River Rat316

Hmmmm I say just trash the jigs to..... we can always make more ;D ;D

If its a regular fg30 weedguard (1/8" ) take a 1/8" drill bit, dremmel tool works perfect, and clean out the hole first, no need to go overboard but whatever epoxy or glue you use will go alot farther if its glued to a nice clean surface

They will try and eat anything that is up to 75% of there length, especially this time of year when they are fattening up for winter!

I agree with Wayne, my hook up ratio is not near as good with a wg or ewg hook, I think all of it has to do with the relation of the hook point to the line tie. The only time I use ewg's now is when I am fishing a big bulky bait, otherwise it is a straight shank hook for almost everything else

Forgot hair jigs, these are in a completely different class of jigs, they can cover anything from tiny 1/16 or smaller stuff for panfish to like the hippy jigs I tie. Hair jigs are usually fished in colder water in the fall/winter/spring The hair reduces the fall rate and has a natural movement in the water, even at the slow speeds that you need to fish in the cold water.

Ok I will try and give you a short run down of the jig classes Swim jig, a jig meant for swimming ;D forward line tie, eye of the hook inline with the line tie, usually a lighter wire hook that helps the jig stay upright while deflecting off of cover (most companies make a heavy duty version also for those who don't trust the light wire hook) usually has a lighter swept back weed guard also, to help in hook sets since you get a lot of fish slashing at the bait. also usually has a thinned out skirt to aid in action and profile Uses: swimming anywhere from heavy cover to open water, usually a 4-5" grub as a trailer but can also use swimming type chunks (paca or rage) or paddle tails like a Keitech. Think of these jigs as a spinnerbait without the blades, you fish them in the same type of situations except they go through cover better and are alot more subtle. Grass: Looks similar to most swim jigs but has a heavy wire hook, heavy weed guard. has a forward line tie with the weed guard swept back, has a full skirt and usually rattles. there is lots of different variations and some work better than others but if you are flipping or pitching grass or pads or any other "junk" look for a jig that has a forward line tie, swept back weed guard, and a heavy hook. Football: Shaped like a football, it craws over rock and gravel with less of a chance of hanging up. There is a ton of variation to the football jig, some have heavy hooks, some have light hooks, you have to try different models to figure out which works best in what situations. But remember when you are fishing deep rock you usually have alot of line out and hooksets become easier with light wire or high end hooks! Finesse: Usually a round head jig with a flat eye hook, the hook is usually a regular or thin wire to aid in hook sets with the lighter gear these smaller jigs are usually fished on. Used in "finesse" situations. Either pressured fish, high pressure situations, or a change of pace to the normal full skirted jig. These jigs are versatile and a huge part of my jig arsenal! They have a completely different profile in the water, you can flip them into lighter cover, drag them, skip them, basically anything you can think of! All Purpose jigs: Most jigs you see fall into this category, my alien head or arky head jigs are a good all purpose jig, they are especially adept around wood or or gravel, come through vegetation nice (not slop just normal vegetation). When you are looking at jigs it can be overwhelming, but probably 75% of normal jig fishing can be covered by a good all purpose jig. If I didn't make my own jigs I would probably have mostly all purpose jigs with some fb heads, finesse heads, grass heads, and swim jigs thrown in. But if you are just getting started into jig fishing I would recommend some cheap all purpose jigs to get started with and then learn from there. Once you get better at jig fishing you can expand your arsenal a little and figure out what works for you and what doesn't

Here is a pro series grass jig, 30 degree hook, forward line tie, swept back weedguard. They come through the thick stuff very well!

A good grass jig will be pretty effective, look for a jig with a forward line tie, cone or narrow shaped body, and swept back weedguard to effectively navigate the grass. I agree with a previous post about 3/8oz being an effective weight, it seems to do a good all around job in water from 3'-15' deep! You might also think about trying a punch skirt setup, if its really nasty grass, you can still add the bulky look of a jig, but have your t-rig setup with a punch skirt!

I would have been all over that boat like a fat kid on a twinkie for $5500, you got a smoking deal!

Hair jigs in water below 55 degrees can be deadly, my main presentation is a slow drag, adding small hops and pauses occasionally. Just remember to slow down and let the natural movement of the hair do the work for you, you don't want to over work a hair jig.

Its more than likely water, if you opened em up and used a couple then resealed there could have been moisture in the bag from humidity, rain, or even just drops from wet hands, a little bit of water will ruin a bag of plastics over time. I have ran a lot of different tests on hand poured plastics just to see how long they last and water was always the quickest to break them down, sun was next, otherwise I have handpours from 6 years ago from when I was first pouring that are still very good if they are stored clean, dry, and out of sunlight!

