Crestliner2008

If it's matted over with green algae that look like miniature lily pads, try a soft bodied frog fished parallel to the shoreline. Also a heavy jig to get thru the mat to the bottom might work. The Senko would work great if it can get through.

I agree with what has been said previously. One option you may try is by visiting Netcraft online. If you don't have their catalog, it's a worthwhile sign-up for sure. They are offering some LC suspending jerk knockoffs for about $3.00 each! Beautiful finishes and you can't beat the price! Of course you have to supply the split rings and hooks. Lots of other great stuff there too!

You're definitely up against a challenge with water like that! To start off with, you have to know where the fish are. I mean, REALLY know. That's your biggest hurtle this time of the year in most areas. Some of the suggestions made here, as far as presentations go, will do just fine. Since the water is shallow, the ball head jig with a 3" or 4" curly tail will find fish as quickly as any presentation. Then you can focus closer and pick the area apart with a jig & pig or drop shot (with a very short lead, hook to sinker). A slow rolled spinnerbait would be a good searching tool as well.

If 55 deg. is the water temp, I'd have to ask, is that about the lowest it gets? If so, then the bass in your area are probably in their winter period for sure. The biggest problem most fisherman have in winter is bass location. A friend of mine has an Atlantis underwater viewing system (camera) and last winter we checked a lot of spots we fish. The fish were deep; 40' - 55' down. They were stacked like cordwood down there on the edges of channels or shelves (structure). However, you could NOT see them on the sonar, period! This is what most fisherman don't get. You have to "know" they are there; not relying on finding them on your electronics. Winter is probably the best opportunity for an UW camera that was ever called for. It's worth it's weight in gold. Of course, our water temps in winter HERE are hovering just above freezing - a lot colder than 55 degrees! So I don't if your bass will react the same. In any case, put a blade bait down there and just barely twitch it off the bottom.

Don't forget! Bass inhale and frequently tend to swallow a Senko right off. Which is why, when I wacky rig one, I always use an inline circle hook and crimp down the barb. Even when I Tx rig, I crimp down the barb. The resource is too precious to screw up - imo. The few bass I don't boat, because of doing this, aren't worth mentioning.

I've used several different kinds. The weed guards are not durable enough on most however, so even if I start off using one, I usually switch back to a texas rigged, off-set worm hook. Doesn't seem to affect my strike ratio much. I think the wacky really shines in deeper, clear water lakes.

Try fishing with an UL set-up (4 lb. test max.), a slip bobber and a handful of 1/32 oz. marabou crappie jigs in gray or black/white. Cast up stream and let your bobber drift down. No need to impart any kind of action. The marabou has enough of it's own, especially in a current. Adjust the bobber length to jig accoring to the depth; but you want it to suspend just above the bottom ideally. This will tell what, if any fish are there and whether or not they can be taken.

I would just say this on gripping scales: don't get a Rapala! Why? Because, If you are a CPR fisherman, their rotating jaw grips tear up the fish too much. IMO. I only use this one now (it was a gift!) for lakers or pike.

To me, they look like a deep running version of the standard X-Rap. I've tried the deep X-Raps ("Deep Down"), but I don't get the same action as the regular shallow running X-Raps. So I'm encouraged with this new design; hopefully it will be an improvement on their "Deep Down" regular version?

I can see these "finesse wacky" plain headed jigs for regular straight worms, to impart the action you get with a Senko. But I don't see where just using a Senko, in this case, wouldn't work just as well? I agree with LBH - the purpose of wacky rigging is to maintain the straight line of the bait while wiggling just the ends. O.O. - I can't imagine a lake where you couldn't catch a bass on a wacky rigged Senko? Are you sure there are fish where you're putting it? I've used this rigging successfully in clear as well as very muddy water.

Not quite sure why you would need/want a silent snap? I mean come on now, the whole idea behind using a crank in the first place is for it's attracting qualities, right? Noise (if any with a snap) would be a plus, not a minus, it would seem to me. I've used the Berkley black cross lock snaps for many years. "They'll do to ride the river", as the old Texas Ranger once said.

Blade Baits....period!

