Bluebasser86

It's one from the $2 bin at Wal Mart. That's about all they every have in the bins at any of the Wal Marts close by. A friend of mine used to buy them all the time and caught fish with them pretty well. I'm pretty sure it was Renegade that was making them at the time. http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=929&tbm=isch&tbnid=OfZPdEYFrmyf6M:&imgrefurl=http://www.ecrater.com/p/5358939/7-renegade-pro-series-minnow-crankbait&docid=taZtRN2HHdsZvM&imgurl=http://s.ecrater.com/stores/69978/4aaf0f7e148e7_69978n.jpg&w=300&h=225&ei=BWNxUMeBL-aoyAGxsIDYDQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=334&sig=114353097855562036358&page=1&tbnh=147&tbnw=197&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:19,s:0,i:140&tx=126&ty=92

Seeing a few skinny ones but they're starting to get thicker. Haven't really seen a lot of skinny fish this year though. I think the water being low and leaving the baitfish less places to go has played a part in that.

Pretty much any lake really worth fishing is an hour or more from me. I've driven 3 hours for a day trip. Drove 9 hours one way to fish Minnetonka for a day and a half or a planned 9 day trip, but that's a long story. I'd much rather drive an hour or two and have a shot at some good fish rather than drive 15 to one of the local lakes where a good day is 10 fish with a remote shot at something over 4.

That should be about right by then. I'm just starting to see light coming through the windows about 6:30 and it's just going to be getting light later until daylight savings time ends so 7 should be good.

What was the water temp? If I can get the last 4 of my shift off I think it would be best to start early also. Even if you guys want to start early and I can't get the time off I'll just get the weigh in sheets to someone else and Chris and I will get down there as soon as we can after I get off work. I don't want anyone to miss out on fishing just to wait for us.

I couldn't be 100% but I'd guess at least 20 feet and probably much more with spinning gear. It comes off the spool so fast and smooth there just seems to be very little resistance to slow it down. I doubt it will have the same effect with casting gear though.

It looks like you should have clouds most of the day and about perfect winds. Don't be afraid to toss the topwater/spinnerbaits even with this cold front. The water temps shouldn't have dropped much despite this cold snap and I wouldn't be at all surprised if they'll hit those baits most of the day. Remember to check your line often!!

I love fishing squarebills over the tops of weeds. Keep them ticking along the tops and rip them out when you feel them hanging in the weeds. This will often trigger neutral or inactive fish buried in the weeds. Bouncing them off of wood and rock is a great way to trigger reaction strikes from less than aggressive fish also. I normally fish them late spring through late fall.

The hook is very light wire and straightens easily. They also snag much easier than a normal T-rig for some reason. I was not a fan of them but I know some guys love them.

Hmm, maybe too much of my posterior if I was bent over working on tying stuff on in the boat, seems I sometimes have difficulty keeping my pants up, but that's a whole nother story all together

Well we need all kinds of stuff, burgers (pre made patties are easiest to deal with but doesn't really matter) hotdogs, buns, chips, sides, drinks, whatever. I've got a ton of Solo cups I'll bring for drinks if anyone is drinking anything that doesn't come in a can . Need some ketchup and mustard and whatever anyone wants on their food. I'm not going to assign anyone stuff to bring, just let me know what everyone wants to/can bring and we'll figure it out from there because I don't know how to cook "whatever"

Thanks for the help guys. I hadn't thought about CXX, that stuff is a pain to fish with because of the memory but I guess it's better to deal with memory than constant breakoffs I'll be dealing with otherwise. You're right about the line conditioner J, it's a must to fish with that line. Dwight I almost bought some Maxima yesterday because I know that stuff is tough and fishes on spinning gear very nicely, I may have to give that a try this week.

I've had great success with nanofil but it is a very technique specific line for me. It has no match for castability but it does fray pretty easily. I love the stuff for fishing senkos and swimming grubs in open water though. I always fish it with a fluoro leader and experience zero breakoffs except in situations when it wouldn't have mattered what line I was using. It certainly does not make a good line for bottom contact baits though.

I was fishing Nano on one of my spinning rods but not on the bottom so that wasn't a problem. I don't know about Tatsu, I don't have that kind of money to drop on line

I think it depends on the area. I know fishing bluff ends or points at Table Rock it isn't uncommon to catch largemouth,spots, and smallmouth all off the same spot. If you graph deep, suspended fish and get them to bite they seem to almost always be spots for some reason. Maybe there are largemouth and smallies there too that just won't bite but all I've ever seen caught in that situation is spots.

Well fellas I just checked and I've got more time off available than I thought so I'm going to try to get someone to cover the last 4 hours of my shift the morning of the 20th. With as good as the topwater bite was last Wednesday and provided it doesn't get too cold between now and then (doesn't look like it will) we should have a really good topwater bite early in the morning if everyone is willing to get an early start like last time. If everyone wants to stick with the later start time (I know it's a long drive for some of us) just know that kanasbassfisher08 and I will be out there catching them before everyone takes off Also want to get a food list going so everyone knows what they're bringing.

They aren't going to go away and now that several of the lakes around me have them I need to figure out what lines everyone is using to fish around them? It's amazing how fast they shear up mono and fluoro. I was fishing a jig across a piece of angle iron support on a dock (hard on line as it is I know) but I got 3 bites and each time I set the hook it was like setting the hook across a razor blade. Crankbaits that touched bottom like they should had to be retied every 10 casts or so. So what line/tricks is everyone using to deal with them or is it just unavoidable?