How deep is the weed edge? I would stick to the coves and various main lake points. Like said before look for intersecting weeds, and also pay attention to the inside turns right along the weed edge, find one mixed with rock and weeds and your golden!

yeah they do.... won a bet with my son with gummy worms, didn't make my daughter happy that I stole one of her gummy worms!

I am a fan of the Owners also, I have never had a problem landing fish with them. On a side note, (I know they are not weedless but) when my son was first learning how to fish I set him up with circle hooks wacky rigging and his hookup ratio is probably better than mine, so if you don't need weedless try a circle hook, they take getting used to but they work!

As said a good trailer on a lighter bait, I have done it and whacked em on a finesse jig with a senko as a trailer

If the fish are holding to the bottom in that situation a jig is going to be my go to, actually it would be what I start out with and test the waters, at that depth a good 3/8 to 3/4oz jig depending on wind conditions should clean up for you. You want a head style that is fairly weedless but will stand up on the bottom once there, and try to work the edge of the milfoil and the drop, I am assuming the water is fairly clear with weed growth down to that depth so the more natural colors should work good. My second choice if I was in full search mode would be a 5/8-1 oz spinnerbait worked right along that edge again, it is probably the easiest thing to cover water with at that depth without wearing yourself out. You can either just let the bait drop down into the zone and start a slow steady retrieve making sure you are not lifting it out of the strike zone on the way, or use a lift drop retrieve off the bottom working it around the edge. If you find concentrations of fish stop and work em over with a Drop shot or something similar

I pm'ed ya!

Finally got out this morning, just hit a small central MN lake since I am still on the trolling motor only. Tested out a new color of jig and the fish seemed to like it! Picked up 12 in a little over 3 hours of fishing 7 on the new jig, 3 on a swim jig, and 2 smaller ones underneath docks with stick baits. Bigger fish were all holding off the edge of pads on steeper drop areas, I was just pitching the jig up to the edge of the pads and slowly working it back to the boat. The fish were just inhaling the jig! Here is big fish of the morning, no board or scale with me this morning, but I estimated around 19" maybe a little bigger and right around 4lbs One of the smaller fish that just inhaled the jig!

If you are even considering a inboard stay away from the tracker, they are to thin hulled and just don't hold up, everyone I know who had one hated it. Look at riverpro jet boats, those are some well put together boats!!

Alot of times the problem is you can see them, it means they can see you to! Smallies can be a really temper mental fish, you might be spooking them when you can see them, if you see fish in a certain area back off from the fish give them a couple minutes to settle down and make long casts to the target. Fish also have natural instincts to eat, so you can work this to your advantage, (reaction strikes) try burning a spinnerbait or crankbait right past their face alot of times they will just strike at it out of instinct. In the clear water you are describing I would also give swimbaits and 3-5" curly tail grubs on a 1/4oz or so head a good try. These are baits that look realistic in the water and aren't gonna make fish shy away! you can also cast a 1/4oz lead head and grub a mile with the right set up, so it gets the bait away from you

I have to disagree with this, I get a fair amount of resumes every week, and before I even consider talking to someone about a pro-staff position I want to know their character. Highlighting community service work and other character based things (whether they be faith based or otherwise) is important. I have said it before and will keep on saying it, a persons character and salesman ship will carry them further than fishing ability as far as sponsors go. Obviously you have to have some sort of fishing ability. I would rather have a guy that places well in a couple tourneys a year, and is a good person than a complete d-bag who wins every tourney representing my company. As far as the promotional aspect of the resume, Pro staff is short for promotional staff not professional staff. So highlighting how you will promote the sponsors product is pretty important imho! My advice for the original poster is to contact the companies whose product you already use and like and try and build a relationship from there, I don't even look at resumes from people who just email me out of the blue, I figure if they don't know the product it will be pretty hard for them to promote it!

If you stuck it your chances go down alot, I usually leave it alone if I stuck it and come back in a couple hours or so and work her with a different color jig, or a soft plastic set up!

Wish i could find the time to get out, I have fished twice so far, both on lakes I am not familiar with, both times I have done decent, nothing huge but good numbers, I did have one break me off on a wacky rigged stick bait that would have been a good one, it broke my heart to see her swim away like that, but she was just lip hooked so hopefully there was no damage done

Buzz bait, finesse jig, and a tube. Also a wacky rigged stick bait would work well

45" Muskie on a spinnerbait, had one on that was bigger last year, but she popped off