WRB-2.0

It’s not the fish at the end of the line it’s lure size and weight that determines tackle choices. Standard bass rod, reel, lures have caught thousands of Pike and Musky. MY PB 37# Musky was caught using a MF rod, 2500C, reel, 8 lb copoly line and 1/4 oz hair jig fishing for Smallmouth. Can’t cast big Musky and pike lures using too light of tackle. The Irod & Cardiff is a excellent mid range swimbait, frog, big crank bait, large spoons, in-line cow bell spinners etc, 1/2 oz to 1 1/2oz lures. Really mis Fishing for muskies and Lake of the Woods. Tom

I have a few lures that work for me year around and always have those rigged and ready to use. Knowing what is actually working at the time you go bass fishing takes some home work. The most important factors are seasonal period the bass are in. The. 1 that stands out is obviously the spawn cycle, but knowing the difference in prey the bass are seeking during all seasonal periods helps tremendously in lure selection. For me knowing what depth the majority of the bass population is active in focuses lure choices, size and colors. You can simply tie on whatever is your favorite lure and go fishing blind and with luck catch a few bass. If you want to put the odds in your favor do your homework. My favorites are jigs, worms year around. Tom

Salt Water 5” Super Spook weighs 7/8 oz, bone works good. Tom Better off with Irod IRG754F and 300 Shimano Cardiff casting reel imo. Tom

Medium Fast spinning combo would be a better choice imo. Owner 4107 size 3/0 Cover Shot hook is a medium wire hook with worm keeper ideal for your spinning tackle. Skin hook the worm. Tom

Wrong rod MHF is too stiff to load up using 1/8 oz worm. You didn’t mention the reel. The basic spool adjustment is loosen until the worm can fall with ease. My guess is your brakes are stopping the cast. Try loosening the spool tension and add length of line to about 3’ hanging down before you try to cast. Tom

It’s DC so you can check continuity of the ground battery post to any positive contact to eliminate reverse polarity using your multi meter. Tom

When you troll a deep diving crank bait the lure stays down at the depth it’s designed for the entire distance you troll in lieu of just a few yard making long casts. By trolling you cover the entire strike zone for hundreds of yards in lieu of a few. Lets say you know where bass are located and what depth they are active in. I use sonar to find these bass and years of experience. I buy 6 each of a specific crank bait same size and color. I use snaps for attaching crank baits and 1st step is let out a few yards of line at slow walking speed and watch the lures action at the speed and adjust it to optimize the action. Next make cast about 100’ and start your trolling pass at a specific depth the bass are located and the lures running depth. Most if not all crank bait don’t dive to their advertised depth, but you will know when or if it hits bottom where you are trolling. I trolled in a lazy S pattern to cover more depth and change the lures pace and action. Troll a few hundred yards with a lure and if you catch a bass that lure goes into the keeper box. I usually run 2 paths up wind the down wind with each lure. Change to the next lure and repeat the 2 paths culling lures that din’t get a strike. I also make a pass with a known “pet” bass catching lure for a base line. Next I move to another area in the same lake repeating the entire process. It’s amazing how the good “pet” lures stand out when testing and over years of fishing. Tom PS, what happens to the lemons? Today it’s called eBay. Back in the dark ages it was called a parking lot sale.

Suggest watching newest video Casting Accuracy on this forum. Bait casting reels are all about wrist not arms, that is for baseball. Not sure what you mean by flick/flick? Tom

Diving depth is usually a Bill design thing not weight specifically. You can go up in line diameter to change depth a foot or so, smaller diameter the lure dives deeper, larger diameter shallower. Mono is better then FC to control depth? Tom

The few hundred crankbaits I sold 3 years ago to BR members on the Flea Market forum where mostly hand picked “pet” lures that caught bass. To test a crank bait troll it in areas where you know bass are located. It doesn't take but a few hours to determine the lemons from pearls. Tom

They do make crank bait rods like St Croix LG72MM, 1/4- 3/4 oz. Dobyns DC 705 and 735, 1/4-1 oz crank baits. Major Craft Zoner Hunter is 2 1/2” 7/16 oz. Tom

