Cgolf

I will be interested to see as well. I am hoping that the Abu 5500 c3 has a large enough diameter spool to limit the memory issues. I have line conditioner, but have never used it, maybe I should.

Not that I am actively looking to fully move away from braid, I have just decided to try this and the Gamma fluoro that I had in my line drawer to see what if anything I am missing. You did pique my curiousity though, what would be some better options if I find I like this stuff, but want to up the quality some. I am surprised by the quality issues though, Berk XT used to be my go to line before fireline and power pro. Would have thought they had their mono game down to a science.

Anything other than swimbaits?

I have fished them quite a bit and found that most of the time I didn't need the trailer hook. I have been fishing the SK bleeding bait series that has the tip of the trailing blade about even with the back of the hook. I found my hook up ratio to be a tad better than with cranks. If I had a spinnerbait where the trailing blade extended a good bit past the hook, I would add a trailer hook Two things I have found, on clear water blade color can be huge, I have not caught a fish with anything but silver/chrome blades, regardless of sunny or overcast. Another thing I found is adding a huge trailing blade can be dynamite during post frontal conditions. Also with the braid go with a rod with a softer tip or loosen the drag a decent amount. With how hard they hit these, it is not uncommon for the bait to fall right out because they have a hole/tear where the hook penetrated. Steady pressure is a must. Also like cranks, bumping them off of cover can be a very effective trigger.

I have a 7 foot Muskie rod and an 7' 8"med Clunn glass cranking rod that should do the trick. Due to the Muskie will have to go with a steel leader though.

I tried a search on my iPad and couldn't find a topic specifically on this. saying that the search with the new forum doesn't appear to work well with the iPad so I apologize if this is a duplicate. I had a spool of the 25lb big game that I got really cheap somewhere thinking I could use it for fly tying or something like that. I got my eyes opened reading some threads here that mentioned using this stuff. I am looking to put this on an Abu 5500 C3 round reel, what types of baits should I be tossing with it? Have a few options for the rod I could use

I have used Power Pro for years, but did get a bad spool of 20 lb. It broke on multiple different sticks, even when trolling for walleyes. I still really like the product, but have also found 832 to be some awesome line, and it seemed to handle better out of the package were PP needs to be worn in a bit. My shallow water river cranking for smallies is done with 50 lb Power pro and no leader, go so heavy to free baits from snags.

Water Red Trigger X or Swing Oil tube on a slider head. Had my largest WI bass hooked and half way to the boat when she came unbuttoned on this combo. Also got the pleasure of watching a bigger late spawning bass head butt this combo last year, spent quite a bit of time trying to find that fish again lol.

First things first, Senko Lover awesome post, lots of great info to help out those new to jig fishing. While I haven't watched Matt's video, will tonight, I did some videos I posted on here a while back of some common trailers in a tub that some may find interesting.

I too have had good success with this rigging, but this was the first time I was able to see how a fish reacted to it. It was really cool to watch. This gave me some confirmation on how good this rigging was. I really wish I got to see more fish strikes, but opportunities like this are pretty rare

Personally I would add some Bandit 100s, this has by far been my best bait. The strike King shallow square bill was also really good this year. I did like the XCal XCS 200 SB if you can find them. The XCS is very aggressive and moves a lot of water while the bandit is more subtle of a bait. Moderate depth cranks really aren't my thing so I will let others chime in there. Once you get used to these you can start adding more baits in, and will learn how the different designs work helping you choose what you want to throw for different conditions. Forgot one, a Shad rap or 2, for colder water fishing.

This summer I rigged creature baits and some craws sideways on a swim jig going for a baitfish profile quite a bit, but didn't learn until tonight how much of a trigger it can be. The bait pictured is a smash bug Jr that I found ran sideways like a baitfish if reeled up quickly due to the eye design on the jig with the snap. The water and air temps were sub 40 today on the river, pleasant lol. I got one pike working the bait slowly bouncing it of the bottom. Then when I was fast reeling over snags near shore I noticed a fish swipe at the bait, and that was when I noticed it was running sideways with a baitfish profile. I got it to follow at least 10 times even starting a shoreline figure 8. I did eventually hook up and land the pike. The big thing I learned was how effective this presentation can really be, while today was pike, I really see this working well, on both a swim jig and a plain jig

The reason I try to match the hatch on deep divers is that the baitfish will look the same as the bait at that depth, it may not be the same color as on the surface though, but they should have morphed into the same color at depth The reason I like fire tiger so much is it has colors that can be found in many northern baitfish and the vertical bars are also present in said baitfish. With quicker moving cranks you just have to get the perceived color right. Thankfully this isn't a walleye site, go look at the reef runner deep divers and see how color matters when trolling for walleye.

