gotarheelz14

So I tried doing a search and got a lot of "which worm floats the best". I don't know if this is exactly fair though because a lot of worms which don't float still "stand up" great and have great actions. I really like the Zoom trick worms but sometimes I wish I had something with a lot more action. What do you yall like? Thanks! Carlos

As others have said, you will no doubt have to pull off crud off a crankbait from time to time. Heck, sometimes after every cast. I've gotten so good at doing this that I can literally do it in less than three seconds. The trick to pulling off crud is to go against the grain, or against where the crankbait was going. It just comes right off. What I would suggest, is to leave all your stuff behind except for one rod and all your crankbaits. This way, you will be FORCED to learn how to throw it. When fishing lipped crankbaits, if you are hitting stuff, you are in the right place. Keep throwing it where you hit grass, rocks, stumps etc. This is not as much of a requirement for Lipless cranks in my opinion but it is still a good rule of thumb to go by. You also have to use crankbaits that were designed for the purpose you will be utilizing them. For instance, lipless crankbaits are excellent for fishing grass. You reel them, kill them, and then give them a huge pop, to get them to free off the grass. This alone is enough to trigger bites at times. As you know, if you are not throwing crankbaits, you are missing out. I throw more crankbaits than plastics now a days, and for me that is a huge deal. I just got tired of fishing over large areas slowly. Now, I can walk around the bank, throw a crankbait, find the spots fish are holding in, and later pick them apart with slower methods. You can read all the stuff in the world but in the end, there is only one way to learn how to catch fish on a crankbait;Go out and throw that crankbait!

Apparently weightless lizards are great from what little i've seen. You can swim them from pad to pad and kill them in openings. I got this idea from my Buddy InLikeFinz. Just checkout his topwater video!

One word: FLUKE! You can walk the dog with them fairly easily on top of the water. Furthermore, when you reach pockets or empty spaces, you can kill them completely to let them sink in under the water. They are an absolutely killer bait. I would invest with some of the magnum sized flukes as well to make it a little easier to cast, walk the dog, and entice the fish with a bigger profile. If there is a lot of vegetation, I think a smaller bait can get lost in all the crud sometimes, whereas a larger profile bait is a lot more conspicuous. Also, to make the flukes more buoyant, I would go with a slightly smaller hook. All you need to do is downsize the hook you would normally use by one or two sizes and this usually keeps them on top of the water more easily. Yes, it is a tradeoff but you get far more strikes than potential missed hookups because of the smaller hook. I also use 30-50lb braid when throwing flukes. I like the buoyancy of it just fine and like the zero stretch of the braid for good, positive hooksets. Cutting through the vegetation if you need to, also works extremely well with braid. Carlos

For smallest lure I use, when it is cold out, and I mean, there is ice on the lake, nothing I've ever thrown has ever beat a 1/16 road runner. I was actually crappie fishing the entire time and my lure happened to be chartreuse haha.

I was having the same problem you were having and I thought the answer to my problems was to step it up to a bigger hook. While this might certainly work, it changes the action of the worm, and you lose the possibility of effectively using the wacky presentation as a finesse technique, which I quite often do. Not implying that it is a "finesse" technique by nature. I don't know how you are setting the hook, bu the hook-set actually happened to be my biggest downfall. I was giving it a moderate, texas rig swing. I then realized that you don't really need that. The hook is exposed so you only need to reel up until you feel pressure and then gently snap your wrist upward to set the hook. Alternately, you can also reel in some slack and gently sweep your body sideways. Gentle, is the key word. Remember to gently reel up, gently sweep or snap the wrist. Keep pressure and your rod tip pointed up. And for god's sake play the fish!!! It's a small hook so you can't wrangle them back towards you. Take your time and enjoy the fight.

Well then, that is really funny! :-/ haha

I'm guessing because the spinning reel is flipped on top of the rod, like a baitcaster, instead of being on the bottom.

What I really need to know is, where do you think fish will be located at this time of year? What type of depth/structure should I look for? This weekend we are having a charity tournament against our biggest rival. It's, UNC vs. Duke---enough said! The good thing is that I have fished this lake 2 times this summer and I only found one spot. I really want to do good in this tournament because I am so competitive!!! So, The weather pattern has been as follows. Last Friday started a warming trend with the high being around 75. This week, temperatures will climax at around 85 on tues and wed and then drop back down into the 65 range. The temperature will be 65, with a 40% of scattered T-storms on Game Day. The kicker is that I have access to a cartographic map!!! It shows all the contours in the water. I have found a good summer spot using this, but need to know what kind of spots to look for here in the very early spring. I'm going to try to read reports around the area to see what the fish are doing. I'm guessing I should be looking for "flats", preferably adjacent to drop off and sloping, deeper water? Should I just fish points and expect them to be on the shallow ends? Thanks guys, I really appreciate yall's help and will certainly appreciate it this time! Carlos

