Shad_Master

In the mean time - drag is the amount of force required to pull line off your reel. There are different theories on how tight or how loose this should be, but you definetly don't want to have it set so loose that you can't gain any ground on the fish by reeling in or so tight that you end up pulling the hook out of the fish's mouth. This is adjusted by the "star" knob on the handle side of your reel (bait caster) or the drag knob on your spinning reel.

One thing to keep in mind is - who do you think is helping to develop all this "new technology" - bith BD, Hank, Jimmy and the rest are giving feedback to the tackle manufacturers to help them improve on their products. A better question might be - where would the "New Guys" be without the "Old timers"?

There are still fish in Zorinsky, and they are pretty good ones - they are just so pressured it ain't what it used to be. Another good place to fish in the Omaha "area" is Summitt up near Tekamah - you won't land too many lunkers, but you can load the boat with 12"ers. DeSoto Bend is a love it or leave lake - I generally choose to leave it. I was very impressed with Wagon Train up near Lincoln last year, my club is fishing it and Stage Coach both on the same day next month. Prarie Rose out I-80 at Walnut, IA is a good lake and not that much of a drive and Anita has really come back - I pulled a couple of 18.5"ers out of there last fall - haven't been back since, put looking forward to it. BTW, don't give up on Walnut Creek either - if you work it right it can be super - the weather this year has kept everything going goofy, but it should start tuning on real soon.

I don't know about the urine smell - but a similar thing happened to a pond that used to fish a lot - it is near a housing development and was a place where lots of residents would go for walks in the morning and evening - a couple of years ago they got the city to spray to "kill the weeds and reduce the scum" on the pond. Since then the fishing has been lousy - one lady came up to me and was bragging about how nice the pond looked since they had it sprayed - I almost threw her in the water.

That's one of the reasons - another is what you saw if you watched his City Limits show when he was fishing with the kid in Philly. He is definitely a showman, but is a great guy besides.

Our club had a tournament on Wehrspann Saturday - there were 16 anglers fishing in the rain and the wind. There were: 14 limits; 99 fish carded and 11 MO's. The bass were just getting on beds and were hitting jigs, senkos and chatter baits. The big fish of the tourney was caught on a black buzz bait. I had two missouris on the day and had my limit within 1/2 hour. If you get a chance to fish out there, work the isolate grass on both sides of the bridge.

I first saw the Blue Angles back in about 1960 - some of you may remember that they even had a weekly television show where the BA's would win out over some bad guy each week. After I joing my local bass club, I was fishing with a couple of guys and found out that both of them had been mechanics for the BA's previously - pretty cool to me. I live about 1.5 miles from Offutt Air Force Base and during the precision shows they tend to use the filed behind my house as a turnaround point. I can watch them both during practice and also during the show. BTW, the one picture shown above is of the Thunderbirds, this the Air Force version of the BA's and both put on an excellent show.

To establish a pattern, you have to start with a plan - what should the fish be doing right now - are they up shallow or staging? are they cruising or getting on beds? are they holding on deep brush piles or suspended? Most of the good books and videos will give you a general idea and then you start eliminating what ain't working. As soon as you catch a fish, try to put as many of the pieces of the puzzle together in your mind - Why was that fish there and why did I catch him? Then try to reproduce that catch in another area? If you are able to repeat that catch, you have the beginnings of a pattern. The thing is, patterns can change - if it was cloudy when you caught him and the sun comes out, you have to think - what changes will the fish make and try to adjust. A pattern is not a prescription, 'cause it is always changing - a pattern just gives you a clue as to what worked in that situation and can help you as you adjust. Just my $.02

Another technique I like to use on weedbeds, especially this time of year is a chatterbait - you can pull it through without getting a lot of slop on it as it will shake off as it comes through. One other technique that I would encourage you to try is "crashing" a crankbait into the weeds - this is something the fish probably haven't seen and can yield some surprises - it can be frustrating but is very productive at times.

There was an article in one of the magazines in the last few months that talked about the "flecks" that are in soft plastic - the person writing the article talked about how the color of the bait dissappeared in the water and the black flecks (in this case) took on the appearance of a school of fry. What I have learned is that the color above water is not necessaryily the color that the fish sees. Who ever heard of a purple worm, but it has been a mainstay since I was a kid. Some times you just gotta try it.

