RyneB

If i want a slow fall, I will use a Rage chunk, for a fast fall I will use a Paca Chunk. I like the stacy king claw trailers for smaller jigs such as the Booyah Pro Boo Bug on river smallies.

I am in the same boat as you guys also. I will catch a few during winter and spring throwing a Float an Fly, but I can count them on one hand. I dont know how far they migrate, but the creek I fish flows into the Illinois River. Im thinking that maybe these fish migrate to the Illinois River in winter looking for deeper water, and then migrate back up river when the weather warms up,but im sure some stay. I always wondered what the smallies do when the creek gets really flooded. Do they stay put and stay behind current breaks and slack water? Or do they just ride the current down river into a bigger river?

I like to throw a Bomber Model A crankbait in Bengal Firetiger color. One thing i got into last year was Carolina rigging a Yum Crawbug or a Zoom Baby Brush hog. I catch a lot of fish on hard jerkbaits also. An XR-6 X rap in chart. clown color is a smallie catcher, and a silver or clown smithwick rogue for a bigger profile bait. Small chart. spinnerbaits seem to work when the water is high ande muddy. Besides a grub and jig head, i rarely catch fish on the same bait in back to back days. One day ill kill them on a Senko, the next day i wont get a bite.

Largemouth would be frogs. Smallmouth would be a Sammy or other walk the dog baits.

Good luck, doing a good job so far. I have a ProCrappie 175 also. I bought it when i graduated high school when i used to fish crappie. Then i got into bass fishing and wish I had a bass boat now. I still crappie fish with my dad a few times a year though. My friends are always whining about the back deck being so small. Its all paid off, so for a free boat, it gets the job done. Id just like something with a bigger deck, it is hard to find a place for 7 rods and all your beer and gear when youre with another person.

When i first started fly rodding i was casting out of a boat. I was casting it under trees and making pretty good casts for my first time. I went wading in a river for smallies and i was casting like crap. Im only 5 foot 8 and when im standing in 3 feet of water its just hard to cast. I practice and practice and still have a hard time making casts with over hanging trees while wading. It is frustrating but its a challenge that I enjoy. I have had some truly hilarious backcasts where the fly is several feet up in the tree behind me. :-[

He is probably the fastest fisherman on planet Earth. His slow is faster then we can fish fast. It helps him that he is a robot and not really human. I forgot who the pro was that fished with him, but he said he tried to keep up with KVDs pace, and he was dead tired after an hour. Hes just on another level.

I was wading a small river throwing a crankbait and reeled in a "dirty" magazine, surprisingly it was still intact. They must have made it with indestructable paper. I dont know how rare they are but I caught an albino catfish, it was a neat looking fish. I was with a guy who caught a red bellied Piranha on a slip bobber and minnow. He ended up keeping it as a pet. A really really old Old Style can.

War Eagle Finesse spinnerbait in the blue shad color. But the KVD spinnerbait in bluegill color has caught me my 3 biggest bass of 2009, so I do think highly of that bait also.

d**n thats big. Makes my personal best of 8lbs look like a minnow. Imagine watching a bass that big jumping on the end of your line, id pry have a heart attack. If it got off id have to quit fishing for the rest of my life.

I was having the same problem as you were. I tried lizards,worms, and all the above. They would just look at it. I tied on a 7 inch Stik O and they just attacked it. You could use a smaller Stik O but these fish were 5-8 pounds and I wanted to use a 5/0 EWG Monster Gamakatsu hook with 50lb Power Pro, to keep from losing any trophies.

Just stick with it if you enjoy it. I was terrible at it when i first started. The first 50 or so i tied have been thrown away. I found that tying little crappie and bluegill jigs on small jig heads helped me a lot. then i moved onto little bluegill spiders. When i first successfully tied a Clouser (very easy) I was so exicted that i tied at least 40 of them. The other day i attempted spinning deer hair and was semi successful at it. Im still nowhere near where I want to be, but my flies are no longer laughable.

