I have a ABA bass tournament on the Potomac river this Saturday, I'll be on the water for 9 hours and plan on throwing keel weighted craws, thumpers, monkeys, and eeliminators, and keel weighted roosters, hawgs, toads, anacondas and shads to grass through grass and in Grass all day saturday....... But i was wondering if there are proven retrieves for each lure and how I should work each of the lures. I have dipped all of them in Chartreuse JJ's magic also. What tackle should I fish these on, I was planning on using a spinning reel with 30 pound spiderwire moss green braid. Any ideas, tips, or suggestions? How fast do you fish each bait?

Toads and Shad I do not use a keel weighted hook, but I do like to use the thicker gauge (Gammy Superline) hooks on those, it's still sort of a keel but doesn't take them under as fast. Shad I use in the thicker stuff/over surface vegitation. Think of the Burp, Burp, drag over junk, Blurp (repeat) it's a little less intense (like a mouse/bug/bird scrambling over the veg to get out/to safety) and seems to work very well for me up here. I throw Toads next to cover in more open water since it's more subtle to begin with. I love to go sloooooooow with them, which is another reason for no Keel weight.

I love Texas rigging Roosters, Monkeys and Craws up here but haven't really given them a fair shot with Keel weighted hooks, seems to me that a Keel weight would have the potential to pick up more grass than a T-Rig in the thick stuff.

Has anyone tried a Keel weighted space monkey or keel weighted Smokin Rooster?

If there is only one bait that I could bring on the water it would be the Smokin Rooster in Watermelon/Red Flake rigged on a new Stanley Wedgehead VLock Hook (in red).

There is nothing better! Nothing beats it!