smalljaw67

Offset shank just refers to the offset or bend that holds the worm. An offset point means the point of the hook is off to one side so it isn't even with the hook shank. A round bend hook is just that, the bend on the hook is round which is a typical worm hook. A gamakatsu offset shank round bend hook is the same as a Gamakatsu offset shank hook, the only difference is one description takes it a bit further and tells you it is a round bend while the other does not. If it was different it would be described as an offset shank EWG or O'Shaughnessy or Sproat, the fact the description says nothing tells me it is a round bend. So unless there is something you didn't add to the "offset shank", I'd say there isn't any difference and if is just one description tells you it is a round bend while the other assumes you know. The round bend will work for all soft plastics but for thicker plastics some guys prefer EWG (Extra wide gap) or straight shank heavy hooks.

Rapala DT-Fat 3, SK KVD 2.5, and if you can find some of the discontinued Xcalibur XCS 200 series square bills,especially in the real craw series, grab them. A newer one that I really like as well is the Bill Lewis Echo 1.75, I haven't had but 1 full season with it but it is quickly becoming a favorite. Yo-Zuri has the 3DB square bill that is a big body bait that I do well with this time of year for river smallmouth, I like these in the prism colors, specifically prism shad, when the water is really clear.

You are learning the right way, and I like how you are understanding what affect each trailer has. I think one aspect that gets overlooked is something I key on in my waters, and that is the profile the trailer gives my jig. Catt gave you a great suggestion, fish them through the different seasons and see how each will work, where I live the water is cold in early spring and mid to late fall and it makes my trailer change for a lot of reasons. In the Summer if I'm throwing a 3/8oz arky jig I'll look at a Rage craw first but will go to a sweet beaver for less action with a bigger profile. If I need to downsize I'll go to a regular size Zoom Salty chunk, it still gives me bulk but not as much as a beaver, if I need some action in that same size I'll use a Paca chunk, similar profile but more action. In cold water it is mostly down sized baits with small trailers with little action, a jig like a Bitsy Bug works well with a tiny paca chunk but if there is too much movement a Zoom tiny chunk is the way to go.

I fish it in rivers as well and I understand the situation. I don't use the Z-Man plastic so balling up on the hook doesn't happen to me, at least it hasn't yet. What is happening is you are getting a lot of small fish, I fish the Susquehanna river and all of the fish I catch that are over 12" seem to bite the same way, I don't feel a bite, it is usually a hard pull or the rod begins to load with weight. When I feel taps or light bites I usually see juvenile smallmouth following behind. I fish the rig in the same manner, I use a slow steady retrieve and will just give the rod tip a quick shake every once in awhile and it will tick the rocks as I try to keep it just above the bottom. The one thing I notice is that I don't lose fish on this rig, the smaller fish will nip the tail and I did lose one about 10" but keeper size bass in the 12" to 15" range just eat it and they haven't come off.

Most of the time baits or colors are discontinued due to lack of sales and it will continue to happen. The Bomber Fat A is back and they have the Apple red craw color too, check TW as they are in stock $6.49. The Bill Dance signature bait you had is still around but it was a Bomber and it is a Fat Free Shad and it is still available in the red craw color from the same place. The only Excalibur cranks I remember that had a Bill Dance signature was the Spit'n image and the swim'm image, the latter was a shallow diving crank available in mostly shad patterns.

The Beetle Spin is a brand and it has become a generic name for that type of lure like lipless cranks being called "trap" regardless of the brand. The jig spinner is made up of the ball jig attached to a jig spinner form, you can buy jig spinner forms and ball head jigs from Barlow's Tackle or Janns Netcraft not to mention a bunch of other places. The best baits to attach to the jig are curly and boot tail grubs and they do catch everything.

Nice fish and good call on the change!! I've done the same thing you have many times, I try to power fish first unless conditions dictate otherwise but if what I'm doing isn't working I'll switch up. I don't have any Arashi Flat 7s but I do have the Rapala DT Flat 7s and they are a great change up to a bait like a DT-6 or a round crank. I use the flat sided baits more in colder water but during the summer I'll crank the 6' to 8' zone early and if I'm not getting bit with a round body crank I'll often go to a flat side before I change tactics altogether and a lot of times that tight wiggle will trigger the fish to bite when the wide wobble of the round body didn't work.

Find a pack of Laser Sharp trebles that are close in pack quantity, size and style and compare price. I say that because his signature gear is all value or entry level gear, if the price of the hooks are lower than a similar pack of laser sharp hooks then I wouldn't go with them but if you want to try them and report back that would be good too. A lot of times we take things like that on face value and sometimes you may find something good. I know a lot of guys dislike Eagle Claw but the black platinum hooks as well as the black nickel laser sharp hooks are very good, I actually like them better than Mustad and VMC hooks for the most part. My guess is they are a regular Eagle Claw hook with a black nickel finish but they could also be laser sharp models and that would make it a good hook, just compare price and it will give you an idea as to what kind of hook it may be.

