abkeenan

Not to be argumentative but that looks like a v63 Nat Brown Craw to me, just heavy handed on the brown. I don't see any red nor orange on the sides which they typically have and v209 is my favorite color wart. As you all well know variation from one paint job to the next can be very different depending if the painters shift ended in the middle of production run. That or the painters interpretation at Storm changed from year to year, season to season or heck even hour to hour. I do not know. I don't think I have two Pre Rap warts that are identical. A better pic in better lighting could clear it up.

This is why I like the old Mann's Hank Parker Classic Spinnerbait. The thinner wire really makes the blades on that thump. I love those spinnerbaits but they are harder to come by these days. I also like the twisted loop line tie as opposed to the R bend open line ties seen on most spinnerbaits these days.

You're my hero Dave. I'll go here: Instead of here: Or here:

You're not going wrong. You have phishermantitis just like the rest of us. Only way to keep it from killing you is to buy more stuff every year.

The Irish market version of that worm is 4.5". Asian market I believe it is 2.5". Black market knock off's are 10.5".

Right. Which is basically what the Neko Rig is...kinda. Anytime the tag end/hook is above the weight you can achieve not moving the bait which is attached to the hook and not the weight.

The only advantage that I could see is if bed fishing (which I don't do) or trying to keep the bait in one place without actually moving it. You can just sit there and shake it and give it a shimmy while remaining in place without pulling the bait away from the target.

Indeed. Love to see how people reinvent wheels when it comes to fishing or anything really. I would think that it would be better to have the weight vertical as opposed to how he has it horizontally to reduce drag/surface area along the bottom thus less snags. I'm sure either way works in the end. Thanks for sharing.

I have pretty much the exact same setup as that right now. Abu 5500, 20# P-Line CCX Mono (strong stuff) on a older BPS Extreme 7"6" Heavy rod. Still throw heavier A-Rigs on it and also hard plastic swimbaits that are 2-3+ ounces on it.

Yeah, that is not going to be the optimal setup for an A-rig. Throwing an A-Rig on spinning gear sounds like a nightmare. One, you just don't have the cranking power that you would on a baitcaster. Two, the thought of having a wind knot or line twist while flinging the rigs just sounds like mess waiting to happen. You don't have to go out and spend a fortune just to have a specific dedicated rod/reel setup for A-Rigs. My A-Rig combo is a 7' MH (leaning towards the H side) and Lew's Speed Spool in a 6:4:1. I can throw heavy jigs, big flutter spoons and also mid size 1-2oz swimbaits on that setup so you do not have to be one dimensional. You could easily get away with spending around $150 to have nice multi-purpose setup for bigger and heavier presentations. Lot's of closeouts on rods and reels now at end of year or inventory turnover for incoming 2016 models. Sportsman Outfitters has killer deals on Lew's reels and other gear. Bill has the "nuts" on his A-Rig setup and you won't find a more perfect pair than what he is using but not everyone wants to spend $400+ on a outfit.

No you do not HAVE to. I myself do not like dealing with braided line. It obviously has it's advantages such as small diameter, superior strength, no stretch and you can pull it off just about anything you snag. I started out throwing A-Rigs on 65# Power Pro but that was in the A-Rig craze infancy where you HAD to have a 7'10 XXH broom stick, 6500 round reel and 1/4oz jigheads on the 5 arms. Since then there has been a lot of streamlining of the A-Rigs with many different varieties to choose from such as head material, amount of wire arms, willow leave blades and dummy baits. I have scaled back and now throw my A-Rigs on a 7' MH rod, low profile reel, 20lb InvizX Seaguar and 3 arms with 3 willow blades. Going from the original style of A-Rig with 5 heads plus weight of line tie head to what I use now with the 3 willow arms probably took me from about 4-5 ounces to around 2 ounces. Thus I can downsize in gear that I am throwing it on and I just like Fluoro better than braid like I said. I've had no issues with the 20# InvizX and am still able to pull off of any snag and can even bend out the stout hooks on the 3" Storm Wild Eye Shads I use on my rigs to get the whole deal back.

I'm with Sore Thumbs. I happen to like Zona. He is "likable" to me in that I would probably enjoy his company out on the water and probably also while having a few beers after off the water.

