GetFishorDieTryin

The Biffle Bugs kind of like a sweet beaver with 2 appendages that have a subtle kick. Its an outstanding bait in all sizes, but its a diff bait then a Rage bug action wise. Check these out

Explain please

I havent fished that lake in over 20 years, but all small lakes around here are similar as far as big fish go. Fish in feb before the prespawn starts. The fist fish that come into the shallow water to prespawn are the biggest fish in the lake. You want to start early because it goes from 0-50 real quick and if you miss the intial push you will behind the bite and once that happens its hard to catch up. Shiners are what those bigger fish prefer. Shiners will winter in shallow water that gets sun, but they will have access close to some kind of deep water relative to avg lake depth. Bridges and spillways are good options. Sometimes its worth taking a couple days in late Jan/early feb and looking for shiners, yellow perch that are beginning to fatten up and or early schools of crappie. Both the Jumbo perch and crappie feed on the shiners and also school up in the same areas. Get a light or UL rod and tie up a slip bobber rig with a 1/64-1/80 hair jig and fish those bridges in the early afternoon. You will catch bass and pickerel too but what you are looking for is a biomass of shiners. Bass will eat a shiner over a gill or perch because they are easier to swallow and often school up. So once you find the shiners the better fish will be there at some point, figuring out when is the hard part.

Thanks for the input so far guys, but I should have been a little more descriptive and said "slower" falling lipless cranks. What I'm looking for is a trap sinks faster then a suspending or slow sink trap, but doesnt sink like a rock. Something like this or just a little faster

So far im not a big fan of the SS quakes. Theyre essentially a suspending lipless as they have the same fall rate as the Ima with no shimmy. I have caught fish on it, but so far I actually prefer the Ima.

The Warpig, Riot Raptor and Yo Zuri Rattlin Vibe all appear to have the dimensions, shape and weight to be contenders. Anyone have experience with these baits, or can suggest another slow falling bait that has a good shimmy other then the usual suspects (TN60/70 and RES)? Thanks ahead of time.

Sounds like you need to get some swimjigs

Balance, splined correctly, sensitivity, weight, comfort and customer service.

Arizona Custom Baits

Bluegill Ayu Electric Shad/Bluegill Flash (interchangeable) TW Pro Blue/Gizzard Shad (interchangeable) Perch They have some really nice new colors too.

Pro Blue?

I wasnt a swim jig guy for a long time, but now I have one tied on from April to October. The trailer makes all the difference IMO. A bait that gives the jig roll without me having to shake the rod is what I want. D walkers. Swammers and Swimming super flukes have more roll then keitechs and in the case of the D walker last far longer. Greenfish makes what is by far my favorite swim jigs. They only have a 1 layer skirt, like the dirty jigs finesse, but it has a stronger hook and a recessed line tie that stays cleaner. I like a 1/4, that way I can can really slow it down and I can get it in the water without making much noise at all. Compact or finesse swim jigs are getting popular now. A compact swimjig will get those bigger bites on clear days when a bigger bait isnt working as well. Greenfishs' chibi swimjig is my favorite. Its really small with a light wire O Shaughnessy that is so sharp it sticks most of the fish witohut a hookset. I trim the skirt down a bit and put a 4" Zoom swiming super fluke Jr and it gets bit like a finesse swimbait. Just keep in mind the hook and brush guard are light, so it does better in light cover or open water. Colors are simple, I use GP or GP smoke/Spot On with a GP or houdini trailer when Im in lakes where bluegill are the primary forage, which is the majority of the time and in low light or dark water I will use black. Lakes with shad I'll throw in a gunthersville shad or white into the GP or black color line up.

If Im snagged up and I need to break heavy braid I set the rod down, glove up or wrap rag around my hand and break it that way.

Keitech makes a good micro jig in 1/16, 3/32, 1/8, 5/32... the hook is small, like #3 which many people complain about. Its a limerick bend so its very strong for the size. Ive caught fish up to 6lbs on it with no issues. Missle Baits has a Micro Jig too which is serviceable. The Molix Nano Jig is a good choice. Its a tiny little jig with a little #1 limerick bend hook, but the wire is very stout. You have the obvious Zman TRD jigs as well. The other option is to use spider grubs on little football heads or tie jigs the jig up yourself. A spider grub has a similar profile and have found they are pretty much interchangeable in most situations. My favorite little football head is the Hayabusa Shooting Ball and Baby Shooting Ball. Owner Makes a decent football head as well.