6'10 XF Medium Powered Daiwa Fuego Soron STX 20 20lb suffix braid 8lb mono leader Heaven, Nirvana, w/e floats your boat

I would also be looking on the shallower end of the spectrum. I don't know how deep your pond is so this may not apply to you but I would be looking for them to make various moves up to the shallows to feed heavily before they spawn. Sometimes, the fish move up so shallow that "sight fishing" really plays a factor. So, if there is brush, bust out your polarized lenses and get to looking underwater. Often, they will cruise the banks just waiting to see what they can grab. Just remember though, if you can see them, they have probably already seen you! Be stealthy and if possible always try to cast ahead of where you are walking so the fish don't see you. Carlos

Hell yeah a bandit would work! As a matter of fact, I have a small 200 series bandit square, craw dad brown with chartreuse color that has caught more fish than any other squre bill i've ever owned. I've banged it so hard off rocks and stumps that the bill is cracked and it will soon break. Those things are beasts, especially for the price! From my experience, It's been really great overall but especially when you are in some really really really thick hardcover. Because they have such a slim profile, they sneak in through all the small spaces. Great little baits.

Whenever I have a lot of rocks present, I'm always thinking square bill or even regular crankbait. I have found that by its design the squre bill knocks off a lot harder off the rocks. Rapala makes my favorite square bills. They make a cranking rap 3ft, 5ft and even a 7ft Glass Shad rap (I think...?). They all work very well for this purpose.

stx

I don't have any nails around and I actually want to be able to determine the weights that I will be using. Unfortunately, I also don't have any local tackle shops that are specialized enough to have nail weights. I want to stick one on the end of a 5 inch senko to throw wacky rigged. My question is, can I insert a 1/16 or 1/32 bullet weight instead? Or will this not give my weight any wiggle but will just make it fall straight down instead? I just don't know if the weight distribution matters at all since the bullet weight is more concentrated and the nail weight is not. Thanks you guys, Carlos

Well as you probably know, the fishfinder is more of a structure finder. What you are looking for is not necessarily fish but habitat that could support fish. If you see fish or baitfish that's a plus but often times you will catch fish where you might not necessarily see them. So, when you pass over a spot that looks good and has all the right attributes you simply mark the spot, by throwing a buoy or just make a mental note of it. You can then back up and target that area. The fish are usually sitting there holding on or off the structure, relating to it. They usually won't straight up move by the time you get to them.

I tried them last year and caught a lot of fish on them at the river. One of my favorite attributes was that it was so detailed. It had nice eyes, maybe scales and gill patterns molded onto the bait if I recall correctly. The one I got was the 4-5 foot diving one. I got the one with a square bill. It was great, I caught a lot of fish on it. Another thing I really like about them is that they have a lot of colors that utilize a clear/paint scheme. For instance, one of my favorites to throw in this clear water river was a clear/grey-ghost color with a black back and a little bit of red in somewhere, can't exactly remember where the red was. Also the price was very good. I'll be picking up some more and throwing them this year.

Ultralight is great. 4lb powerpro has improved my overall experience. You get the feel and sensitivity of braid and you still have a small enough test poundage to keep it sportsman like for the fish. Carlos

Amen to that comment. The bigger bluegills, if you can find them fight harder than any fish I have ever hooked. You get them on an ultra light with 2lb test and boy is it a battle...

omgggg what a freaking toaddddd!!!!!

"The trick to cathing bass on a bed is....to wake them up first ;D" How close to them were you? Try to stay far back enough so that they don't see you. This is very important!

There's some really good points in this thread. I especially liked the post about the cone angles. One quick question though, what about units that have DSI or DI. Can you see your lure with Down Scan Imaging? Or, is this something that only the older type sonars can show? Thanks!

Cheesin' like a lil kid. ;D. I would too if I had caught that beauty. It is always amazing to me how fish that big can live in tiny little streams like that one. How deep was it where you caught it? Can't be more than 2ft deep in most places. 4ft max lol?...

I can honestly say I love it. I don't know why. The fish I've caught have pretty much all been quality fish and I have gotten what is probably my second and maybe 5th largest fish ever. I honestly feel like I can relax more just because I have to fish so slow. This really fits my style too since I love fishing plastics and jigs. Also, because I get far fewer fish, every single one of them feels so much more rewarding. I have also learned a TON about the anatomy of lakes and have also learned how to dissect a lake and its structure and features. Because I have had to think about wintering holes, and deep structure, I have become more adept at finding these in lakes. Well at least I can say I have an easier time finding these features. When it all comes down to it, I guess it's mostly a matter of the personal satisfaction I get at knowing that what I've caught, I've had to work so hard for. I think the winter has finally done me in ;D

PIGGGGGG! 8-)