Garry2Rs

Spinnerbaits are very easy to use. Cast them out and crank them back in. In clear water I like to match the forage, but I read that a combination of chartreuse and white is the most popular skirt colour nation wide. Willow leaf blades technically run deeper and Colorado blades run shallower with more thump...In truth, in most cases I don't think there is really that much to choose here. I go with what I have available. With docks and other targets where you have a variety of depths, you might choose to cast to the deep edge and let the bait free-fall toward the bottom. This is one time where I might choose a single Colorado blade over the more common multiple willow-leaf set-up. In general, if you spot a likely area like a dock, rock, tree or stump, cast passed the prime target and wind the bait back through the strike zone. Wind them fast or slow or some where in the middle...They work at all speeds but sometimes the fish will like it better at particular speeds on different days. With fallen or sunken trees etc. where there are multiple potential holding spots, start at the outside and work in. You want to bring the bait along, over and through as many branches as you can. Many people, including KVD, recommend bumping off of branches etc. to cause the bait to deflect sideways. This can trigger strikes. Don't worry about shallow water or thick cover, with the hook turned up, spinnerbaits are quite snag resistant. Don't be afraid to throw them at any "Bassy" looking spots you see. One trick I use in shallow or snaggy spots is to stop the spool of my bait caster with my thumb as the spinnerbait lands, and raise the rod tip to tighten the line. If the bait touches something, this helps the bait to sit upright instead of falling over. By keeping the line tight and drawing back on the rod, as I am getting the reel in gear, I very seldom get snagged. Most people recommend using a trailer hook. This is good advice, but in really heavy cover I might go without the extra hook. Everybody makes spinnerbaits, and they are very simple to assemble yourself. One of my favourite brands is Strike King. They make several grades of spinnerbaits but I use their best baits because they have a special one piece skirt that is more durable than the loose strands held together by a rubber-band. There is also a trailer hook included in the package. Good luck Garry2R's

There was no commercial intent here. I wrote my post as a series of questions because I thought you might enjoy a change of pace from the usual, Police Report..."Just the facts Mame" Yes AJ that's exactly what it is. I bought the yellow Hollow Ace in 40 pound and a threading needle. I sealed the knot with Jerry Brown's glue, BUT according to the directions it is only for undyed white Spectra...we will see. The fluoro is 15 pound Seaguar. It's been too windy for me to fish, but I was out in the yard tossing it around and it goes through the guides without a sound! I know this is all old hat to Saltwater guys, but I just found out about it last year. However, at that time people told me that it was only for line of 80 pound and up... This year I ran across Brett from Northwest Topshots and he told me about the new Hollow Ace and supplied me with a super small threading needle. This Power Pro line is still hard to find, but I got a spool from a shop in San Diego. It threads easily. Brett kept talking about loop-to-loop leaders, and it does make sense to be able to change leaders quickly on the water. But L-2-L meant thick joints banging through the guides to me...So my heart was set on just top-shoting a leader straight into my main line. That was until I tried one of these knotless loop-to-loops! I will be using L-2-L on musky this summer and will use both styles for bass. I will keep you posted...grin. The white line used for the loop is Hollow Tuff-Line, the greenish blue is Jerry Brown Hollow one. Garry2rs

What if you could fish with braided line, and attach a leader of mono or Fluoro without a knot? Would it look something like this? Supposing that you tied a nail knot on top of the splice for safety's sake, could it still be smaller than any line to line knot? Suppose that you could make a loop at the end of your line...without a knot Now if you also made a knotless leader, that also had a loop on the rod end, could you join them together loop-to-loop for quick changes out on the water? What if under tension the connection almost disappeared? What if after a break-off etc. your line could have a new section spliced on? Now what if all of these these connections were at 100% line strength? Is this just science-fiction or could it really be the next "Big Thing"

