J.Vincent

In my experience I found Chrome and White will generate strikes in a wider variety of water conditions. But when the water is stained, the Firetiger/Orange Belly was hands down the best, followed by Bronze or Gold. And although a more subdued natural color produced strikes in stained water, the Smallmouth were more prone to misjudge the location of the natural color Topwaters. This may be popular notion , but I find great reward in the personal process of trial and error.

In a nut shell , we probably don't have to own every color : )

SquareBill retrieved slower than a 93 year old grandma or a 4inch Worm

Last Fall 2017, I found an incredibly consistent Sammy Topwater bite while fishing a 50 yard stretch of the Huron River. The Sammy bite was so consistent, I literally spent 5 days a week for two months from 5pm to 8pm (roughly 60 hours on the water) fishing just those Sammys exclusively. At one point it went from just Topwater fishing to pretty much a scientific experiment and the bite didn't stop until water reached 45 degrees in late November. I learned more about Smallmouth feeding behavior and Lure color in this 60 hours of fishing, then the previous 20 years had taught me. And that is: I only really need 4 Colors for Topwater Smallmouth.....White, Chrome, Bronze, Firetiger

I think this happens everywhere to a certain extent, even here on the Great Lakes.... But how does one teach the Golden Rule

Depends on what other factors may have changed....but in my experience , it's always best to follow your gut instinct. Even when your gut instinct is poor, eventually if you make your own instinctual decisions enough you eliminate options and Build confidence in your ability to make on the water decisions. Also sometimes it's best to change areas and not lures, but it's really all based on angler instinct. Personally for me, when I feel like im running in quick sand, then I know it's absolutely time to make on the fly decisions. Otherwise I really like to stick with a presentation long enough to get some type of feedback from the fish, in other words if I've covered high percentage areas I know should hold fish and not gotten bit or only catching short fish...then it's time to rethink the approach.

I haven't fished with Trilene XL in probably 20 years, because I rarely find myself in a fishing situation where the qualities of XL would be beneficial. I think on a light spinning or medium spinning outfit in open water, XL may be a descent choice but otherwise there are better and more advanced products in the Berkley Lineup.

Really depends on what fishing conditions you are faced with....and Copolymers are not all created equal...but most of them will improve casting distance over standard monofilament, but only some will offer good abrasion resistance. Personally I like PLine Cxx for better abrasion resistance and Yozuri hybrid is good also, but not as abrasion resistant. But personally if I'm Texas rigging and I'm not fishing fluorocarbon, I usually use Cajun Line Red Lightning in 14lb test or 17lb for heavy cover. I know the reviews have always been mixed on this line, but I've not found a better monofilament line which performs close to a copolymer anywhere on the market. I fished this line almost exclusively last season, and I never once had a fish break off and never once had casting issues or line problems . The knots it ties are on par with copolymer knots and I can line watch better with the red line. Now I know I'm going to get ribbed for bringing up a budget line, but it just works for me with jigs and Texas rigs, when water clarity isn't an issue. Anyway just my 2cents, but anyone of those three lines would be a great alternative for this type of fishing.

Tell me about it, every year in April I spend a few weeks in Florida...and the one year I don't go, the Spring weather is just brutal in Michigan. But the good news is, it can't get any worse until next December....or can it : )

I honestly am guilty of not cleaning my reels often enough, but I definitely recommend a drop of lube on the spool bearing and side plate bearing every 6 months. Also like the previous post says, it's a good idea to remove the bearings and worm gear every year to clean and re-lube. But I usually only do this when I notice the worm gear is dirty or clogged. But before you do anything make sure you know how the reel dismantles and study the schematics also helps with this. Also , this is kind of on the topic, but those Black Max are a very nice reel at the $50 price point, but are notorious for having anti-reverse bearing failures, if you notice any back winding don't just chuck the reel, you can easily find replacement anti reverse bearings to fix this issue. I've had this problem with every black max, silver max and pro max I've ever owned and it always happens after 2 or 3 seasons. Other than that they are usually very problem free reels when maintained properly.

You need the right jig hook, if it's a round ball jig head, the eyelet and the arm won't be long enough to puncture through the plastic tube wall. There are specially designed teardrop shaped tube hooks available in 1/8 oz all the way to 1 oz, with the most common sizes 1/8, 1/4 and 1/2. I'm just guessing if you are internally rigging these, you may be using the wrong jig head, because anything designed for tubes will work well ....and actually I agree the popularity of tubes is not what it was just 10 years ago, but when presented right, they are still very effective, especially on the Great Lakes

Zoom Chunk Trailer or a Zoom Craw

I remember years back throwing a 5" Jumbo Fat Tube on St Clair or maybe Erie....I think it may have even been a Mizmo . But I had a tough time rigging them with regular tube jig hooks and my main concern was with the increased body size, there was a much smaller gap between the body of the tube and the hook point and I found my hooking percentage was much lower so I've stuck with 4" tubes instead. But you are talking 7" tubes and I would think the standard bottom method and exposed inserted tube hooks would pose the same problem....so maybe some type of external jig head with a long hook ? I don't really know, but it seems that it would have to be one mean and hungry fish to eat a 7 inch tube

I personally like Strike King KVD 1.5 and 2.5, Storm Arashi Silent 3ft and 5ft versions, Cotten Cordell Big O (1980s model), and Bagley B2. Colors: Grey/White Shad, Bluegill and Craw Patterns.

Depends on how spread out or thick the vegetation is. Personally I would not overlook a 1/4 or 3/8 oz Jig with craw trailer, and I would consider a Senko rigged Weedless.

In most bodies of water, 50 degrees should be warm enough to move some of the fish with higher metabolism into the shallows....but the general rule of thumb is 50-60 degrees with the spawn occurring after that. However, there are plenty of other variables which factor into this equation

Plain and simple, this is awesome to see...and reminds me that some incredibly productive days on the water are like a gift from God above !

Rick Clunn talking about casting is equivalent to Michael Jordan or Larry Bird talking about shooting a basketball....when it happens people listen for good reason : )

Sure it's worth a Dollar an issue , there is plenty of great information in the times. I think it just depends how hungry you are for angling information and what other subscriptions you already have.

If you are questioning if there are even bass in these ponds you fish, then it's very likely they are overfished and/or hold a very small population of bass. Also, If they are shallower local neighborhood ponds, maybe they experience fish kill in the winter, this is pretty common in the North .

The Pad Crasher is darn good and probably one of the best on the market, in this category of lures .

In other words, every lure in our tackle box has potential but not if we cast it into a mud puddle

1) The Banjo Minnow 2) Chuck Wollery's Moto Lure 3) The Budweiser Beer Can Crankbait or just a simple 1/2 oz Spinnerbait and Texas Rigged Tube

Last year I picked up a Veritas Medium Moderate Winch series and sometimes the M/M is overpowered by 1/2oz lures in 10-12 foot water. I'm not sure how the Dobyns Medium/Moderate or Avid Medium/Moderate compares in the way of action and power. But probably fairly close. Ultimately I think in general, the MH/M Crankbait Rod is more versatile.

Yes that Berkeley Shock 6'6 Medium Baitcasting Rod is a solid budget rod for Squarebills, when rigged with Monofilament or Fluorocarbon line. Note: these were designed exclusively for braided line, but when paired with mono it's works fairly well with square bills. Definitely fishes closer to a Medium Heavy. Also the Shock 7' is Faster action and the 6'6 is labeled a moderate fast Also are all the Walmarts putting these at $9 Clearance pricing?