Smallies!!!

[PIGSMALLIE]

Starting to get the itch...I know I have another month....But cant wait looks like mid-May for me...Annual 3 day trip....and sore arms!!!

[djkimmel]

Mid-May is another great time to go fishing!

[pigmania]

I will be there for the opening week of catch and release. any favorite tube colors would be helpful.

[djkimmel]

Most of the colors I use most of the season are on this page - http://xtremebasstackle.com/Catalog/Colors.mvc.aspx

I've been doing really well on St. Clair for a while now on Erie Goby throughout the season. Canadian Mist is the oldest color that still produces like when it first came out. It will work really good in clear water. It works everywhere. If you wanted just one color for clear water, that would be the one. I like to try new things and have done real well on the Erie Goby since it came out.

My favorite overall color is Formula G3. I use it a lot in the summer and when I'm after big bass! I use that color everywhere too. Has a lot going for it. Green pumpkins should always be in a bass angler's tackle box.

For bedding reaction bites, I always try St. Clair Crayfish. When smallies react to chartreuse, it is usually with aggression. Especially in the spring and fall. It also helps out in offcolored water. In muddy water, and before St. Clair Crayfish came out, I would throw Firetiger for similar reasons. I have had a few muddy, spring days on St. Clair when that color kicked bass! I keep that and Great Lakes Craw handy for the hot red bite! When red is one, you can't beat it! When red is off, cut it off!

In mid to late spring on St. Clair, I've done very good over the years on light melon/orange flake and cinnamon/blue flake too so I keep them in the boat. They aren't stocked all the time because they don't sell as often but I keep them around. I've caught a ton of St. Clair bass on them. Especially on sunny calm days.

I tend to use darker colors like Erie Goby and Formula G3 later in the season except in real clear water when I'm snap-jigging. Then I love the Emerald Shiner tube. It looks like a minnow in the water. I like it on the shallow sand flats too. I do a lot of switching between light and dark colors throughout the day to see if the bass want to tell me what they prefer.

I would recommend at minimum that you start out with Canadian Mist or Erie Goby, and St. Clair Crayfish for opening day.

[Got Fish??]

 I think you hit it right on the head Dan. Those are the colors I catch most of my fish on. 4 inch works best for risen. Every now and then 5 inch will boat a toed. I have caught more big fish on Wayne's 4 inch tubs, than any other size or braind.

[djkimmel]

It doesn't work as well for me on Erie, but on St. Clair, I have often caught bigger bass when I switch the 5" tube throwing into the same school I was throwing a 4" tube at. Enough that I try to remember to switch to it more often once I've had my fun. I throw 5" tubes more on St. Clair than anywhere else.

I'm just going by what the fish seem to be trying to tell me! I don't throw 5" tubes a lot in the spring though. Hasn't seemed to make as much a difference early or real late in the year there over the years.

[Team houston]

When does the C and R season start the 21st or 28th?

[fiker]

It's always the last Saturday in April.  The 28th this year.

[djkimmel]

fiker, you are the winner! I hope I can get out somewhere that weekend. Wonder what kind of weather we'll have then?

[Firefighter Jeff]

  I'll be there from Monday the 30th to Thursday the 3rd.    Sore arms was mentioned earlier.  They forgot to add SORE BACK !!   

[Mojo]

5" for me is a standard bait. In various colors mentioned   Low weights. Lots of twitch and bumps. This catches 8 " and 23" smallies. It feel it doesn't catch bigger fish, but will activate a group. For the bigger fish, I'll switch to a Carolina rig. But that is slower catch rates so it's only appreciated once I'm culling.

The sandy rocky bottoms of the south shore are much more a target thing because you can see the boulders. I'm all about darker colors there, dropping and twitching and dragging,   and the sand craw by the belle hump. Just unbelievable.