I found there are 3 in the 90 size that are killer for smallmouth. Loon, Powder, and Phantom Shad. If I was going to have just 1 it would be Loon, that black works in all water clarities. I really like the Phantom Shad in gin clear water when there is sun, Powder for the same gin clear water with it being overcast or low light, and Loon if there is any stain at all to the water. That is over complicated as I've caught fish on other colors but those three are consistent fish producers with Loon being one that has worked well no matter if it was bright and sunny or overcast and raining in both clear and stained water.

I warned people about rubber when everyone started using the Berkley Gripper jigs, they had a mix of silicone and living rubber. Well guess what? I must have retied at least 100 of them for guys in my former club and some local tournament guys, you have to store living rubber a certain way or it will take on a set and you need new material. I store jigs with living rubber in a bag with unscented talc, not a lot, maybe 4 or 5 shakes of the bottle in a quart size zip lock bag with no more than 6 jigs per bag. Put the jigs in the bag and give a few shakes to distribute the talc and you are good for a month, just remember to give the bag a shake once a month and they are fine, it doesn't sound like much but us Northern anglers often have hard water in winter so it could be 3 months before the jigs ever get pulled out and if you don't store them right the rubber will get stuck together and be wrinkled.

I fish a lot of tubes and I wouldn't say a 60 is better, just different. 60 degree hooks in tube jigs, especially flat eye hooks are usually better for dragging as the line tie is up off the bottom but forward allowing the tube to be pulled over rock easier. The 90 degree tube jig hook is what I deem as all purpose, you can drag it but it does much better when jigging because you can pop it off the bottom with less forward movement than you get with a 60 degree line tie. If you are experiencing more hang ups with a 90 it is probably because you drag the tube and pulled it into a crevice between rocks and with the 60 degree the tube will rock up a little bit when it gets hung allowing you to pull it over the rock. In the Susquehanna river I have found 60 and 90 degree hooks in tube jigs will hang up at the same rate, that is why I make those draggin heads but sometimes they don't want it presented like that and you have to go with a jig head. If you are doing well with the 60 then stay with it but don't get caught up in the "why", sometimes we just have to accept something for the reason it works better and just live with it.

As Catt mentioned it is the mood of the fish that dictates it and the only way to know is trial and error. There are times when you can make a good educated guess, like having optimum water temps for the fish to be active but again that doesn't always tell the story. I will start with one type or another based on water temperature first, like warmer water in the upper 60s to mid 70s I will use something with a lot of action first, if the water is cold, 30s to upper 50s I'll use a bait with very little action first. That is as far as educated guesses go but sometimes even that isn't foolproof so you just use trail and error and let the mood of the fish dictate your lure action.

I'm assuming you want to know from someone with experience if you can get a blank mold right by hand, correct? I tried a long time ago using a drill press with an end mill after marking my mold and making a jig to hold it in place. The end result ended up in the garbage because I was off like 1/64" on one side, no fixing it and unless you have some precision tools it wouldn't be wise. Get a quote from a machinist, I don't know if you have anyone local but it shouldn't be to bad if you can do the CAD work, if not it could run you a good bit but if the design works better than anything available commercially then it will be money well spent.

I almost forgot, if you like the larger profile baits there is a Rapala DT- Fat 1, big body but does surprisingly well on fast retrieves.

Mann's Baby 1 minus, the mid 1 minus and the regular 1 minus, all are excellent!!!! The Yo-Zuri 3DB and 3Ds wake baits, both dive to about 6" to 10" with rod tip down and a fast retrieve, again, it dpends on the size as the 3DS is a small 1/4oz bait and the 3DB is just a hair over 1/2oz at 9/16.

Most anglers find it hard to walk the dog with a spook type bait using anything with a moderate or mod-fast action, that is where that rod comes into play. The medium power casting rods are used for heavier shaky heads, weightless stick worms and other baits you will be using with lighter hooks and line. They are also used by a good portion of anglers with small cranks and topwaters in which they need a little more power than a similar size rod with a moderate action.

The MBR rods are more versatile as they have a softer tip and while the action is fast, it isn't like the JWR rods. If you plan on using moving baits with the new rod then the MBR is probably your best bet. For me the 843 would be a little to heavy for jerkbaits unless you mean soft plastic jerkbaits but too heavy for anything with trebles. The exception would be larger jerkbaits with size 2 trebles or larger, those will get full penetration but smaller trebles I'd look at an 842 or a different line altogether. The MBR is super versatile but it isn't soft enough for smaller size 6 or 4 trebles, at least not in a 3 power.

