Airman4754

I use these on all big plastics and stick baits that don't have a salt core. Great hooks.

He's just like a Gypsy, mighty hard to hold. I have no clue what that means, but Roland's song is my favorite.

I do the same. I was losing some fish, but I haven't lost any at all since I started reeling up the slack and giving it a pop.

Why more states haven't adopted a Lunker program like this is beyond me. It's such a cool thing.

It's all at Bullards Bar though. One lake being awesome doesn't mean it's awesome across the board. Oroville and Shasta are dink spot factories. There are some good fish there, but nothing like Bullards. One of the two-first named pros down here caught a 40lb bag on Guntersville on Saturday.

I have two custom builds with Winn Grips and I really like them so far. I'm interested to see how they hold up over the long haul, but so far so good!

We always replaced the treble hooks for singles on our hot shots, wiggle warts, spoons, and kwikfish for salmon and steelhead. It wasn't to increase the catch rate though, it was to make it easier to release Coho and native fish.

I started taking my six year old either right before or right after he turned three. I took my two year old out for the first time yesterday. I cast it for him, handed it off, he hooked a bass and landed it (that d**n Ned rig). Then he handed me the rod and went to go play. He is batting 1.000 now, but that percentage will probably go down a bit. I started them both on a little spincast and as soon as they can cast on their own it's onto spinning gear.

I've owned every high end drop shot line out there and to me, the 706M spinning blank blows all of them away. I don't like it for Ned rigs because it's a little too stiff and I don't like it for shaky heads because I think it's a little too soft. For a dedicated drop shot rod you won't touch it though. It's also a really good tube cracking rod for smallies. I had a 706MH built for shaky heads and I'm not in love with it. It's kind of stiff and dead. I've been using the 7'6"ML/XF St Croix SCV blank for Ned rigs this past month and it is such a great rod for that technique. It's a bit flimsy for anything else I fish, but it's a great blank.

Yep. Never the slightest issue. If you run your tag end through the eye of the hook that will help also.

The UMBX blank is 40-ton and the Recon is 36-ton. I use the 8' MH Recon for preacher jigs and big flutter spoons. It's ok. One day I will swap it out with the Med UMBX swimbait blank. I've got the MH and H, UMBX swimbait blanks on some custom builds and they smoke the Dobyns Champion blanks, to me anyway. The 707ML UMBX casting and the NFC blank that Power Tackle uses for their football jig rod are the two best casting rods I have ever fished.

I think I own every UMBX blank now between spinning and casting. For casting the ML blank is truly incredible. The Med and MH aren't that good in my opinion. They both feel about the same and are pretty dead. The heavy blank is really good though. I throw swim jigs on the heavy and pretty much all plastics on the ML. I drug a 7lb'er through a lilly pad field last spring with the ML so it has power.

I launch mostly by myself. I have a system and make sure I do it every time The biggest thing is stay out of the way of the actual ramp when you are getting ready and tearing down. I back down the ramp with my tailgate open and the front winch attached. I get my boat partly into the water, get out, jump on the running board of my truck onto the back tire onto the tailgate, undo winch, push the boat off as I step into it, go to the dock, pier of bank and tie off, run back over and park my truck. Reverse the order when I take out, except I drive the boat up onto the trailer, jump onto the tailgate and attach the winch.

I used to tell everyone that was having a hard time catching fish to throw a Keitech and a Drop Shot. Seems simple. Big fish eat little fish and a worm dangling in a fish's face is usually a successful outcome. I got off work early today and it is a CAT day (Cold-Awful-Terrible) with a steady cold wind out of the north. It's what every piece of knowledge tells you will be a slow day. For this experiment I picked a local pond that I have never fished before. I used green pumpkin for everything because well, it works 24/7/365. I set out to fish the entire 4ish acre pond all the way around with all three in the order of Keitech first, drop shot second, and Ned third. By Keitech I mean a fat impact, drop shot was a 6" Robo, and Ned was a TRD. The first trip with a Keitech, no bites. The second trip with a drop shot, no bites. The third trip with the Ned I caught 14 and only got half way around the pond before I lost the two Morel heads that Mike makes. I just left after that, the results were in. Another shout out to Mike and the heads he makes. They are awesome and I didn't lose a single fish. I think the bulk of thatits rod and fisherman, but they were part of the equation and did their part. Me being a finesse guy I don't know what took so long to really get into this technique, but it is the real deal!

Manufacturing ability has nothing to do with quality...

Whatever you throw a spinner bait on throw a chatter bait on.

6" Robo. There used to never be a second thought about this question until that Ned rig came along. Now I have to think about it...

Anything made by Gambler.

I have been doing this for years for trout and mainly spots in the winter. My step dad has been tying flies for about 55 years and makes me these little 4" shad looking flies with feathers and bucktail on 1/4oz heads. I tried it with a fluke last week and it worked, but I will stick with the fly. The action is so much more life like and it does the work on its own. I don't care what time of year it is or what predator species it is. If you mark a fish and drop an easy meal into its face you're going to have success. It won't work 100% of the time, but do you know of an easier scenario? With 360 sonar this will become a crutch everywhere soon.

My favorite drop shot rod is a Phenix UMBX 7'6" M/F. I've owned an NRX drop shot rod, have a SCV St. Croix now, and still prefer the Phenix. It doesn't feel bogged down when you have to go up in weight and the biggest thing to me is it controls the fish. You have the sensitivity of a finesse rig, but don't feel like you're at the mercy of the fish once it's on. I believe you can get the regular or Classic model for under $300. If you will be casting your drop shot most of the time like I do then you want a longer rod to get your bait up off bottom. The 6-8" makes a big difference in the line angle. For a reel get something light that still picks up a decent amount of line. I like Pflueger Patriarchs myself, but it doesn't matter.

Do a couple tests for us, please. First, throw it in the sink and see if it stays horizontal while it falls. Second, put it in a vice, tie 80lb braid to all the harness points and pull on them as hard as you can. Third, file the front side of the joint down until the back end can glide back and forth without touching and throw a split ring on the front of it. Then throw it and see if it glides true. If it does and holds up to the other things then these are a home run.

Give it up Paul! You're prototype doesn't work!* *send one to me.

Yep. Really make mental notes of where you hook your fish over time too. Waste time initially and fish every inch of it that you can with a high percentage technique like a drop shot, ned, T-rig, etc. Normally your bites will come from the same spots over time. You can get to the point where you can pick apart an acre of water in a couple casts.

This is a common problem in a lot of reservoirs out west with the introduction of spots and smallies. There are so many stunted fish that if you just go for numbers you will get just and only that unless you're in the narrow window of pre and post spawn. That's why big baits became so popular out there. If you're throwing a solid 8" bait then you're probably safe from the barrage of 13" fish. 100 fish days can be a lot of fun, but it can get really old really quick in a lot of ways. So, if you're looking for big fish in a sea of hungry little ones, throw something only the big ones will bite.

Spinnerbait, jig rig with a crawish flappy type plastic, and a drop shot. I can't think of one pre-spawn fish over 5lbs that I've ever caught that wasn't on one of those three.