For use with any of the multitude of regular plastic worms, they should work just fine. However, if I am going to wacky rig anything, it's going to be a Senko! With that, I don't need a jig at all.

To rig it weedless, you use the pre-mentioned insert weights and a 3/0 or 4/0 EWG worm hook; the hook can either be "texposed" or skin hooked.

Just for the heck of it, try retrieving one in rapidly so that it just wakes the surface of the water, submerged. Enough said!

Ikas are not a very popular bait (at least not in my neck of the woods). Don't ask me why? But I guess that's a good thing! They give you an edge with presenting something to the bass that they are not use to seeing every day. Beyond that, don't forget to try them in rivers for smallies; with a little current, you can cast them along a shelf, bridge pier or log jam, letting the bait fall and drift close in, paralleling the structure. You'll nail some of the biggest SM in the water .

Back in the '70s & '80's I use to use small, compact spinnerbaits for smallies. These were made by Lindy/Little Joe. What was significant about these smaller models, is that they were tied with a bucktail skirt. They were really hot producers back then. After loosing all that I had, I figured it would be easy to find a company that still made bucktail skirted spinnerbaits. Not so! What spurred me to think about these forgotten baits was a recent thread here on fishing with jigs; most notably using those with hair dressings. I know smallies love hair. Does anyone know of a company that produces these kind of spinnerbaits? I'm talking about 1/8 oz. up to 3/8 oz. sizes. Actually the 3/8 oz. model was a killer on northern pike as well!

Give me an "old fashion" round reel anyday! Ambassadeur 5500C. Nothing better out there. I'll hold my ground with anyone.

I've been using Vanish Transition Gold for two seasons now. Works for me. But I'm sure you'll get a lot of responses opposing this viewpoint here. My suggestion would be for you to try this first. Then spend the extra bucks on the higher end lines if it doesn't work for you. However, I think it will .

Thanks for the heads up! If you check some of my previous posts, you'll see I'm one of the very few fans of the Vanish line of fluorocarbon lines on this forum. I've been using it for many years now, with a lot better results and successes than a most here will lead you to believe. Can't wait to give it a whirl

BPS 7' medium action spinning rod Shimano 2500 Symetre reel 8# test fluorocarbon line 1) X-Rap - clown 2) Senko - wacky rigged 3) Watermelon tube jig - 1/4 oz. inside head 4) 3/8 oz. black/silver T-1 spinnerbait 5) 1/2 oz. natural colored Sammy

Thanks for the vid link T-rig Looks like a 1/2 doz. of these beauts are going to included in my spring bassin'.

Thank you Glenn for all your hard work! You and others are making this one fine fishing forum to be proud of. Merry Xmas & Happy New Years to all.

Winter is a relative term. I envie all you folks south of N.J. who have access to open water this time of the year. Here in MA, we're socked in with 6" - 12" of ice, so all I can do is dream. If I had open water I'd be there with bells on! Even water down to 35 degress is fine for me. Big fish hole up big time in cold water. Finding them can be a challenge, but once you do, it's one after the other. Last year at this time we were still fishing open water - until the second week of Jan. I believe. This year is another ball game. But if you only fish water over 60 degrees, you are really missing the boat big time!

rw - Great response, especially about the 'catch n' keep' crowd. I've seen it occur many times. Someone sees you catch a good fish on a spot; you return a week or so later and nothing. Guess what? If it was a good spot and you no longer can catch fish there, in all likelyhood, it's been 'cleaned' by that boat that witnessed your catch! I've taken a friend to a spot of mine that I "know" use to hold lots of bass, time & time again. Using his UW camera, the structure is bare. 1 + 1 = 2! Which is why I never take anyone out on my 'milkrun' anymore and am very reluctant to even tell a querying angler "whereabouts" I catch fish! The resource is just too vulnerable to the 'catch n' keep' crowd. (That should stir up some controversy!) I'll happily tell anyone the hows and whys, but never again the wheres. We did the same thing (using the camera) with wintering SM and they are "stacked" indeed; but not in the water column vertically. They are stacked like cord wood in the very bottom of deep holes. Many times the UW camera has proven this observation. I've never found smallies suspended in winter (up here anyway in the north country).