Cgolf

Also have another one I have tried some, but really need to give it some more effort becuase I think it will work. A very modified float and bait rig. I would use a big slipfoat with no stopper, just free, and use a slider or shakey head with some plastic. The thought is to toss it in weed pockets or next to cover like reeds and work the bait vertically in place. Also would be easy to reel up and out of the weed pockets without snagging. Didn't give it long and only caught a sizable crappie on it. Definitely a rig I should try more, but just haven't taken the time.

I have one I started to use last year with some success. A shakey head or slider head with a walleye spin in front with a bobber stop to keep the spinner from sliding up to far. Right now it is the Dorn rig, but I am sure others have tried it. As I write this didn't creme have a pre tied rig with a top water style blade? That would have been well before my time though.

Depends on the water, dirty water I would toss a spinnerbait. Clear water I let the boat drift over shallow cover and cast either a tube or square bill downwind. Lots of success with this. This has happened a lot to me the last couple of years where 2 to 3 foot waves have become the norm. Even with a 24 volt trolling motor the back of my aluminum boat is to light and sits to high to keep the thing tracking well enough around the shallow cover to fish it that way so that is why I am stuck drifting.

My B and B bait box. It is a bit big to carry in the boat, but I pack it full on vacations and fill my bag from the picture above for each trip out on the lake. One side is 4" deep and the other is 6" deep. Each side has 96 spots for baits. Depending on the bait youn can fit multiple in one spot without a lot of tangles.

This is my shore fishing bag. Currently have another double 3500 in place of the 2 smaller boxes. Also my or is leader wallets for pre tied rigs.

My on the water Crankbait bag. And jig box, which has been filled in with lots of Santone swim jigs from the TW Xmas sale.

The VMC spinshot offset hooks have worked really well for me. I actually cast and retrieve this rig in reeds so I need to T rig the bait. The nice part about the rig is it keeps the bait out of the slime at the bottom.

One thing I like about putting baits in a box vs leaving the in bags is that they don't get bent out of shape to the point you need to boil them. Some baits are more prone to this then others, surprisingly have had issues with zoom finesse worms in the past and some creature baits. The better grubs also have issues with this. That said it is time consuming to set them nicely in the box, but for me it is worth it.

This is the modified storage tote I store my bagged plastics in. It does fit in the under deck storage on the front of my 16 foot boat if needed.

I really like these plano 4700 double decker boxes. Six of them get me through a week vacation trip. I do have some extra baits in bags that I store in a larger storage tote with a homemade duct tape divider.

If you don't like them cut the side flaps off and cut the baits in half for a DS bait. I got the idea from in fish, and will admit to not fishing them yet, but they look really good, no reason they wouldn't work. Top 2 are SK rodents and the bottom was a bargain bin yum from a few years ago.

When using scents I have had many second strikes on a soft bait that I don't feel I would have gotten without the scent. I also feel the fish hang onto a bait with scent longer giving me more time to get the hook set. Do I get more initial strikes with scent, have always thought no, my last trip last year started to change my mind. The day after Christmas it was warm enough that the river was open and putting scent an x rap I had my best River trip landing 5 pike and missed one or two. Was it the warm up that triggered the fish or the scent of both? I guess I will just have to fish some more to figure it out.

How about getting some foam to put in the compartments and you could cut a few slots into the foam. That should hold the spoon and keep them untangled.

Clear water is tough, I generally fish it one week a year fourteen plus hours a day and still can only figure out the basics. Sometimes it is a soft bait bite and only certain colors and presentations. Sometimes if is a spinnerbait bite when I score high double figures one year to come back the next and not be able to buy a pattern on one. Last year was a squarebill bite, and about the only predictable thing that happened was I needed to switch from an aggressive squarebill to a subtle one after a front moved through. I fully expect this bite to not be there this year. Moral to the story if you know fish are there, throw the kitchen sink at them, these fish can be insanely picky at times. In these scenarios I may toss 2 or 3 baits at a spot before moving on. It is possible to pattern the fish if you fish often, but even weekend to weekend I could see being really tough.

Gut feel based on past experiences. Sometimes 20 or 30 minutes and sometimes a lot less. Just try to take the conditions into account and go from their, because sometimes you can get caught in a transition period. One thing I tried some last year was a double up rig with two different colored tubes to see what they wanted. I was pleasantly surprised that bass would hit the rig even in clear water helping me figure out which color to throw.

Never had an issue. I generally add a bit of craw scent to my baits when fishing them, and have never worried about the base scent and have caught a lot of fish. I will say I wish they had the coffee scent in a gel, I have had fish hit the bait a couple of times more than once, maybe bass are caffeine addicts too lol

This is the brand that bought Bandit right? Suppose I should stock up on them before the same happens. Love the XCal squarebills, they move the most water of any square bill I have tried. I even hooked up with a 40+ Muskie on a 200.

Double score on the Brkley stuff. Got the 2 for 1 deal and when I checked out I was given a rebate for 5 bucks on 2 bags. So eventually the grand total for this purchase will be 26 cents. Was surprised though, a lot of the Berkley stuff didn't scream buy me, so finding 2 items wasn't as easy as it should have been.

At our local store scatter raps were 5$ and berkley, non havoc, we're buy one get one free.

I have seen color make a huge difference the last 2 years on a clear lake I fish. That said it was the extremes that matter. Certain chop, cloud cover scenarios water red yanked them in the boat. Had I switched to green pumpkin or even black blue would I have caught fish probably. One that didn't was smoke purple, zero hits on it in certain conditions. Take flat bright conditions smoke purple and smoke blue/green flake crushed them and no takers on water red. So I think shades of color not necessarily exact colors matter.

The Crawbug for me has been my number one River soft plastic for smallies. Have used the smaller size the most, but the larger one catches fish too. Mostly fish the on a slider spider head, but other rigs have worked too. For some reason never tried them on a lake, I may have to do that this year.

Personally I use the "Plano Small Tackle Bag/Waist-pack" that can be had for under 20 bucks at Walmart that holds 4 3500 size boxes. I use 2 double 3500 plano boxes. One for Crankbaits and flies and the second for soft plastics. As for baits I stock known producers and a couple of different lures I want to try. I also carry a spinning rod for plastics and a baitcaster for cranks. Caught plenty of fish this way and the bag is small enough I can carry it while I am fishing. Have tried a couple of sling bags, but they always seemed to have wasted space in the bag.

Have used atlas mikes and rage gel scent. Personally have had rage last 50 minutes on a Crankbait and both Alta's mikes and rage last more than 30 casts on soft plastics. While I don't believe I get more strikes because of scent, I feel they hold the bait longer and appear to hit it a second or third time if I miss them when scent is applied. Gel scents are where it's at, have two more brands I will be trying this spring.

These baits were a great find for me. While yes they are only raps, the foil on them is much brighter than what is currently offered. Work great in clear water for me.

Looks like they got posted on another site website some time this morning. At a very decent price point of 6.39. Hoping TW gets them in soon. Has anyone shopped at another site and if so thumbs up or down?