WRB-2.0

You can troll with your standard tackle, the boat moves the lure instead of the reel. If you plan to troll deep diving large style spoon bill crankbaits, than a heavy crankbait rod is appropriate. Medium divers a med/heavy crankbait rod works good. Spoon plugs are a metal diving lure similar to how a Lazy Ike achieves diving depth. Good luck. Tom

The reel has a drag and max drag for most bass bait casting reels can apply is 12. To 14 lbs and that should protect your reels spool shaft. There is technique involved, you snap the pulling force, don't just apply even pressure. I agree you can damage tackle trying to break off braid and you can also damage yourself from the braid cutting you. It's a problem and fishing from shore makes more difficult. Tom

Braid is difficult to break off when snagged from shore. DO NOT try to break the line using your rod. The technique is point the rod at the snagged lure so the line goes through the guides without touching the rod blank. Reel the line tight and pull against the reel only. A lot of anglers use a mono or FC leader so the leader breaks easier. Tom

I am not a fan of mop jigs for spots. Take a look at Skinny Bear Signature Pro series living rubber jigs. You like green pumpkin, use the dark green pumpkin, spots love that color. Fishing 15' to 20' of water, use 12 lb FC with whatever green pumpkin trailer you like. Spots are aggressive feeders, it's always better to know and feel what the jig is doing, don't give up staying in touch for slower fall rate, 12 lb line with 3/8 oz jig & trailer will fall slow enough. Tom PS, if Siebert makes a similar jig, go with it.

What makes pork rind effective is the fat content makes bouyant and soft with a tough skin that holds it on the hook. The new Meat does non of the above. Tom

Most of today's modern bass worm hooks are made of corrosion resistant steel, heat treated, coated or plated to further protect the CRES for corrosion. Leave a hook made of this type of steel and it's there till the fish dies. If you have ever cleaned a fish with a worm hook in it's gullet you would know what happens. The hook in the gullet gets covered over with tissue in time, if the fish survives. The old cheap steel hooks may have rusted in time but I doubt that, never found a rusted hook when cleaning fish. I check the gullet for what type of prey the fish was eating, only reason to be disecting the stomach! Tom

Super braids are water proof and have a Teflon coating. It makes sense if you are as detailed as Aaron is with presentations. Aaron thinks in 1/64th oz weight increments, most of us think in 1/16 th or 1/8 oz increments. We discussed this awhile back and bait casting spool weight is important. Tom

No problem, just trying to recommend a lure that you can cast and retrieve with the rod/reel you have??Tom

Depends on what you think a big swimbait is? 8" to 12" swimbaits weighing 2 to 5 oz would fall into the big bait category. Very few quality hard swimmers are on the market under $50. You also need a rod/reel combo to cast the big swimmers. What type of tackle do you plan on using? Tom

The OP's ? Was snap swivels, not snaps. I haven't used a snap swivel bass fishing in 50 years. I use high quality snaps for several lure presentations, tie direct to all hooks. Tom

Nice collection.Sam, You indicated the lakes you fish are mostly shallow, less than 10'. Are the lakes natural or man made? Without model # or colors, the list looks like mostly medium depth divers with a jerk bait thrown in. The lures also have one thing in common, they are floating/ diving lures. When you cast them, they float on the surface and only dive when retrieved. The speed you retrieve determines the maximum depth the lure dives. The lures also have another similar trait, the are medium wobble lures, only the shad Rap and lipless are tight vibrators. The Poe Cedar deep divers are silent and excellent lures, the 300 size gets down to 15'. Hitting bottom can be a good strike reaction trigger, if the bottom is free of weeds. Hitting bottom changes the wobble and deflects the lures path. You can also do this with a change in retrieve speed and direction. I mentioned trolling crankbaits in another thread and this is a good learning technique. The Bomber model A, 6A and 7A are really all you need to learn crankbaits in shallow lakes. The 6A dives about 8', the 7A about 10'. If you troll these lures at a slow walking speed (2mph) they achieve maximum diving depth about 75' behind the boat. The technique is let out enough line and watch the lures action, adjust boat speed until it look right, the rod tip bouncing evenly. Cast out about 50', let out 25' and follow the 8' to 10' break line, move out or in as needed to keep the lure in that depth zone using the Bombers or other divers that work good at that depth. Sloping banks with points are your best crankbait areas, avoid weeds. Making S turns changes lure speed and direction, slow lazy S waving pattern works best When you get a strike, stop and cast your Crankbait in that area or other similar areas. A few days of trolling, watching your sonar,catching bass and you will know how to fish crankbaits successfully. Tom

