Steveo-1969

I fish smallies in a river and for the 2017 and 2018 seasons I couldn't catch a fish on a Ned rig. Last year I made a more conscious effort to fish only a Ned rig on most outings and started catching fish. I just bought more heads and plastics to use for Ned rigs this season so my Ned rig usage is going up not down.

I always use hi-vis braid because I like to see my line and I have old eyes. I've tried LOTS of different braids and superlines over the years with mixed results. Some frayed, some didn't, some was thicker than others, some gave me terrible wind knots, some gave me none at all. The one thing that ALL the lines had in common is the more you fish with the line the more it loses it's color. If someone says they've had the same braid on their reel for a year and it hasn't lost it's color I assume that means they don't fish very much..... With all that being said I've been using Seaguar Smackdown Flash Green in 10# and 15# since January and I'm happy with how it fishes. The color has faded but is still fairly visible.

I use the Trilene knot for every line type: braid, mono and fluoro.

"Tip heavy" is referring to the balance of the rod. When you hold the rod (with a reel on it) the way you would hold it while fishing, if the tip of the rod feels like it's being pulled toward the ground and you need to apply upward pressure to keep the tip up... then the rod is "tip heavy". A rod may or may not feel tip heavy for various reasons depending on user, how you hold it, how light or heavy the reel is, how long the rod is, etc. And it's not always a bad thing. A tip heavy rod may be preferred for certain techniques.

I'm either wading or shorebound when fishing my local river so I don't carry much with me. Enough to fit in a small over-the-shoulder tackle bag (think smaller than a loaf of bread). When I got back into fishing 10 years ago I bought and tried lots and lots and lots of new stuff but I've whittled down what I regularly use to just a couple baits. Based either on productivity or how I like to fish. Finesse jig and trailer Small paddletail swimbait T-rigged small plastic (worm, craw, creature) Ned rig

I just caught my first fish (actually 2) on a hair jig last week. Walleyes out of a river on an 1/8 ounce chartreuse hair jig with no trailer. I've got a lot to learn with this lure but I have a little more confidence with it than I did before.

Hello and welcome to Bass Resource! Are you the guy that caught the IL state record smallmouth last year? ? Bear Down!!!!!

I've been using 10# on one spinning rod and 15# on another spinning rod for the past two months and I'm very happy with how this line handles. This line is soft and limp and casts very well. The line twists (of course) but doesn't affect the performance of the line at all. And I haven't had any wind knots. The line I used before this was 15# Power Pro Super Slick and the wind knots drove me crazy! Unfortunately the color fades as quickly as every other braid I've ever used but overall I'm happy with the Seaguar Smackdown and will buy again when I need new braid in a couplethree years.

The Ned Rig was my nemesis for a couple seasons. Last season I started catching fish on it and now it's one of my confidence baits.

I have no idea where you can catch a smallmouth near Valparaiso, Indiana but a quick word of warning. Not only is catching smallmouth fun it's HIGHLY ADDICTIVE!! Fish at your own risk.

My Top 5 of all time: 1) The Doors (tattoo on my right forearm) 2) Billy Idol 3) Type O Negative 4) Blue October 5) The Pretty Reckless

A Strike King Bitsy Bug is my jig of choice for river smallmouth. I mainly fish the 3/16 ounce and bite off the first 2 segments of a Baby Rage Craw to shorten it for the trailer. I've also used the Baby Rage Menace Grub. This year I'm going to try the 2.8" Keitech Crazy Flapper as a trailer. I think the BPS Spring Classic sale will have the Bitsy Bug jigs on sale for $1.51 this year. That's a pretty good deal!

Karl Kalonka from Extreme Angler cracks me up. He'll talk about how important polarization is for your sunglasses to see into the water, and then he'll mention "polaroid" sunglasses.

Welcome to Bass Resource. BEAR DOWN!!!!!

Anything fished on the bottom (including tubes) will eventually get snagged no matter how it's rigged. If I can get to it I can get it out, but I'm usually bank fishing or wading and sometimes there's just no way to get it back. I'm allergic to treble hooks so that eliminates most topwater. I do fish small paddletail swimbaits a lot though.

It's true that they never give up.........

Is that a smallmouth? It's so muddy it's hard to tell....... ☹️

Yup. I've used the Sniper jig from @Siebert Outdoors and the smallies love them. Unfortunately my snaggy rocky river eats jigs for breakfast, lunch and dinner and I downgraded to the less expensive Strike King Bitsy Bug jig....

My favorite tactic for my river smallmouth fishing is a skirted finesse jig. TOTALLY addicted to the {THUNK} and the hook set!! I love fishing this jig so much I had @Delaware Valley Tackle build me a custom rod specifically for fishing this bait. WHOO!!!!!

I fish in a rocky snaggy river and would be lost without my diamond file hook sharpener. I guarantee I can sharpen a dull jig faster than I can cut off the dull one, pull a new jig out of my fishing bag, and tie it on. YMMV

You should also look at paddletail swimbaits that are marketed for saltwater or walleyes. Orange is a very popular color for both.

Unfortunately I live closer to Hagerstown and rarely get to Winchester, but I've heard great things about that store. I need to get my butt down there!!

I buy 90% of my fishing needs online. But within 20 minutes of me for "quick need-it-right-now" purchases I have 2 DSG stores and 2 Walmarts. The DSG stores are not great but are hands down better than the Walmarts. I will be a little sad if the DSG fishing departments start looking like my Walmarts.

If @dodgeguy meant Sufix Advance Monofilament then I agree. I've only used it in 10# on a baitcaster but I really liked how low-stretch it felt compared to Trilene XL.

I've used both and didn't see a difference either. I ran out of KVD L&L and was making an order online at BPS because I had a giftcard so I added a bottle of BPS brand line conditioner. I use it on a baitcasting reel spooled with 10# fluorocarbon or mono. Applied to the spool the night before I go fishing.