merc1997

biggest lmb is 12lb. caught in lake falcon. depth 6 feet - top of old pond dam lure 1/2 oz. jig

sorry, i did go back and look, and you did mention a grub. so many fisherman never realize the fish catching potential of a simple jig. i rate them as the best fishing tool in the tackle box. i know there are many bassers that think the jig bite is none existent, but they are still throwing the standard rubber or silicone skirt with some type of crawdad imitating trailer. but, a aimple change to hair and a long slender trailer would have them right back in the ball game with a jig. bo

what are your thoughts on why you feel the need to use a trailer hook on a vibrating jig? after all it is a jig type bait, just as a swim jig. i do consistently hear of people claiming that the landing ratio to hookups is not too high on vibrating jigs. so, was wondering your reasons for using a trailer hook. thanks. bo

for me personally, i think paint on sinkers and jig heads is more for the fisherman than the fish. i have caught thousands of bass over the years in the gin clear waters of table rock and bull shoals on unpainted sinkers and jig heads. i have over the years used a painted sinker that someone gave me, and could not tell any difference in catch rate. jigs sure could be sold for a whole lot less if the fisherman would buy them without the paint. but, fisherman are much easier to catch than the bass when it comes to colors. OOOOOHH!!! that one sure looks pretty!! another sucker caught, hahaha. i am in the same boat with the rest of you. bought a really loud colored jerkbait the other day. bo

so what do you do when your jig needs to mimic a shad?? just limiting yourself to a crawdad imitation is limiting what all you can do with a jig. i have caught a lot of really big bass on a hair jig with a snaky tail trailer to mimic a shad when the bass are feeding more predominently on shad. bo

there could be a number of issues. first, sometimes bass will bite the sinker and not have the hook. the other thing is the hook you are using could be preventing forward motion of the hook. sproat style hooks that have slices or a keeper on the shank of the hook can cause that problem. the slices catch on the lip of the bass and prevent forward motion of the hook. also, the most popular styles of hooks that have the two 90 degree bends to hold your plastic in place can do the same thing. the straight face coming down off of the first 90 from the eyelet, will with the bone in the lips coming out and prevent forward motion of the hook to get the hook point to penetrate through something. a jig hook like a 29114 gammie with a hitch hiker attached to the eye to attach your plastic to the hook will do a better job. the leg of the hook will always tend to turn the hook upright because it is a lever and will follow your line. also, since your plastic is attached to the hitch hike, you do not have plastic sliding down the hook shank to block the throat of the hook. then, there is nothing about that type of hook to prevent forward motion on the hook set. if you will try it, you will like it. bo

a standard wiggle wart on 8 to 10 lb. test line will run 6 to 7 feet deep when casting. i do not know about trolling depth. given the very wide wobble of the wiggle wart, i would doubt that it goes a whole lot deeper trolling. bo

the best jig retrieve is the one they bite. a jig can be fished from top to bottom. it can be swam, drug, crawled, jigged, coasted, and any other way to be conjured up. bo

for those folks that think fishing lures made of lead are a hazord, will pose a question. where, the H----, do you think lead comes from to start with?? it comes from out of the ground. because of that, we have water flowing through lead and other things. do we not have anyone that uses common sense any longer?? and for those that have made the use of lead in paint illegal because kids have been licking the door, where are the parents at?? i would suspect that growing up, i might have tried licking the door frame a couple of times, but after i had my hand slapped a couple of times for doing so, i learned to not be doing that. i know for without a doubt in my mind that lead is less of a hazard than lazy parents. bo

one of the best bassers ever born was glen andrews. glen had this to say about spring bass. "they are like a pack of hungry dogs. what works one day will not work the next, because they are someplace else. weather is constantly changing and this keeps them on the move and at different depths." i will have to agree with what glen said. spring bass can make you pull your hair out many times. you just have to be flexible, and aware of current weather trends. i have caught bass on gravel flats one day. go back the next, and there are not any fish there. i will then work my way back to where the channel gets closer to the bank, and usually that is where you will find them. coves and creeks are the same way. one day they will be more towards the back end, and the next, even without weather change, will all be about halfway back out. hours on the water will always help you in being able to consistently find them. bo

i hardly ever use a texas rig anymore. i fish soft plastics behing my 1/4oz. jig, and if i need more weight, i just add a slip sinker ahead of the jig to adust the fall rate to where i want it. i know the jig i use is more weedless than a texas rig, and will hook better. i know many still love the t-rig, but i just find i hardly use it any longer. bo