I will add a few tips about proper bait casting wrist motion; 1. Your thumb should be pointed towards ear and cheek on a over head cast, not upright at 12 o’clock. 2. The exception is the roll cast, also all wrist but a 3/4 circular motion ending with your thumb at 12 o’clock Those 2 casting techniques are used 90% of my bass fishing. The over Head cast dot distance, the roll cast for shorter distance shifter landing accuracy. The 3rd cast is a short distance flip or pitch cast, where I fish maybe 10% of the time. Another tip is know your predominate eye is very important. What you see may not be where the target actually is. To test dominate eye extend your arms fully forward and with the finger together and thumb extended form a triangular opening between both hands held together. Now looking through the triangular opening with both eyes put a target 20’ to 30’ way. Now close 1 eye if the target object is in the opening that is your dominate eye. If the target disappears close the 1st eye and open the other, the target object will be centered and that is you dominate eye. Why is this important? Casting 30 yards the target and be 4’ to 5’ off to one side of where your eyes see it. Few if my fishing partners can cast my bait casting reels because of minimal or no brakes, I use my trained thumb for spool control. Practice, practice, practice totally agree with Glenn. Tom

Boat fishing I bring water, snacks, apple and a good sandwich’s for me and my partner. 1/2 day buy a sandwich’s on the way home. Tom

It’s a tie between Owner hooks and Gamakatsu hooks I use both but lean towards Owner. Tom

Older thread but for correcting history a pegged bullet weight was called the Florida rig back in the day long before punch rig was thought of. Tom

Look at your illustration with the lure hanging by the double line. When you start to wrap the tag end line down double line the motion creates the lure to swing, the swinging lure the complete the number of wraps (usually 7). Agree a video would be clear. Tom

Using a lure for weight or adding a weight to your hook makes tying the SD Jam knot easy. Just use the lure or weight to holg the double line down and swing the lure in a circle wrapping the line down the doubled line. Put the tag end through the lower loop, hold the main above the upper loop and insert the tag end through. Simply snug up the knot with the tag end forming the Jam knot, pull the main line sliding the knot down and clinch tight. Tom

When or if you get into swimbaits you will find round reels are the top choice. Salt water round reels dominate because of line capacity and drag performance. Tom

That would be Blueberry vs Grape Jelly worms. Those are solid translucent colors and the grape is more a wine red grape color. Purple like blue comes in lots of tones from violet to maroon. Blueberry isn’t Safire Blue by the way. Tom

A group of big fish digging into grass kicking mud sounds more like carp behavior. Lots of critters live in aquatic plants from Young of the year fish of all types, crayfish/crawdads, insect larvae etc. Ned rig may have too light of line to control a big bass or carp in the grass. Tom

Basically 1 atmosphere of pressure or about 30’. What happens is the bass could be at 45’ and come up, and strike a lure, then the angler pulls the bass up quickly and out of the water. The air bladder is like a ballon and expands as the pressure on the fish decreases. 2 atmospheres or 60’ causes severe air bladder expansion pushing the stomach out the throat of bass because unlike some fish (trout) bass don’t have pressure relief valves. So my depth limit has been 45’ for bass. I have a 12 oz torpedo weight with a 7/0 hook (point removed) and hook the lower inside lip and lower the bass back down using my lure knocker cord. The bass swims off and retrieve the weight. Tom

If you don’t like gut hooking bass using a Senko use a circle hook. Senko to me is a must have for SoCal lakes if you want to catch bass 50% of the time. It’s just another finesse soft plastic, along with Roboworms on a drop or slip shot. Don’t leave home without a bag of Senko’s, they work! Tom

Should work. Tom

Glenn has put together current videos on several soft plastic presentations like the FreeRig and Hover Rig, Tokyo Rig come to mind. Cover Scat heavy soft plastics is another. Could make up a list of the more traditional rigs to search. Texas rig with sliding bullet weight. Carolina rig, egg sinker, bead, swivel, leader hook. Split Shot rig, #4 round. Wacky rig, original used a swivel in the line with a weightless worm hooked in the middle. Nail weight worm, now called Neko rig. Drop Shot rig. Dart jig worm. Doodle rig, Brass n Glass T-rig. Sled Head, bullet weight molded onto worm hook. Keel weighted worm hook. Slip Shot rig ( Finesse C-rig). Ned rig (mushroom jig short stick worm. Spider jig, Hula grub today. Senko, Heavy Sakted stick bait. Fluke, Donkey rig. Sluggo soft jerk bait. Lizard, 1st creature soft plastic. Flick Shaky rig, ball head jig wacky hooked worm. Skirted. Bullet worm weight. Ring worms. Shassy Shad, early small swimbait. Soft plastic swimbaits, Worm King. Hollow body swimbaits, Basstrix. Hollow. body Frog, Snag Proof. Solid Body frogs. (toads). Hand pour worms. and the beat goes on... Tom PS, Don Iovino book Finesse Bass Fishing and the Sonar Connection and In Pursuit of Giant Bass, Bill Murphy.

Mushroom Ned jig works or a Ball head and drop shot or slip shot rig. Tom