AManWearingAHat

With that sort of depth I’d say a regular ole 3/8th would be suitable. I’d just count it down and use either a slow retrieve or a yo-yo retrieve.

1. TRASH, like many I usually bring a grocery bag with me to pick up trash left by other fisherman. Why some anglers have to be such pigs I will never understand. You carried it there, carry it out. As others have said, the live bait types are the worst. Luckily there’s usually worms left and they go right home to my garden! Do people really not get that these natural resources warrant respect and preservation? 2. The Bucket crowd. I used to fish around Chicago and the bucket fishermen were always the absolute worst. Never had a license and kept absolutely everything, totally ignoring limits and sizes. One who I asked about his undersized fish said he just threw them all in a blender at home... Crook county almost never did anything about it. The overwhelming number of these types have completely destroyed several county lakes in a few short years 3. Trash, but in trout streams. I absolutely love stream fishing for trout. Nothing depresses me more when wading a pristine clear cold water stream away from it all, then tripping over an old tire... 4. Swimmers. One of my local spots is a popular spot in the summer to swim. No problem. Most of the lap swimmers are courteous and stay out of casting distance of the shore. Some don’t... skipping a crank bait near them can change their trajectory though, not that I would ever do such a thing ? 5. The chatty Kathy’s. I don’t mind helping fellow anglers out from time to time or saying hi, but some people won’t shut up. 6. People who think the whole lake needs to hear their music / party. I feel a little curmudgeon-y for this one but come on, a little courtesy to others on the water. 7. Not owning a boat ☹️

Kailin’s Fishy :( RIP

Just as a tip to add to the thread, if you save your beat up old craws you can often trim them short and use them as a chunk after they’re too beat up for normal T-rig use.

When I got into bait casting after years of spinning reels with left hand retrieves, I got a right hand retrieve bait caster like all the cool kids..... I sent it back the same day for a left hand. Never looked back. It’s nice not having to switch hands and it feels much more natural for me.

Sunny day in the mid 60ies, water still in the mid 50ies. Southern WI. Threw a lipless and a spinner bait for bass to no avail. Switched up to a live minnow Slab Slayer from bobby garland on a 1/16th jig head and hit a small crappie hole. Pulled out a dozen before it was time to go. First good outing of the year not counting the winter trips to the trout streams.

I have a pair of these except they're re-branded by Piscifun. Literally the exact same thing down to the holster and lanyard. Good pliers.

Buzz Baits, Alabama Rigs, most top water stuff except for the Rebel poppers.

If you can go a bit above $3 Dollars, you can get a pack of the Cabelas Go-To Swim Minnows when they're on sale. They have decent action. Basically direct copies of the Keitech Impact Fat swimmer, but different (stiffer) material. That said, it's hard to get a bag of Bass oriented soft plastic anything for less than $3 dollars these days.

Im running 12# FC

Decided to down size to 12 pound and see how it works out for me. Will save the 16 on the original spool for a rainy day!

I can, just not at really slow speeds.

I very well may just be bad at this I run mine on a 6.3:1 and I find if I reel too slow I cannot feel the blade vibrating any more. Do you feel the vibration through the whole retrieve?

Our water temps are in the mid to low fifties still. We've had a good bit of rain come through as well. Spring just doesn't want to quite warm up here yet. I've been pulling a chatterbait, bouncing a lipless up the slope of my pond, and slow working a senko and nothing yet

Congrats! Just got into chatterbaits this spring. Waiting for my first pick up on one, but the water is still cold. Still 0 for the year. Suffice to say I'm impatient....

Green Pumpkin White Watermelon Half White Half Green Pumpkin horizontally through the bait Green pumpkin with a chartreuse tip.

Loaded up over the winter to hopefully avoid the spring / summer rush as people start migrating outdoors again.

Power Pro has their V2 braid out which I've been loving. Very slick and easy to cast.

Thank you very much. I am still new to the more technical side of this world so I suspect Ill be experimenting a good bit still before I get it right. Now I understand why I'm doing what I am doing. Just the explanation I needed!

Newer to the world of bait casters. I don't have the funds to invest in technique specific rod / reel set ups right now. I eventually settled on two St. Croix Mojo's. Both 7'1" MH's, one is a Fast action for Jigs, T-Rigs, Carolina, etc. The second is a Mod-Fast that I use for my Spinner Baits, Chatter Baits, Cranks, and Lipless. Both have Tatulas on them, Jig rod has a 7.3:1, crank rod has a 6.3:1. I spooled both reels with 16 pound Diawa J-Fluoro treated with a line conditioner as I heard it was very good quality line. In doing some more research, I've read that line weight can effect how your crank baits run and how deep. Some have suggested dropping down to 12 or 14 on the cranking rod. My question is, I thought Fluorocarbon sinks anyway, so why would it affect depth on a crank bait? Should I drop down to a lighter line on my cranking set up? My reel manual only lists spool capacity down to 14 pound mono. Ive fished some lipless cranks in ponds on the 16 pound test just getting used to it and felt I was getting acceptable casting distance, and no backlashes once I got used to the reel and figured out the settings. Would I pick up some more casting distance going to a smaller diameter? Thanks!

My girlfriend broke my 5'6" LF Premier rod that I use for trout in a car door. I printed off their form, wrote a letter explaining the situation and they replaced the whole rod for 20 bucks. I've never broken a St. Croix and I've definitely landed some larger fish than I should have on them. I've got Premiers, AvidX's and Mojos. The biggest thing is to be sure the graphite does not get scored or scratched, that can cause a weakness in the blank and it will snap easily. Proper transport and keeping them from bouncing around in the boat will go a long way to keeping a rod in good shape.

I used to fish just outside of Chicago at the county lakes. Your "2-3 fish a session" comment hit home. Some of those lakes have been straight up destroyed. As for the OP's question. I've had very good luck with downsizing swim baits for cold water pre-spawn bass. Simple 3" Kietech minnow in threadfin shad on a 1/16th jig head either bounced in or retrieved straight has saved me from a skunk on more days than I can remember.

Things are better than they were but some popular rods and reels can still be hard to find. Tackle warehouse has got some items on long restock dates. If you look hard enough though you can find just about anything you need. I revamped my tackle and rods in a big way over the winter and didn't have much trouble finding what I needed if I was willing to wait. Only ended up on ebay for one or two rods.

I will never stop fishing the basic grub and ball head jig combo. When you find the right color it just straight catches fish. It's a classic combo that should be in any angler's bag.

If you want a T-Rig esque swim jig, try the Mesu Swim Raptor jig. The jig is designed to be Texas rigged, its got a nice wobble to it, and no weed guard!