A-Rob

Texas rig 'em or you can throw it on a carolina rig to....jig and pig as well

Thanks Roger, having someone who has fished my area gives me a lot of confidence in the info you provided. I fish the Midland/Penetang area. A couple of the bays towards Severn Sound is where the heavy stuff is I fish. I am sure the 50# will do if you are saying 40# did you good. Thanks kindly! p.s. you are right, it is a gorgeous lake, I appreciate any time I get on it! Take care

I had some luck with using a c-rig, with a Yum craw papi texas rigged on the end of it. Deep crankbait as well. I think I was mainly using a Strike King 4 or 5 crank. I was using sexy shad, but I think for the smallies I will do better with more chartreuse, so I got some new ones.

I live in Canada eh, no ESPN2 Need to get the bassmaster classic bad. Anyone know where to get it online or stream it live??? Thanks in advance

Thanks Wayne P for your help!

On my lake, my all-star line up would be: 1. 5" Yum Dinger (its a senko, but cheaper) 2. 3.75" Tube (Any brand works) 3. Yum Houdini Worm 4. 4" grub 5. +/- Anything fun, Lizard, or craw/creature bait, etc. As you can see, I noted Yum a lot. I think they make pretty good plastics for the most part that catches fish, but are reasonably priced. Bass Pro often has them on sale for super cheap to, like 98cents on their clearance racks. Just buy a 360 box for 5 bucks. Pick natural colors like green/brown. Good luck bro!

Light weight set up 3/8 or less in relatively calm conditions is very productive in a variety of depths and especially shallow water. Big O www.ragetail.com i see what your saying, but one thing, wouldnt my bait and my hook weigh more than the weight itself? Most likely your soft plastic and hook won't way more than 3/8oz, even 1/4 should be heavier. The difference is the lure won't keep nosediving like with a texas rig sinker. When you raise and lower the rod, the plastic will pull up and slowly fall down. The surface are of the plastic, as well as it's density (less dense) will allow it to fall nice and slow! It'll work good for ya dude.

texas rig the hook on a carolina rig just google the image of either and you are good to go!

Even if I don't open my 360 tackle box thru the off season the plastics hold up for me for a year. In the bags, they'll be good to go!

Lots of techniques, but in a nutshell: Color - white skirts with some blue or grey in them to break it up with silver willow leaf blades. OR Chartreuse with orange or blue highlights with a gold willowleaf blade. I find the gold blade gives a very nice shine in tea stained water. Technique - burn 'em! especially in clear water. You can slow roll in deeper water or dark dirty water. I've had luck with & without twitching etc. but rip it thru those weeds is always a good thing to add to your retrieve. You can throw these thru thick weeds.

I'm buying (in order to work on): Cranks & Dropshot gear. I got the texas rigged soft plastics down not bad or a spinnerbait, those were all I'd fish haha.

I'm with you bro, its a goal of mine this coming season to start getting my crankbait game going, including lipless cranks. I have not hung with them enough to get the success from them. Maybe we just need more time throwing them??

Gambler Toad...its got way more action at slower speed than the other soft plastic buzzfrogs....down size is they rip up, but if I'm catching fish I don't mind.

I like some chartreuse in my cranks for smallies. But ya you can for sure pick them up with some cranks. Like always the key is to locate the bass, from there fish the crankbait that will suit the environment.

Roadwarrior, I heard that a faster rod is better for cranks and treble hooks bait as it has more give at the tip and more bend deeper into the rod to keep from ripping too big a hole in the fish's mouth and better landing percentages. Where as I find/heard that a moderate rod for spinnerbaits as it doesn't bend the tip on me during retrieve thru weeds or the heavier lure as much among other reasons....not arguing, I don't really know just wondering if you (or anyone) can explain? You've actually got it backwards, moderate or slower actions for trebles, this means there's more give in the tip and the backbone starts lower on the rod. You want a faster tip for contact/single hook baits. You've got the uses right just labeled backwards. Oh ya! You are right, I do have it backwards. For some reason I get that backwards more than once haha. Thanks!

Roadwarrior, I heard that a faster rod is better for cranks and treble hooks bait as it has more give at the tip and more bend deeper into the rod to keep from ripping too big a hole in the fish's mouth and better landing percentages. Where as I find/heard that a moderate rod for spinnerbaits as it doesn't bend the tip on me during retrieve thru weeds or the heavier lure as much among other reasons....not arguing, I don't really know just wondering if you (or anyone) can explain?

All those answers are awesome, and a great review for myself. A good point to make is that these forums are for learning, don't be embarrassed to ask questions! I've had my fair share of questions answered that I'm sure are common sense for some. Catch 'em bro!

TIKI Wave company makes a wicked looking craw. I like it better than the yommomato fat craw. Extremely realistic, the flavor is awesome.

Sorry, I can't actually answer your question...but it made me think about the big worm i use. I love YUM products for the most part. I do well with basically all their stuff and they're cheap! BUT the yum ribbontail put the seam of the rubber right where the hook needs to go so the worm always spllits. Anyways thats my rant about the worm. I wouldn't recommend the YUM even tho I would normally recommend all their stuff. I have used some TIKI gear, but not the worms. The sticks and creatures work great. I'd assume the worm would to. Good luck bro

Nice, I was trying to decide b/w a clear or white type skirt vs a brown/dark realistic skirt that would blend into the forage more than the white.

I have this awesome ability to want to go fishing again after I already spent a day fishing!

I actually do that already with my mono. I keep some old heavy stuff on to about 1/2 then fill my good mono over top. I will do the same with the braid. I didn't think about how it would stop the braid from diggin in. Thats awesome, thank you.

I fish this hole, heavy vegetation, extremely clear water (20 foot visibility type clear). In the shallows I was smokin' the bucketmouths with rubber buzzfrogs, but I'd go thru packs of 'em at a time and wanted to switch to a burning a buzzbait. Any recommendations for size/color for such clear water? Thanks in advance.

I use a shimano baitcasting reel....cruxis. It recommends about 12lbs test mono. I push it with a 15 but it handles well with the Maxima mono. Thanks guys, I figured 50# would be fine, without digging in on the reel, not breaking, and costing me less. Just didn't want to wuss out and lose the first fish of the season!

Nice! I won't trim 'em. Glad to hear I am in the right direction with those Giggy sticks. Thanks