Manly Studson

This is good advice. Wake baits, like BP’s “the Egg”, are great lures with treble hooks too. They don’t dive very deep—usually a foot or less.

Don’t do it. Don’t eat a PB and banana sandwich in a boat. You’ll catch less fish.

I opened up a Silver Max and a Lew’s Speed Spool LFS once. I was surprised at how similar the two were in design and materials (brass gears, similar washers, etc). But the LFS casts better, and I know that it has more bearings. Maybe the bearings in the Silver Max need replacement?

I know the Silver Max has a “rocket clutch.” Could the problem lie there? Also, I noticed that mine had its rulon washer fused with the brass gear. This could be an issue, though I am not sure how.

I agree. And the President 20 wouldn’t balance so well with a 7’ rod. I use the size 20 on a 6’ St Croix Panfish rod, which is very light. The IPT is very low, but it works for me. If he were to purchase a larger reel, should he just load it with 150+ yards of 4 pound mono?

I agree. The Dobyn’s Fury is a good choice.

The St Croix Triumph comes in a 6’ MF. It’s a good, inexpensive rod. I use it from the kayak. St Croix makes other more expensive 6’ rods, but the Triumph is plenty sensitive to me.

St Croix was supposed to have announced the winners of a kayak and rod giveaway. I doubt that I won, since I’m asking. Has anyone heard anything about this?

Kentucky and Tennessee are fine states to live and fish. The seasons are distinct and the largemouth and smallmouth bass are plentiful. Kentucky gets the nod for me. It is beautiful. The largest smallmouth ever came out of Dale Hollow Lake.

I guess it’s hard to say what a bass thinks or prefers. They definitely like craws, with pincers and without them. Do they prefer one over the other? Maybe. Maybe not. I bet they would prefer to not be pinched! If there is any merit to the study, it’s probably that animals would rather target wounded prey, like a lion targeting a wounded gazelle. Craws without pincers are probably rare. Therefore bass are probably more likely to target craws with pincers just by the numbers alone.

Yes, I believe that was what the study concluded. I wonder that fishing a trailer-less jig is very similar to fishing a tube. Tubes and jigs without trailers have resulted in most strikes for me.

I hear you guys. I’m just trying to make sense out of my experience. I’ll work on the presentation with trailers and see what I can do. As far as what bass think of pincers, this is what I read: “For 60 days, 450 largemouth bass, plucked from the same environment, were tested using a robotic arm and a strike counter. Each group of bass was presented a crawfish bait at the same speed and angle of attack. The bass tested had never seen the bait that was presented (it was a prototype). The test then continued, with one pincer removed, then a second pincer removed, and finally, the legs. The soft bait that had no appendages (no legs or pincers, just a body and tail) had the greatest number of strikes.” Pure Fishing is behind the study.

While on vacation I fished from the bank of a lake I’d never fished before. Each morning I was out there alongside the same old timer. I, with my St. Croix rod and Shimano reel, got out-fished by him, with his Zebco 33 combo. I don’t think he could tell (nor did he seem to care) that my setup was expensive. I was embarrassed for myself.

Well said. I used to fish just for largemouth. But bright skies made that tough on some days. The solution was to target smallmouth. Whatever the weather, as long as it’s safe, I’ll fish in it.

When I throw a jig with a trailer, I catch fewer fish than when I throw a jig without a trailer. I sometimes add a Kalin’s grub or Netbait craw to a SK Hack-Attack or Bitsy Flip. I match the colors of the trailer with the jig. But I consistently do better without a trailer. I’ve read that bass may be less likely to strike trailers that imitate a craw’s pincer. Anyone have a similar experience?

In southern Indiana, the frogs croak when the air temperature is >55 degrees. They’ve been croaking a lot lately. The DNR won’t let you go frog gigging from April 30 to June 15. This must be their mating season. So now seems like a good time to throw a frog. I did catch bass on top water a couple days ago, but it wasn’t a frog.

I tried a Lunkerhunt frog. It took on water, requiring me to squeeze the water out. This happened too often. I use the 1/4 oz Pad Crashers and smaller Spro frogs now.

I caught two bass on a whopper plopper last weekend. I tried a jig for a while with no success, then I tried the WP for the first time. I was surprised at how warm the water was.

You may be a beginner, but fishing in Florida will fast forward your skills. Florida bass are bigger and, in some cases, younger than northern ones. I fished Florida for years before moving to Indiana. The best I can do here is target smallmouth, which is good fun. But I miss big largemouth.

I bought my first kayak too. I purchased a cheap one just to see if fishing this way were fun. And man it is! My sons want one too. When I upgrade, I’ll give mine to one of them. I caught just one bass my first trip out. But it was fun.

Plano Pro-Latch boxes are inexpensive. Some tackle bags come with the cheaper latches on the boxes. But upgrading to the Pro-Latch boxes isn’t too pricey. Plano makes cheap 3700’s and better Pro-Latch ones.

Thanks for the replies. I’m targeting spotted and smallmouth bass for the first time, and I’m purchasing lighter lures to fish in streams. I was mostly curious about the actual weights of the lures.

I found this review of the lure on BP’s site: ”I just got 7 baits in 1/4oz size. Opened them up and thought they seemed pretty hefty for a 1/4 oz bait. Just for laughs I threw a couple on my scale and they each weighed .460 oz thats over 80% again what they should weigh. I have dozens of these baits in the 1/2 and 3/4 oz size and love how they work. The sad part is I thought they casted a mile due to maybe being aerodynamic or better yet my casting skills. Nope it's not me. For the record they did work great on the small mouth bass I bought them for.”

This makes sense. I’ve seen some sites show pics of lures without hooks too.

I fished a WP for the first time ever this morning. I was fishing in a stream with no luck using tubes, a bitsy bug, or a spinner bait. I tied a WP on just to see its action. I caught 2 spotted bass in 5 casts. I was impressed. I’ll probably keep going with the WP instead of other brands for a while. If I lose them often then I can see buying a cheaper brand. But I would have blanked without the WP this morning.