heavyduty

That Stanley SB in toledo gold accounted for over 40 smallies this Fall on a 2 day outing. Out of the package new, 40+ smallies from 16"-20" later there was no paint or eyes left on the head, probably only a quarter of the skirt strands left, and it was still going strong. We retired it and it hangs on the wall with smallie pic in memory of that trip. Slow rolled, bumping bottom....epic trip and lure.

River Rock makes great soft plastics. I use several including the helgripede, but my favorite are their laminate tubes. Haven't tried the Lunker City helgie yet but looks good. Case makes a good hellgie that I've had a lot of success with Arkie makes a crawlin fry that smallies love. Lot's of good choices out there; I was just looking to see if anyone recognized the one in the pic at the top of this thread as I can't seem to find that particular pour.

Any recognize this bait? It's a hellgrammite/centipede look alike but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

These are VMC 1/0 inline hooks and this is a size 90 WP. I'd go with 2/0, possibly 3/0 for the 130 size WP

Smallies were engulfing mine so bad that I was having difficulty getting the trebles out without harming the fish. I decided to install the inline hooks to eliminate that problem. Haven't fished mine yet but others have done the same with little impact to hook up ratio and easier to catch/release the fish.

It should as long as you are upsizing for stability and not to put more "stuff" in the boat. Most important is weight of what you will carry and then distribute that weight to allow the 9.9 to get on plane.

You will regret getting a jon that is not at least a 1648 with the different water types you plan to fish. World of difference in stability from a 36" to a 48". And with the front casting deck raising center of gravity, you'll be fighting a 36" all day. My experience is 14' is too short with 2 people casting. The 1648 is going to draft better in rivers. You, plus gas, motor, battery, tackle, cooler, anchor, TM, etc; a 1436 fills up fast and will leave you wishing you'd gone bigger. I did.

Alarm you hear is for over rev of the impeller cause he has no water going into his intake.

Check out Reel River Adventures on FB. Owner is Chris Gorsuch. He's forgotten more about river boat setups than I will ever know. Great guy, you can reach out to him there. I'm sure he would be more than willing to share info with you......and he's from PA.

Here are a few pics

The 4 I found look exactly like the one Cheesefrank has pictured above in his hand. They still transition to a white belly with a reddish/pink spot behind the bill at the throat and are the silent ones. From what I can tell by that same picture, it appears his also has some white on the belly and I believe I see a little reddish tint in front of the front hook eye. I think they were $5.76 each. I bought 2 of them. Hopefully the smallies in my local rivers will like them. I do like that color. Usually any bait with some gold makes the difference in my flows whether a spinnerbait/buzzbait blade, gold fleck in plastics. That blue/green tint overlayed with the gold should be the ticket! Looking back at your pic at the top of this thread, it matches yours exactly. I see the white belly and reddish throat.

I found 4 at my Walmart today.

Tell me more about those "Wheel Head" jig heads and how you use them. Thanks!

Fished the Susky in PA in November and did well with the Dave's Tnmt Tackle underspins using 3.8 fat impacts. They were 1/4 oz but in current it takes them down well and they swing around to the current seam at the eddy pool and got hammered.

Cooler, dry box for wallet and phone, toilet paper.

Nice, I like a lot (drooling......)

Case plastics lil sweet pea.

zoom craws- ultra vibe and super speed craws, flukes, war eagle screamin eagle spinnerbaits, curly tail grubs and hula grubs, tubes- 2 3/4", zman finesse TRD, hula sticks, hellgrammites, beavers, senkos, baby minus 1 cranks and bandit 100's and 200's depending on depth, 3" swimbaits on a light jig head, jerkbaits, buzzbait, whopper plopper. These will cover topwater, middle, and bottom. Key is time of year and where the fish are. Lots of variables on brands for the above. Green pumpkin is probably the most versatile for me in plastics. In my neck of the woods, it they don't hit a trout colored senko fished weightless like a fluke, there aren't any fish left in that hole!

Mods, if this is against any forum rule please delete but I'm simply sharing since it's applicable to this thread. Friend of mine developed and sells a tool that installs disc's like Scaleface posted above. It's called The Hook Pal. You can look it up online and see all of the uses for it. Secures trailer hooks, soft plastics, etc.

Were you able to try out the leeches on smallies? Curious how you did and how well they held up. Also, how did you rig them? Thanks, HD

3.75" in green pumpkin for me for smallies.

I use them like a T-rigged craw for smallmouth and have good success with them. Local tackle shops in my area still carry them....

Tander is correct, that is Dave's email address, he doesn't have a website. A package of five painted 1/16- or 1/8-ounce ones cost $5.75, and a package of five unpainted 1/16- or 1/8-ounce ones cost $4.25. Anglers can order them by sending an email to Reeves at dtrs5kprs@yahoo.com. Read more: http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/prescription-plastics-ozark-finesse-heads/#ixzz48m1qqLrt

I'm the same way. I play with the Mend It to make my own designs and "creatures". I have more success on teaser type tubes but have far too many 4" tubes thru the yrs. So a good pass time is to shorten them and put them back together with the Mend It, turn a 4" into a 2.5".

Great post and great smallies! Well done sir!