Cgolf

I use multiple rods for cranks, current river rod is an old pinnacle medium 6' with a fast tip, and the reel has 50 lb power pro. No issues even with the med fast tip, drag pretty tight, but I do take my time bringing fish in, and don't over pressure them. I will say this rod is much stiffer overall compared to the rods below, not sure if the medium is a mislabel or not. Lake rods are the wright mcgill clunn glass square bill rod and 6' 6" Cabelas medium action slow tip prodigy rods. I can put a bit more pressure on fish with this setup vs the river setup. I run a mix of 50 lb power pro and 30 lb suffx 832 on the reels. Eventually will end up with all 832 when the power pro wears out. Love braid and cranks, especially when dragging the bottom.

One question, did you see the fish that you lost? Right now I am dealing with the carp spawn and during many retrieves I snag big carp only to have the bait slip loose after a bit. If your not seeing what you hooked this could be a possibility.

I will throw out that a couple of years ago I had a week where I lost a ton of fish, trying different poles, drag settings, harder hook sets, adding a second or third set while retrieving, nothing helped. Then all of a sudden the issues disappeared, with no notable change by me. The worst are when you play a fish halfway to shore and they come unbuttoned when you have steady pressure on them. Sometimes it's just fishing, don't let it get into your head and slay them next trip out.

For fishing jigs on the bottom, color probably isn't a big issue, pick one or two and your good. Where color comes in to play is with swim jigs. First trip out I went with a gold flake skirt head combo with a carp colored swimbait and caught fish. With the swim jig you really are trying to match the hatch so to speak, so lots of color options become more important.

5" Kalins grub, have caught a lot of bass on them along with other gamefish. I guess I could go with grubs in general, work at all times of the year and hardly anyone throws them anymore for Bass.

Wow these baits feel strange, got them soaking for tomorrow's fishing. How careful do I have to be with other plastics if I fish both on a trip? Will hand sanitizer or a rinsed in the water be enough to not screw up either?

I found one pack of Zinker Zs locally and want to try them on the Ned rig for bass tomorrow on the river. I need every big of the bouancy I can get out of the bait. Hearing that they get more bouayant with use, should I rig them and put the rig in a mason jar of water for a couple of hours?

I love tossing Crankbaits all day, generally gear ratios range from 5 to 1 up to 7.3 to 1. For me it is easier than plastics. Holding the spinning rod all day is really hard on my wrist. What does get really tiring is throwing Muskie baits for a couple of hours and having the butt of the rod bruise your ribs. Those guys have it rough.

I have fished an olive green bandit 100 with really good results. Really similar to green pumpkin. Will say when we bought them a few years back that color was on sale so apparently it wasn't to popular with anglers. The pink has been good for smallies.

I do as well and have seen no issues.

Over the years I have been using the doulock snaps purchased from either Bass Pro or Cabelas and the failures I have had due to snaps are very minimal. I recently had been using Norman speed clips, but had one fail recently, but it may be my fault. I had a swim jig on it, and it to some work to get the swim jig off the snap because of the large gauge of wire. This may have contributed to the failure and the snap probably should have been changed. Will give them a second chance. Who knows, it was a big pike or musky that killed it on the take, the line may have gave if the snap didn't will never know. My new favorite though is the quickswirl that can be had at cabelas, while not a snap exactly it works like one and so far seems tough as nails. A little pricey at a buck a piece, but there worth it.

Just stopped at Dick's to replace a shadow rap a pike claimed and saw the Sebile action first baits 2 for 5 bucks. Looking closer there is also a 5 dollar rebate on 2 so you are only paying tax. Rebate limit is 4 so I picked up 4 cheap baits. Not sure how they will work, but I picked up the squarebill sunfish and the star shiner. If they don't work, not out much.

http://www.orvis.com/p/mesh-leader-wallet/2c31Well made and reasonable. Luckily For me I have an Orvis shop near my work. If you happen to use a lip gripper this discontinued model from Rising Fish works great and can be carried in your pocket, perfect for the minimalist. They do have another model that is semi cheap that would work too. Done hijacking the thread.

Didn't want to hijack another thread (discontinued bomber lure) but now tha Pradco has bought Bandit, does anyone have an idea of any changes to the line? Personally I am most concerned about the 100, really hope they don't screw with it, haven't found a bait I like better yet. Hope the remaking only limits the insane number of color options they had.