RW is right about that - but what really reduces the weight is actually landing the fish rather than having it get off right at the boat ;D

the 5 3/4" version has been my goto bait for the last couple of years - Junebug Red seems to work best in my area. I T-rig 'em and crawl/hop 'em off the bottom with just enough weight to get 'em down. I will look for the bigger ones next time I'm at BPS.

I kidnapped this thread and posted it on my club website to ask for more responses - the best one so far is: My Yum Dinger was in a bush when she ate it

I agree with Wagn - I think color depends partly on the time of year - right before and right after the spawn - not so much. Later in the year, it can matter a lot. There have been too many times when I have seen a slight color change (green pumpkin to watermelon for instance) be the key to getting fish to bite when they won't otherwise. Color alone isn't THE key, but it is one of the keys.

Fishing ain't exciting - it's easy -- all you have to do is the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, in the right place :

This is one of my favorite lakes on our club schedule - wish it was close enough that I could fish it more often. One tip for you to try out, it was the common wisdom of the group that if the "fish kill" was shad then they are probably feeding on blue gill - lots of fish were caught on blue gill pattern jigs, chatter baits and crank baits. I caught all of mine on a junebug jig - maybe with a chartruese trailer I would have had better luck.

Another technique for this is the Parasite Clips that hold the weight on the hook and also reduce the soft plastic from sliding down the hook shank - these things are awsome.

What Falcon said - I have had a tendency in the past to get stubborn about my lure selection - it works, I stick with it - it stops working and I still stick with it - I am working on getting my mind set to begin thinking what would be a good switch to lure/technique when the action dies down.

I do a lot of fishing from the bank at a small lake near my home and I see lots of this sort of thing - I usually strike up a conversation and, if the person seems approachable, I will offer suggestions. Most people really appreciate the help and some times I have a more enjoyable trip from this than from the fishing itself.

Stopped out at Walnut Creek last Thursday evening - first chance I have had to post. Only had about 1/2 hour to fish from bank, but did manage to land a pretty nice one on a CB on the outside weed edge. Saw a few more caught in the same area. Shouldn't be too long now before they really get started.

My club had a tournament on Browns this last week end - air temps were 30* at "blast off" with 25-30 mph winds. Water temps were 49* at the beginning of the day but did struggle up to 51* in some areas by the afternoon. With the reports of possible fish kill for this lake we were a little concerned, but it turned out that the reports were that the fish kill had primarily been shad and this proved out. 22 fishermen boated 68 fish with most being 14" or better. Big Bass was 18.75" and about half the field had limits. The thing was there was no real pattern. My partner caught 6 fish on 4 completely different lures. I caught all three of mine and lost one other on a jig. 1st, 2nd and 3rd were all on different patterns even in the same areas. Based on observations, it appears that the fish are just starting to move up and fishing should be awsome in the next couple of weeks if the weather will cooperate even a little.

I don't know if it is exactly the same thing, but my understanding is that it is somewhat due to the amount of melinen (sp?) that the particular fish has. Just like some people are more dark complected than others, fish are the same way - but it is affected by the amount of sunlight they are exposed to. The same is true for those black spots that some fish have that are sort of like large freckles because of the make up of that fish as opposed to another one that doesn't have any.

Glad you got the Jan or Marcia question in - too bad Ish weasled out on it No really, great job! How many more of these do you have comming? I hope there are lots of them - I am really enjoying this.

Personally I prefer to spend my $'s on the reel rather than the rod - as long as the rod is comfortable to me, I can get by with a cheaper model and just can't bring myself to pay out the Big Bucks for one of the higher priced versions - maybe it's because I remember catching so many fish with a cane pole or a branch cut from my grandmother's cherry tree as a kid. I don't mind paying more for a good reel as I know it will hold up to lots of use, but I save $'s on the rod when I can.

Haven't been out to the "nut" yet this year other than a few bank fishing ventures earlier in the year. But judging from the boats that I saw out there this weekend, the fish are still holding back in the deeper water. If the weather settles down they should start moving up fairly soon.