Trolling for LMB is common with both crankbaits and A-rigs. There is a A-rig Vedio recently posted on this site. Outside of yor sonar unit the fastest method to locate active feeding bass is by trolling. More tournament anglers troll than you realize, some team tournament angers use the boats forward motion while dragging lures behind the boat while the front seater is fishing with the trolling motor. Trolling is technically illegal during some tournaments depending on rule interpretation. Before we had electric trolling motors, we used small outboard motors to troll deep diving plugs called crankbaits today. The Smallmouth world record bass was caught trolling a plug. When I teach new bass anglers to use a crankbait, I troll them. It's a lot easier to learn what strikes feel like when you are covering the right depth for several hundred yards at a time, then just a few feet during a cast. Today's bass anglers may look down their noses at trolling, but it takes the same skill to catch LMB as any other presentation because you still need to put the lure in front of active bass. Tom

Let me play devils advocate;1. How bouyant do you believe super braid is, keep in mind the diameter is 1/3 rd that of FC. Do you think it could float a size 4 mosquito hook for example? The answer is no the hook will sink braid. Ounce the surface tension is broken, braid become close to neutral buoyancy underwater. 2. How far do you think you can stretch FC line without it yielding and taking a permanent set at the stretched diameter? Answer about 30% tensile load. If you are using 15 lb FC and apply 1.5 lbs load, the line yields starts to stretch, at 5 lbs the FC line takes a permanent set, stays deformed and weakened. The weakest area is the knot. Lets say your leader length is 7', try strechingv7' of FC line and measure the movement; how long it is at 1/3rd line strength and length it returns after stretching or it's elasticity. 3. FC line may be hard but it isn't cut resistant from sharp edges, therefor has less abrasion resistance than most mono line. Increasing the abrasion resistance also increases the memory to take a coil set on the reel. Most anglers do not use FC line where zebra/quagga mussels are a problem. 4. Other than tying on lures, you shouldn't need to cut off braid to retie. You can reverse raid and use both ends of the spooled line. 5. Super glue prevents braid from moving. 6. We become more confident by catching bass. Keep in mind there are two sides to this bebate. I am only pointing out facts. I believe braid has some advantages and disadvantages. The only time I personally use braid is in heavy vegation cover because it cuts through the weeds. I tried braid down to 8 lb on spinning finesse presentations without a leader and didn't see any difference in bass caught per hour verses 6 lb FC. However using FC leader on braid the lost bass due to knot failures was higher than all braid or all FC, on spinning reels. Braid advantage was no line twist, disadvantage was wind loops and digging down into the spooled line. I may give braid another try this year jig fishing, after the pre spawn. Like everyone else I believe giant FLMB bass are line shy at times and 1 time could be a bass of a lifetime. 2 knots is 1 to many with FC line. Tom

Why does everyone believe braid is weakened by abrasion from wood under water? Braid can be cut or abraided from hard sharp edges like rock and zebrs mussels, not wood. Fluorocarbon can also be abraided or weakened by the same rocks and zebra mussels and has lowest knot strength of all line types. Premium monofilament line like P-line or whatever you prefer has better abrasion resistance to rocks and mussels than either braid or FC. I personally don't like to fish with braid, but use it because of it's excellent performance for jig fishing where you plan to fish. I use FC line in clear deep rocky structure lakes and put up with weaker knots and line abrasion by retrying and inspecting my line. FC line sinks, has less line drag going through water,both advantages over braid and mono. If you go to braid using a bait caster, use line equal to at least .010 to .012 diameter so you can handle the line with getting cut fingers. Leader? It's a personal confidence thing, are 2 knots with it? Good luck. Tom

