Crestliner2008

Has anyone had any sucess with these recently? I've uncovered an old tackle box in the attic with a few of these; from about 2", up to a couple of giants around 4" (T4's)! Growing up, I was always impressed with their slow, tantalizing action. I remember catching some big pickeral back then. Haven't used one in about 30 years though, which is why I'm asking.

If the bass are suspended, you can catch them with a wacky rigged Senko, suspended under a slip float. Check the Senko articles above. There, I've outlined my technique, on just how to achieve success with it. It's easy to adjust the drop of the worm to their exact holding depth this way. If they are on the bottom, then try drop shotting a 3" - 4" finesse worm vertically - right over them. Shorten the dropper so that your offering is only about 6" above the bottom. Do not over work the worm! This cannot be over-emphasized. A lot of long pauses between a few easy twitches, will get their attention. If there is a stiff breeze and you are having trouble staying over them, I'd recommend anchoring; move the boat about 15 yards into the wind, ahead of the school. Drop the anchor and feed line until the rear of the boat is over them. The boat will swing slowly back & forth over the school and give you ample drop shot access to all fish there. Turn off your sonar as soon as you are properly positioned! There exists a lot of disagreement on the necessity of doing this; I do it just to put the odds in my favor. At the same time you can put out your Senko float rig for added presentation and coverage. In this case of bottom holding bass though, adjust your Senko to hover about 2' off the bottom. The breeze will bounce and agitate the Senko, almost guaranteeing you a bite! One of these two presentations will get you into your fish. Good Luck!

Google & study "Billy Westmoreland".

If you are pretty confident in their location, then downsizing and slow presentations should get a few to bite. I'd go with the drop shot, number one; and/or slow crawling a jig or tube. Sometimes the hard jerks will produce (with frequent, long pauses), but the fish have to be in a slightly higher level of activity for them to work much of the time. Plastics work all the time.

Tough situation being in a float tube with a sonar! Stability of the transducer is paramount to receiving accurate readings. However, what's you've shown here seems to be O.K.. I can almost guarantee that the "weed line" in the third picture is either baitfish or a school of crappie. I've seen it too many times. The proof in the pudding is when you go over the same spot and it's vacant! Also, I agree with what has previously been said about your settings. Make sure you slow your chart speed down to about 60%. And if adjustable, raise your ping speed to maximum. Your sensitivity setting appears to be just fine. The second photo shows either a tree or a vertical column of bait. Sometimes you will get a similar response if you move quickly; i.e.: gunning the engine when you leave a spot. I don't think you're too worried about that happening in a tube however! When trying to get a visual of what the bottom is truly like, try to do it the same way each time; moving laterally in one direction vs. turning. Going back & forth over a given structure will define it much more accurately than turning around and around. Can't comment on the hard vs. soft bottom of your colored unit though; mine is an X-135 black & white!

I want to learn all I can about the forage base on which bass feed. Smelt, crayfish, bluegill and insect hatches. I feel that if I can figure out "why" various forage species do what they do, it better prepares me for catching my target gamefish species, during the various calendar periods.

I've used the 4" size quite a bit (3 seasons) on the drop shot successfully. As Russ says, hook them not far from the head when wacky rigging, either on the drop shot or weightless. Haven't tried the 6.5" model yet, but I'd imagine it's going to be a crackerjack as well! Remember one other thing; you can take any 6" - 7" curly tailed (not ribbon tailed) worm and cut it to get a similarly effective profile. Works with the 4" curly tailed worms too, for drop shotting. I've had to do this several times when they are hitting a certain color; when I don't have the Yama Cutails in that color with me.

If you get the WFC channel on cable, catch the show, "Extreme Angler" this week. Talking about tube dragging in cold water. Great show!

Actually, north of the Oxbow. And yes, there are some dandy smallies throughout this fine river system.

Please do not overlook the "Big Ika" as well. This is the 5" version of the same bait. The standard "Fat Ika" is 4". Sometimes the added bulk really turns them on.

I fish a lot of deeper, off-shore structures in a clear reservoir for smallmouth bass. I find that shutting off the sonar can get you a few more bites. Especially if you've taken one or two off that structure and released them right away. The way I look at it, it certainly can't hurt to shut it off!

And some fine eating to boot! Keep exploring. You'll find a bunch of small streams in your area that are pure dynamite for brookies. Get about a dozen and you have a great meal.

Why use live bait? A 3" Senko, wacky rigged and fished on the drop shot, should be great for bass....if that's your target species.

Some truly outstanding walleyes! Congratulations!!!

We fished the CT. River here today, for 4 hours. Controlled drifted and cast the shorelines in <10' of water. Water temp. is still hovering around 42 degrees, with a clarity of about 2'. Wish we could have stayed longer, but here are some pics: No giants, but respectable fish none the less. The hard jerkbaits and tubes caught most. We tried grubs, jigs and blade baits as well. The fish are just not in the deep holes yet!

Outstanding!

Congratulations! Great job indeed. Now you've got to target a 5!

Surprisingly, around here anyway, the river water is still at around 42 degrees. We are still catching smallies on hard jerks, as well as tubes. And, we are catching them in <10' of water! Every body of water has it's own personality. You have spend time on it to figure out what the fish are doing and what they want. Nothing is ever cast in stone when it comes to fishing. Hense...that's why it's called "fishing"!

I never worry about cold fronts. When I'm set to go fishing, that's what I do. Yeah, a strong front will affect the fish - sometimes, that's in your favor! It certainly bunches them up on specific structures. You won't find them spread out very much, which is a good thing. If you find one....you'll find more. Slow, methodical picking apart of known good structures is the way to go. Jigs, Senkos, drop shot - all work well. As will hard jerks if you give them a longer (10+ second) pause in between jerks. Good Luck!

Don't focus on finding fish on any given structure either. if you find bait on it - after visiting it a few times - chances are it will have fish as well - eventually! The problem is that some sonar units do a poor job at finding bait on structure. You should have at least a 240 vertical pixel resolution on your unit. And for goodness sake, turn off that "Fish I.D." feature and learn to interpret what your sonar is really trying to tell you! That alone will put you way ahead of your game.

Have you tried casting a drop shot rig yet? Drop shotting a small, 4" worm jiggled about 1' above the bottom, in one spot, could produce big dividends! Other than that, try slow crawling a 4" Senko along the bottom. Be thorough and pick apart any brush piles, rocks or humps you can reach. Good Luck!

Not familiar with your neck of the woods. However, take it from an old timer, with many years of walking streams; look for any running cold water, bolder strewn, with a rusty, tannic stain to it. I don't care how "wide" it is. Chances are good it'll hold brookies.

Let's see, I've got 2 Abu 5000's, 1 5500-C, 1 5600-C, 1 6500-C.....yep.....I use 'em - a LOT. And I love the darn things too. Betcha you can't do anything that I can't do either, regardless of what you're using! ;D That is, with respect to catching fish!!!!

A 3" curly tailed grub on a simple 1/8 oz. jig head. Will catch anything that swims, yet it's been awhile since I've heard anyone talk about using them!

Here's a thought: how about using a blade bait instead? Plenty of vibrations and no rattles. Been around a lot longer than rattle-trap type lures.