Turkey sandwich

None of what you're bringing up is dumb, at all. Generally, when I'm fishing something slowly my rod tip is up and I'm dragging it towards me, more or less in a straight line, unless I'm deliberately trying to move my jig/T-rig/etc around something or to move my presentation to a specific place. Generally, this doesn't change much if I'm in a boat, standing on a kayak, on shore, or wading. By learning to feel and crawl the jig this way, you're going to learn to feel the snags and work over them as opposed to setting the hook into them. This also ties into the line tension thing. There's always a place for letting a jig fall on a slack line, and that's an important thing to learn, too. However, I think it's a lot easier (at first, at least) to learn how to feel with a semi slack line because you aren't moving the bait quickly or allowing it to fall out of control and wrap brush/trees or settle into weird crevasses as easily. This will also teach you how to feel different types of bottoms, different types of cover, and the absence of weight (generally this is the soft bite that a lot of us miss). A sweeping presentation still has it's place, but I think around heavy cover, it's much more prone to hanging up because you're driving the bait horizontally into things instead of lifting it over and through them. As for speed/reeling - you should get in the habit of moving the bait with the rod and not the reel for just about all of your bottom presentations. The reel only collects the line you're recovered after moving the bait with the rod. It won't take long until you can do this confidently super fast (often calls for a heavier jig) or super slow. If you're learning this with casting gear, I think 3/8oz is a pretty good starting point.

This is super common early on, but it's easy to fix so long as you just put in a little time. - Know your tools and when to use them. Football heads are great in pebbles to medium sized rock. Once we start talking boulders or rip rap, it might be time to swap them out for a drop shot. I will rarely fish them in wood unless I'm just way too lazy to tie on an Arkie jig. Similarly, Arkie heads fish great in most cover, but also have limitations around certain kinds of rock. Accept that fishing in cover may mean lost tackle (especially from shore where you can't troll or paddle over to free yourself), but using the right jig will minimize this. - From shore especially, learn using the lightest jig you can while still allowing you to feel the bottom. It'll give you a slower rate of fall, allow you to cast without dropping a bomb on the water, and give you more forgiveness when you're learning to to feel your way through cover/snags. Small jigs like Bitsy Bugs have caught me both, smallmouth and largemouth over 19". - As you're working the jig, try to visualize it moving through the cover as opposed to blindly reeling or dragging. Think about every movement having a purpose. I've also heard BASS Elites refer to this as trying to sneak the lure through the cover so that fish won't notice it, and think it's a good way to visualize it. In most instances, if you're moving the jig slowly with your rod and not your reel while emphasizing feeling everything on a tight/semi-tight line, you'll find that you're snagging a lot less. - Lastly, consider the immediate offshore structure when you're fishing a jig and realize that you're always going to be pulling it "up hill". If you're fishing steep banks with rip-rap or other super snaggy snags keep in mind that you're dragging a piece of lead up hill through it and that most bottom contact baits may not be the most ideal for that scenario and you may be better served fishing a crankbait. Once you get the basics down, you'll be shocked what kinds of crazy water you can work a jig through without snagging.

I've kind of adjusted my fishing around using braid because I like it's handling, strength, and sensitivity benefits and use mono, Hybrid, or FC leaders to match presentation and conditions. The way I see it, if I want stretch, I can compensate by using a slower loading rod instead of spooling mono/FC/copoly for most presentations and get a great compromise without having to deal with all of the twist and memory issues. If you are set on using a line similar to CXX, a lot of forum members have had a lot of positive things to say about how Hybrid performs as a main line so long as it's treated regularly with line conditioner. Specifically, for what presentations and conditions are you wanting more stretch?

It sounds like you're off to a really good start, listening to good advice and building confidence. Cheers! Like it's been repeated, fishing a jig most of the time is not that different than fishing a Texas Rig, just a different profile. I think this is probably the easiest and healthiest way to learn one if you're familiar with the other. As you fish them more and more, you'll learn when to tweak trailers, profiles, size, etc, but the basic rules still hold. For any kind of brush or vegetation, an Arky head is the way to go. If you're dealing with small to medium sized rock bottoms, the football head is a better choice. As for presentations, learning how to flip, pitch and roll cast accurately to visible stuff are all important skills to have. Also, basic presentations like dragging, stroking, and swinging in current are really important to master. Swim jigs are slightly different in that most of the time you aren't going to be soaking them on the bottom. Swim jigs, (and I fish them far less frequently and with less confidence than the others mentioned) to me, are best thought of as a spinnerbait without the blades or thump. I'll throw them and think about working them horizontally through the water column more than vertically and generally retrieve them along the tops of submerging vegetation, along break lines, etc not much differently than a spinnerbait or lipless crank. Hopefully this is some good, useful information. Keep up the good work. Jig fishing rocks!

There is no simple answer. There are at least a dozen ways to rig and fish a worm and countless worm varieties. Texas and Carolina Rig - a MH 6'10'-7'6 Fast or Extra Fast action casting rod with a fast reel Flipping and punching - H 7'+ fast action casting rod with a fast reel Drop shot - ML to M 6'6"-7' Fast or Extra Fast spinning rod Senko/wacky rigging - 7' M Fast or Extra Fast spinning rod Those are kind of your basics that cover most ground but conditions can effect those choices, too. I'd suggest reading some of the articles on the page and using the search function when you get a chance. You'll find that there's a lot of very good, very specific information that will cover most, if not all conditions and presentations you're likely to run into. Good luck and welcome to the forum!