When read the threads on this and other forums the vast majority of braided line users tie on a FC leader using Uni knots, Albert knots, etc...2 knots; 1 to splice on the leader, the 2nd to tie on the lure or hook. Why? Why would anyone use mono or FC line, braid is smaller in diameter, stronger, last longer, doesn't twist. The answer is anglers believe bass are line shy and mono or FC will improve the size and number of bass they can catch. I first learned to bass fish using Dacron braid tied directly to my lures....until monofilament line came of age. Like most bass anglers I also jumped on the FC line when it came out, believing the advertised low refraction low visibility ads. The fact I fish gin clear water lakes makes it easier to think bass are line shy. Are they? At times the line size affects how fast or slow the lure falls through the water column or the lures action, this does affect strike reaction from some bass. I know for sure transparent small diameter line gives me more confidence, the question is does it matter to the bass? Tom

The reason is to allow the weight to pull off without breaking the line at the hook knot, when snagged. The swivel action allows the weight to roll without twisting your line. You can achieve the same easy off and free to roll by using round split shot to hold a bullet or cylinder weight on the line, above and below the weight. The crimped swivel is a lot easier to rig. Tom

Interesting...what size and type of braid do you use without a leader?Tom

We have topics discussing fluorocarbon line, braid, monofilament line and various knots to join the different line together all in an effort to catch more LMB. My question is directed to one simple factor; are bass line shy? If bass are not line shy fish, meaning their eye sight isn't designed to see tiny insects in low light like trout for example, why use a leader or FC line? We discuss fishing in off color water, muddy water, gin clear water, mid day, mid night, can bass see the line in all these conditions. The diameter of the line can and does affect a lures action, does it matter if the line is highly visible if the lures action is working good? What are thoughts. Tom

AccuRite digital water temperature with 10' probe, about $13. You can put the probe in the water by clipping onto you rod tip or lure. You can also put the probe into the bass throat and take the body temp, the bass body temp is the same as the water it came out of. Tom

Yes, Jim C, retired a few years ago, good man. Tom

I prefer the ball shape most of the time and use Top Brass drop shot weights painted black. The brass weight gives the same hard click feed back as tungsten at less cost. The Mojo style cylinder weights I use for slip shot rig. If you are getting hung up a lot, use a ligther weight, 1/4 oz chage to 3/16 oz for example. Tom

How fish taste depends on the type of water they came out of, the type of food they are eating, the water temperature and how well,they were handled, cleaned and prepared. LMB are a good food source, if they are handled properly, put on ice before they are dead. Catch and releasing bass that will die as a result of being caught due poorly handled or circumstances beyond the anglers control and put back into the lake is a wasted food resource. Tom

The NRX series rods are faster action than the GLX and about 1/2 power stronger; 3 power is about 3 1/2. I would suggest that you touch and feel before buying. The NRX are state of the art rods, the negative being price and warranty, the $100 wild card return sucks. You might want to consider a custom built rod using a blank equal to NRX. Tom

Bassmaster doesn't validate the photos, they use the anglers input. Tom

That would depend on the definition of a spider jig. The original spider jig was a Bobby Garland spider shirt and twin or single tail grub. Gary Yamamoto offered the spider skirt attached to the grub and called it a Hula grub. Others now make Hula grubs like Chompers etc. a spider jig is simply a hula grub on either a stand up or football plain jig, simple and very effective when cast and retrieved like a Texas rigged worm. Jig and craw or jig and pig is usually a jig head with a weed guard, Arkie, football, etc., with a skirt attached to the jig head and a trailer added. The advantage is you have a wider choice of skirt materials, color, trailer combinations and the weed guard to fish in heavier cover. Spider jigs are excellent choice in more open water with rocky structure and light cover. Jig and craw are excellent in heavier cover, weeds, wood, etc. Tom