One that I carry that I haven't seen mentioned is a hook cutter. To limit injuries to fish and to help with hooked fishermen too. After the opener learned 2 things, the first aid kit we bought 8 years ago is a trip saver when someone sticks themselves when pulling a Crankbait out of a bass' mouth. Also the lip gripper I use when handling bass hooked with trebles or any pike or walleye to hopefully limit the chances I need the first aid kit. If you do any multi species fishing rod holders can be handy too.

I like the little ziplock bags in this picture, and you can get them at Walgreens in the weekly pill holder section. Now that I look at the picture, some terminal tackle in the ziplock may work well in the or is leader wallets, I had just been using them for pre tied rigs. Have also used some travel pill containers for snaps, swivels etc and put them in my shore bag or if I am just doing a quick trip in the boat and want to carry minimal gear.

I second the spinnerbaits, the fish hook themselves. The other options would be Crankbaits. Like squarebills or a lipless on a shallow flat or deep divers going along a break. You will feel the hit so easy to know when to set it. It will be a different kind of fishing for him, but he should have success. Thought of one last option, a swim jig comes through some nasty stuff and since your reeling all the time the bite should be easy to feel.

I have the Falcon version of this box, Plano 45-501 Hook & Sinker Organizer, and highly recommend it. Now I wish Plano would bring back the Falcon rattle trap box. Just realized you didn't like this box, got to learn to read better lol As a second option I do use the double plano 3500 boxes for jigs and such, with come smaller baggies you could keep the smaller items in them. For snaps and split rings, etc I like the Plano Micro Magnum 2 sided boxes. Those have worked well for me. Fly boxes have also worked well for this too, Orvis has some nice ones that are of very good quality.

I fish pretty heavy current and the smallies hang in the seems and behind and I assume in front of the rocks. If I go to light it just gets swept away too quickly and to heavy snags instantly. My hope with the Z Man baits is that the bouancy will allow it to bounce along, but keep the jig head from wedging in. Many hits come after I pop a jig off a snag, just hoping this makes life easier. Lakes will be a light jig head, just not the river.

Used to love the Trigger X flipping tube, but it is really hard to find now. I have replaced it with a Swing Oil J tube and really like them. They also have a big color selection too, many more colors than were available with the Trigger X tubes. I always Texas rig my tubes on a slider or similar weighted hook. May try the internal heads this year, but really haven't had a reason to try that rig.

Just to be contrary I am going to pick up some Z Man baits and give it a shot on the river, but go with a heavy jig head. Picked up a Smallie on an imitation rig but snagged up to much on the rocks in the current. My thought is the bouyant Z Man baits would hopefully keep the bait bumping the rocks but not snagging. Will go lighter head on the lake. Now I just need to find the Z Man baits locally so I can give it a whirl.

I only fish the swim senko, but had had a lot of luck with the slider spider heads to give if a faster drop. I don't swim it, but let it drop sit for a time pop it a couple of times reel in and repeat. The oddest bit of the retrieve is 90 percent of the time they picked the silly thing off the bottom when it was just sitting. As for weightless in 20 ft, not for me. I would look elsewhere for active fish, not about making 100s of casts, just about finding the easiest fish to catch in the lake. Again nothing new, while I hate the standard senko, love the swim senko.

I have used slider spider heads and haven't had this issue at all that I know of. Fished it mostly with yum craw bugs, but sometimes the zoom speed craw. If it did roll over on me, that was what the fish wanted, it has been an awesome combo for me over the years.

Here is one of my retired bandits, smacked on a railing during the cast while shore fishing. The reason it didn't get trashed is it managed to still catch 4 fish all cracked. Bandits are tough as nails. And for me it is a numbers thing, if I get a bait that lasts say 50 plus fish it may get benched, not sure. The usual lifespan for a crank on the river is on average 7-10 fish before it gets lost. Now that bandit got bought out, I am going to have wade in to get them. With Bandits I don't think I have had one that doesn't catch fish, some may just get through snags better.

I have a few that have either caught memorable fish, like my first bass on a crankbait, or just caught numbers of fish without being lost, most don't make it past a handfull. That said I think I have six that are retired, don't want to keep a ton just the special ones.