Vilas15

I'd consider the shadow rap their standard jerkbait. It suspends. The x rap also suspends but is supposed to be more erratic and shine when worked real fast. The husky jerk slowly floats and does well for me on a straight retrieve.

If you go with the premier then get the MH. I have used mine for wiggle warts so far and its great. Id be comfortable with baits heavier than that but havent tried yet. The M is probably a little light for anything more than squarebills or warts.

Lews Tournament MB $20 off on tackle warehouse because of a "closeout". Are they discontinuing it? Edit: Just saw the "Tournament MP" for preorder this fall. They added red accents which I don't like as much as the gold and jacked up the price another $10. Might have to grab another MB even though I don't need one.

I finally got a chance to fish my St Croix Premier Crankbait MH/M with wiggle warts and 1/2 oz rippin raps. Loved it. I can't compare to anything else though as its my first crankbait specific rod.

St Croix Avid spinning 6'8" M/XF. I'll cover the taxes with my own cash.

I think it only matters if you're talking about brightly colored vs dark. It doesnt matter if you've got a silver vs unpainted lead. But compared with a chartreuse obviously that will stand out.

I advised against a tube because i was thinking casting, but youre right its probably one of the best options to drag it along instead.

Given the time of year I'd say they have finished spawning by now, so that seems like a reasonable depth. 0.75 mph is too slow for cranks or spinners, must be live bait rigging? Problem is thats too fast to really fish a tube or something slow in that depth. Id be casting deep diving cranks and power fishing so you can keep up. Maybe heavier spinnerbaits or a 1/2 oz plus lipless crank would work too.

I use 10 lb mono or 30 lb braid. Go up in lb test from there if technique or cover calls for it.

Good choice. Lews speed spool LFS and tournament MB would gave been other good options in that price range.

Medium with fast action should do it. Unless you're fishing shallow river smallies and would use a 1/8 oz as your heaviest, then a ML would work too. Not sure a MH is necessary except for deepwater great lakes tubes and even then a M is still probably fine.

I'm really liking paddletail swimbaits lately, so versatile. A close second would be a rippin rap.

I've found pike love white baits as well.

To add, pull off a bit more than a really long cast length then put a piece of tape across the spool. From there any digging in wont go past that point and get too deep into the spool. Obviously if you cut line off or break any off youd need to reset so you never reach the tape on a long cast.

Just tried some 3" keitech easy shiners and really like them so far. I like the shape and colors of them more so than the ribbed types like swing impacts.

My 5' ultralight did fine with some 13" crappies this weekend. Just make sure your hooks are sharp and that you reel up slack in the line then just keep reeling and give it a light hookset. A longer rod will result in less force applied to the hook but will be applied over a larger distance for a more consistent pressure. If youre using a bobber a longer rod will help take up the slack so you can react faster. Thats why walleye slip bobber rods are 7'6" or 8'.

So far I've got some crappie and 2 walleyes. Waiting for things to heat up this weekend, had to break out the hand warmers today because of the high winds and light rain.

That's a massive walleye for an inland WI lake. I'm headed to Vilas County on Wednesday for a week and I'm hoping the nicer weather is really going to turn things on. Looking for walleyes, crappies, and of course big smallies.

Love the dogs watching over the side of the boat as you fumble with the net!

I wouldnt be surprised it if got up to 3 or more feet of ice with the -25 degree temps we had this year.

Floating or suspending jerkbaits? Wondering whether I should start with husky jerks or x-raps later this month when I get out on the water for the first time.

Yes they should be the same. If a company has absolutely zero QA/QC and every product is different then i sure wouldn't buy anything from them. I shouldn't have to test out multiple rods of the same model in the store to find the one I like.

You can fish them however you want. Crank it straight in, pull it with the rod then pause to crank up the slack, twitches only, try any and everything to see what works. Fish it like a jerkbait for the first half of the cast, then crank it in the second to cover water a little faster than twitching all the way to the boat. My dad doesn't even know you can twitch a jerkbait. Just cranks husky jerks and x-raps. Jerkbaits and husky jerks especially are really good for trolling walleyes, different fish but same concept. Don't feel like you're doing something wrong by cranking it to gain some depth immediately.

I'd add a lipless crankbait fished like a blade bait. Rip off the bottom and let it fall.

There's a different 25% code that shows up when I go to the site that says "Excludes generators, augers, trolling motors, marine electronics, memberships, & gift cards. Offer expires at 11:59pm ET 5/31/19". I don't even know how somebody figured out there's an even better code out there but I'd assume the restrictions are similar, probably not the end date though.