smalljaw67

Football jigs and shaky heads, the waters I fish don't have good oxygen levels past 18' and it isn't until September that they begin to school when the deep crank comes into play.

Gall, I have a lot of success with that little bait. I make the jig and I make it in 3 sizes, 1/8oz which I use the most, 3/16oz is another that gets frequent use and 1/4oz which sees a lot of action in lakes and not so much in the river. It is a ball head jig with an extremely light 5/64" weed guard and a flat eye hook and for my own personal jigs I use the Mustad 32798 hooks but I also make them with Owner 5326 cross eye hooks and Gamagatsu 614 hooks. The craw comes from River Rock Baits, it is called a Jakes Craw and it took a long tome to find a trailer that really worked with the jig.

I'm making a list for the 4th of July tackle sales, some of it will be stuff I need like hooks, line, and the typical terminal tackle stuff. Well I noticed I had more wiggle room as I didn't need a whole bunch of terminal tackle so I can really concentrate on some lures I've wanted to try but just didn't get yet. As I said before, I'm a jerkbait nut and this time of year the floating, shallow diving baits are really effective and the first lure on my list is the new Bagleys Bang-O-Lure spin tail in blue tiger and gold/black stripe. The other baits I'm looking at are the River2Sea Biggie square bills, and that is my list because I really want to 2 colors in all four baits, the smalls in both the creepin and bumpin and the poppa in creepin and bumpin in the colors krackle and real perch. I have a few more but they won't be out until sometime after ICAST, and the one I'm really waiting for is the Spro McStick 115 shallow diving jerkbait, that looks killer, so I already have my money spent so what do you guys want to fish with?

What are you worried about? Luck-E-Strike has been building baits for a long time and the RC series run really well, I think it is a high quality bait for the price. I think Lucky Craft and the import baits have really brainwashed us anglers to the point we wonder if a crankbait under 10 bucks is any good. Certain no name or "off brand" baits that we find cheap are usually made cheap but most of the brand baits, even luck-e-strike are pretty good. I will tell you that the freak looks like a killer bait, a deep diving crank that can deflect off deep brush and rock piles like a square bill, it may change the game a little.

It all depends on what kind of jig you want and what kind of action you like. If you want more of a finesse look on something like a 3/8oz or even a 1/4oz jig then a 40 or 45 strand skirt with 30 strands of silicone and 10 or 15 rubber strands. What that will do is when the jig hits bottom the rubber strands will seperate and fall away from the silicone, it gives it a different look and the rubber moving around will often generate a strike even just letting the jig sit without moving it for a few seconds.

the wacky crawlers are available at tackle warehouse. The trick worm wouldn't act the same, the wacky crawler is designed to be limp so that when wacky rigged the ends of the worm have an exaggerated movement of the fall and when you lift it. The trick worm makes a good wacky bait with a wacky jig head, the ends will move on the fall but it will fall much slower than the crawler, in fact that slow fall is what makes the trick worm so good fished wacky style.

It is up to you to decide, I don't use rubber anymore since it is a hassle to keep stored without melting or becoming kinked. I'm not sure how the fish responf but some of the jigs that I liked that were made with both had a 60/40 mix, 60 % rubber and 40% silicone and it looked good as the rubber gave the jig a lot of body while the silicone provided a great accent color.

I'm assuming you were in the back of the boat and if so don't feel bad. It is hot right now in the East and I have fished the Potomac before and one thing I can tell you is when conditions aren't great the fish will be in specific locations and tight to cover and when this happens it is too easy to get "back boated" even if it wasn't intened to be like that. I fished a tournament a few years back and the fish were just in the first week of post spawn due to a cold spring and I remember my partner (team tournament) saying how the fish were scattered and with bright sun it was making it worse. Well I told him to try isolated pieces of cover and it worked but only for him, we would find a laydown and he would make a cast and catch a fish and then we would spend 10 minutes in the spot with me making 30 casts without a bite and it went like that until the end of the day when I took over the trolling motor for the last 20 minutes, I only caught one fish but it was lunker and got us a check. The point is when the bite is tough and fish set up in specific spots, if you are in the back of the boat it makes it hard to get bit and it is even worse if you are competing against the boater as he will purposely back boat you. Take it in stride and use it as a learning experience by keeping a log and writing down the conditions and the baits used and places fished and the next time you may find something that works.

