Steveo-1969

I would shorten it up too. When I'm using a Baby Rage Craw as a trailer on a finesse jig I always bite off the first segment or 2 before threading it on the jig.

I am 100% catch and release because I don't like to eat fish. And like many members here I have thousands of dollars invested in this sport. Shoot, thousands of dollars invested in rods and reels alone! If your dad is reading this: "Hey dad. Give your son a chance to show you why he loves to bass fish. You may get hooked too and find a pastime you can enjoy together for years to come!!" My father didn't fish, but some of my fondest memories are fishing with my son.

My favorite is a SK Bitsy Bug jig with Baby Rage Craw trailer.

@Bluebasser86 Are those saugeye? Except maybe the bottom fish which looks like a walleye?

Welcome to BR @Trappernewt. I am in the Eastern Panhandle of WV and fish the Upper Potomac. Great to see a fellow West Virginian on the site!

I don't have experience with either line, but here's what I would be asking myself: Do I have any complaints about the Spiderwire 100% Fluoro that I'm currently using? What am I looking for my fluorocarbon line to do better? Handle better? More sensitive? Less stretch? More stretch? More abrasion resistance? Then I'd buy some of the Trilene while it's still on sale and see if it's "better".

My go-to bait for the river smallmouth I fish is a 3/16 ounce Strike King Bitsy bug in blue craw, a Strike King Baby Rage Craw in blue craw, and the tips of the claws colored orange with Spike-It. I fish this bait more than anything else and I know at times if I fished with other baits I would catch more fish. But I don't care, fishing this little jig makes me happy. It's the "thunk" of the bite and the hookset that just gives me goosebumps!!!!!! I love it so much I had @Delaware Valley Tackle build me a custom rod last year specifically to fish this jig.

Yup, I also sharpen hooks all the time. I fish a very rocky very snaggy river and if I didn't have a hook sharpener I would go broke changing hooks or jig heads all the time!

The best tool I've found for cutting braided line is the RIGRAP CERAMAX SUPER CUTTERS. Basically a ceramic scissors made to specifically cut braid. You never have to use tension and they always cut cleanly. They don't seem to be popular though. The first pair I bought cost $20. I lent them to a friend and never got them back. I paid $10 for the replacement pair. I just saw them on sale at DSG for $3 and bought a couple more. I'm set for life.... ?

The crayfish I see in my local river in the summer are light greenish-brown with light blue highlights. The color "blue craw" is a pretty close match. And the claws are tipped with orange. So I generally try to match-the-hatch by using a blue craw jig with a blue craw trailer, then color the tips of the claws orange.

When I'm wading in clear water I wear a blue shirt for blue sky and a gray shirt for cloudy. If it's partly cloudy, I probably wear the blue shirt because I like that one more... I don't think my shirt color makes much difference though. If they are close enough to see me they probably already sensed me standing/shuffling in the water.

Looks like this thread needs to get back on track with Superbowl predictions and Patriots hating!! My prediction at the beginning of every season is always the same: "Anybody but the Patriots!!!!!!" So my prediction is Rams win 79-3.

The spinning rod I use for bass fishing says "Walleye" on it. Probably not all that unconventional though. And the bass don't seem to care...... ?

My rods are placed between the front seats with the butts placed on the passenger floor. Easy peasy.

I guess my fishing style can be described as "low and slow". I love to slowly fish bottom contact baits, especially jigs.

I used 10# Seaguar Red Label as mainline on a baitcaster when I could buy a 200 yard spool at Walmart for $11. Unfortunately my Walmart stopped carrying it and I've never found it that cheap anywhere else. I thought the 10# handled great on a baitcasting reel, but like @Catt I thought it had poor abrasion resistance.

This was very cool!

"My name is Steve and I'm addicted to smallmouth." Welcome to BR from a fellow West Virginian. I'm in the Eastern Panhandle and fish the Upper Potomac.

Those look great! I was thinking about attending the show but with the storm coming I'm probably going to wimp out and stay close to home this weekend. Good luck with your sale!!

I don't understand all that fancy lingo about reel seats, but I think you would call my spinning reel seat preference "nut on the bottom". My whole hand is placed in front of the reel stem and I hate threads right where my hand goes. In fact, I'm researching a future spinning rod purchase and immediately reject any rods with the threads at the top of the reel seat.

I used to fish curly-tail grubs on a ball head jig quite a bit for river smallmouth, but the past several years they have been replaced with small paddletail swimbaits. I do still use grubs in the winter months for river walleyes, though this winter I've had more bites on the paddletails.

Hey! I resemble that remark!!!

^^ This. He calls it the "MJ Rig".

You have to wait until the current season is finished airing before you can see it on MOTV.

Same here. I've been researching a new spinning rod for about a month and have eliminated A LOT of rods based just on the reel seat. @bass,n bob I've never fished with it, but one of the rods I'm looking at is the St. Croix Mojo Bass 6'10" MLXF Drop Shot/Finesse rod. I mention this rod (without having fished it) because you listed a Mojo Bass rod in your original post.