tyrius.

Hopefully, this question is in the right place. For us shore bound anglers, what is the best way to determine the water temp? When discussing water temp is everyone talking about surface temps? If so could I use one of those infrared thermometers that measure the temp of whatever you are pointing it at? Something like this: http://www.livesciencestore.com/56804.html Thanks.

The only reason that I enjoy shopping for fishing gear is because I need that gear in order to actually catch fish. If I didn't fish I wouldn't be wondering the fishing sections of Dick's, Gander Mountain, or BPS on a weekly basis.

How much do you have to reel to get it down to depth? As I pull the lure through the water is it diving deeper and rising back on the pauses, or once it gets down to is suspend depth does it stay at that level? How much distance is typically covered on the jerks (3 inches, 6 inches, a foot)? When the right jerk pause sequence is figured out is that the sequence that should be used for the entire length of the cast and for each subsequent cast? Or should the retrieve be more erratic, for example, jerk 6 inches, pause 3 seconds, jerk 12 inches, pause 5 seconds? Does it make sense to alternate which side my rod tip is on so the lure will dart to the left and then the next jerk to the right? See lots of questions!

So, I think for us newer fisherman a "series" of threads on lure types and the tips to fish that type would be beneficial. I just got back into fishing this year and bought an X-Rap jerk bait. This thing looks like it should catch fish, but also probably requires a certain presentation. I searched for jerk bait tips but didn't find what I was looking for. So, for those that fish the jerk bait a lot what hints and tricks can you share with those of us looking to get into it?

Is the "Rootbeer" the only color you tried? When fish are following that far many times a simple color change will turn into strikes. You've got the fish's attention, now you need to mix it up and find the color they want. If you want to get the X-rap (or any crank) deeper get a three way swivel and rig up a sinker and a leader to the crank/jerkbait. You would have to experiment with the weight of the sinker to get it suspend where you want it. Or even more simply swivel and pinch a slipshot sinker a foot or two in front of the lure. If you just want it to suspend deeper experiment with suspend drops/strips.

It definately meets that one. It's probably close to 10 feet wide in most areas, I really have no idea how deep, but like all running water I'm sure this varies significantly along it's length. The reason I put river/stream/creek is that I don't really know what the real criteria is for each. Kind of like the difference between a pond and a lake. It's called a "branch" of a river (East Branch of the DuPage River).

So, how big does a river/creek/stream need to be for you to look at it and say "there's gotta be some good fish swimmin in there"? There's a couple of areas on my drive home that I could stop and do a little "river" fishing but don't know if it is even worth getting out of the car.

By feeding the bream you're setting up the situation where the bass are going to key on them for their primary food source. You have two times a day when the bream are concentrated, in the open, and more interested in eating than being aware of their surroundings, in other words, defenseless. This provides the bass with a perfect feeding opportunity that they can not resist. So, when the bass spot a bream that is out in the open and swimming erratically, as it would when hooked, the bass think that the bream feed is on and automatically attack the bream. By feeding the bream from feeders, you're basically chumming the water for the bass. So, if you TRULY want to stop this situation you probably will need to stop feeding the bream. BUT, since you have been feeding them for so long that may cause major issues with food availability for the bream which could result in a bream die off, which would result in the bass not having as large of a food source. Just my cheap two cents.

It's already on my gear wish list.

I spent about a half an hour last night looking through all of the spinnerbaits and didn't see that one. Thanks!

So, I've been looking around for spinnerbaits with bluegill colored skirts (blue or green as the main color) and haven't had a lot of luck. Anyone make anything like this? Gambler has their "chatter" bait with a bluegill skirt. Is that one any good? I can buy those skirts and put them on other spinnerbaits if they are.

That's exactly the lure that I used Monday evening! It performed very well then.

They definately were robbed! By their offense! They should be strung up after only getting the team 3 points in the whole game.

I'm in IL and the front just passed us. I made it out for an hour tonight and caught 5 fish, 2 of which were just over 2 pounds. Too bad I didn't call in sick >

I try to determine the predominate food source for each pond that I fish. I just went tonight where the pond is relatively new and very well kept up around the edges. I only see a couple of frogs and never see any signs of crawdads. Tied on a bluegill patterned crankbait and dove it down to the weeds. Caught 5 fish in an hour (two nice ones and three dinks). Now I fish from shore in small lakes/ponds so I don't have access to any electronics. I try and figure out the depth of cover by feel alone.

Without knowing what types of water you fish and where you are this question is impossible to answer.

Lindners is a good show. I have it on series recording on TIVO. My problem is that I primarily fish ponds from shore so taking their advice and boiling it down even more gets difficult. I automatically delete the boat control show.

Are you talking about dropshotting? http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/dropshot_fish.html If you put a weighted jighead on it won't stay horizontal, but if you rig it up like the article explains above it will remain horizontal. Anyways, I could have read your question wrong so a little more insight on what you are actually doing would help with relevant answers.

This exact same thing happened to me on my only chatterbait and is ther reason why I won't buy another one. Six bucks wasted on only like 10 casts. Didn't even get a bite on it before the blade separated from the jig head. JUNK!

I own a sliver of it! It's one of the ponds maintained by our homeowners association. Guess I'll just forget it and drive the mile to another larger pond that already has good fish. Thanks for the info.

It's empty. The water has only been there for a year. The ponds are FULL of frogs and my idea would be to start transferring bluegill and smaller fish to develop a food source prior to transferring any bass.

So, I moved in a new (new construction) subdivision and we've got a few retention ponds. These ponds are only a year or two old and haven't been stocked with fish. Is it possible to take fish from one pond and release them in our pond? The ponds in my father in law's subdivision are FILLED with bass at the 15" (haven't seen anything bigger than this) and in my naive mind would be perfect to move so that I can just walk 200 feet to fish! Any problems with this idea? Is it even legal? How long do I have to transfer the fish before I run into too many mortality problems?

Can you fish it in any wind? I've always reserved topwater (except for plastic frogs over slop) for nearly dead calm days. Am I missing out on some good topwater action?