, so this year when I ordered a few more I decided to try the owner brand as they were recommended to me. Honestly the ned rigs are so highly effective and easy to rig that I rarely bother with a shaky head or a drop shot anymore when most of the time the ned rig will outfish them anyway especially on a sandy buttom where you aren't trying to fish above a grassline -- and is certainly quicker to rig up than a drop shot! I should also add you can bass fish for trout on ned rigs as well!

I have read about batches of Berkley blanks that were very much not straight, but from what I gather that is not all of them.

You have to remember XT 12lb is like XL 14lb line. I would expect one to be running a catfish-sized spinning reel to get that to be able to get acceptable handling out of 14lb line. I would try 10lb XT or even better, 10 or 12lb XL and see what happens if you aren't sure about using braid. I use braid on most of my spinning setups except one without issue -- including on my Avid X which has micro guides -- but I'm only using 12lb braid with nothing larger than a 8lb fluorocarbon leader. Sufix Siege is a fantastic line, but not too dissimilar from Berkley XT although my experience with the latter is much more limited than with Siege, so maybe it does have memory issues.

As it's in the 40s still, I would be using primarily ned rigs, drop shots, lipless crankbaits, jigs and I have white colored 3/8oz spinnerbaits with a large colorado blade (one single, one dual) that I can fish real slow early in the year. For the most part, they won't really quite chase until the water is well into the 50s, so you'll want to fish any moving baits real slow.

From my rather limited experience with deep cranks, my success has generally came fishing areas with a fairly steep drop off not too far from the shallow shoreline on a sandy bottom lake for smallies. And as A-Jay and others already said, if you can hop that bait off of the bottom that will only help you as just like with any other cranks, bass tend to hit right after you hit the bottom which causes a deflection.

Well one of my fishing spots was partially thawed and a lot of slush but it won't be long, especially as today is 58 again

^ This is why I never have a problem backlashing

Funny, today was so nice that I was thinking I would take a detour on the way home to see what the lakes looked like out in Western Mass. Feels like fishing season already, although I think we have a few more weeks before they really thaw out.

I've heard people say the 6'9" ML/XF is tip heavy, but with a slightly heavier reel it seems to balance quite nicely! I haven't tried it with anything else to be honest. As in comparison to others, I probably should have said that I found some that feel comparable but haven't found too many that felt stiffer.

I would say it depends on what I'm fishing. I will use my ML/XF rod for drop shots and ned rigs, and a M/F for shaky heads. I gather guys in areas with 10 pounders generally like M/F rods better, but in the northeast where I'm happy to get a 2 pounder, the ML/XF seems pretty ideal to me. I can also bass fish for trout on it. I have the 6'9" ML/XF Avid X with a Daiwa BG 2000 sized reel. As you hinted at in your original post, it is a little bit stiffer than some of the other ML rods I looked at but not quite a medium power either so I think you'll like it.

I use a MH/MF Daiwa Tatula glass rod for spinnerbaits and chatterbaits and cranks (although I got the M/MF for this year). It's great! However that rod has a bit more tip than the St. Croix glass rods as they do not underestimate their tips on their glass rods from my experience. Now some people prefer a moderate tip for chatterbaits, but I would personally prefer a little more tip myself. The medium moderate should be a general all around cranking rod and should be decent for deep divers with braid as well. Looks like somebody is having a good cranking season

I have generally managed to control the backlashing just fine on a baitcaster, but my biggest challenge is getting it to skip good. After a day on a canoe of rowing around dock to dock and skipping under docks, I generally finish the day skipping pretty well but it takes me a while to get it right again. But yeah, it's definitely easier on a spinning reel.

I will have to try a mono leader with a drop shot and see what I notice.

Ironically my PB came on a willow/colorado blade - I through it under a fallen tree on what was probably the most perfectly placed cast I've ever made and a mondo smallie hit it just about as soon as it hit the water. I have a feeling the placement had something to do with that and that was an exception and not the norm. But I have read several articles and several interviews with many people who said they catch larger fish on chatterbaits or spinnerbaits with large colorado blades (often single but sometimes double bladed) than on spinnerbaits with willow blades. I would theorize that smaller fish may be intimidated by all the vibration where the larger ones know they can eat it. I also do definitely catch more fish on willow blades, so I think there might be something on your quality vs quantity theory. I've also heard of many people catching double digit bass on larger spinnerbaits, 3/4 or 1oz as well. I definitely plan on fishing colorado blades more this year. Last year I only owned a single colorado bladed spinnerbait -- which I lost in some rocks or on a handle on a dam (can't recall which) near the end of the season. This year, I have plenty of sizes and colors to choose from.

For jerkbaits, you generally want to match the hatch so to speak. Jerkbaits are most effective in lakes where the bass will feed on perch, so a perch colored jerkbait is never a bad idea. I don't have experience with a wide variety of jerkbaits however. For crankbaits, try some silver lipless cranks early in the spring. Once the water hits at least 55 degrees, try a square bill to cover water. I caught more fish on a River2Sea Ish Monroe Biggie Smalls in Horizon Shad last year than any other single lure I own, and most of them came in clear water. I probably own more crankbaits than any other lure, as they each have different wobbles which gives them a different presentation and uses in different situations. Also try a white spinnerbait - a slow rolled colorado blade very early in the year and dual willow blades once the water hits 55. 3/8oz is usually a good weight for a smaller body of water where the fish aren't huge, but a 1/2oz spinnerbait never hurts either. Drop shots and ned rigs should be quite effective and works year round. I'd suggest a nose hooked roboworm and some wacky rigged finesse worms.

This is a good tip as well. I usually do not add a trailer hook or trailer unless I'm getting short striked -- sometimes they just swallow it without it. Also if I'm fishing in weeds, I will throw on a trailer as the trailer hooks tend to pull in a few more weeds and in open water, I'll use a trailer hook.

Generally speaking, I usually have more success with dual willow or willow/colorado blades than anything else, even in dirtier water (which I generally don't end up fishing that much of) as long as the sun's up, but not always. But spinnerbaits are definitely highly effective, and they've been making a comeback with tournament anglers in more recent years as well.

That's a great buy, but you should try some with either a single colorado blade, dual colorado blades or a colorado and indiana blade. Basically they produce a lot more thump and less flash and are particularly good in murky water (typically a white/chartreuse color), night (typically black) or early season (typically white or off white colors) when you want to fish them slowly. Those 3/8oz spinnerbaits with the willow and colorado blades are quite effective when the water is between 60 and 70 degrees, but if I had to have just one spinnerbait for the entire season I would pick one of those in sexy shad or mouse color. Later in summer and early fall, the dual willow blades generally produce very well for me. Good luck with your spinnerbait fishing. I am generally fairly successful with spinnerbaits, but I will mention there are some lakes near me I just can't get a bite on a spinnerbait where others where they absolutely kill them! The other thing worth mentioning, is that often fishing from the shore and when I have a day of few or no bites, sometimes fishing a spinnerbait produces where other lures have failed. I figure the fact that I can cover a lot of water and the flash and vibration draws the fish in.

True. Someone once told me their wife said they have too much tacke and said it's a stack of 4 feet high and asked if it's too much. I told them it's only too much if it sinks the boat or can't fit on the boat and falls off the boat and into the lake lol