papajoe222

Although I do use spinning gear on occasion, I much prefer using a baitcaster for any jig 1/8oz. or heavier. My rod of choice is rated for 3/16-3/8oz. and 4-10lb. line and my Daiwa Sol is spooled with 8lb. mono. If I go smaller/lighter, the spinning gear gets the nod and much heavier on a Med/Mod casting rod.

6.3:1 is a good, general use gear ratio and the one I use the most for cranking. If you'll be using it for topwater, I'd go with a low stretch mono. Most lines advertised as such are actually copolymers and work well with cranks, too. For single hook baits like chatterbaits, you'll want to upsize your line test a bit. That may reduce the running depth of your cranks, but as long as you don't jump more than 4lb. it won't be much.

I bit the bullet last night and placed an order with Scheels. Mostly terminal tackle, but I just couldn't resist picking up a couple of jerkbaits as I'm in need of some that run deeper than 6ft. It sure didn't take much to drop $100. I told the wife a few days ago that I didn't need much of anything. $100 isn't much, is it?

The shortest month is the longest for me. This year more so because it's been and continues to be, a cold winter and the ice is thicker and will take longer to thaw. Hopefully, by mid-late March I'll be able to hit some open water a few hours south.

I trim skirts for two reasons. The first is to not inhibit the action of the trailer I'm using and the second is to give the jig a more compact profile for tough conditions. A distant third would be to shorten the front half of the skirt to get additional flare, but it isn't done on a regular basis.

For a lipped crank, I like Strike King's KVD 1.5 Flat Side. It'll run down to 9ft. on a long cast with 10lb. fluoro. Bomber's Deep Flat 'A' is another, although it runs deeper. I wouldn't rule out a deep jerkbait like a Rapala deep shad rap or a Lucky Craft Pointer XR. Both are designed for getting down to those depths and are proven, cold water producers.

I sort mine by running depth, so I have three main boxes; Shallow, Medium and Deep. Then I have a box for silent models and another for lipless and another for suspending and I'm thinking of adding another for favorites to take when I'm not in my boat.

For retrieves, I rely mainly on two. The first is a lift-drop, similar to hopping a jig but more subtle. The other is a drag and pause. For both I use an internal jig with the hook exposed. I will, occasionally, rig them weightless with a worm hook, working them like a jerkbait. Don't forget using one on a C-rig, or split shot rig. For some illogical reason I don't consider those traditional presentations, or I would have listed them first.

Started fishing with a rod and reel when I was 7 or 8 back in ‘57 mostly for walleye as we had a summer place in Wisconsin. I began fishing for bass when I got out of the army in ‘71 as my dad had passed and mom sold the summer place. By my calculations, that’s 65yrs of fishing and 50yrs of targeting mostly bass. To the OP……..Thanks for reminding me that Eisenhower was President when I started (I think).

It's getting to be around that time when I start servicing my reels. I've always used acetone to clean parts, allowed them to dry and rinsed before drying again. I'm considering using Reel Kleen in place of acetone, mainly to cut down the time involved in my cleaning process. Are there any downsides to using it like residue?

zoom offers a floating trick worm, the Z3. and there are others.

If both you and the boater are right handed, it's tougher. A sidearm or roll cast will improve your opportunities as will a faster moving bait, or a topwater. If you have to wait a second or two for your bait to fall before moving it, as with a soft plastic, you could be out of range before you get a chance to work it. With a faster moving bait, you can start working it when it hits the water and with, say, a hollow body frog you can wait without the momentum of the boat pulling from the intended target.

If I'm marking fish at a certain depth, I'll count it down to that depth an yo-yo it from there, but the majority of time I let it fall to the bottom. I'd go with the 873 which, I believe, is a crankbait rod.

I throw a lot of red craw patterns early in the season along with orange belly ones. I actually carry an early spring Plano and other than some blade baits and jigs, the majority are one or the other.

I reserve the drop shot for areas that are either likely holding fish or for areas that I've marked fish and haven't had any takers on other presentations. It's a do nothing presentation and that's the way I fish it, though I will admit that I don't give it much time to produce. No takers in 15min. or so and it's REO Speedwagon time for me.

I throw mine on a 7'3" MH Mod rod using 15lb. Abrazx. In cold water, I stick with a straight retrieve and throw in a pause or a quick rip here and there. I stick with a Rat-L-Trap or a Cordell Super Spot and keep them high in the water column. As the water warms, normally after the spawn, I'll switch to a yo yo style retrieve using a Quake or Red Eye Shad and I'll also switch to a Mod/Fast action rod. The rod switch is more for ripping the bait free from weeds as it does a better job of that than the Mod action rod.

I find that combo to work best on silty bottom composition. It's just dark enough to stand out on the bottom, but not overly bright. I lean more toward combinations with green as the predominate color for sandy and rock bottom and black/blue for pitching to cover.

A flat sided crank with a coffin bill will come through timber just fine, especially if you give a slight pause when it contacts a limb. The plus side to those and baits like the SK KVD 1.5 Flat Side (https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/strike-king-kvd-15-flat-side) is they run deeper than most square bills. During pre-spawn, that can make a big difference.

Personally, I prefer graphite composite rods for cranking, mainly for the lighter weight. That being said, a glass rod paired to a reel that balances with it well negates that reasoning. I'd take the reel you intend to use and mount it on both rods if you're undecided. Could be the straw that tips one in your favor.

I've been a brass and glass user for decades and, although I see the advantage of tungsten (smaller size and sensitivity), I've lost many a rig to snags and can't justify the replacement cost.

I have no idea why white, or predominately white, baits are productive here in the mid-west. I use them because they catch fish. Shad imitating cranks are a good producer as well, the majority of the coloring is white. You could ask why green pumpkin is so successful in the south where the main forage is shad, or blue back herring? Does it really matter why?

I have to laugh at myself for using a junebug trailer on a black/blue jig thinking it was blue (I'm partially color blind). Did that for quite a while before the wife pointed out it was purple. Worked then and works now, both in combination with greens and blues and by itself, so I really don't care that it's purple.

The majority of my reels are 6.3:1 geared and I prefer it that way for the majority of my moving baits, I like to know how fast a bait is moving through the water by how fast I'm turning the handle (the IPT is nearly identical on them). I do, however, own both faster and one slower geared reel that I use for certain techniques.

Berkley Havoc Bottom Hopper. A great, floating, finesse worm.

Strike King Rage Tail Twin Tail Menace Grub I like to rig them sideways on a swim jig. They're a little less aggressive vs. a paddle tail, but they don't loose their action coming through vegetation. Another is a Kalin's Lunker Grub. A poor choice for working in the grass, but for over and along the outside or inside edges, they're hard to beat.