anyone wanting to increase their catches of big bass will learn from murphy's book. i can tell you that the big bass are a complete different critter. here on table rock and other area lakes, the big bass are in different areas than the bass from about 4lbs down. it takes patience to catch big bass. the run and gun style of fishing is going to net you very few big ones. when targeting big bass here on table rock, i catch very few on them on the main lake, with the exception of the upper end of table rock. it just seems that over the years, i have found more schools of big bass grouped back in the bigger coves and creeks. good example would be when spoon fishing in the winter. the most bass will be further out the creek, but there will be a smaller school further up the creek or cove, and that school will always be bigger bass. every lake is different, but big bass stay in key locations, and they are wary. they did not get big by being stupid. anchoring is good because you are not running the troller, and after you are anchored, you really do not even need to have the electronics running. murphy's book will help anyone. another good read that i used a lot to adapt many of my fishing stratagies is buck perry's spoonplugging. i know the tournament bassers have made popular to stay on the run and fish fast, but that is not too condusive to catching big bass. read murphy's book and it will improve anyones fishing. bo

what type of water are you fishing?? what is water clarity?? another factor is to determine what forage the bass are keying on. here on table rock, there will be a portion of the summer that bass are keying primarily on shad. when that is going on, to catch them consistently on a jig, i have to go to a hair jig with a slender trailer to mimic a shad. here in late august, a big profile jig will catch some really big bass. this is when i will use a rubber skirted jig with a #25 uncle josh pork. jigs catch bass year round. the key is to determine forage, depth, and key in on the right profile and speed. at least that is what has worked for me. bo

i have always started night fishing as soon as the water temp hits 50 degrees. nights after a warm sunny day usually produce the best. bass move into very skinny water that has warmed up. this is a great time to catch some real monsters too. bo

as with racing cars, most of us are not capable of driving them. same goes with driving a bass boat at high speeds. ike was lucky this time. just think, he could have turned right into a boat beside him, or another oncoming boat. my thoughts are tournaments need to rethink some things relating to safety. running at high speeds in skinny water that has many unseeable obstacles is just asking for trouble. bass had a great idea in the beginning with a 150hp limit. it made competing somewhat more affordable for everyone. it somewhat kept speeds at a safer limit. if ike had been going slower, he might not have ended up in the woods. a small mistake in driving a bass boat at high speeds usually does not have good results. as i stated earlier, time behind the wheel does not make us race car drivers. ike just might come under that statement also. he may spend many hours in a boat, but that does not necessarily make him a great boat driver at high speeds. bo

tom has given the same advice that i would. in colder water, a bass's metabolism is slow. usually, they will also be eating smaller crawdads in colder water. at least that is what i have observed from my many years of fishing. slower fall rates and more compact offerings usually do better in cold water. bo

generally chrome blue for sunny days, and chrome black on cloudy days. does not always hold true, but does more times than not. bo

i fish whatever style it takes to catch them. i like to fish certain ways better than others, but you have to able to fish big, small, shallow or deep to consistently catch bass. bo

certainly there are many things on the market that are actually nothing new at all, but once in a great while something comes along that actually is better engineered, actually works, and just plain has science behind it. bo

i use hair jigs until the water temp reaches around 58, and then i switch to rubber or silicone. weight wise, 1/4 on the hair jigs, and then 3/8 to 1/2 oz. on the rbber skirted jigs. bo

fishing is smaller lakes and ponds equates to more of a captive audience. your techniques of finesse will catch bass on the bigger bodies of waters also. you probably just need more time on bigger bodies of water to learn how to zero in on the right locations to be fishing. if finesse fishing is your strength, stick with it. there is always more than one way to skin a cat. learn the seasonal patterns for the bodies of water that you expect to fish tournaments on. your technique will catch bass, but you just need to get better at finding where the bass are in the bigger bodies of water. hang in there, you will get better at it. bo

jigs catch bass anywhere. you might just need to change the profile and size of the jig you are using. if you are using a rubber skirted jig, you might need to use one with more or even less rubber in the skirt. skirt length can make a difference too. hair jigs still catch bass even though they have fell out of favor with most bassers. a bucktail jig with a pork trailer is still deadly. i think tom mentioned that bodies of water with smooth mud bottoms are not to condusive to jig fishing. that has been my experience also. i will say that an 1/8oz jig with white bucktail will catch a bass in about any environment. bo

fishing in table rock with its clear waters, catching bass from a distance is usually the case most of the time. when deep water fishing using mono, i always used a 7'6' heavy action flipping rod. the reason for this was to be able to move enough line on the hookset to bury the hook. i have fished with many people that were using shorter lighter rods fishing with mono, and their hook up ratio was terrible. fish as close as possible is a very true statement, but sometimes, you just have to make a long cast, and get better with your hooksetting techniques. bo

there are or have been several temp. probes on the market over the years. vexilar used to have one that was in a tube, with a small hole. pressure would let in water at depth. i still use it. also i have an electric one with a probe that you attach a weight to. it has 50 ft of cord. i use it also. i do not remember who made the electric one. bo

ditto, nothing beats an educated thumb! bo