For the last couple of years I have been reading about top shot and loop-to-loop leaders utilizing hollow core braid. These saltwater set-ups allow you to create a knotless leader connection using a needle to thread the leader material inside of the hollow core line. The leader is held in place by the weave of the braid closing over it like a Chinese finger trap. In the past, needles for leaders of less than about 20 pound test either didn't exist or I just couldn't find them. The other problem was that hollow core that would except a leader seemed to be a minimum of 60 pound test...a little too heavy for general casting, in my opinion. This week I read about Power Pro's new Hollow Ace line. Someone on the west coast told me they have a needle that could put 12 to 15 pound fluoro inside this PP 40# test. I ordered the components. Now that I have committed, I am wondering if anyone out there is already doing this? Garry2rs

Great stuff Mike. Love the show! Garry2R's

I realize that this thread is several years old, but I thought you might like to have the real reason Right Handed reels have the crank on the right side. Before the 1950's there were almost no reels made with a free-spool function. Therefore the reel handle spun backwards during the cast. It therefore made sense to place the crank handle on the right side of the frame, for right handed casters. In this position it was away from the body, during the cast, and less likely to be fouled by sleeves etc.

WOW! I just gained a new affection for tules!!!

My neighbour and I were on Mittry Lake Reservoir, about 20 miles north of the city of Yuma AZ, this morning. This man-made lake is totally surrounded by walls of west-coast bulrushes called Tules...pronounced Two-Lees. There are also plenty of cane beds, stands of Bamboo and assorted scruffy Palms. Dividing the lake into canals and bays, are islands or ridges of these materials. Some are solid, but others have waterways through. The solid walls can be 20 or 30 feet thick. There are huge shallow bays on one side of the lake. The balance of the lake is a series of interlocked canals. Between the walls of cane and the main channel is a muddy ledge that can be from 0 to 15 feet wide and is about 3 or 4 feet deep. Then the bottom drops quickly into the channel which is anywhere from 8 to 11 feet deep. Today we were experiencing heavy winds, out of the north, at about 20mph. These winds were churning up the shallow water and had reduced clarity to somewhere between murky and muddy. As we headed into the main canal, I started casting a shallow running, square billed, crankbait in my new favourite pattern, Sexy Shad. I backed this up with a lipless Red-eye Shad in the same pattern. Although the sky was clear, I reasoned that the waves caused by the wind, and the roiled water, would make the Bass feel confident enough to stay up in the shallows. I positioned the boat in deep water, angled away from the wind, so that we were pushed down the canal with the bow toward the deep side. We fired crankbaits at an angle toward the weeds, retrieving back over the shallow ledge, the drop-off and into deeper water. On the wider shallow flats there were new green weed beds. That's where we were ripping the rattle baits. About mid-morning, around weeds on the shallow side of the drop-off, I hooked up with a good fish. There were numerous good looking weed beds here that could now cause me grief, so we moved the boat farther out into the deeper water. After a couple of minutes I was able to lip this 3lb 4oz Large Mouth. For the next two hours we tried similar areas without success. By noon conditions were deteriorating. The wind was dropping, the chop was dying and what had been a cool morning was getting hotter by the minute. We headed back to the ramp. It was only one fish, but, I was pleased with the outing. I've been away from Arizona since last March and this was my first fish, from this lake, this season. Garry2R's Fishing is my favourite form of Loafing!