I have the Mojo "Deep Crankster" and like it really well. I don't fish deep cranks a lot but I feel it has helped me get a better feel for my bait and has helped me get better at the technique. As for the OP's question I have the 6' 8" "Wacky Style" Mojo and like it really well. I bought it originally for shakyheads and it worked really well for that paired with a 2500 Symetre. I had a couple good tournaments and replaced it with 6' 10" LTB rod and now I use it for wacky worms and it also throws small cranks very well. I got the Mojo instead of a Premier because I like a split grip handle on my spinning rod instead of a full handle, just a personal preference of mine.

Fish it anyway you fish a plastic worm. I like to pitch a baby brush hog on a 1/4oz weight and 4/0 hook to visible cover and docks and just hop it back slowly. They're a great C-rig bait too.

Squarebill cranks pretty much anywhere except the dam are what I used to catch most of my fish on out there. You may have to mess with colors a bit, they seem to be kind of picky sometimes. Fishing them over the tops of the grass out in the middle of the backs of the two arms should be getting pretty good by now.

No, it really shouldn't touch bottom unless you stop reeling. Cast it out near the shoreline and start shaking and reeling slowly, that's all there is to it. Sometimes I'll stop it near the boat because they'll follow it a lot of times and once it heads towards bottom they'll grab it. A light jighead is key, we were using 1/16oz ball heads. Drew started out with a 1/8oz and did alright but it hangs up a ton when you go that heavy. It casts surprisingly well because the Zinker adds plenty of weight but it floats on it's own so you end up with a bait that sinks very slowly and rarely snags because the hook is too small to grab anything but the bait is so squishy you have no problems hooking up when a fish grabs it.

It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I only had to kick the trolling motor on high once we got to the far north end of the dam (wind coming from the southwest straight into it) other than that it wasn't too bad. Our baits that caught most of our fish were: left side-Xcalibur Jimmy, Heddon Torpedo, Lucky Craft Pointer 78, Strike King KVD 1.0, Ned Rig w/half a Zman Zinker super glued on (you have to super glue it or it's a pain to fish with). Right side-3/8oz War Eagle spinnerbait, Lucky Craft Fat C.B. B.D.S. Zero, Lucky Craft S.K.T. mini MR. These are the actual baits and colors minus the torpedo, Drew was using a full sized torpedo in a frog color.

Yeah the other problem is that way is something forgotten nobody has to feel bad about it or take all the blame to themselves. Plus it gives people the option to bring whatever they want and we get to try all kinds of tasty stuff like Retro's coleslaw last time Sure did, I can only hope we have fishing the 20th like Drew and I had today. Started with one of the best topwater bites I've had on that lake. We probably would have had 30 fish in the boat just on topwater if we didn't miss so many of them. We were almost within casting distance of the ramp when this 16.5" fish slammed my Xcaliber Jimmy. Before we even left the ramp cove we had caught smallmouth, largemouth, spots, whites, and a walleye. I had a fish come unglued on my Jimmy but it didn't get the hooks, like to have that one back. Ran across to one of my favorite flat points and caught some little ones on topwater before I tossed my Ned rig and hooked a heavy fish that threw a sub wake when it came off the bank. Pretty good fight before I got ahold of a 17 1/4 incher. Caught a bunch of dinks on the rig before Drew put a Torpedo on and caught a 16 1/2 incher of his own. We could pretty much catch them at will on the ned rig and they were hitting topwater nonstop but we weren't hooking up with them. Fished the marina, it sucked, 2 dinks, 1 green 1 brown. Hopped to the point between the dam and marina, not a bite. Ran to the dam, caught them at will on the rig, lots of dinks but several 12-14 inchers plus this 17" fish. Ran to one of my furthest spots towards the other end because boats were sitting on top of boats on each point by the dam. We smacked several white bass before I hooked a little smallie on a squarebill. When it got close to the boat I saw 4 or 5 other fish chasing including one really nice one. I tried to get my ned rig in the water and right when I did the big fish grabbed at the front of the bait and got itself hooked too. I had a double for just a second before the big fish stole the bait from the little one! I traded a 10 incher for this 17 1/4 inch tank. Drew got big fish of the day with a KVD 1.0 shortly after I got that one. I was about to leave the spot when he cast way behind the boat and got slammed. It was a long fight and you couldn't even see the crankbait when it got to the boat and I got the net under it. 17.5 inches and 3.16 pounds. I ended with 43 bass, Drew had 23. Plus we caught a bunch of whites, a few drum, 3 walleye, and a few sunfish. We were never really catching them fast but we caught them steady all day. Squarebills, ned rig, topwater, and spinnerbaits accounted for a majority of our fish. Didn't even get to fish most of my spots I normally fish.

I could argue it either way pretty easily but imo I'm going to drop more money on the rod than the reel, almost all of my combos prove that. The only exception would be my cranking rods, both of them are about 60/40 reel to rod but sensitivity isn't as much of an issue.

I like that one, reminds me of my dads friend. We used to go on an annual walleye fishing trip each spring and he actually made you hook your crawlers while holding them over the side of the boat so no dirt would get in the boat. Not that it's a bad thing, his boats 12 years old and it still looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor.