Crestliner2008

X2 - Zoom will have much better action in the water. Gulp is too stiff for my liking.

Get yourself an UL combo and fill it with 4# test monofilament line. The mono floats so you can use small UL lures like the tiny spook, pop-R and others. Great fun with top waters and the mono will take care of you in that situation. You can also use small 1/8th. oz. spinnerbaits with that set-up, such as the Pond Magic. And of course, you can wacky rig some 3" Senkos on it too! All very productive presentations.

I have a similar situation on a large drinking water reservoir. You can adopt any sonar to a portable bracket, such as what is available at Cabelas. Then find a good used sonar on eBay and put the two together:

R.I.P. Uncle Homer. You will be thought of often.

Likd WRB says, you need to give us more specifics. Are you fishing lakes, reservoirs or rivers? Species? From a boat or from shore? If in a boat, are you using your electronics? What have you been trying so far? And, like roadwarrior says, there's a ton of good information here in the "Articles" section.

I've never known a bass that has struck a Senko and let it go! The heavy salt content just about precludes them releasing it. Try a 4" Senko and when the line moves off (forget the thumps or taps), then he's got it fully in his mouth. And if it's a movement - stop - movement, then it's a gill and not a bass. With a bass, your line will move and move and move....period. Reel down until you feel pressure and then set. No way you can miss 22 with this technique. As far as the thumps and misses go, they are probably bluegill. I've seen them hit so hard they cut the Senko in half! Now as far as Sliders go, I don't have a lot of experience with them, so I'll let the more informed anglers here deal with those. Presented with what you are faced with, I'd dose up those slider worms heavy with scent and see if that makes them take it all in. Or....go with the Senko approach above.

Back in the late '70's, we caught an awful lot of smallies on 3" chartreuse curly tails behind a 1/8 oz. ball head jig. Seemed back then that if you weren't tossing that color, you didn't get bit half as much. Must be something in the gene pool!

First off, if you are looking for larger bass, then you have to be fishing where they are. I don't really believe that if you are only catching smaller bass, that changing up your presentation will help much, but it could. Have you tried the 7" Senko? That or try something different with your Senko presentation. You can get Senkos with dyed tail tips. You can try wacky rigging vs. Texas rigging. Add weight. Split the tails with a razor blade for about 3/4". Lots of mods you can use. Here's one I've played with for the last two seasons, which has produced some nice largemouths in early summer up here: Pretty simple with a 3/0 Diiachi hitch hook and hitchers that are all easily available. I prefer a single "ought" blade. I also like the hitch hook because it intensifies the "shimmy" on the drop, due to the nose of the Senko being free to move back & forth. I also prefer a natural color (smoke, green pumpkin, or watermelon) Senko with this particular presentation, as well as one of the larger 6" or 7" sizes. If you want to try wacky rigging something a bit different, take the above spinner blade, split ring and swivel and put it on the hook before impaling the Senko. This will give some added attracting qualities to your bait on the way down. The Senko itself supplies enough triggering qualities. Above all though, you really need to verify that the size bass you are searching for, are, in fact, in the locations you are fishing. That's more than half the battle.

Very nice smallie there WW. Sometimes it just doesn't pay not to fish a Senko!

Lots of variables, but do carry some 1/8 - 1/4 oz. ball head jigs and a variety of 3" - 5" curly tail grubs. I've caught more smallies on a 1/8 oz. ball head with a 3" white curly tail than all the rest of the thousands of dollars worth of gear in my tackle boxes.

Problem is there really isn't a good place to get your apprenticeship. You just have to start and go from there. And you have to have a wide array of quality tools to work on a lot of very sophisticated reel designs these days; which are always changing and upgrading. Tough to be efficient and make some money at it as well. When I was younger I use to clean most of the reels for the club I belonged to, as well as friends and the neighborhood. But that's when baitcasters were fairly uncomplicated. Nowadays, it's a whole 'nuther ball game! I can barely keep my own gear in good condition. Good Luck!

I've been reading a lot about this family of lures lately. I'm wondering if any of you use them regularly, which is your favorite model and how you use them? Successes? Thanks.

X2! No other lure has action like a Jitterbug. Just pure fun to watch it coming back at you!

Massachusetts is a study in oxymoronic regulations. There is no law against open carry here. However, if you are seen doing it, you have a good chance of being arrested for "public intimidation". Yep.....believe it or not.

When I put my pants on in the morning, my IWB holster is always on the belt. About the only time I don't carry is when I plan on visiting the post office or other official places where I know they are not permitted. Which is why I try to do my "official" business online. I never really think about it being there, I just do it. So yes, I carry any time I'm fishing or hunting, on a boat or fishing from shore, or going for groceries. One more point. Beyond all the convoluted state and federal laws surrounding us, I rely solely on my God given right to protect myself and my family. Non-negotiable. Let the chips fall where they may.