You would be surprised. I use Gamagatsu super line hooks when I'm in heavy cover simply due to the cutting point as I keep the hook buried in the plastic but is sparse cover with weightless worms or light texas rigs the laser sharps work really well and I even use them in tournaments. Eagle Claw gets a bad rap but the laser sharps aren't your fathers old eagle claws, they are quality hooks without a doubt.

I have a 7' MH glass rod that works great for deep divers I also have a 6'10" MH-MF graphite rod that does a good job with them and it is simply because it is slightly stiffer than most cranking rods so the resistance of the bait doesn't use up the rods action. Don't be afraid that you will make the same mistake again, now you know that a MH will be what you are looking for.

You are either snap setting or you are setting the hook too hard. Snap setting is when you get the bite and you reel up and then lower your rod before setting the hook, what happens is when you lower the rod it puts slack in the line and when you pull up the jig head actually pops the mouth of the fish open and you either miss it or it gets barely hooked just on the skin of the lip. The same thing if you are using a hard hookset, the jighead will come flying out of the fish's mouth and the hook just gets a little skin on the lip or nothing at all. The way to cure this is to reel in the slack until the rod tip starts to load up and then set the hook, I ill bet that your hook up will drastically improve if you do that.

It depends on what kind of worm but I have 3 brands and styles I like. I like the Eagle Claw Laser Sharp EWG light wire hooks, I also like the Gamakatsu EWG superline hooks, and I like the Trokar TK-100 HD worm hook. If I'm texas rigging say a 7" power worm around sparse cover or floating docks I will use the light wire laser sharps, the reason I like them is they penetrate really well without the cutting point of a Gammy or Owner and I rarely miss a fish when I set the hook using the light wire models. Now if I'm fishing the same worm or a Big Moe around grass and laydowns I'll use the Gammy super line hooks, the cutting poit helps get it through the plastic as I will keep the hook point buried when fishing in cover, and the thicker wire is needed as I'm using heavy mono or braid. The Trokar HD worm hook is what I like to use for soft jerkbaits like my River Rock Baits Jointed Jerkbait, or Super Fluke, the soft jerkbaits stay on this hook without sliding down when fishing the bait aggressively, when I was fishing those baits with an EWG hook every time I would work the bait fast it had a tendency to slide down the hook over the offset forcing me to keep fixing it or having to use super glue to hold it in place but not anymore, the bait stays in place great on the TK-100.

It depends on what you want the rod for, if you are going to cast spinnerbaits and such you could get a premier, it is a good rod, it isn't quite as crisp as the Avid and it weighs a little more but nothing too drastic. If you want to use worms and jigs well the Avid would be the best bet as it is lighter and is more sensitive.

I think just learning cranks you should stick to shallow and mid depth divers say down to 8' and no deeper than 10'. By using shallow cranks it will give you an idea of how they feel when you hit bottom and what it feels like when a fish hits and it is also much easier to learn what triggers strikes by fishing shallow and medium divers. The square bill cranks are designed to be fished fast and deflect off cover while the round lip is meant to dig deep to not only help get the bait down fast but also skip along the bottom without hanging up. For 5 good solid baits I think you need to have at least one super shallow bait so get a Manns baby 1 minus, Rapala DT Fat 1, or a Bandit Footloose, then get yourself 2 square bills like the Strike King KVD 1.5, Cotton Cordell Big O, or the Rapala DT Fat 3. The other 2 you want to get will be medium divers, a Rapala DT 6, Strike King series 3, or a Bandit 200 series, any two of those will be good and that will give you a good start to learn and catch fish while doing so.

Here is a pic of the type of jig I use, I will vary the size of the head from 1/8oz to 3/16oz most of the time and 1/4oz if I'm deeper than 5' or in heavy current. I think a super realistic craw is a good thing if the bite is extremely tough and it could help get an extra strike or two but I've been experimenting and the craw I use on my finesse jigs is the best I've tried so far, it has enough realism to get the attention of the fish, the movement is subtle but the fall and stance it takes on the bottom put it over the edge. Like I said, a realistic bait is good but you increse your catch with a good presentation.

I think the Pflueger Trion is your best bet, Stay away from anything Diawa or Shimano that is under 100 bucks, that is the only knock on those to companies.

Not everyone likes the same type of rod which is why there are so many to choose from and while one person may hate it another might love it so it really comes down to how you like the rod. I often disregard personal feelings in reviews but I tend to look at breakage issues and bad guides, if I see a lot of reports of rods breaking or other components then I stay away. When I say stay away is multiple bad reports and not just two or three but a dozen or so, it is why I never even looked at a Duckett, some like them but they had a bunch of bad blanks that had breakage issues but as far as the rod you like, I haven't heard much but it seems a lot like them so if you like how they feel give it a try, you may find the perfect rod for the way you fish.