I would bring an ultra lite and a baitcaster, or bigger spinning gear. Rig the UL with a small inline spinner, a jig head and grub, or other small baits. Work that bait till you find them, then throw bigger tackle, such as Yum Craw bug,tubes, spinnerbaits etc. I have found the best way to find fish is to use smaller tackle, then search for the big ones using bigger tackle. I have fished a small river for smallies my whole life, and a jig head and black grub is without a doubt the number 1 producer for all kinds of sizes. Early and late in the day topwater produces some nice strikes. I like to throw a small Rebel Popper and a Sammy 115 for the topwater bite. A little Rebel Crawfish crank will get you a lot of fish also.

I just bought a plastics binder that velcros, not the kiind that zips all the way around it. I think it was $6. I bought extra pages for around $2 i believe. Since it velcros and doesnt zip, you can fill it with more spinnerbaits then you will ever need. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_37107____SearchResults

I dont know how many pairs of sunglasses I have lost. I jsut buy the $5 wal mart ones now and leave 2 spares in the boat. I dropped a 12 pack of Harp overboard one time :'( Didnt lose it overboard, but a funny story. Me and a buddy were at a river. He walked down river, out of sight of me. I took my shoe off to dump the sand out and dropped it. The shoe took off down river. About 20 minutes later my friend comes running back with my shoe. He thought i had drowned or died and lost my shoe in the process.

Some people throw it on a heavier rod. I throw it on a Pro Lite Finesse 7 foot rod with 20 pound power pro (braid) as my main line and 12 lb Vanish Fluorocarbon for the leader. Another little bit of advice is when using fluoro i like to put a little dab of super glue on the knots, just a little insurance policy as fluoro knots are known to slip.

I believe when it comes to a Carolina Rig it is whatever you prefer. I prefer a 1/4 ounce Tru Tungsten weight and a glass bead. I like to use a Fluorocarbon leader no more then 3 feet long, any longer and casting it out becomes a chore. When i first started Carolina rigging i didnt peg the weight. Once i started pegging the weight it seemed like my catch rate went up. I know some people would consider pegging the weight an ultimate no no but it works for me and thats what i stick with. The main thing with Carolina rigging is not to jig it like you would a texas rig, but more or less drag it along always staying in contact with the bottom. It took me a few outings of playing with it to have confidence in it.

In Illinois we call them sheep head, otherwise known as freshwater drum. You can go to the Illinois river and catch hundreds of them on anything from a nightcrawler on the bottom, to a spoon, to a 10 inch ribbon tail worm.

I vote the mister twister single tail grub. Ill hit the illinois river with a pack of white mister twisters and absolutely wear out the white bass and an occasional smallie, catfish and sauger.

Get some, you wont be dissapointed. I fish a small river for smallies with X-Raps and they have never let me down. The XR-6 in clown color is my "go to" when all else fails.

all the lakes are still iced over here in illinois, and the rivers are all flooded from the rains and melting snow. Im jsut patiently waiting.

A Harp if its a draft. Sam Adams Summer Ale in a bottle during hot days. Blue Moon if i want to get drunk quick. Bud Light if im drinking all day.

Get a little minnow net, go to a stream,river or lake that you can wade in. Use you hands and start flipping rocks, when you flip one with a craw he will scurry under another rock. If you see what rock it went under, take your minnow net and scoop the whole rock (if its small enough) or just scoop underneath. I usually just carry an empty water bottle and put them in there. The little river i go to i can catch a dozen in just a few minutes. There is a thread on here of a guy using a Soda bottle as a trap and it sounded very impressive and easy to do, you might want to search.

Single tail grub on jig head. If someone had a gun to my head and told me i had one cast to catch a fish to save my life, id throw a grub and jig head. I really only throw them for smallies and white bass in rivers, but i should throw them for largemouths more often.

Bomber Model A