Mbirdsley

It has been over a month since I’ve had the boat in the water. In mid-Michigan this time of year any fishing this late in the year is considered a bonus. Little slow but, what I did catch made up for it. A 3.6 lbs smallie and a smaller smallie. Started at green point on the Shiawassee side and ended up past the HESr ( first rail road bridge) in down town Saginaw. The bigger one came up by the confluence. Caught the smaller one and lost another nice fish in down town. Both came on my jigs that I make with black/blue chigger craw as a trailer. Bigger fish came in a 3/8 oz Arkie jig, smaller one on a black blue 3/4 oz brush jig. Lost a really nice fish down town. I havnt fished a lot this late in the fall but, river is full of Shad. Up by the confluence I was snagging them while casting. Even down town the graph is full of Shad top to bottomzDidn’t see or hear a lot of walleye being caught. River had a lot of people on it fishing walleye.

Craw chunks for me. I was buying a lot of craws and craw chunks at one time. Craw chunks just seem redundant. A plastic craw can be used a jig or t-rigged. Craw chunks can only be thrown on a jig terminal tackle would be extra wide gap hooks. There are a couple situations I use them. However, I’ve realized that I only really need either a 2/0 or 4/0 offset worm hook for 95% of them fishing I do

Around where I live in mid Michigan we have American gizzard Shad so you need a hint of green on sunny days and the smallies hammer it . However, sexy Shad has been good on overcast days for what ever reason and I’ve caught a lot of smallies and large mouth when It is cloudy. my all around best cranks have been flashy silver ones or like I said ones with green chartreuse is a situational thing on clear body of water as the sun starts going down

I have a couple strike King 1.5 flat sided cranks and they work good for the spring and fall. I’ve never really tried using them summer. When I first started buying cranks I bought way to many wide wobble ones. So I need to balance it out with more flat sides and Shad raps

Should be good to go. The real thing that kills line is sunlight. It’s why the big lake fisherman who keep there rods in rod holders on the boat all summer replace their line every year. only line that scares me of being old is flouro. Granted it could have been bad to begin with. But, if I’ve had a spool I’ve been using for leaders for 2-3 years after the I throw it out

I can’t remember honestly it’s been too long. I do remember it is quite a bit thicker even in the medium version This is good info thanks I’ll research these too. This is my 3rd year having bait casters. Last year I wasn’t able to bomb the lures out there so the fish would hit closer to the boat and I’d have power to set the hook. This year I’m able to bomb a crank way out there which, is where the fish are hitting and I can’t get the power to set the hook

1 Any thing moving 10 lbs big game. 2 Any thing bottom contact I use braid to leader. 3 Spinning rods flouro clear or real 100% flouro I hate stren with a passion!!!! I have used thier cheap flouro for leaders. About all it is good for

I absolutely love my 6’9 mh f carbon light rod and reel 2.0 combo. It is light and very sensitive the reel is 8:1:1.I will be buying more of those when I need another jig or t-rig rod. When I bought the combo last year it was my most expensive. I have now more expensive set ups but, I really like the carbon light 2.0 I like spinning version too but, the only thing I noticed at Cabelas in Saginaw is that in those you have to make sure the bottom eye is inline with the rest. I saw 4-5 of them with a crooked bottom eye

Is Carolina rig somthing you guys run when water temp is 55-65 degrees ?

Yes they will go crazy for shiners and golden shiners. What ever is natural in your stream/river is what they are munching on. Some of the biggest smallies I have ever caught have been with big golden shiners, circle hook on a slip sinker on the bottom of the river. pro tip: try and use circle hooks so it limits the chance of gut hooking them.

I’ve never used lipless cranks yet so that shouldn’t be a problem. Probably should I have a couple Yeah if you would reply back after you get the rod. If you get some time it would be appreciated. the fury is what I wish my M/l 7 ft colt was

What size hook typically used for Maribou bass jigs? I have a round head mold but, in that size will use smaller hooks

Easiest way to do it is to use model paint like MN fisher said. I would add testors to your list too. You could also spray paint them. Best way would be to take some 000 or 0000 steel wool and rough the surface up a bit than bake in a convection oven at 350 for 20 minutes. Goodwill sometimes has old convection ovens.

