WRB-2.0

OK, spinning reel with 10 lb mono, with a jig you should be using a medium heavy rod. Set your drag at 1/3 rd the line strength; 3 lbs with a scale and leave it alone. Your knot strength should be close to 9 lbs or more, the line shouldn't break or hooks pull out. Bass don't make long hard runs, they make fast sharp turns and power into cover or other stuff. Control the fish by keeping the rod loaded, the fish in front of you and be prepared for a hard turn near the boat. Some anglers like to back reel with spinning reels to prevent line breakage near the boat. I just trust my drag and play the bass with using spinning tackle, stop reeling and hold the rod upright when the drag is slipping and follow the fish. If the bass is heading for cover put your finger tip on the reel spool to add a few pounds of extra drag, sometimes the bass wins. Tom

Whatever the big girls are on or in. Tom

Help those who appreciate your help, avoid those that don't. Tom

Cylindrical bait tanks should have the circulation to create a counter clockwise current so the baitfish face into the current. Tom

Reel and type of line?

GY #221 or #330, double tail grub. Tom

Difficult to get a small 1 1/2 oz swimbait to perform good, larger sizes 2 to 3 oz work better, unless you are talking about hollow bodies like Bassrix 6" paddle tails. 6" and 68 Huddleston rof 12 weigh 2 oz, not 1 1/2 oz. R2Sea S-Waver 6 3/4" is 1.6 oz, a glide bait, not a true swimmer. Black Dog G2 shell cracker is a surface wake bait. 1 1/2 oz. BBZ-1, 4" swimbait is OK, a little fragile. Matts soft Gills all are in your weight range and good. You need a medium heavy swimbait rod to fish 2-3 oz swimmers effectively and should consider that when getting into swimbait fishing. Tom

Do you find catching bass boring? You are using soft plastics that appeal to bass the majority of the time, that is why they work so good. Faster moving lures appeal to active feeding bass. Next you are out and catching bass on soft plastics, try a lipless crankbait, very high percentage faster moving lure. If you see surface feeding activity try a surface lure where you observed feeding activity. Otherwise enjoy catching bass on soft plastics. Tom

If you believe deep water is an abyes, why bother? A spinnerbait wants to lift, that is what the blades do! Trying to slow roll or slow retrieve the heavier ledge buster without any idea what is down at the depth you are guessing at is a futile exercise. If you want to fish deep water get yourself an inexpensive sonar unit to save you from wasting time and effort. Fishing below the thermocline for bass is also wasted time. The most effective lures to explore deep water are structure spoons. luhr Jensen makes a spoon called a Crippled Herring, single hook, that is perfect for this type of deep structure fishing. Drop shot rig is also a good presentation. Like fishing the spinnerbait blind, spoons and drop shot are better when you know fish are down there. Tom

You want the 20" straight tail, not the monster 1" dia 19" worm. The 20" is sold in a 4 each package, same as the 16", except longer. Get on the phone and call Josh. Tom

If the lake dries up all the fish die....

Sharp hooks, check the hook point. Keep the bass under control, the rod loaded up until the fish is in the net or boat. Try snap setting into controlled slack line with t-rigs, hard sweep set with spinnerbaits. Good luck. Tom

Spinning reel, Daiwa Samuri 30 braid tied direct for the reaction style lures you plan to use. Tom

Bait casting or spinning? The original Ardent bait casting reel were made in the US, heavy for today's standards, a good reel. The newer reels are made off shore like most brands and better quality reels are available for your money. Check with Ron at Valley Sports, site sponsor, for a price on Daiwa Tatula or Shimano Curado 1 bait casting reels. Tom

Take a look at Upton's Custom worms. Josh makes a 20" straight tail hand poured worm. Tom

Your hook is too big. Take a look a Roboworms Rebarb size 1/0 hooks. Shaking a worm is known as doddling, glass faceted bead with painted end brass weights, see Don Ionino products online or Tackle Warehouse.Tom

I would bet you are confused by now! Good luck young man.Tom

Call Phil's Propellers, Shasta lake for daily fish reports. Tom

The first thing you need to recognize is there isn't a magic bullet or panacea to knowing when and what to use to catch bass. We can break things down by bass seasonal preferences depending on lake classification and bass types to some degree to understand basic bass behavior, PM me your email address and I can send you that information for deep structured lakes. To catch bass consistently a basic knowledge of where the bass should be located is start. What the bass are eating where and when you fish determines what lures you want to select and most import is at what depth to fish at. Using top water lures early or during low light periods only works if bass are targeting critters on or near the surface during those periods. The bass could be eating crawdads at that time in 15' of water and not give the surface lures a glance. There could be shad hiding in the shallow brush where your top water lure can't go and those bass may not chase down your lure....too many variables to have set fishing patterns and hope they work. Tom

Points are a good choice if the lake has points. Most natural lakes are bowl shaped, may have a few bays or coves, maybe islands, fairly flat bottoms. The outside entry corners of bays and some coves can attract bass due to the change is shoreline contour and island ends also attract bass similar to a point. We don't all fish man made deep structured lakes with long points. Tom

Depends on how big the cats are and well made your reel is. Tom

Basstrix Bait Fry Bluegill, hollow body, not large but this is how it's made. The larger sizes are swimbaits and not cheap. Tom

In your nick of the woods rushes are known as tullies throughout the delta area. Different from cat tails, grow in deeper water and tend to have mats associated on the deep water sides. This is where flipping (tule dipping) was introduced to bass fishing by Dee Thomas. Today's punch rigs are perfect, frogs do very well, jigs and worms and don't forget about birds and rat swimbaits. Tom

Very shallow lakes also have a water source to replace evaporation or the lake would dry up!Springs are always a source of cool water in the 60's and running creeks provide both well oxygenated and cooler water. Have you ever swam in these lakes? If you have you would notice how much cooler the water is a few feet down. Keep in mind depth is relative, a 1" change can be a big depth change in a shallow water area. It's only the 1st day of summer, the water shouldn't be in the high 80's yet! Night is right when it gets hot during the day. Tom

Drop shot work better the more vertical you fish it. If you are casting over 30' away in 10' of water, the split shot rig or slip shot rig is a better choice. 1/4 oz weight on 6 lb Fluoro, 3/8 oz with 8 lb and use a nose hooked 4 1/2" to 6" finesse worm with Owner size 1 mosquito hook, or #5133 size 1/0 weedless hooked 5" to 6" finesse worms like Roboworms. Cast, let the weight hit the bottom and slowly shake it several times before moving it about 12" and repeat. Distance between the weight and hook varies depending on where the bass want it, 12" is a good starting place. My guess is you are fishing it too fast and in the wrong type of bottom structure. Meter the bass and know they are there and what depth of water they are in, before trying a drop shot rig. If you are covering a larger area, use the other rigs. Tom