When fishing Senkos wacky style, there are two types of hooks that I've used very successfully for a lot of years. First is open water, in which I'll go with a 1/0 Gammy INLINE circle hook and no other. (I always crimp down the barb - no need for it.) If I was forced to use just one hook for everything, this is the bad boy I'd be using. For cover, I'll go with any one of the weedless finesse style hooks out there. VMC makes a dandy that works just fine. Never had much of a problem with the Gammy's though either. However, why not just Texas rig the Senko if the cover is bad? That works fine too. As far as rigging goes, there is a pinned topic (under the Smallmouth Forum) here on slip floats & Senkos. There, I've outlined the technique I use, using cheap "Goodys" for wacky style rigging. This has worked flawlessly for me for about 8 years now. And here is the thing you really need to think about. There is NO one method that works all the time, every time. Fishing still has about a 10% luck factor. If it didn't, you wouldn't see the pros loosing as many fish as they do in high pay tourneys. And it really doesn't matter all that much for us regular fishermen, now does it? Do you "have" to land "every" fish you catch? I don't see that as good common sense. No golfer hits the putt every time. And no one can say they know the one method that is fool-proof. Think about that. And stop worrying so much about catching every fish. Just enjoy the day.

First off, no such thing as stupid questions. The term "swimbaits" is a vast category of baits. There are swimbaits as little as 2" (like yours) and some approaching a foot or more in length and weighing over 5 ounces. There are hard swimbaits and there soft swimbaits. The rod/reel combo you choose should be based on the weight of the bait you are trying to toss. There is no one perfect swimbait combo to cover the entire spectrum of these baits. The 2" version you are throwing is pretty small. That can be tossed with just about anything you'd normally use on panfish & bass. It's only when you start getting into those baits weighing an ounce or more that you have to be selective and more cautious. If I were you, I'd start off with the soft bodied, paddle tailed swimbaits, like the Strike King Shadalicious, in the 4" - 5" length. Rig this bait on a large, weighted EWG hook, the kind with the screw lock attached to the eye. !/4 oz. weight is fine for these baits. Just toss them out, let 'em sink to where you want to be in the water column, then just reel them back slowly. Great baits! Most soft plastic baits can be stored in a standard Plano type, clear plastic box. I would keep baits separated individually or by color pattern however. I'm sure more folks will chime in soon.

I've really never found bass preferring any specific color over another. Often times, when I start to hit bass well, I'll switch colors and I still get bit. I do wish they would make a smoke with copper flake though.

Nothing wrong with those baits. Size up or size down; change color. Something is not quite right. I started making my own with blades (and skirts) from Netcraft and non-lead football head jigs I get online. They work just fine too.

I've always been a "morning person". I'm always up at or before the crack of dawn, fishing or not. If I'm going fishing, I'm usually on the water just as daylight breaks and I usually pull off around 2 pm. Gives me time to get my gear stowed, get cleaned up and help with dinner. Besides, I have to get up early to make sure I'm still alive!

Learn to backreel. It's an almost guaranteed path to success. I've landed some really large fish this way. However, at my age, I truly do enjoy to hear the "whiiizzzz" of the drag instead. Makes the overall experience just that much more enjoyable for me. You just have to have a reel with a good drag to begin with and maintain it properly throughout the season.

For years I used nothing but 4# test fluoro as my drop shot leaders. Very challenging! However, smallies tend to inhale the bait on the drop shot and on the set, the line would abrade against their teeth. After loosing some very nice fish, I decided I would change leaders every 2 fish, without exception. This strategy worked well for me and I became very proficient in quick changing pre-tied leaders. However... I finally tried 6# test fluoro leaders instead and find this size to be much more abrasion resistant, allowing me to change a lot less frequently, if at all. And I do not perceive any decrease in numbers of takes either. Just a thought.

I have never tried them, but have had an interest in trying them on the drop shot. After what you've said, I'll just have to give them a whirl.

Not sure what you have in mind. There are the more realistic swimbait varieties, such as the Hudds, or the more generic paddletails, such as the SK Shadalicious. Quite a difference in price between the two. Not so sure there's a lot of difference in performance though. I've caught a lot of good bass, both LM & SM, on the SK version, which go on sale at Cabelas quite frequently. Guess it all depends on how dedicated you want to be with swimbaits. No doubt the Hudds and the Mission Fish do well. But I've seen a lot of folks land some great bass on the less expensive paddletails as well. And these are quite weedless as well. This may not be what you are asking about, but it is what I'm referring to here:

They will usually always be hooked in the top of the mouth. Nothing unusual there. You do not really have to really "set" the hook per say though; drop shot hooks are small and very sharp, so just a lifting retrieve is about all you have to do. Smallies will usually hook themselves. The one thing you may be doing wrong is using monofilament. You really need less stretch than mono supplies. I would recommend switching to a quality fluorocarbon line - your 6# test rating is just fine. Some folks like to use a light braid instead of straight fluoro, but most schools of thought do recommend the fluoro leader. Regardless of whether you stay with mono or switch to a more sensitive line, I do hope you are using a fluoro leader, as this has the dual advantages of reduced visibility and maintaining a high degree of abrasion resistance. A smallies teeth can devastate a leader in no time. If you catch more than 2 or 3 bass on the same leader, change it or at least check it for nicks near the hook.