Solo

I have about 6 of them and wish they were still sold. I've caught a lot of fish on them. They make a great alternative to the Johnson Silver Minnow when you want more vibration and wobble than the Minnow. You can still throw them into weeds without hangups and their drop action is stronger than the Minnow.

Used to use Ande green and pink. Braid came along and I changed over completely to that. But always felt ANDE was one of the best: had total confidence in the product.

As Alpster noted: not listed, but my favorites are Calcutta/Conquests

I pitch to fairly long stretches of shoreline cane, overhangs, and matted grass/weeds etc. Using the trolling motor, being able to get my lure back as soon as possible in order to pitch to the next likely spot is a good thing. A 7:1 comes in handy. My burner is the Shimano MG7 and the HEG is a good thing too. 8-)

Robert: do those Bassart grips slip when they're wet? Thanks.

Try a Johnson's Silver Minnow with a twin tail grub fished slow (let the spoon sink).

Zebco 33 on a 5'6" glass rod. Thought I had reached the top.

No offense, and certainly no reflection on anybody's preference. But this stuff is old. The backplay issue on the Shimano has been around a LONNNNNNNG time. It doesn't affect the performance of the reel at all. I have Daiwa AND Shimano reels. I think there are other comparison factors of Daiwa to Shimano reels that are much more important than minimal backplay at little or no drag settings. JMHO.

Picked up a pack of these. Searched the forum but couldn't find anything on them. Anybody use them? How do you rig them? Thanks.

I hope you get one too. What surprises most people when they first catch one is the sheer savagery with which these great fish take a bait, bend the rod, and straighten your hair. What a fish.

50 lb Power Pro or Stealth (both about 12lb. mono thickness) and an Abu 5500 or 6500C3 will set you up just fine. If you want to make that reel a bit more special, there are a number of reputable on-line vendors that sell upgrades parts for the ABU. It should last you years.

It is my understanding that Graphite is not manufactured by Loomis, Fenwick, St. Croix, etc. They order graphite from a limited number of suppliers specifing characterisitics: (e.g. modulus, scrim, etc.). To my knowledge (and I stand to be corrected on this) only Sage and Loomis have proprietary graphite designed especially for fishing (e.g. GLX). BTW Cabela's sells rods with a 65,000,000 Modulus and a lifetime guarantee. So Loomis rods (not including GLX) are not that much different in graphite composition from other manufacturers. The Fenwick AV blank for instance, is the basis of some very expensive and high quality rods in Japan. The Techna AV blank actually is very sensitive and comparable to IMX at a minimum. So is the St. Croix Avid. Mercedez Benz, cars with a premium price tag but score very low in quality ratings. But the NAME sells. Not saying Loomis is low quality, they're obviously just the opposite, but leagues better than other rods in today's market?: naw.

4" green pumpkin grub on 1/4 oz jig head.

That sounds pretty sweet. See what happens when you think outside the box. I need to do that more as a fisherman. I agree with the post above. I think I fish the 'same old same old' too much as well. Don't seem to experiment and try new ways out enough. When I was a kid, I'd try anything. Now I guess I don't want to seem, look, or feel ridiculous since "I've been around don't you know". That view probably costs me fish and a good time.

That can depend on the line size too. I've been using 65 and 80 lb braid for LARGE muskie lures and never had much of a problem with line digging in. Once in a blue moon? yeah, but then again not enough so it was an issue.

Real bad August up here for me too. Sept. hasn't been that good either. Other guys up here have been making the same comments about poor fishing in Southern Ontario. We've had lots of wind, very dry and hot conditions, and water levels are at record lows.

Thanks for providing a link. I've never heard of them but I agree: they do look very interesting. It seems like a great idea. I just might order some next week and try them out.

I started using Bayoo's Swimming Jigs in the 3/8 and 1/2 oz sizes about a month and a half ago. Colors for my waters: black and brown. I use either 5 " Kalin's Grubs or a 6" Mogambo grub as a trailer. Caught 2 Muskies (not real big but fun anyway in the past 2 weeks. Totally surprised but I'll take it. So now I always keep a rod rigged with a swimming jig.

50 lb. Braid will do the trick. Use a wire leader. Some guys use heavy (40 lb+ Flouro) expensive and I don't trust it as much as I do wire. Muskies and Pike are not leader shy so why risk losing a fish with a lure in its mouth. A superb gamefish will probably die and you lose an expensive lure.

In-Fisherman ran a review on the bait. They said it casts best with a spinning rod and is one of the best WALLEYE baits they have ever used. I have one in perch but haven't caught anything yet. It IS light, has no internal weights, and like a lot of minnow baits, tends to tumble. Long slower casts work best for me.

Tough one. Are you ripping the bait to the side etc? Longer softer rod might work better for you. Are you truly "jerking" downwards like the earlier post said with respect to x-raps? Shorter, faster rod may work better for you. Me, I use 2 rods: one 6'6" Medium fast for jerking (e.g. X-raps), and the other a 7 ft. Medium Fast for "ripping" and "husky jerk" type baits where I want a lot of distance and use a steady retrieve. The 6'6" rod is stiffer and a bit faster than the 7 ft rod. My $.02

Depends on whay you want to do. I've been using my baitcasters almost exclusively for plastics and have gone back to spinning. Easier to throw small tubes, small finesse worms, shakey heads, 4" Senkos, etc. No problem with drag or retrieve. I find Baitcasters are more accurate though.

The lake where I keep my boat is very weedy and I've been using Johnson Silver Minnows rigged with a twin tail grub. Don't hear much about these lures anymore, but I think they're great. Anybody out there still use them?

To me finesse is 4-6lb line and I find spinning reels actually a bit more fun to use than baitcasters with line that light.

Use them for drop shotting. Convenient, fast.