I’m new to this forum, so if I duplicate something please let me know. I can take the whipping. Anyway I am excited about the new Cabela’s HDS Real Image series baits. And especially the swimbait in the perch color. They are only 4 1/2 inches long and I can see both SM and LM eating this bait. No I don’t have stock in Cabala’s LOL.
Those look really good. I too am looking forward to trying the Alabama rig out. A guy in my club has started making them for some of his tournys down south and he is going to have some ready for me to buy. I am only going to throw it in some private farm ponds though as it is not legal in Iowa or the states North, South, and West of Iowa. Luckily almost anything goes on private ponds.
good detail on that hard swim bait for 7 bucks. I like Cabelas too. might be a little big for a smallie but you never know, always give it a try.
I can’t remember which show it was, but Bill Semental who developed the Spro swimbaits, was throwing 5-6” swimbaits & catching smallmouths on them. I saw Maina on Facts of Fishing unhooking a 3lber he caught on a Musky bait, so they’ll go after bigger baits, but they have to be in the right mood or really big.
Baits I’m looking forward to using this year I haven’t used yet.
Those are the 4 I’m looking forward to trying this year & I have a couple of each, except for Rippin Raps, which I’ll pick up at some point. Those Cabela’s baits look nice & I’ll probably pick up a few of those too considering their price.
Personally Im looking forward to throwing an Alabama Rig. Legal in Ky and is under consideration in Indiana.
I bet you are, they were on sale I think on Cabelas website. You’ll slay em with that thing. Have you thought about how you are going to rig it?
I plan on fishing 1/4 - 3/8 oz J-Will jig heads. As far as baits go Ill try out a few. Looking fowrard to fishing these in April on Ky Lake. Its a whole new learning experience.
Im looking forward to getting back to some of my old favorites. I got away from drop-shots, buzz frogs and the wake baits that I used a few years ago. I am going to use those more this year. I am trying to simplify my tackle this year. I have so much stuff that I bought and never used or only used a few times that doesnt need to take up room in my boat anymore.
Im looking forward to getting back to some of my old favorites. I got away from drop-shots, buzz frogs and the wake baits that I used a few years ago. I am going to use those more this year. I am trying to simplify my tackle this year. I have so much stuff that I bought and never used or only used a few times that doesnt need to take up room in my boat anymore.
X2 on that, for me it’s swimjigs, got away from it last year. I have a bunch of worms and creature baits for jigging and texas rigging that i have never used, i know for a fact i could catch a bunch more if i would slow down with the worm or jig and i am going to force myself to do it this year. I threw the spinnerbait and chatterbait to much last year when it wasn’t producing. this year more cranks and worms and jigs.
Swimbaits, drop-shots, and swimjigs. I did so well on soft jerkbaits that I rarely had to go to anything else. Also want to improve my smallmouth techniques since we have quite a few trophy smallie lakes in the UP of Michigan and N. Wisconsin.
Last year I used a lot of winding baits. This year I’m going to target weeds with a Skeet 8’ Flip/Pitch rod. At Sleepy Hollow State Park guys in tourneys were punching and getting 20lb+ limits. That’s pretty good for mid-Michigan. So, I’ll be looking at heavy cover hooks and punch setups. I’m also going to try to use football jigs more.
