Drawdown

Serious boost of confidence after buying a bunch of jigs and trailers! About as excited as I’ve ever been reeling one this size. Arkie head, basically, in Upshaw craw color with a green pumpkin 4” Pit Boss. Caught this little guy in a pond casting down the bank edge, right where the pollen lines floats above the grass. Had spent the preceding 20+ minutes adjusting retrieve, looking at the lure shallow to figure out how the rod and reel affects the action. Amazed at how wonderfully weedless the jig is not only snag-wise, but also action-wise. I’m holding him a bit funny in the pic, since the other side had some bad wounds on the back (thought I saw a rib showing even, not sure if another fish tried to whack him). Anyway, thanks for indulging the dink celebration!

Took my 3-year old son to Cabela’s in Acworth today. He picked out a couple of these. No way they won’t land my PB. ?

Okay, but is there a scenario where you’re running a 5” trailer and you don’t need to trim the skirt because of the sheer size of the trailer? Or is skirt trimming something you do regardless of trailer length?

Is there a general rule for ideal trailer length for jigs at each weight? Is there any reason to opt for one length over another? What weights + trailer pairings lend themselves to a “big” or “small” presentation and when do you go to one combo over another? Just trying to get a sense for what size of plastics to buy, especially when it comes craws and beaver-styles. But in time I’ll also be looking to add swimming trailers to the lineup. Looking at the Berkley Pit Boss for instance, there’s sizes from 3.5” to 5”. I know I *could* cut off some of the body and turn them into chunks if needed. But that seems somewhat wasteful, considering you get fewer soft plastics per package when you go up in size, but pay the same price. Presently my jig collection is 3/8oz, 1/2oz, and 5/8oz. But I’ll probably add 3/4oz and/or 1oz football and brush/structure heads for when the fish go deeper and I don’t want to have to count a long time to get my lure to them (or the wind makes it hard to keep good “contact” on a lighter jig).

Wow. I missed it! Nothing left on the site now.

I love to hunt. And a rod and lure is how you hunt fish. But there’s also something about being on the water near dawn or dusk. Your muscles loosen up and your breath eases. You feel peace.

I ended up asking the guy who runs my local tackle shop and is familiar with our water, after I told him I wanted to run jigs and spinners, all year. He recommended a 14lb fluoro. I mentioned that, if the quality of the line wouldn’t suffer, I’d like one that can show up good under a “purple light” night fishing. So he put on what I think is yellow SunLine Night FC line that should disappear underwater, while still being easy to read. Hopefully it holds up good. If not, I’m only out $6 and can try something better later.

Welcome! I lived up that way for several years, but the only fishing I did was with a fly rod. Best of luck!

Can you elaborate? I’ve never heard of trailer material “compatibility.”

I recently bought some Z-man BatwingZ in both 2.75” and 3.5” in the hopes they’ll do precisely this and also be durable. Haven’t tried them yet or done the “bucket test.”

Anyone have anything to say about Rogers Sporting Goods brand lures? There seem to be few to no reviews online and I didn't find anything here in the search results. Their 24-pack of "Torture" Creature baits seems like a great value, and they occasionally put their spinnerbaits on steep discount. Their jigs appear to be a swim/flip hybrid and then an almost square-headed design for dragging on the bottom...but it's impossible to tell how they hold up or if their hooks are decent.

Lol, I at least will admit I want to work toward a 5-horse stable...and my 3-year old son is going to go fishing for the first time this year with me and his grandpa. So as he grows (and his little brother behind him), we'll have a whole herd of rods and reels, in time, I have no doubt. ?

Buddy of mine works at the state park there. Never visited, but it seems like a cool place. Lots of deep water. Man, you don’t know how much I’m fighting it. I’m doing okay, so far, I think. It helps I’m only buying baits for one rod. ?

7’6” MH-F Carbonlite 2.0 Baitcaster with 8.3:1 Carbonlite reel needs to be spooled. Going to be hitting the water mid-month, Lord-willing. On Chickamauga, nowadays we get blessed with plenty of grass mats by mid-summer. Bottom overwhelmingly tends to be muddy, sometimes with higher percentage of sand, though isolated pockets of rocky bottom can be found, especially near bluffs (it is a TVA lake, after all…plenty of bluffs). Good bit of submerged structure scattered across the lake. You can even find cattail-like stuff to pitch in, but it’s isolated. Ideally, I’d like to be able to run the same line year-round. Hoping to run jigs (football, swimming, and everything in between) and spinners on this rod, mainly. Rod is rated from 3/8oz - 1.5oz. Going to fish along shore, on 5-12ft deep ledges off main channel. And then as a last resort, even deeper ledges (no idea what weight I need here…3/4 football? Heavy Colorado spinner? 10” trick worm?) Currently collecting 3/8oz and 1/2oz jigs, with a variety of trailers. And of course, spinners. Thinking that I can throw just about anything I listed above the next couple months according to conditions, but will lean on swim jigs when the grass mats take over. If I’m still fishing up till duck season, might even break out a 1oz spoon and swivels, experiment with hair jigs, IDK. p.s. should I care whether my jigs have a 4/0 hook or a 5/0? And does this affect line choice? FWIW, I’m leaning toward 100% fluoro instead of a leader, for simplicity’s sake.

Howdy! Last year I got back into this pastime after a decade-long hiatus starting in college. Got settled back in the area and relishing the opportunities to enjoy the outdoors again. I fish Chickamauga mostly, occasionally Nickajack, and the Hiwassee River. Since the boat I fish out of is my dad’s, I’ve used his tackle. Being at the stage of life where I have very young children, a boat of my own seems far away on the horizon. However, last year I did begin shopping for my own lures, and using them greatly increased my enjoyment of being on the water. Decided to start getting my own tackle, as well. I just got a BPS Carbonlite 2.0 Baitcaster Combo 7’6” MH 8.3:1. Cannot wait to hit the water with it! Collecting 3/8oz and 1/2oz jigs of various kinds, trailers, as well as some spinnerbaits. In time, I’ll add more tackle for various applications, thereby weaning myself off of using dad’s stuff. Anyway, thanks for having me! Looking forward to picking y’all’s brains as I continue on my angling journey!