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.

I talked to customer service this morn and have just sent them all the info requested. I'm eager to hear what they say. I happened to be recording the moment the break happened on my GoPro camera -- and, uploaded it it YouTube and sent the link along with the other items they requested. After I reviewed the GoPro footage (http://youtu.be/GYW_O1cgX54) I really don't see any reason that the rod should have snapped at that time. The rod was loaded up but I don't think unreasonably so. What do you think?

THANKS! for recent advice on making the choice between St Croix Avid and Dobyns Champion casting rods I have a new Dobyns 733 due to arrive today. That's only small solace however, because while fishing this morning I broke one of my favorite spinning rods that I also bought on advice from this forum several years ago. It's a Fenwick Techna AV 7' MH and I broke about the last 6 inches off the rod while battling a 3 pound bass. I think it happened while bringing the fish to the net with the rod held up high and straight; however, I can't be sure of the exact moment because I didn't notice it broken until I was ready to start fishing again. My question is, does anyone know if Fenwick has a replacement policy similar to the St Croix where for a standard fee they will replace the rod with an equivalent? If so, does anyone have contact information for them? Thanks!

I have both the JM and the PQ. I like the PQ better. I haven't been inside it as yet, but, I don't like the insides of the JM. I also have several Cuarados. I like the simplicity of the insides of the Curados better than the JM. Bottom line is that I would not spend my money on another JM when the PQ is less cost and seems to perform as good if not better than the other reels in my stock.

So, I've made the decision to start wearing a vest-type life jacket while I fish from my boat. I never have done this before but feel it's time now. I have admired the auto-inflatable vest type and feel that those won't get in my way while fishing. I saw that they were on sale at BPS so went over to get one -- but, while there saw on the same aisle the Mustang vests. They look basically the same; however, the Mustang vests are over $100 more than the BPS versions. While I don't want to waste my money, a life jacket is pretty important piece of equipment to me and I'd certainly pay the extra for value if it's there. Can anyone with experience give me some opinions of whether I should spend the additional money and what I will be getting for it if I were to get the Mustang version over the BPS auto-inflatable? Thanks in advance.

This is THE answer. I fished mono/hybrid/fluoro and always had more or less problems. I recently switched both my spinning outfits to braid -- with a hybrid leader -- and no more line twist problems. All I had to do is to learn to tie the Alberto knot to attach leader to line. It's foolproof.

I fish a lot of floating docks and agree that it's the place to find the bass when the sun is high and bright. My favorite approach is a spinning rig with a wacky worm. You can skip them under the dock in the open spots between the floatation and let them sink naturally with just a very light twitch when they're sinking. I like a "weedless" hook because so many people sink brush around their docks. I'm still looking for a better hook.

I'm with B@ss Crzy here. I started using braid after a windy spring on my spinning rigs and love it. No more twist problems. I always use a six to ten foot leader, YoZuri Hybrid 12 pound test just because I have it for my casting rigs. I tie it with a simple uni to uni knot and have had no problems with break offs -- except when I'm hung and have to break it off. I vote to go with a leader.

I catch a lot of fish on a shaky head. I've really come to love the Spot Magnum heads. However, I just returned from Bass Pro Shop (BPS) where I was looking for floating worms with the idea that the worm would stand up off the head and when I wiggled it, would fall slower getting more attention, and, finally, the worm would twitch upright off the bottom making it a enticing dinner for a bass and easier to hook up on the strike. I was surprised at BPS that only saw a very few of the worms on display that specifically said "floater" on them. First, do you typically fish floating worms on shaky heads? Secondly, what's your favorite size worm to fish on a shaky head?

Devil's Horse is my favorite topwater lure. I toss it where I want it and let it sit for a count of 5. About 33% of my strikes come during this sitting time. Then I just barely twitch it to set up some ripples. Another 33% of my strikes on it come then. After that, it's like others say. Twitch, twitch, sit, sit, twitch....And, I'm in the habit of fast retrieving for the last third of the way back to the boat. I have had strikes when I'm lifting my lure out of the water -- but, the majority of the action is in the first third of the retrieve.

Still don't see the photo -- but, guess it must show a hawg weighing in between 9 and 10 pounds. Like you, a top water lure produced my personal best. I think the big girls like big, noisy top water lures when they are in the area.