I haven't fished the DD 22 much, but have used the deep little N sunfish pattern successfully in clear water and the bull bream in stained water. I did have luck with the chartreuse sexy Shad dd22 cranking clear water. I have also found that fire tiger type patterns seem to work well in WI waters regardless of water clarity, must give a enough of an impression of gills or perch to draw in the bass.

Personally I go with 50 lb braid for bass jigs and my Muskie rods. It seems to handle tossing big Muskie baits without any issues. Saying that all my Muskie strikes have come on bass tackle including my personal best 45" fish. Thankfully it was on a swim jig with the 50 lb braid and it held up well. Personally I think WI Muskie are so pressured that they actually hit smaller baits more often, even the big girls. Welcome to Bass Resource. Have to say one of my regrets in life is not fishing your favorite lake more often growing up, still remember my first Crankbait bass off trinkies pier, it is an awesome lake.

I have used it some to verify what I was doing retrieve wise when I hook up. I am also of course looking to do some instructional videos in the future too. The best though was having a video of my PB Musky catch this fall. It is really cool to watch and see that I ever so briefly paused boat side letting the jig sink thinking something was there and then all heck breaking loose and the thing trying to Tarpon walk on me. The funniest part to me was I had forgotten about the camera until after I released the fish.

Glad to hear I have not been the only one. I have always liked the action and thought they were pretty solid baits and was confused by those that were having issues with them. Will admit I do have a lot of Rapalas, probably my favorite overall brand, just not my all time favorite baits.

I am looking forward to working the deep divers next year, what depth can I expect them to scrape bottom on? Guessing that it will be a dingy water weedline bait just due to the depth of the weedline on the clear waters I fish (weedline in the 13-16 range depending on the weed bed).

That is my name for it, you reel up snug to the snag and hold the rod at say 11 o clock and pull the line putting a bend in the rod. You the let the line go and it is a pretty violent action that many times unsnags a lure. I have done this up to ten times sometimes to get a bait free. Of course if this doesn't work you just straight pull and hope for the best.Some guy on this video demos it about three minutes in;) http://youtu.be/5XKhBWfvyAc

Curious if everyone still hates them or if you all gave them another shot. I have caught fish with them on my local lakes and most surprisingly on a local river system. The river retrieve crosses fast water and some eddies and the bait came through well and caught its share of smallies. What surprised me is how well if held up bouncing off of rocks and a fair share of hang ups (I use the bowstring method to pop it free, and just straight pull if that doesn't work). I would say it was one of my top three river cranks this year. I did use the standard scatter crank, and if was one of the earlier ones from when they first came out.

I too have had really good luck with the Norman deep little Ns. I have also done well with the crankin rap too, but haven't looked recently to see if they are still making them. I do like to throw DT 16s on 50lb braid at that depth too

I saw that TW had the Seagur red label at a price that I would be willing to give it one more try if I happen to see a deal on the 25 days sale that fits my current list of needs I have. Previously I had tried Gamma edge I got in a product test program, and all I got were backlashes. The thing I can't remember is if I tried it on an old quantum lite reel or one of my quantum accurists, but it was not a good experience. Well tonight many years later I tossed the Gamma on the accurist and gave it six tosses in the dark and I did not get one backlash or even feel the line was loose on the spool. I am sure I gave up a little distance, but it was pretty much my normal settings, I did tighten the spool a touch, but it needed it. Now I am wishing I would have retried it sooner, but such is life. Is the red label decent line?

This year I had my eyes opened, with chrome cranks. I threw a chrome sexy SK 100 on a river with around 6" of visibility give or take and I caught fish like crazy on it regardless of sun or shade. It was one of my better baits until I lost the only 2 I had.

Here are my perch imitations that I came up with and the red and white is modeled after my #1 spinnerbait color in clear water.

Last question on this, what color skirting material is this? On TW none of the pre made skirt companies made this color, so I will make up my own for next spring. Of course the two brands of skirting material companies they carry have blues, they aren't helpful and call it electric or sapphire blue to make it easy for me. Thanks