smalljaw67

Are you talking about fishing a dressed dropshot hook as a float-n-fly?

Yes, it will become a sickness but my guess is it already has.

The 604 is listed as a heavy wire jig hook by Gamakatsu and most distributors sell it as a heavy wire 90 degree hook. Eagle Claw doesn't make a 5318, that is an Owner hook. The Owner 5318 has a smaller diameter than the Gami 604 until you get to the larger sizes from 3/0 and up. To be honest Owner hooks are less money than Gamakatsu and a step above in terms of quality.

I get Copic markers from Michaels when I have a 40% or more off coupon. As for the thread, Danville 210 Denier flat waxed nylon is the way to go. Regular thread will build up on the collar really fast and it doesn't grip slick materials as well as the flat waxed nylon.

When the water turns cold a boot tail swimbait works better for me than a curly tail grub. I specify curly tail grub because spade tail grubs like the Mann's Stingray grub were really hard to beat. In my waters it seems when the water temp is in the low to mid 50s both a curly tail grub and a boot tail swimbait work well so it is kind of a toss up as to which is better. As the water cools into the mid to upper 40s is when you start seeing a real difference. For me the boot tail gets more bites as you are now fishing it more like a tube. The exception is the stingray grub, those grubs in the 3" size were not good when the water was in the 50 degree and higher range. When the water dropped into the 40s that bait tuned on like someone flipped a switch.

Here is one I tie on the Midwest finesse jig.

Those jigs have a lot of marabou on them. I buy a lot of marabou and to tie 40 of those jigs you'll need more than $10 worth of marabou. I agree, they are a little high in price but not unreasonable. Kalin's makes a cheap marabou jig and take a look at the difference. When you factor in overhead and time and still try to make a profit, they probably couldn't sell them for much less. I know if I was tying those for retail sale and with the prices of material right now, they would be around $4 per jig. Now if you aren't looking to make money and just want to tie some yourself with that amount of marabou I'd say it would be about $1 per jig but I'm also factoring in hook, lead, thread, and of course the marabou.

I'm going to give you a suggestion based on some baits I have a lot of success with even in pressured water. Bomber Fat Free Shad, the BD5 is good to use if everyone is throwing DT-6s and those type cranks. The BD6 and BD7 are larger, deeper diving versions. The Bomber 4A, 6A, and 7A are all fantastic!! Then to complete the line up grab some Bomber Flat As and deep Flat As. There is not another crank made that like it. I use it when the water is in the mid 40s to low 50s when I'm fishing rock flats or rip rap. It is basically a lipless crank with a bill and when you stop it the lure suspends in place for a few seconds, absolutely killer. I have 2 Plano 3700 boxes filled with these Bomber cranks and if I lose one I go out and replace it right away. My friends know that I love Rapalas, especially the DT-6 and DT-10 but I use the Bombers a lot. I don't see many using them and it always seems like the anglers I see are throwing the latest baits and when there is a lot of pressure I break out the Bombers.

I use a few different configuration but there are two that I use more than any other. The main weapon is the double willow, most of the time both blades are nickel aka silver unless you use sterling silver plated blades. My second most used configuration is a tandem Indiana and Colorado. I like a larger Indiana on the swivel followed by a small Colorado on the clevis.

Yep, same as Bdnoble84 and Munkin, a #4 on the swivel and a #3.5 on the clevis. A #3 is a little too small and to make it rotate around the clevis you really have to burn it. The other thing with a #3 willow is you need a light wire spinnerbait in order to get better spin out of it. One thing that hampers the blade from fully rotating is it doesn't catch enough water to take a larger clevis completely around the wire. A size 1 clevis allows a #3 willow to spin much better but you need to use like .029" diameter wire or smaller to accommodate the small size 1 clevis. Because of that the smallest willow you want to use on the clevis is a #3.5.

If you can find one of the old Lucky Craft Live Pointers grab it. That bait doesn't produce at all when worked like a regular jerkbait. It does really well when you work it with just a slow pull instead of popping or jerking. My buddy showed me how to do it, reel it a few cranks to get it down and then pause. Then a slow pull, 6" to 1' depending on the activity level of the fish.

I use River Rock tubes exclusively!! Most tubes are good and will work with some being better than others. I use River Rock tubes because I fish waters that get a lot of pressure and most anglers are throwing tubes. River Rock tubes are the softest hand dipped tubes I have ever found. Because of this you won't get much more than 3-5 fish per tube but you'll get bites that you don't ordinarily get. I really like the stuff they make but the tubes, you'll be hard pressed to find a better one.

Hair has a subtle action and if using it in grass you want really clear water, close to gin clear. Marabou just isn't good in or around vegetation or used on larger jig heads with big hooks. The reason is the jig falls too fast so you lose a lot of the action and profile that makes marabou effective. I'm not saying hair would be out of the question but it would be really far down the list.

It looks to be pumpkin and whiskey barbed wire with green Krystal flash.