Also on the upside, perch are delicious.

looks like you caught nothing but footballs. Cheers!

I have a St. Croix Legend Elite jig rod, and so far I'm very, very happy with it. I picked it up at a massive discount exchanging a broken Rage series. The best I can tell, the only big difference between the Elite and Extremes are the grips. If you like the full cork handle (I do for a lot of presentations), the Legend Elite is a great $380-$450 rod. However... if you're fishing mostly from the bank, I'd suggest putting some of the money towards a kayak or Jon boat if possible. A high end rod will, in most cases, serve you well wherever you're fishing, but a big part of the appeal comes in sensitivity in deep water/current/feeling changes in bottom composition, and to me, the money would be better spent getting off the shore and onto the water. I'd consider exchanging the Avid X and through the warranty getting an Elite/Extreme/Tournament and putting the rest toward a used kayak.

Fishing out of a kayak and 14' aluminum has taught me to prioritize baits for the conditions. There's rarely a reason I should have a box of hair jigs sitting in my crate in the middle of August, and I'm probably not going to be doing a whole lot of frogging here in PA in January. Still, I have gear. Lots and lots of gear.

@TnRiver46 Jeff Little's instructionals are awesome! Very few guys crush river smallmouth like he does consistently, and he's a kayak OG. His approach to finesse fishing is awesome. I just wish I had more patience to deadstick. The advice about being careful is huge. Cold water is no joke. This is becoming the season I switch primarily to fly fishing for trout since they're so much more active in colder water.

That's a huge upgrade! You'll love that rod, especially for bank fishing.

exactly.

Straight braid - flipping/pitching/roll casting into heavy grass. It cuts through vegetation and the visibility of green braid seems to get lost some in the weeds. Braid to InvisX or Sniper - drop shot, finesse presentations, clear water. Braid to Yozuri Hybrid - fishing rocks, trees, docks, and all things snaggy and abrasive

@Darren. Being a Bills fan really is the worst. The team is rarely horrible, but never much better than mediocre, and this ridiculous QB mess brings back way too many memories of Ralph or trash GMs like Whaley making moves from the front office. I was really, really, really hoping those days were in the past. The bottom line is that until they address that horrible right side of the O-Line, any quarterback they put back there is going to struggle. Tyrod, while flawed, is still very responsible with the football and has the speed to extend plays/run for his life. This team would be totally screwed without a mobile QB. I hate being a Bills fan.

You don't have to spend a lot of money to get a solid crank bait rod. You don't need crazy sensitivity and, IMHO, that money is better spent on good line, a quality reel, and your fast/x-fast rods used for bottom contact baits. I have 2 Abu Veritas rods that fish great and for $85 apiece, I find them very hard to beat. Ultimately, buy what's most comfortable for you - and it doesn't need to cost $150+.

Alien Life Form. also, eats casts and hails from Melmac.

Both of those look rough. I've had some frigid days ice fishing (read: every time I've ever gone). I haven't gone as an adult, but as kids we didn't have any portable shelter and would run a wind blasted lake chasing tip ups. More recently, last weekend wasn't rainy or crazy windy, thankfully, but we did camp 35 minutes from the river in North Central PA and the air temp got down to 14 at one point. We waded all weekend, and regardless of layers, 20-34 degree air temps and 40 degree water temps over two days beat the **** out of me. I used to love getting out in cold weather, but this was probably my coldest trip since back surgery. It got rough. I also learned some things, like if you're going to teach the girl you're dating (who has only very basic fly casting skills) how to cast streamers, don't do it when it's 14 degrees out.

So, does this make you Western NY royalty?

Sounds like a plan. It'd be fun to get on Great Lake smallies and monster browns. Garbage plate is on me. Thanks. I'm very excited.

Thank you for the suggestion! BC seems amazing, but this trip will have us on the Kenai Peninsula. One of my best friends' in-laws built a cabin there that we'll be staying in for most of the trip. He's also in charge of setting up the guided trips for this one. I'm ridiculously excited. I know. I need to make a trip up your way also. A friend was just on Sandy Creek and picked up a monster 30+lb salmon on his 8wt. The pictures look almost silly.

Too many trout, not enough time. Seriously, I'd love to fish any of these rivers. Milwaukee just seems like a killer multi species town. For whatever reason, part of what I love about being out on a river - be it for trout or smallmouth - is getting away from people. I love just getting the hell out of Dodge and getting out to the mountains somewhere. I think living in Philly has taken it's toll, lol.

Man, when they're aggressive like that, it's incredible. I need to make more time for trips over the next year or two and I've heard amazing things about the White River. I have Alaska on the calendar for next year an hopefully some time for a trip to Erie and Ontario tributaries. Those fish all came on a 6 wt with full sinking line, but I was also fishing an Orvis Recon spooled with Bankshot (I think it's called). it's a floating line with a sinking head and it shoots like crazy. Like, I was shooting out 40+ feet of line off of roll casts while wading mid thigh. I like my Recon as a streamer rod, but would also be interested in checking out St. Croix's Bank Robber and Legend series for the same thing. Until fatigue set in, I had zero problem tossing weighted flies up to around 5".

I think that at some point almost everyone on here has owned one. Everyone has mentioned that they're nearly indestructible. I had one that lasted nearly 20 years and who knows how many fish before a guide snapped off. It was my first casting rod and helped me to learn a lot. While they aren'y sexy, and certainly aren't the lightest thing to cast all day, but on a budget, they still make a good starter crank bait rod.