I don't think that "Dilemma" is the right word to use when talking about all the press and attention the Sexy Shad has received. According to Wikipedia: A dilemma is a problem offering at least two solutions or possibilities, of which none are practically acceptable. As for the bait itself, like some of the other posters, I too was slow to get on the Sexy/Foxy/Sassy Shad bandwagon. I liked the look of the bait, but my reasoning was this; I spend my summers about 60 miles north of Lake Ontario and as far as I know there are no Shad in those waters. Shiners, Cisco, Crappie, Rock Bass, and Perch form the forage base, along with young game fish. That doesn't mean that shad shaped baits like Shad-Rap's or Rattle Trap don't work there, because they do. But, I already had plenty of baits that matched the hatch, so I took a pass on Sexy Shad. Then, in September, while I was checking Arizona Bass fishing sites, I read about all the success local anglers were having with the Sexy Shad. SO... On my drive south I stopped at a BPS somewhere south of Chicago and north of St. Louis beside I-55 and bought the 17 bait KVD Sexy Shad box set. What can I say? I'm a tackle junkie and the price was right. In the Yuma area, the places that I fish, have water that runs from clear to murky but it is generally shallow and weedy. Chartreuse cranks and rattle baits always seem to work around here. I have been throwing the Sexy Red-Eye Shad rattle bait in original white pattern, plus the chartreuse sexy and chrome sexy. All have caught fish for me. If you look closely you can see the Chartreuse Sexy Shad between the fish and my fingers. Where the water is more open I have been using the #2 and #3 cranks from the KVD set. They also have caught fish. The spinnerbait looks great, but so far it's been a bust! Perhaps they're too big or it's too early in the winter. I have done okay with spinnerbaits, closer to the spawn, in other years. I picked up a dead Shad minnow, that one of my fish regurgitated, the other day. It was a perfect size match for the Red-Eye rattle bait. Garry2R's Fishing is my favorite form of loafing.

1.- Fish the last remaining green weeds. 2.- The first drop on the lake side of large flats 3.- Look for Shad in the backs of creeks etc. 4.- Fish the first major drop from shore and any Secondary Points in large bays. 5.- Watch for fish eating birds, like Grebes, that are diving. They will be on schools of Shad...Bass will be underneath those same schools. Good Luck Garry2R's

Has the picture been removed? I only see a smiley face

Nice Fish!

My favourite way to catch SMBass is with a crank or jerkbait, but I probably catch more Smallies while Wacky rigging a Senko type worm. Where I live Large and Small Mouth inhabit the same lakes. The inside edge of a weed bed or any dock might produce either species.

Al Lindner was promoting mushroom shaped jig heads with a small worm 20 years ago. Shaky-Head is just the latest evolution/reinvention of this technique. For me the key to success is to find the right bottom. I like to drag and shake it across places that have small rocks and gravel, sand is okay, but not too weedy. I'm sure other people will tell you other ways to fish it, but this works for me.

In the fall the cooling water kills a lot of shad minnows. White tubes fished weightless, hopped, dragged or on Carolina rigs would match the hatch... Garry2R's

Great looking topics. Thanks for the link.

Well Put!!! HAHAHA

I guess I will be a Newbie for a long time. :'(

It's generally excepted that fish get conditioned to avoid crankbaits etc. that they see repeatedly. This must be especially true for fish that are caught and released. Speaking of "Old School" I was cleaning out the garage last summer and found an old tackle box of mine that had some lures in it that dated from the early 70's. Just for fun I tossed them in the boat. Not too surprisingly they still caught fish...after all none of those fish were born when these baits went out of style...hahaha.

It's generally excepted that fish get conditioned to avoid crankbaits etc. that they see repeatedly. This must be especially true for fish that are caught and released. Speaking of "Old School" I was cleaning out the garage last summer and found an old tackle box of mine that had some lures in it that dated from the early 70's. Just for fun I tossed them in the boat. Not too surprisingly they still caught fish...after all none of those fish were born when these baits went out of style...hahaha.

I contacted Gagnon's a well known sporting goods store in Oshawa Ontario. I know that they stock Rapala's new Canadian line of rods and reels. They told me they don't have any prices yet. The first rods are shipping around Xmas. They suggested I check back after that new year. These rods resemble the E-21 product...E-21's address is in Toronto Ontario!?!? Makes you wonder doesn't it...

I am Garry, spelled with 2"R"s Until next April, I will be living in Yuma AZ. From mid April until mid October I have a cottage in the Kawartha Lakes area of Ontario Canada. When the leaves turn, I return south for the winter. I am a self-confessed tackle and equipment junky. :-[ I'm not trying to buy a game...I just like nice stuff and can't resist a bargain. I guess admitting your addiction is the first step to recovery... Garry2R's