There are a few ways to throw an A-Rig and it depends on the gear you are using (rod/reel) and also age of angler. I am a young enough to where no fishing technique bothers me....YET. My wrists, elbows, shoulders, back, etc don't give out from a few hours or full day of fishing a particular way even if strenuous like deep cranking or A-Rigging. Instead of casting it out like you would any other normal bait try either a lob cast, starting low and ending high. Let the rod load and send the bait out requiring less energy/strain on the body. I have also seen guys throw large or heavy baits such as big 5-10oz swimbaits or A-Rigs using mostly a torso rotation and the rod remaining basically stationary or held tight to the body. I haven't found the need to do this but I could certainly see where it would make it easier on the more seasoned fisherman and allow them to fish the A-Rig for a longer duration of their outing. Here is a video of the lob cast I was referring to above (skip to 2:57 in the video where Matt explains it) and why the rod and correct equipment make the difference in any application of a bait: Found the video that illustrates how to throw large and heavy baits with the torso rotation. Skip to the 34:00 mark in this video:

Nice article Bill. What else are you gonna do on a bitter cold winter day staring at the lake from the warmth behind glass, reorganizing and checking gear inventory all while perusing online tackle websites for more must have baits.

Probably because they stack up together by nature. When you have one of those magical days on the rock typically it's a majority of Kentucky's in feeding frenzy mode. You can get into a nice school of smallies that are locked onto the bottom eating crawdads and tear them up on a jig or ned but nothing like a huge pack of spots that are fired up from the top to the bottom of the water column. That's been my experience and that is coming from the dam area section of the lake. Could be different in the river arms. Only time I get disappointed is when I think I stuck a good one its a trash fish...aka a big whitebass or dumb fish with whiskers. Not that I don't appreciate them giving my line a tug and their effort but it's an emotional let down.

Same here. I like'm all and don't truly care what is tugging at the end of my line. That being said if I WERE to happen, by shear luck, to hook into a potential giant I think I would choose a big old bruiser bronzeback with the tiger striping. A twin of this is basically my unicorn of fish:

Just saw this on Facebook via Tacklewarehouse. Strange story, because if you remember a few months ago it was posted here of the guy who couldn't get his whopper Spot certified and because he was concerned for the fish he released it to ensure it's survival. Fast forward to this story a couple of months later and the guy who couldn't get certified, his buddy, in the back of his boat catches one even BIGGER. Then the current record holder for spotted bass drives 4 hours at moments notice with certified scales to help this guy out and claim the record only to have his own record go down. Cool story. http://www.bassquestmagazine.com/?p=3832

You know what they say....go big or go home. I have made a commitment to myself this year to do just that...upsizing most of my presentations and hopefully sacrifice the quantity of bites for better quality bites. That's the plan anyways....unitl I go 7 hours without a bite and can't take it anymore and whip out the ned, jig or shakeyhead....lol.

Unstable and changing weather patterns, air and water temps, water clarity and pool levels usually make for a nasty anti-fish catching concoction. Sounds like most that got out today for the balmy air temps got a dose of that today.

SmallieBigs, Very nice on those underspins. Impressive. You make any of those with say a big ol' 7/0 hook on a 1/2 or 3/4oz head? Looking for something like those to throw a 6.5" LS Bass Magic swimmer on.

Boy that's a rough outing. It happens to the best of us though. Nothing to be ashamed of as Cheese mentioned a day fishing is better than a day working no matter the results. Try a wart at all in the wind? Anything vertical like a spoon out deeper?

Then I would just be doing the same thing as 94% of Royals fan did in 2014. I'm better than that and too old to chase bandwagons down.

Make that 3 times.

I need to start reading all the responses before I chime in. That's twice now.

That was a regular size wart. If you look it was 100% custom painted. That is not a stock color scheme. I can only imagine he paid 20-30 bucks for the Pre Rap, then another $20 for the paint and another $10 in hardware upgrades???? Or he just bought it for $60 bucks after someone else did all the upgrades and paid into that persons profit. Either way it's pretty hard to spend $60 bucks customizing a Pre Rap wart blank. Warts that go for that kind of money are either the Nat and Phantom Craw original's or the more rare colors that aren't going to be thrown for the most part.