If you need help just ask, I've been making that stuff for a very long time. I know the blade thing sounds confusing but it isn't bad it just sounds that way. Anyway, try this link, it will give you the basics and you can use it to experiment with different size blades and see what the effect is, good luck. http://www.luremaking.com/catalogue/download/spinnerbait.pdf

Gall, I know the "crick" (PA slang for creek) you fish well as I fish the river and have often went up that creek when the river was up around 6'. Most of the time the fish react to the movement, in clear water when you dead stick a plastic craw on a jig head the shape is the attractor, they will often look at it until it moves and then strike. I make a finesse jig using a soft plastic craw as a trailer but I only use a very sparse skirt, 15 strands and what it does is when I pitch that jig into a likely holding spot I anticipate it to get hit on the fall and if it doesn't I'll leave it sit motionless for about 10 seconds, the reason is when the jig fell it may have got the attention of a fish but the fish is just looking, when the jig is on the bottom the skirt strands are seperating and slowly falling so that little bit of movement doesn't get them to strike then I'll give the jig a quick hop, not a big movement maybe 6" or 8" and that is when I get a lot of strikes. I use those craw baits as a target bait, I very seldom throw them to open water.

For the top or main blade that is on a swivel you could use #4, #4.5, or a #5. For the bottom blade that is on a clevis you could use a #3,#3.5, #4, #4.5. The reason for all the sizes has to do with wire diameter and how the bait will be used and the fact that some guys like the top blade to be a full size bigger than the bottom blade but my personal prefrence for an all around 3/8oz spinnerbait is a #4.5 top blade and a #4 bottom blade. There is one other consideration you must realize, blade size isn't standard for all manufacturers so if you get size #4.5 from Barlows tackle and get size #4 from Janns they made up being the same size so get your blades from 1 source.

To make the loop I use a round nose pliers, I find it is quicker to do that instead of with the bender. I don't use a wrapped loop as I can make a tight enough loop that it remains against the shaft keep the spinner blade and swivel in the loop. What I do is make the loop and actually bring the tag end past the blade arm and then bring it back, this creates a spring effect and eliminates the need for any wraps.

Send it to a pro, the squeaking could be dry gears which need grease or it could be a bad bearing, either way if you don't feel comfortable trying it yourself, send it to someone who knows, that reel is well worth a few dollars to keep it going.

Cadman is spot on but I disagree with the coils, I buy 1/4lb coils of wire from Lure Parts online, it isn't just ordinary coiled wire, it is what they call torsion straightened wire and when you release the coil the wire comes off the coil and is pratically straight. I use an wire straightener from AFW if I have a problem but I only have to use it 2 or 3 times per coil. .051 needs to be bent with a special head you put on a boggs or hagens tackle maker, if you plan on using round nose pliers forget it, you would understand if you bent .041 with round nose, yes you can bend it but it takes a bit of elbow grease especially to make twisted eyes. I have made spinnerbaits using .029 diameter wire and they have a ton of vibration but only last for 2 good smallmouth, that diameter is too fragile. The biggest wire I have used is .041 diameter and it makes a great durable bass spinnerbait, it does have vibration but not much, I usually use this diameter to make single blade spinnerbaits that use big blades that are going to be slow rolled. I think .035 diameter wire is the best as far as getting some durability and still having a reasonable amount of vibration, that wire is like the best of both worlds, it isn't quite as durable as the .041 but it has a ton more vibration and it can catch multiple fish, I have caught over 30 fish with one bait and it is still good for a few more. Like Cadman said though, .051 is what is used by muskie and pike fisherman and is also a common diameter used on buzzbaits.

The only rods and reels I use braid on is my flipping stick and frog rod and I use the same moss green line as I tie direct for those techniques and it has been good like that so you are on the right track.

I use the smaller Beaver type baits, super chunks and chunk jr.s in cold water and rage craws for swimjigs. If the swim jig bite is on and they are hitting it on the move I'll often switch to a paddle tail bait like the Lunker City Swimfish or Berkley ripple shad. On my finesse jigs I found a craw that works in warm and cold water, it is the River Rock Baits Jakes Craw, I'm not sure what it is with that craw but the fish don't just hit it they try to eat it, in fact it has been so good to me that I find I'm throwing the finesse jig every time I get out and so far it has produced every time.