Crestliner2008

I do not believe bait size is your problem. As has been said here already, you have to target where the larger fish are. That could be deeper water or in a suspended situation. IF, in fact, you are sure that there are larger ones in the water you are fishing. I've caught some mighty large bass on very small ds baits.

Very nice catch! Congrats!

You might want to consider adding a fluoro leader. Not specifically because of visibility (or lack thereof), but more importantly, it's abrasion resistance. And with Fireline, I also use a crane (Spro #6) swivel. Again, not for the more obvious reason of line twist elimination, but rather to quickly get the Fireline to sink faster and keep track with your weightless bait. It has a tendency to float, so I try to counter that characteristic as best I can. I am a big fan of Fireline though; been using it for a lot of years now. I've recently been using a similar set up with the relatively new 12# test Nanofil. I put on a 2' section of 17# test fluoro and have done quite well with it, fishing light jigs and/or weightless Beavers.

Congrats on your new PB!

Try S-L-O-W retrieving a weightless, Texas rigged tube, just crawling across the bottom. Find where the deepest water comes closest to the bank. Good Luck!

Sad really. I do not recall anyone berating anyone else for keeping some fish for the table. And even if they did, it's just another person's opinion. No one is telling you that you have to do this or that. It's just a discussion. And apparently, you have been less than willing to engage in this type of discussion, for what ever reason. I wish you the best regardless, as I'm sure most here do as well.

If fishing were as simple as reading about it, there would be no need for this forum! There are already hundreds of books, articles and writings from the top anglers all over the world to be had. Yet success is not in books or reading; rather by interaction with nature and your fellow fishermen. That's what this forum is all about. Interaction and discussion. It's how we humans learn. Just my opinion.

Excellent spring time bass bait. I like to rig a white one with a 4" white fluke.

Not sure if this qualifies as a "swim jig", but I absolutely love swimming a Chatterbait rigged with a 5" fluke. White has always been a good color choice, but I'm not convinced it matters. This combo does produce - big time!

Fine article, thanks!

Very effective lure that I do not use often enough. Mainly because they are so prone to getting hung up. In order for their full potential to be realized, you should probably fish them slow and close to the bottom. That's just asking for trouble (hang-ups)! LOL! However, fishing the large musky style bucktails for pike, I've nailed some dandy LM's in past seasons. No disputing their potential. I might recommend switching out the treble hook with a single weedless variety, onto which you can mount a curly tailed grub.

Yes! WELCOME aboard!

We're suppose to be getting rain, wind and some snow tomorrow! Guess I'll wait until Sunday!

One valuable topic involve bank fishing and how to "approach" a spot you aim to fish from. Sometimes I see younger fishermen stomping their way to the edge of the water, waving their arms about and generally being "noisy". All of which is counter productive if you are limited to fishing from the bank. Just a thought.

In all the years I've wacky rigged Senkos, I've never had the need to weight them. And sometimes I'm fishing water in the 25' - 40' range. A little patience is the best sinker.

Not sure about your particular area, but here we only have walleye in a river system. Hard jerks and cranks work - sometimes. The most productive presentation we've been using over the past 2 seasons has been a jig & plastic. We started using 1/4 oz. ball jigs with fluke style plastics, bouncing the over the bottom. Now we've switched to heavier jigs (1/2 oz. to 3/4 oz.) and 5" Berkley Flat Back Shads. These are solid 5" bodied baits, shaped like a shad with the flat, paddle tail. Also producing is the same jig style with 5.5" Strike King Shadalicious hollow bellies, rigged the same way. A slow roll across the bottom is dynamite! Although these baits appear to be way oversized for walleye, they will produce and produce big. If you have any 5 lb.+ walleye in your lake, you're going to get slammed hard with these. Another overlooked, yet productive lure for walleye is the 4" curly tailed grub, again, on a jig head of appropriate size. Hope this is of some help.

I believe after this season gets fully underway, the Jika Rig (or Owner's Jig Rig) will take off.

Fat Ika minus the bullet sinker. Plenty heavy enough without it. Performs like a bass jig. Only better.

Water temps here in MA are in the low to mid 50's right now. The big females are still in pre-spawn. I haven't seen any beds yet. The males have been cruising the shorelines looking for bedding locations however. Both sexes are actively feeding. This week temps have dropped considerably, so I doubt that the water will warm much any time soon. If/when the temps start to move up again, they may start bedding, but a lot has to do with water temp and angle of the sun. I think they know it's still a bit too early, regardless of the recent daytime warm temps.

Definitely look into a replica. Call around, get pricing and what exact information they will need - ahead of time! Then you will know what to do, what it will cost and how to give the folks the information they need to make your trophy a truly memorable one.

First off, I don't fish specifically for bedding bass. There are always a population still in pre & post spawn to be targetted. However, if I was targeting a specific fish on a bed, the article cited by J Francho above is about the best way to do it successfully.

Come to think of it, I wonder how the Jika Rig would function in this kind of environment? I still think the drop shot is the way to go.

You can try a weedless tube rigging vs. open hook. There are several manufacturers that offer these "inside tube weights". Here is what they look like: I believe Cabelas and BPS both sell these internal weights. However, why not use the drop shot? You can control the depth the tube is working much better than dragging on the bottom. Especially if the grass and garbage is still affecting your presentation.

After last week, the water temps down here are up into the low 50's, but we're getting a "hard freeze" tonight and a severe cold front just came through, so all bets are off! I main fish for smallies on the Quabbin Reservoir. She doesn't open until the 3rd. Sat. in April, unfortunately. I haven't been out for smallies at all this year yet! Can't wait!

Since I sold my boat last year to cover medical expenses for my wife, I am forced to fish from the back of the boat quite often now. It does present it's challenges, that's for sure. Like you, I have to adapt and use more aggressive presentations to stay in the game. Finesse has a very low percentage of being employed in this situation, unless the boat owner is a finesse type individual. I look at it this way. I thank the Lord that I have an opportunity to fish - period. And I'll make the best of it at each time. I would suggest, however, to some of you boat owners, to try to empathize with your partner's plight. Take a piece of cover you approach yourself, but then give the next one to your partner. Then alternate. You should also talk over presentation strategies PRIOR to launching. So he can have some idea of what you want to try as well. Common courtesy, as I see it. It's what I always did when I had people fishing from my boat. JMO!