timsford

The size I use depends on several things. First I always start off with something with a large profile for bigger fish. I usually like to start out with a 3/8 or 1/2 oz jig with a sweet beaver for a trailer. I like to start with that to see if the fish are active and to go after the bigger bass first because most of the ponds I fish are shallow and the fish spook easily. That way I can get a long cast to cover more water and at the same time show the bigger bass a hefty meal worth them chasing down. If its not working well or if there is a lot of grass I switch to a 1/4 oz jig for a slower fall and to keep it from burying down in the grass. If there is light cover or if even the 1/4 oz doesnt draw bites I switch to a 1/8 oz jig woth a small craw trailer to try to present the fish with a finesse type bait. If the water is deeper or if I'm getting bites on the 1/2 oz may go up to a 3/4 oz jig so I can cast farther and reach places from shore I can't cast to with a small jig. Some of it depends on the mood of the bass as well. After a cold front or on highly pressured ponds and lakes I usually go to one extreme or the other. By that I mean I either use a 1/8 oz jig and fish it super slow with a lot of shaking and small twitches of the rod tip even though my bait comes back to me very slow. Basically it falls very slow and then sits in front of their face as long as possible but with lots of shakes and twitches to trigger a reaction bite. Or if the water is deeper and the fish are lethargic and the small jig isn't getting bit then I will switch to a 1/2 oz "mop" jig with a mixed living rubber and silicone skirt. The living rubber flares out and gives the fish a large profile to give them a meal worth eating. I have also had luck even going up to a 3/4 oz jig in even shallow water when the fish are not biting due to cold fronts and pressure. I think the fast fall helps trigger them to bite because its not something many anglers fish. Basically there is no single "best" jig size as far as my experience goes. I have better luck letting the conditions dictate my bait size and also my retrieve/presentation and also it always pays to experiment what works one day may not work the next even though the fishing pressure and conditions are the same

I'd look at the kistler he3's in that case. Awesome rods on a very sensitive blank. The medium power rods should be very similar in action to the 852

What kind of cash do you actually have to spend? Not trying to detail the thread but just curious. Maybe we can help find you a rod in your price range suitable for what you want to do

Daiwa fuego lt 1000 size or 2500 size spinning reels (I prefer 2500 size for better line management but 1000 size is lighter and holds plenty of line). Retail for just under 100 bucks. Id pair with one of the 2 ark rods on clearance at tackle warehouse. Other good choices under 100 bucks retail are Powell inferno, Fenwick hmg, or omen blacks. I'd choose a medium light for dropshots and light stuff and a medium for shakeyheads.

Have you tried using braid and a heavy powered rod. Ive never fished anything like you describe but I would probably get some quality 50lb braid and a heavy rod or flipping stick and try jigs,chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, and possibly swimbaits around the carts. If you get snagged, the braid should be plenty strong enough to drag the cart in and get your bait back. Also simce you are fishing specific targets that are visible, id also try a wacky rigged senko and just deadstick next to the carts

If you like smallmouth, dale hollow lake is an amazing smallmouth fishery. The world record smallmouth was caught there

My first thought is why would you nose hook a creature bait? Sorry to say it like that but I see no reason I'd personally nose hook a creature bait. I do it with drop shot baits and with soft jerkbaits in open water only. Personally the only way I rig these types of baits is Texas rigged with a bullet weight and fish around wood grass or rocks. Or a combination of those types of cover. I also usually peg my weight to keep from hanging all the time. Try Texas rigging with a light weight like a 3/16 or 1/4 bullet weight and pegging the weight with a bobber stop or toothpick. I usually bring the hook point out and then texpose it ( barely skin hook) in the plastic. Then it will come through anything. I use the regular wire gammy or owner ewg hooks unless I'm using braid in very heavy cover, then I step up to the super line ewg. I prefer the yum wooly hawgtail to the brush hog, but with either bait I always catch several fish before I need a new bait. Good luck and look at it like this.... As long as you are catching fish and having fun, what's 50-60 cents a bait lol

Go to your local goodwill or second hand store and look for a backpack with pockets on the sides and an extra pocket on the front. While there also check for small boxes for terminal tackle, CD wallets for spinnerbait, buzzbait, and jig storage. Get a 3700 size deep box for hardbait storage and put it in the large center compartment. Then I usually use a smaller box for terminal tackle, put tools such as pliers and a scale in one of the smaller pockets and store plastics in another. You can keep it pretty simple when pond fishing. Almost every pond that has bass also has bluegill and frogs and crawfish. These are the main food sources of bass in a pond, so those color patterns and types of lures are all you really need and you can keep the backpack light and easy for a kid to carry

It depends on the craw bait I'm using. Most of the time it's a 3-4 inch bait and I use hooks ranging from a size 1 up to a 2/0 ewg gamakatsu or owner. I like a light wire hook and a wide gap. I'm usually using 8 or 10 lb test line and spinning gear so a good sharp hook that penetrates easily is key