You see a considerable reduction in weight when you spend a little more money. A smoother drag with a bearing supported spool is another perk, but unless youre fishing smallies, hardtails or some other harder fighting fish the support bearing isnt necessary. A thread in handle is a nice upgrade too. Its just a better connection then a hex pin. As bulldog said line lay a big one. Although the budget Daiwas and Shimanos are good, the tech that results in excelent line lay has trickled down what some would consider higher $ budget reels like Spheros. Going from Zinc to Machined Al may not feel like a huge difference on some brand new reels, but I dont care what the quality or size of the cast zinc is Al is superior in strength, durability and will feel smooth far longer.

I use 10-12' FC FC with a modified Alberto. I can feel the knot going through the guides, but its more subtle then a uni uni. Superglue will help protect the knot from damage from going through the guide train and help it run through a little smoother. That said, I dont feel the need to use glue. With an Alberto/Albright style knot you can and should cut the tag as close to the knot as you can without damaging it. I like nail clippers, they make it easy to cut the tag nearly flush with the knot. If you dont cut the leader tag short enough line can slip in between the tag and mainline which can turn into mess.

Ark Makes a really Versatile 7'3 MH that can throw plastics and spinnerbaits/chatterbaits. They offer a MagMH too which might be something to look into if you want to go with a rod under 160$. If you want to spend slightly more $ then a 7'2 H XF M1 would be a good option. Not to many rods under 200$ that give you a 36t blank with SiC guides. The next step up would be a Rebellion or Zodias.

You dont have to wait for breaks in the weather, you can catch them right now on shallow water, so I would be more then willing to bet catching them deep wouldnt be terribly hard, as long as you can find them.

I like the Dry Creek 3" DS tube, it just doesnt have a solid head and isnt very durable.

HIgher end reels now have drags that so smooth it eliminates the need to back reel IMO when using light line. The drag on lower priced reels have improved significantly as well. Its also kind of self defeating to pay for magseal or stiffen the retrieve with heavy rubber seals to keep water from under the rotor when there's a gaping hole in the frame for the AR toggle that lets water right in.

While I havent solved, ive found a few ways that really help minimize lost baits. Use a wide trailer, like a creature or craw. It helps stop the bait from falling into tighter areas that they cant get out of. Use the lightest bait possible and keep the skirt somewhat bulky to slow the fall. I found the Picasso Tungsten Football shock blades dont get stuck as much as the Arkie style and are way more snag resistant than the Project Z and other swim or grass jig style heads. I found mono and some FC to be a little more forgiving then braid. Once you snag a one up with braid its really stuck where as using a line with stretch I can work the bait out before its totally wedged.

The SC isn't a connection you hear much about. Strength wise its practically equal to the FG with med dia lines. I think the FG is slightly thinner, but the SC is still slim enough to get through a line guide.

I got one of those from JLS when I bought a reel. I wasnt thrilled, littteraly any other color would have been better. Havent used it yet.

I like the IC because I can tie it without taking up too much leader. If its tied right, you shouldn't have any breakage issues. I use a Kreh knot on the majority of my swimbaits. Simple loop knots arent strong compared to other terminal knots, but again Ive never had breakage issues. For Braid to terminal I used to use a Palomar, but for the past 10 years I started using a double uni. Its been put to the test and never failed. The connection knot I use most is the Alberto. Again as long as its tied and trimmed correctly its very strong.

I havent seen the Reinforcer, but I cant imagine it would be equal to or better then an Orochi or Adrena. The lifetime warranty is really nice, but I had a rough experience with Arks customer service. They sent my rod back to me in a tube with virtually no packing or plastic sleeve over the rod, so it bounced around for over 1000 miles, which beat the hell out of a rod that I had taken good care of. While it wasn't a Reinforcer it wasn't a cheap rod @180$, but even if it was a Catalyzer a packing job like that is absolutely unacceptable. I sent my rods back to have a broken component epoxied back on. I could have done it, but I didn't want it to look sloppy. Unfortunately whoever worked on it put a ton of epoxy on it and it turned out sloppy anyway. If Ark could work on QC and had great customer service like 13, they would be far more popular. Those Rebellions look really nice, id like to actually see one.