Make/pour my own jigs, chatter baits, and inline spinners . Buy hard baits. I will buy un painted jigs from other people if I’m unsure if I want to buy the mold or if I won’t use it enough to justify buying the mold. last year I was ready to start making my own spinner baits. This year spinner baits have been hit or miss for me. So I’m holding off on doing that.

I have a lightening shock rod. Brown with split cork handles. I like it it’s a good extra rod

I want to go back to big game for cranking. I was afraid to do it with the current rod considering how whippy it was . With a new one I can. My catch rate has went up exponentially since switching over my to other moving bait rods back to mono

Do you use mono with your glass rods or flouro/co-polymer ?

Michigan is home to 10,000 lakes of all shapes and sizes. The only real area devoid of a ton of lakes is the triangle between Lansing, Saginaw, and flint. But, there are a lot of great small mouth rivers in that area

I don’t need a glass I’m just trying to figure out what a glass rod is. If the skeet Reese rod isn’t glass than I’ve never actually handled a glass rod. I’m going to look around maybe even if I found a 7ft medium bait caster. Mediums depending on the rod seem to be a little slower in the tip than MH fast rods. I may have to take a trip up to Jay’s or stop on my way up north. Jays carries a lot of rods. My only other option for bass stuff is cabelas in Saginaw and BPS in suborn hills. Jays and BPS are about an 1-1.5 hrs away I’ve caught a lot of fish throwing cranks using that black max combo. Only issue with that cheap set up is the reel bogs down once you get into 5 and 6 xd size cranks.

Yeah I dont know. Mine is the all yellow one And your right at some points in the retrieve I can’t even feel the crank. Last year I did not really have an issue with the rod landing fish. . However, this year it has cost me a lot of nice small mouth all year. They hit and I can’t get enough power to get a good hook set. I think something along of the lines of an ugly stick( but, better) type action would work good. I know that st.croix has the bass mojo crank rods in stock around me most of the time. is that skeet Reese rod considered a glass rod or graphite?

Hard bait : what ever worked that day plastic: black/blue flake chigger craw 2nd place: any craw/creature in summer craw color

Looking for a new crank rod this/winter. Giving up the ghost on the skeet Reese crank rod. I can’t keep fish on the dang thing even with good sharp hooks and flouro. If I use my elcheapo 6ft6 black max medium rod they stay pinned all day. I’m looking for somthing with a faster tip that I can use mono with ( so the exact opposite of that skeet Reese crank rod) . I’m betting what ever I get I’ll have to order on line so first hand accounts would be nice . I could spend anywhere from $100-$200 bucks. If I get a rod at the lower end I’ll stick with my 5:4:1 phluegar reel if it’s towards the $200 mark I’d probably get a new reel with a little faster ratio. I wouldn’t be looking to throw anything bigger than 6xd’s on it. Most of my cranking is 3-12 feet. Are all of the glass rods whippy and slow action? how is the dobyns FR 705CB rod? or any other suggestions.

They work and for some reason I can cast them farther than a shad rap. I have to use a spinning rod for my Shad wraps to get any distance. Flicker Shad I can chuck with my cranking baitcaster. Wierd that they are the same thing basically. One is made of wood the other plastic.

Kvd Magic color represents about everything a small mouth eats. I only have it in a 5 inch ocho. But, I bought it for ultra clear northern Michigan lakes where you can see 14-15 feet down. I’ve not caught anything in it however, I’ve not really fished it hard yet either. . Best way to describe it would be a Smokey Greyish green with a touch of translucent mixed in for good measure

This is exactly it. I hate loosing fish and I’m not even fishing tournaments yet. I lost a huge smallie today. I actually thought it was a snag so I gave a half a$$&$ hook set. Than it started moving and taking line, there fished jumped than it was gone. Looked at the lure and still had what ever hooks kvd puts on cranks. If I had triple grips on it that fish would been stuck. I have been turning over my hard baits and getting rid of non-successful ones and Ive gotten lazy in the last couple of months due to work of swapping out hooks