When it comes to a 1/4oz lipless I like the Cotton Cordell Super Spot. Not the cheap ones in the blister pack but the one that comes in the box, there is a difference. The reason I like the super spot when it comes to 1/4oz is because you can retrieve it slower that other 1/4oz lipless and still have good vibration and sound. I don't know why it works at slower speeds but it does. If I need a 1/4oz bait that needs to be fished fast there is only one. The Lucky Craft LVR mini, it works like a much larger bait and it works perfect around sparse vegetation.

I started using underspins to catch suspended fish in summer. It works but I wasn't real successful with it in that capacity. I almost gave up on them until I found a video of Paul Mueller using them in late fall. That video has made tough fall fishing a lot better for me. The way it works best for me is when the water temp first falls into the low 60s as the nights get longer and cooler. I use a small 3.8" paddle tail swimbait trailer during that time. Then as the water begins to cool and you get the first frost, that is when I switch to a regular old Zoom fluke trailer. Not the super fluke but the standard 4" fluke. I like fishing it by retrieving it just fast enough that the blade is spinning. I try to keep it close enough to the bottom so the blade will occasionally tick the bottom or a rock. It has worked really well in water clarity from a moderate stain with like 1' of visibility to gin clear.

Check my YouTube channel out, I have a lot of hair jig tutorials on there. I use all kinds of material, bucktail, rabbit, Arctic Fox, craft fur and a lot of other stuff. smalljaw - YouTube

If I were you I'd opt for some modestly priced baits to get your box filled out. Later on you can add some high end models once you get more dialed in to what the fish want. 1. Smithwick Elite 8 Rogue 2. Rapala X-Rap 3. Yo-Zuri 3DB 110 4. Ima Flit 100 The first high end models I'd get in your conditions (warmer water and spotted bass) would be from Lucky Craft. I'd get the Staysee 90 and the Pointer 78 and you'll have a box of baits that should cover your needs and allow you to add higher end models over time.

Everyone that makes jigs, spinners, and lures in general will shop at ALL the supply shops. The reason is every place has at least 1 item that you can't get at other shops. A good example is skirt material, Lure Parts Online has material that is exclusive to them. Barlow's Tackle has some striped skirt tabs with a natures edge print that I've only found there. So there isn't really a "best place" but after awhile you'll find one store that you like better than others. I buy from a lot of different places but Barlow's Tackle is where I buy 90% of my supplies from. The reason is that I can find just about everything I need there and I usually have multiple items on my list. Now if I just need skirt material I may go to a different shop depending on what colors I need. So do your research as to what kind of heads you want as well as your other materials and you'll find a place to make your initial order to get going, good luck.

There are 3 possibilities that I can think of. It might have been the slug-go ss but they were like 7" and 9" I believe. The other two are the fin-s fish or the fin-s shad and there is a new one called a freaky fish that looks like a fluke. Lunker City has been making the same baits for a long time so I'm thinking it is one of the three, good luck in your search.

The larger clevis is a stirrup clevis or sometimes called the easy spin clevis. I would say that is a size #4 but it is hard to tell in a picture like that. Next to a tape measure would make the sizing a little easier.

Would it be too much to ask if you can let me know if you find the Pro Eel chunk in the small size? I don't use Facebook and the color isn't a big deal as long is it is dark but there is one called "Mud Puppy" that is preferred.

I do well with the Dying Flutter which is similar to a Devils Horse. I also have a lot of success with the Yo-Zuri 3DB prop but that is a single rear prop,

River Rock tubes are the best tubes I've ever used and I have fish a lot of different tubes. They have kill colors but there are a couple of staples. Green pumpkin/black, and black melon flash are killers but if you are in gin clear water nothing is as good as light special!!! I make my own internal tube heads and I use 2 sizes mainly, 3.5" and 2.75".

Tungsten isn't melted and poured. Jigs and weights are made using a process called sintering. When you see Tungsten products you'll notice most are 97% Tungsten. The reason is they have copper and/or nickel added to it. This alloy is then put into special molds that compresses the alloy under extreme pressure to generate enough heat to melt the nickel and/or copper. That molten metal then binds the Tungsten together. All sintered Tungsten is made in China and not due to environmental reasons, it is because of the engineering and machining cost for the equipment. There is Tungsten made in Japan, Keitech manufactures them but it isn't sintered Tungsten. They use a mix of resin and Tungsten powder that is injected into molds under low pressure and there is a difference. Take a 1/4oz Keitech Tungsten jig head and the same size Eco Pro or other brand Tungsten jig head and look at the difference in size and feel. The Keitech Tungsten heads will be larger because the resin mix isn't as dense as there is less Tungsten because it requires more resin to bind it. Now, all of this information was told to me quite a few years back by a guy that imported Tungsten jigs and weights. He would make trips to China and got to see a little bit of the process so I'm taking his word but it makes sense. I'm writing this because I see a lot of people asking if they can make their own Tungsten jigs at home and the answer is no. Now, you can buy Tungsten powder and epoxy resin but what you make will be time consuming and expensive and won't have the density of lead so it kind of defeats the purpose of doing it.