Steveo-1969

You shouldn't need to overcomplicate your color selection. For soft plastics and jigs in my river I mainly stick to green pumpkin and watermelon red (or variations of these). I've also had success on white flukes, but a buddy swears by green pumpkin flukes.

I can already hear y'all laughing, but I'm having a really hard time finding YUM 3" Mighty Bugs. LOVE that plastic!!!!!

x2. Spike-It garlic chartreuse. It may just be a confidence thing but I rarely throw a soft plastic without it.

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I feel it!!

For a fish's size, I can't say anything different than what's already been said. So how about this? I think a nice fish is one that bites my bait and holds on long enough to let me set the hook, gives me a good fight and doesn't throw the hook. And I'm always nice back by telling them "thanks buddy", gently setting them back in the water, and letting them bite my thumb while they are getting their strength back before they swim away. THAT'S a nice fish!!

Hello all. I've been a member for a little while now and am finally getting around to my introduction. My name is Steve. I was born and raised in Wisconsin and fished regularly until... I moved to the eastern panhandle of West Virginia in 1997 and lost my way for 12 years. In 2009 I picked my fishing rods back up and now I'm physically addicted to all things fishing. I do most of my fishing on the Upper Potomac River from the bank and wading. I heard about this site when I saw Glenn May on Mike D.'s "Lunkerville". Bassresource.com??? What the heck is that???? I'm glad I found out. What a great website!!!!

X2. I bought one 3 years ago to use on a boat rental during my annual fishing vacation at Kentucky Lake (I don't own a boat) and it still works great. As already stated, not a great "fish" finder but invaluable as a "depth" finder. It will show depth change, weeds, brushpiles, hard bottom, and even the occasional fish... And 6 AA batteries lasts me all week.

I had a similar thing happen to me last summer. I was standing on a wall fishing 4 feet above the river. I hooked into my PB smallmouth and had to lift her up. I got her up to the top of the wall, my leader broke, she looked at me and said "See ya!" and flopped back into the river. I cried......

Personally I prefer fishing a slow bottom-contact bait. I think I'm physically addicted to the "tap-tap, reel down, set the hook!!!"

I mainly fish smallmouth in the upper Potomac and last Sunday I fished a jig just like this for the first time. Mine was an 1/8 ounce Strike King Bitsy Bug jig and for a trailer I put half of a 3" YUM Mighty Bug on it. I've never really fished a jig like this in the river and was really impressed with how well it came through all the junk on the bottom (even in current). I'm sure this will be no surprise to people who fish lots of jigs, but I could feel everything. That's a rock, that's a log, that's branches, THAT'S A FISH!! And I just couldn't get it hung up. I normally fish t-rigged plastics with 1/16 or 1/8 unpegged bullet weight. Definitely better feel with the jig and no hang ups.

My personal preference is similar to gnuisance. I fish braid on my spinning reel and keep the drag tight enough to get a good hook set (the drag still slips on the hook set though, it's not tightened all the way down). Then during the fight if it's a big fish I will loosen the drag a little bit at a time and even pull some line off by hand while still being able to keep pressure on him.

Thanks to everyone for your input to my question. Your answers have exceeded my expectations, what a helpful bunch of anglers on this site! I ended up ordering a few different colors of Zoom trick worms to use on 3/16 and 1/4 ounce Megastrike Shake2 Pro Model heads.

Thanks for the color recommendations Mr. Lip 'em!

For guys fishing the ledges on Kentucky Lake, do you have any color suggestions? Past years we have generally stuck to green pumpkin, watermelon red and plum for the various plastics we use.

I had thought about trying a drop shot this year. Even bought some hooks and weights and practiced tying it over and over until I could get it right (almost) every time. I have a hard time putting down my jig/worm rod, but wanted to add something different this year. Thanks for the drop shot suggestion, this could also come into play!

Great tips, thanks!

Thank you so far to all the replies, you guys are great and very helpful! I love this site!!!!! We don't have a boat and rent 14-foot aluminum boats from the resort we stay at, so no trolling motor either. We have a simple depth-finder to find the ledge, then figure out how to drift across/along it based on the current and the wind. And luck into fish once in a while... :-) I thought about Elaztech worms, but I already bought some screw-lock heads so I'm looking at worms that will work with these. Because we are drifting (and moving all the time) I won't be deadsticking them, the jig will constantly be moving so every time I lift it off the bottom the tail will stand back up, correct?

I did some searching on the forum yesterday to find the answer to my question but couldn't find it. So... Next month I'm on my way to Kentucky Lake for my annual fishing trip and I'd like to try fishing shaky heads out on the ledges. I've been looking at the zillion different plastics to use and and thought I'd try a Zoom Trick Worm. My question: Will a Zoom Trick Worm stand up on a shaky head? (Will the tail float?) Or will it slowly fall down as the jig sits on the bottom?

X3........

Even though he is now retired, Denny Brauer. I wish they would bring back "Brauer Bass Battles" with him and his son Chad. I loved that show!

I use Seaguar Abrazx. A 200-yard spool lasts me all season.

I fish smallmouth in the Upper Potomac River almost exclusively and the 3-inch YUM Mighty Bug is one of my go-to baits. I fish it on an 1/8 ounce round ball jig head or Texas-rigged with a 2/0 EWG hook and 1/16 or 1/8 ounce bullet weight.

"Big Ol' Pig!!!"

You won't have any trouble handling walleyes with this rod. This year I bought a Loomis walleye rod WPJR 821S GLX and yesterday I caught an 8-pound channel cat in fast moving river current on a jig and Gulp minnow. I couldn't horse him in, but the rod fought the fish beautifully. Your 822S will be great. Sweet setup!

Bass Pro has the Johnny Morris Carbonlite rods on sale right now. I have a 7' MH/F and love it for jigs.