For those of you a little shy about dropping $20.00 on a tub of Gulp, the Berkley Ripple Shad is a great alternative.  It's one of their Power Baits so there is some scent.  Or, if you just want to change things up, these are very productive on an 1/8 oz jig.  The ribs seem to give it some vibration moving through the water and I can typically get 15-20 fish before I have to cash it.  At $4.99 a bag, I recommend these.  Most productive seem to be the firetiger and smelt colors.  They have a slower 'sink' and you can feel the vibration when you rip them off the bottom.  They also don't shrivel up on your hook if you leave them on your jig overnight.  I out-fished my buddies using live bait on the Rainy last weekend using the 3.5" minnow exclusively.  Not so good if you're fishing mono but if you use a super line (spider wire, nanofil, fire line) it has tremendous feel.  I'm still a big believer in Gulp in Quetico but FWIW anyway.

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I've used these in the smelt color - seemed to work pretty good. I only had the 2" version, but I prefer bigger plastic shad. I'll look for them when I go to Cabelas to stock up for my trip.

Rainy lake......I have always wanted to rent a houseboat (the mother ship) and spend a week on that body of water. One of those things on the bucket list I might not get to.

I am slowly warming to fishing a super line for freshwater fish other than Pike in the north country. One opinion I have faith in suggests fire line crystal.

What is your favored line PJ and > what lb test do you use.

In the past I have usually doubled my super lines and tied a 4 turn uni (8 turns since the line is doubled) when tying directly to a lure or swivel. What knot do you like?

Ripple shad.......I have probably walked past them a hundred times in a Bass Pro shop and never paid them any attention. I will grab a bag and check them out. I bet the redfish would chomp the heck out of them.....they look sweet. 

I don't like Crystal.  Too visible for those clear shield lakes IMO.  Had a bad experience with it and haven't bothered to buy it again.  Stuff practically glows in the dark.

1 spool of 6# fireline (smoke) and 1 spool of 8#.  I also carry 1 spool of 4# fireline and a 6# nanofil.  About the only knot I use for line to lure anymore is a double palomar.


mastertangler wrote on Apr 29^th, 2014 at 9:42pm:

I bet the redfish would chomp the heck out of them.....

Redfish?
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. . . . . Black fish, Blue fish, Old fish, New fish.  This one has a littlecar.  This one has a little star.  Say! What a lot of fish there are! 

ditto on the fireline smoke (or green tufline) and double palomar
I'm gonna get some of those ripple shads.

some are sad. And some are glad. And some are very, very bad.........

Those bad hombres is what I be looking for.

Poor success with the double palomar the other night and 20 power pro. Either the line is old or I pull a little to hard. I flopped it out and put my old faithful 30 power pro back on with double 4 turn uni. Then I put on a 8' piece of 20 fluorocarbon via an improved slim beauty knot. In the interests of good public decorum I will submit the proper link.......who knows what could show up if you google "slim beauty"  :o

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The knot is a winner for those who want a piece of fluorocarbon added to their braid. Just as advertised it is without a doubt the slimmest braid to florocarbon knot I have seen and goes through the guides wonderfully well.