tentimesover

I've recently begun to fish with a jig. One thing I am confused with is how to attach the trailer to the jig hook. I typically take a plastic craw fish and pinch off the tail up to about an inch behind the head. The approach I'm using now is to just hook through the plastic and leave it hanging. It doesn't look very good to me. I'm getting a few bites but am losing some fish shaking it off too and I'm wondering about how much hook I've got left after going though a 1/4 inch of plastic.

Fortunately it was my 5x8 utility trailer and not my Ranger 521Z trailer. Question: How far down do you push the trailer hitch retainer clip through the hole in the pin that attaches hitch to receiver? And, what is the correct position for that clip? In the past I have only pushed it to the first indent on the clip, thinking that the larger loop was for convenience in pulling the clip when removing the pin and hitch. Yesterday after hooking up my trailer and pulling it about 65 miles the hitch came loose from the receiver and the only thing holding the trailer was safety chains. I (and fellow travelers near me on the road) were very fortunate to get it all stopped with no damage to trailer, vehicle or goods on the trailer. My lesson learned was that I'm pushing the clip all the way down to the large loop in the future. I don't need any more of that brand of excitement. Today a friend dropped by and I looked at his trailer hitch on his truck. Sure enough it was only at the first indent of the clip. He said to me that he had been pulling trailers for years like that with no problems. So did I until yesterday. I'm changing.

I have noticed what you describe, i.e., most often when the fish is gut hooked it's a strong bleeder -- even, if I can get the hook out without any major visible damage. You mentioned that an autopsy revealed that the hook had hit an artery. As often as I see bleeding of gut hooked fish that artery must be in a very vulnerable spot.

Yesterday I landed a bass on a shaky head 7 inch worm and it upchucked a small shad as I unhooked him. I notice that the shad schools are starting to be frequently seen in the coves. I've never had any luck fishing the shad schools, even when I see bass (I think) chasing on top. What lure choice should I try and how should I fish it to catch big bass during this time of the year near the schools of shad? With millions of shad available for the taking just by opening their big mouths it's hard for me to imagine how I can compete for the bass's attention,.

THANKS! for all the good advice. Josh Smith posted above that he likes to wrap the braid with the mono/fluro rather than wraping the mono/fluro with the braid. I have never thought of doing it that way because the braid is so easy to wrap compared with the stiffer fluoro. Are others doing the wrap with the fluoro? Do you think it has an advantage?

I lost a very good fish today from a failure of the knot tying my braid main line to fluorocarbon leader. I have used the Alberto knot for this purpose for several years now and have not previously had a failure in the leader connection. Today I hung a very good fish and had him on the way to the boat when all went slack. What I found was that the braid still had the remnants of the knot; however, there was no trace of the fluorocarbon. I did some internet checking and found a claim that the Alberto knot "wears out" over time getting weaker due to the application of pulling force. What do you think? Should the leader to braid connection be retied every week or so? Is there an better knot for this application? I really like the ease of tying the Alberto, but, it doesn't always go through my last guide so well. Please, no complicated knots. Thanks in advance.

When fishing wacky, weedless is a necessity -- and, I like the Trokar weedless wacky hook the best of any that I have tried.

You posed a big general question, but, I'll answer with a couple of specifics. I fish with two spinning outfits, one with a St Croix Legend Tournament 7 ft Medium/Fast, and the other a Fenwick Aetos 6ft 7in Medium Hvy/Fast. I've only been fishing with the latter rod for several days now. Both are very fine rods and are both backed by fine customer service. It would be like having to choose between two of my children.

THANKS!! Delaware Tackle. You were right on. I had put the sleeve on upside down. Next time I'll just send it to you for cleaning. If it were not right in fishing season when I use the thing every day I would send it now. There are still a couple of metal washer/spacers that land on that bearing that I am not sure are in the right place. One appears to be copper and the other steel.

Some of the split grips if designed right aren't terrible; however, I much prefer the full grip. I just made a final selection of a casting rod based on which model was available in full cork handle.

My reel was running a bit stiff in spots on retrieve so I broke it down for a cleaning. Now my reel is running smoother, however my anti_reverse is no longer working. What did I do to it and how can I get my anti-reverse working again?

Couldn't say, but if you contact Fenwick Customer Service (contact info above) they could tell you.

OK - Here's the outcome of my interaction with Fenwick Customer Service over my broken spinning rod. They are GREAT!! Can't say enough good things about them. I supplied the requested information, and, no questions asked -- they told me that the rod was covered by warranty. They asked me to go to their web site and pick any rod I wanted to replace my broken rod, which I did. UPS delivered my new Aetos rod yesterday and I went fishing with it today. Unfortunately I can't report how it responded with a fish since I didn't get one on that rig. I highly recommend Fenwick. I like their rod and customer service was outstanding.

I had the same problem recently fishing a 10 inch worm. The little blue gill and sun fish bite the last inch of tail off and then the worm action is a lot less appealing, at least to me. I recently went into a local store to replace my stock of the 10 inch worms. The sales guy, who seemed to know what he was talking about, said that the Berkley worm plastic was a lot tougher than the Zoom worms I was using. I have to say that it sure seems to be true. I haven't lost any tails on my Berkley worms as yet. I wonder if there are anybody else has noticed this??

I believe that it's not a either/or issue. I always carry two spinning outfits and four baitcasters. The baitcasters are, in my view, faster fishing, i.e. more casts per hour, than the spinning gear. Let me hasten to add that I understand it's not necessarily the number of casts but the placement that counts. Also, until I discovered braid I was always struggling with line twist on the spinning gear which has never been a problem on the baitcaster. And, here in the Missouri winds, on a windy day the baitcaster just does a better job for me. However, when it comes to pitching to specific spots, skipping lures, fishing light shakey heads or senkos, I always go to the spinning gear. And, generally it's just more fun to catch a big bass on lighter spinning gear than to winch one in on the baitcaster.