One of the hardest lessons to learn as a beginner is that if you aren't getting snagged or worried about getting snagged, you won't catch nearly as many fish. Most of the time fish hit crankbaits as a reaction when they make contact with cover or on the pause immediately after striking cover. I ALWAYS use cranks that run deeper than the water I'm fishing and I want them to contact the bottom and cover as much as possible on the retrieve. Most cranks will float away from the snag if you pause the retrieve, and balsa or wood baits are my favorites for this because they float quickly and rarely get snagged. Another trick is to use shorter shank trebled that hug the lure tighter on retrieve. Chartreuse is a murky or muddy water color primarily for me, unless I'm fishing for smallmouth or the primary baitfish the bass are eating are sunfish. I choose color based on the forage I'm imitating. White or silver mostly for baitfish imitating lures like jerkbaits or spinnerbaits. Craw, bream, or shad colors for cranks and swimbaits. And plastics and jigs are always either shades of green or brown in clear water and black and blue in muddy water. I not saying any color won't work, but these are the colors and baits I use the most

A frog rod makes sense if you feel you need more power than your fury has for any of the frogs, jigs, or heavier baits you fish or if you fish heavy cover. I use mine for a lot of different techniques to fish baits from 1/2-2oz. I fish swimbaits quite a bit in ponds. My favorites are bluegill baits like the little creeper sunfish, hudd and savage gear gills, and mattlures ultimate and u2 gills. I use the tatula frog rod to fish these baits. If you don't fish cranks much and when you do it's mostly shallow cranks, then I would just use mono on the shorter rod you already have to compensate for the fast action. And since you already have a spinning rod, I'd most likely go with the frog rod because it's more versatile than the swimbait stick

My favorite is a mattlures ultimate or u2 full in the straight tail pattern. Its super realistic and a big mama can't stand a nose down panfish parked on her nest

Anytime I'm fishing for smallies i have better luck with crawfish imitating baits, especially around rocks. If I'm getting hung a lot there are a few tricks that help me catch fish instead of setting. One is to use jigheads instead of bullet or other sinkers. Although I still hang up some, it seems like I get wedged a lot less with a jighead. I also always use the lightest weight possible, preferably one that will still drift with current and tic bottom like a natural craw. I use tubes and craw baits on jighead and I always use green pumpkin or some type of green or brown with orange tips on the claws. All the crawfish around here have orange highlights. If it's super muddy or nighttime I use black and blue. Another tip is to use squarebill cranks or those with coffin lips. I always use craw colors and go with greens and browns in clear water and red or black in muddy water. Also if I'm not contacting bottom, I'm not getting bites. I like to use deep 10 plus feet divers in shallow 5 ft or less water to imitate draws. If you pause when you feel it strike cover and let it float a split second, then it's pretty rare to get it stuck. If you still keep getting hung another trick I've found is to rig my craw baits weightless Texas rigged and then use a nail weight. It gives it a perfect slow horizontal fall that drives bass crazy, and I can't recall ever getting a craw rigged this way stuck in rocks. If there are lots of baitfish I'd also use crankbaits, floating jerkbaits, soft jerkbaits, and topwaters in colors that imitate the forage you see. If all else fails my ace in the hole is to night fish. In shallow rocky water I use 4 baits. A black buzzbait, a black 1/4 oz spinnerbait with a Colorado blade, and a 3/16 or 1/4 oz football jig with a bulky trailer to slow the fall and keep it snag free. The only other bait I use at night is a black or purple Texas rigged worm with a 1/8 or 3/16 oz weight. As far as where to find them, they are usually at some point in the spawn cycle. I'd check any deep water near flats or pea gravel banks for prespawn and postspawn fish and Also any shallow hard bottom areas for spawners on bed. Look for baitfish or birds feeding to find the fish also

If you fish a lot for smallmouth or use finesse tactics on a regular basis then a medium or medium light powered spinning rod would round things out nicely. If you don't use many light baits or fish crankbaits much, then the crankbait model would round out your arsenal nicely. Imho you honestly need both and if you fish hudds or other moderate sized swimbaits then I'd pick that one up too. Personally I'd probably pick up the spinning rod from the zillion line and I'd look into crankbait rods in the original tatula or tatula xt lines. The 7'2" mh graphite rod makes a great all around reaction bait rod that handles just about anything besides small balsa cranks or big deep divers. The dobyns rod you own is the right length, power, and action to handle plastics, jigs, frogs, and single hook reaction baits like swimjigs and spinnerbaits. The st Croix is an excellent choice for target casts with any bait in its weight range. 6'-6'6" is the length I prefer for jerkbaits, topwaters, skipping socks and trees, and roll and sidearm casts to targets. St Croix medium power rods also have more backbone than some and can handle a lot more plastics and jigs than many other mediums. Those two cover 80% of techniques and either the spinning rod or cranking rod will allow you to fish what few things they won't. Good luck with your decision sometimes it's hard to decide which rod to get next

I've used medium powered spinning tackle quite a bit for spinnerbaits and buzzbaits from 1/8oz-1/4oz in light to moderate cover. I'd personally rather use 10lb test for these lures since even the smaller sized ones have a fairly thick gauge wire hook. Braid works well also depending on the rod and your style of hookset