IndianaFinesse

The one thing I will warn you of is that micro guides are very fragile and prone to breaking off. I have two rods with micro guides, one has lost three guides and the other one. I would not recommend them if you are hard on rods. I regret ever buying a rod with them, but then again I am hard on my rods.

Yes, and I do use an ewg shaky head for thicker worms such as senkos. I like the pumpkin ed heads when I need the ewg hook, but for normal shaky heading I prefer the owner shaky ultrahead. Pick the weight based on wind and depth of water, 1/8 ounce is a good starting point.

I don't use trds anymore, but I do use half of a zinkerz, and I've only ever had one completely wear out. And that was after it had caught 108 bass... So you should be getting more bass out of them than that, unless putting them on a swinging football instead of the ned rig makes them more fragile.

Would they work? Yes... But what would the advantage be over spinning or casting gear? Lures can drop vertically through the water column with spinning gear and nearly so with casting, and spin casting reels would not allow the bait to drop any more vertically than with casting. In my mind they have little to no advantages, and many disadvantages (not saying they won't work to some degree).

Zoom super chunk Junior.

When is it my turn to get those awesome deals you guys keep annoying me with? I think my local wall marts didn't get the memo about the clearance.

South east side of Indiana, only a few miles away from the Ohio border. Water is 63 degrees on the west central side of Indy, should start spawning here soon. Brookville is very deep, so it will warm up slower than other lakes. Looked around but haven't found any water temperature reports out of there online.

Thanks for the tips T-9 and dsqui, I will try those in the next tournament. Heading to Brookville for the next tournament on April 23rd, does anyone have any reports out of there or know what the water temperature is? Will the be spawning yet, and if not what depth would you expect them to be in, and is the upper end for largemouth or lower end for smallies usually better? Any general areas or hot techniques for Brookville would also be greatly appreciated. Pm me if you guys have any info, thanks.

Its only been the most talked about rig for the last two years now... Congratulations, you are our newest ned rig convert.

Thanks for the replys everyone. So what depth do smallies actually spawn in, and do they usually spawn on the main lake or in protected coves?

Yes, you can use the same leader knot weather your using mono, copoly, or flouro.

It happens to everyone, just part of fishing with spinning reels unfortunately. Some reels are more prone to than others tho.

Do they usually still spawn shallow enough to sight fish? This lake usually has 4-8 feet of visibility, but i have never personally seen it.

And for all you guys who think bass care about line visibility, people caught fish on those old ropes! Our current superlines are far thinner (and stronger) than that.

I have a tournament coming up in a week and a half on a predominantly smallmouth lake (brookville aka the dead sea in Indiana) and I have not had the opportunity to fish smallies other than half a dozen trips in Michigan and in streams. I was wondering how their spawning habits, temperatures, and spawning locations compare to largemouth? Do you think they will be spawning on brookville in a week and a half, or will this be pre or post spawn? Should I fish for them differently than largemouth or would similar baits except downsized be best? I know very little about smallmouth.

You could easily make it run two foot deeper and maybe a little more if you swap out the seventeen pound for 10-12 pound flouro.

I mostly use the Kvd 1.0 and 1.5, and sometimes the 2.5.

In wouldn't even survive my first attempt at those stunts...

Nothing, unless I want to skip the buzzbait. Then I take a biffle bug and rip the center flapper tail off, leaving the two tiny outer paddles on. Increased surface area makes it easier to skip, and I can retrieve it slower.

Is this going to be a spawn tournament or post spawn?

Wake boarders (and skiirs and jet skiirs) are my nemesis. Nearly been swamped by the massive waves from the dang wakeboarders driven by drunk idiots several times. A general term for hated watercraft users is "pleasure boaters", but I call them something different that would probably be filtered out on here.

Here ya go, read paragraph 12 for the answer to your question.

They are best fished in sparse or nonexistent wood and grass, but it is surprisingly weedless because of the small hook and lite weight. Just don't fish them in heavy weeds or timber. Also, the ned rig is best in less than 12 feet of water, past that and a different technique would be better. Here's a link that tells you where it should and should not be fished, plus details of how to start fishing the ned rig, https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/186214-the-basics-of-the-ned-rig/

I mostly use 1/4 and 3/8 ounce, and I tend to lean towards lighter or normal wire hooks because I don't fish around a lot of heavy weeds or timber.

I hadn't even heard of Ross Barnett, I don't even know what kind of lake it is yet. Gonna have to do some research on it.