Bandit 300's while expensive have alway seemed to out fish the arkies. They tend to run more true the faster you pull them. And as far as colors go, the number one color is, and its the hardest color to come by in the bandit 300 series, is the awesome pink.I wish I could find and afford a dozen!! Unfortunately most are over 6 bucks now as the Bandit company was bought out and the new owners are out to make buck. Solids seem to out perform the shad colors if you cant find the awesome pink color, with solid white and solid black working and finally the crawdad patterns with the orange and brown ones doing best. We use our long lining spinning reels but change the 6lb mono spools off for 10 lb diameter braid spools or 10lb mr hi vis crappie , we use the shorter long lining rods as well as some bait caster rods . We usually start once the water temp hits 80 and above.