andy_o i'm from maine to so i know what your going through. i tryed a lot of lures last year and i found that rooster tails work really good. if your smallmouth fishing switchoff between a rooster tail and a finess tube. if you don't know what these are you can google search them and find a lot of hits if you are largemouth fishing i would use a rooster tail, spinnerbait (which is better up here in june-september becasue the water needs to warm up), slug-o/fines-s-fish, you might want to get some fin-s-fish becasue you can fish a fin-s-fish a few different ways. to check out fin-s-fish go to www.lunkercity.com they will tell you about a few other good lures. adn last is a jig.

Hi Andy,
After reading the last reply, I would have to agree. The Rooster Tail is a great cold water lure; however I don't believe the gear ratio on your 33 Zebco is going to work that lure very good. You would need to purchase an open faced spinning reel and maybe a 6 foot medium rod. Sometimes it's hard to get the blade of the Rooster Tail to spin. A longer rod with a reel ratio of at least 5.0 would help a lot. The ration means every one crank of the reel it just wrapped your spool 5 times. Your Zebco is about a 3.0. You won't be able to turn the reel fast enough. You would be able though to use a weedless spinner bait. They look like a large safety pin with a lead head and a big skirt. I always like to use White in Rooster or Weedless. Check with others from Maine and see how 1/4 ounce Rattle Traps do. Very easy lure to fish. Also small diving crank baits. These lures the fish pretty much hook themselves.and can be easily fished with the 33. Rubber worms and top water take alot more skill. If the drag is set properly 10 lb. line is fine. The bass in my picture was caught on 10lb test and a 1/4 ounce Rooster Tail.
Good luck,
Chuck