Bmurr7

Yep, most anglers here are all about the salmon. Salmon fishing is great, awesome to eat, good fighting fish but for those of us here in WA who are all about bass fishing it would be nice to have a little bit more support from the state, or rather just not as many restrictions or difficulties in the tournament side things. I'd love to be able to get down to the south for a while.

So I know this is an older thread but I didn't want to make a new lake Washington thread. I fish Lake Wa but haven't fished it much in late fall or winter and want to. The past few weeks I've been catching a smallmouth here and there in about 25-30ft of water but they're becoming tougher to find. Anyone been finding a good pattern here lately or know of a good winter pattern for lake Washington? Thanks!

I use Wright & McGill Skeet Reese rods and Duckett Micro Magics, I love them both. I've got 2 W&M shaky head/senko spinning rods, 6'6" cranking, 7' cranking, 7' spinnerbait/worm, 7'2" (heavy) and jig/worm rods and I love them. I've had no problems with any of them whatsoever and I fish 30 hours a week on average with them. I like the fact that most of these rods have a little tip action to them, and still plenty of backbone to get fish in the boat. I haven't had any issues with guides, no breakages, no grip faults or anything really. For $100 they're incredible rods. You'll be really happy with the W&M rods. And not to mention I found half of mine on sale for $25-$40 ! So while I don't have experience with W&M's jerkbait rod I have plenty of time in with the ones I have and can't say enough about them. My oddball of the group is my St. Croix Mojo Bass top water/ jerkbait rod which is an excellent rod. So there's another good option for ya but I'd say get the W&M, good price, great rod. I really hope that helps, it can be overwhelming picking tackle . I've found the W&M Skeet Reese rods and Duckett Micro Magics are good rods for me.

Let me rephrase that, a Medium or even Medium Light power rod is actually more commonly used than a MH for drop shots, and shaky heads. I think with finesse gear as long as YOU can feel what you need to, shake the tip properly and provide enough fish "control" it will work for you. I like a MH which maybe a lot of people would say "oh that's not really finesse fishing" I even wind it with 10-15 lb braid and then an 8lb or even 10lb fluoro leader on one of my finesse rods. I skip docks with my spinning rod and baitcasters and like to know that even with my spinning rod it's not "fragile". To me, I get better sensitivity with the braid, and still know that if I have to work the fish a little harder to get her away from her cover I can. So finding a rod that suits YOUR needs is all up to you. Maybe find one that you can comfortable use for many finesse situations, and then later in you can add a lighter or heavier finesse rod too.

Either of those rods would be good for shaky head and drop shot purposes. I like a MH but a medium would work just fine too! Go check some rods out and feel all the ones you can and see what feels best to you.

My suggestion would be to get Duckett Fishing's Ghost spinning rod (7'M) : $99, and an Abu Garcia Cardinal SX 30 spinning reel : $39.99, and some 8lb fluorocarbon of your brand preference/choice. Try different kinda of shaky heads and worms. I like a trick worm most of the time or other straight tailed worm. That setup for about $140+ $10-$20 in line + $10+ in hooks and worms will get you some nice fish. That's basicallu what I use except I use a Duckett Micro Magic 7'MH and Orra SX reel most of the time and it's been perfect for shaky heads, senkos, drop shots etc. hope that helps point you in the right direction! All rods and reels are personal preference so pick em up in the store, get a feel for what feels good I. Your hand and go from there.

On my Orras, Abu marked 3 of the brakes "Pitch" so they're recommended pitch setting is 3 of 6 brakes on, but that's what I use if I'm using that rod for casting and pitching. On my Duckett extra heavy which I basically just flip/pitch I have no brakes on, minimal spool tension and it seems to work well for me. If you so this make sure you pay attention to your thumb tension. Everyone's different just play around with it until you find what works for you, but I'd start with 1-2 brakes on for flippin' and pitchin' (depending on how your reel is) and go from there.

I gotta put a reply down to bump this thread. Awesome advice from this one and to throw a "thank you" of sorts I'll say this;, I've caught the biggest fish (my PB and some other great fish) by getting creative with my crank baits of all depths. Just by trying different pop, crank, stop, rip and other methods of retrieve on my crank baits through grass or open water have gotten me more strikes (and fish) than any other baits lately especially with my square-bills. My Rapala Crankin' Rap (4-6') has been getting me so many fish it's starting to lose a considerable amount of paint now!

Also, don't get discouraged. Drop shotting does produce fish under tough bite conditions, but so does a shaky head, weightless senko or wacky rig, or the right crankbait... And if you want to put fish in the boat, you may end up having to try all those and more depending on the day, weather etc. Where I'm going with this is that you want options. Finding what the fish want can take time but you want to have the ability to adapt. Nothing is more frustrating than getting out there and realizing I should have brought something else/ more" .Maybe instead of ONLY bringing DS gear, bring your usual gear (which should include your finesse gear) and focus on drop shotting and if that isn't producing fish, switch it up. that's why we have so many setups right? Any way have fun, be safe and just work the techniques as best you can, try them in different ways and get creative with it.

I use 6,7 or 8lb fluoro for drop shots and I love it. Lately I've been using P-line's 8lb fluorocarbon coated mono and it's been amazingly strong, ridiculously strong actually.... It's not as brittle as straight FC and I still get abrasion resistance and less memory than I would with mono, also sinks a little faster . I use 14-17lb FC for spinnerbaits (personal preference- I like mono here too or braid with fluoro leader) and some Texas rig and weightless Senko situations, the FC helps the weightless senkos or wacky's sink faster and I get better sensitivity, less stretch and it holds up well when working the worm over bottom. Casts are great with fluoro as well because its slick and smooth (keep it wound tight on the spool though!!) and I've gained quite a bit of casting distance with fluoro. Anyway, I hated fluoro at first, I increased the brake a little on my reel, and just learned how to use fluoro better and with some practice it's now one of my favorite lines. In heavy cover though braid will always be my favorite. If you're going to use fluoro for heavy cover, use 17-25lb.