Big smallies, big surprises...

[Al Agnew]

I’ve never had much confidence in anything fished slowly in ultra-clear water. I’m always going on the theory that I don’t want the fish to take long to decide. I did toss the HD Craw to a few spots where I’d seen fish so I knew they were there, and got a couple that way.

[Seth]

3 minutes ago, Al Agnew said:

I’ve never had much confidence in anything fished slowly in ultra-clear water. I’m always going on the theory that I don’t want the fish to take long to decide. I did toss the HD Craw to a few spots where I’d seen fish so I knew they were there, and got a couple that way.

That's why I love fishing clear water. I like to cover as much water as possible and target those active fish. The dirty it gets, the slower I usually have to fish and it kills me! If you are going to fish slow in clear water, you better be using something extremely realistic and the HD craw does it better than anything when it comes to a craw pattern.

[Al Agnew]

I was using a 3/8 ounce War Eagle, but with modifications. It was the slightly translucent white/chartreuse skirt, I had tied in a white rubber curly tail strip, and switched out the bigger blade on the end of the arm for one the same size as the other blade.

[fishinwrench]

A War Eagle Spot Remover with a White Ice swimming fluke Jr. for a trailer....is the most deadly thing with blades on it.  I kinda wish they had bigger/better hooks, but as well as they work I'd be afraid to change anything.

I keep rods rigged with 3/8, 1/2, and 3/4 all year long.  Actually I could phase out the 3/8 since the 1/2 with a elevated rod tip will do fine shallow work....but since I own about 40 of them I figure I might as well use them.

Wrench Tip (stolen from Lonnie Stanley):  Cut that clear tubing spacer (between the blades) in half. It's a bit too long.    When held upright the blades should overlap just a bit.