I'm a PA guy too, and there is a good use for that 6'10" M-F rod. Smaller spinnerbaits and swim jigs, 1/4oz to 3/8oz around boat docks and sparse grass. That is based off what you have but if it were me, I'd use that for topwater and jekrbaits rather than the 7' M-MF but I prefer a sub 7' rod for topwater and jerkbaits, to me if you are using a jerkbait with a sideways twitch then you aren't getting the best action or the best depth out of it. Now if you are 6'5" tall then a 7' rod for jerkbaits works well as you can get the downward rip without hitting the water or the side of the boat.

Extra fast rods are funny, the reason is the extra fast part only tells you how quick the rod gets to the backbone, it doesn't really tell you if the tip section is stiff or soft. Drop shot specific rods are usually extra fast but the tip is really soft and so it is with the St. Croix topwater and jerkbait specific rods. If you see a jig and worm or all purpose rod rated extra fast chances are it will be way to stiff for anything with a treble hook.

I will echo Jig Man's post, this isn't going to save you in the short term, in fact it will cost you. If you find that you only want to make 1 to 3 different styles of lures in 4 or different colors, well you can probably recoup the start up costs in 1 to 3 years depending on how many baits you normally use in that time span. The problem is that most don't take into consideration the learning curve and the time it takes to get good at it and the time you put in to make your lures. I can tell you that it is a very rewarding thing and fun but time consuming and possibly dangerous if you try to rush things. The other issue is like Junyer357 mentioned, it can become an addictive hobby where you never really save because you end up buying all kinds of glitter in every size (yes, there are multiple sizes of each color glitter), tons of plastisol to make baits and experiment, molds, small injectors, large injectors, O-rings to replace worn ones in your injectors, blending blocks, dual injectors, laminate plates and on and on. Most who end up sucked in will tell you it is a money pit but it can be really fun and a good hobby to have when you can't get out to fish. So, if you think you can drop $300 to start making baits and feel you can stay at that level just buying fresh plastisol from time to time, well then you will save some coin after a bit but if you really like using soft plastics I'd imagine after learning that you would have a hard time not buying additional molds and other stuff so you end up either wanting to save money or having a new hobby or saving money but you never really save with the hobby unless you are very disciplined and that will be hard if you end up liking what you are doing, good luck.

WTP are the best eyes I ever used. They use a better adhesive than any other manufacturer and are the only eyes that don't move or come off when I'm applying an epoxy topcoat over them. They are also made in the U.S.A. which is probably why the adhesive is better but they do cost more. Jettson lures makes some incredible designs but I never used them, very expensive but the eyes are made to order and I'm not sure about the adhesive. Lifefly-Outdoor on ebay is a good source for bulk at super cheap prices but the adhesive is terrible and needs to be glued on just to hold long enough to topcoat, they are also inconsistent and some will be almost flat but they are cheap, the shipping takes a little time because they come direct from China so if you need them fast forget it. Bogs baits has a good selection but they lack a good adhesive, there are also the ones made by Fish Shull and 6th sense has killer looking eyes called the crush series, both look good but I never used them so I don't know the quality.

That isn't really new, before reels had bearing they all used bushings and that reel is no different. The difference is what the bushing appear to be made from and it is hard to tell without actually holding them.

I tried fluorocarbon for a bit, I only made 2 seasons using 4 different brands and 3 different diameters. I use mono for everything except heavy flipping and frog fishing, those are the only 2 deals in which I use braid. I keep hearing about low stretch with fluorocarbon but in reality it stretches more than most premium mono, the difference is the density of fluorocarbon doesn't seem to stretch and it also doesn't rebound back like mono. The only advantage I found with fluorocarbon was the fact it sinks, when we fish cold water here, the smallmouth will be in wintering holes and it requires a slow presentation but sometimes a slight difference in size will have a big impact. That was the only time I saw fluorocarbon as an advantage, it allowed my buddy to use a 1/8oz jig and keep it on the bottom and the slight current would push my 1/8oz jig off the bottom so I had to move up to 3/16oz and it made a difference, I caught half the fish my partner did. That was one of the few times when fluorocarbon was better than the mono I was using, and personally if it is only 1 or 2 times a season then to me it isn't worth the price if it isn't a constant advantage over the mono I use.

I would base it off which is needed more. If you lose a lot of jigs and they are your main weapon, then buy mostly jigs or if cranks are it, buy more of them. Don't overlook sales, especially your shallow cranks, if hard baits are on sale I will buy them first.

The reel may be junk but I saw grips just like that on a $600+ Megabass reel.