Reel

Finesse is not FINESSE if everybody is using the same small thing ! If you can fish the same shoreline behind a couple of other boats and still catch fish, you are using the right lure.. If not, try other stuff until you find it ... and after that don't tell anybody.

I think the rod and the line are the problems, A light rod is not necessarely a slow rod, For BFS I use a rod with a moderate action that bends down to half the lenght at least. Also, a very small diameter braid has a tendency to dig in making long cast difficukt sometimes, I would got up to 15 pounds at least for a starting point.

Yes, worth the extra 20$. I have both. The Miravel is a much ''tighter'' reel.

Just look at a Strike King Ocho. A very popular lure today and it looks like a Slug-O on a diet.

The Curado DC is also easy to use but more expensive

Why not the Shimano SLX DC ?

Jackall Cross Tail Shad for smallmouth

No, no problem with braid. I use Power Pro which is a little stiffer than most. When it gets softer with age, I use a short leader of stiff fluoro so the hooks don't get caught up in the line.

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G. Loomis E6X swimbait rod and Conquest 100 reel with 30 pound braid.

Shimano also makes SLX rods that go well with that reel. The new SLX A are even better than the originals and at a nice price. A sevent footer in MH is a nice all around rod.

I live north of every body else that commented and I agree with what was said. I regularly catch bass, smallmouth and largemouth on 5 inchs and bigger swimbaits. This is specially true during summer and fall. A lot of bass feed on perch and most of them are that size.

If you see the fish, you have not snuck up on them. It's not easy but you can cath them. Using a lure that that don't see much of is one way. Twenty years ago it was a 4 inch dark stick bait. Ten years ago, a jerkbait was hot. More recently a spybait worked well or swimming a black marabout light jig. Next year who knows ...

I also do it all the time during summer. I fish the St-Lawrence. Twenty years ago, it was easy fishing. It was find the fish = catch the fish. Nowadays, you have to work hard at it ...if you want to catch the big ones.

Do any of you sight fish for smallmouth ( not bed fish) when spawn is over ? Any favorite technique ?

No, I fish for both species. I'm lucky ! On the lake I most often fish, going from smallmouth to largemouth is a matter of motoring a couple of hundred yards. If the smallmouth are not cooperating or cooperating too much and I want a change of pace, I just change places.

Same here. Quick and easy and lasts a long time.

No, I don't agree ! If they don't hit a senko or a lizard, they will hit something else. When I first started using senkos ( 1999), the fish would go crazy over them. Now, Senkos are just another good lure. It might be the same for something else that's new.

The hole in the clevis might be too small an butts against a part of the wire that's a little bigger in diameter. Are the blades as heavy as the ones on the Mepps ?

Yes, Probably a Great Lakes fish. The open season is getting longer and longer.

Don't have anymore Subwarts. Lost them all to pike. Right now I'm using a Macbeth Shallow 50 with a lot of success.

Another vote for the SLX DC and an SLX rod.

Setting the hook on a fish that you see and on a fish that you feel are two completely different things. I also fish very clear water with a jig and see more than 50% of the strikes. Most of the time I never feel the fish bite. I don't wait. I strike when the fish is head down. To feel the strike you have to wait until the fish turns and goes back under cover. That's what happens in dirty water when you don't see the fish. Like it was said, if you are using wire weedguards, these are difficult to use and tune. Cutting the wire will only make it stiffer. I would switch over to a fiber weedguard (or no weedguard in open water). I would also choose a jig with a longer thinner hook. A heavier short hook is nice for heavy weeds or brush but is harder to set. I also like a jig with a head the raises the hook from the bottom.

Interesting, How would they behave in a football stadium ???

Maybe they don't live with other big bass, they just hunt with other big bass because it's easier.