merc1997

i still use a florescent black light. i have fished with a couple of guys that had the led type, and the led did not have enough coverage to suit me. i think the stan sloan model was the first one on the market commercially. here in cassville, mo. a company by the name of able 2 products produced the original moon glow lights we used for years prior to the black lights. later they also produced black lights, and that is still what i use. to me even thought they do not sell balck lights anymore, they are still the best on the market. i think the reason why is the size of the opening and the mirror like reflector filling up that space behind the bulb. for those that like to have things lit up on the shore too, they also have a white florescent black light bulb. here is a tip for pitching and flipping extremely clear water and the bass are right on the bank. put your blacklight on the opposite side of the boat you are fishing out of. the boat will cut off the light from being shining on the water, but you can still see your line up in the air. bo

tom i have to laugh just a bit about being up in the trees. black lights and knots sound like some good subjects. i would start a thread if i could figure out how to do it on here. bo

painted blades will definitely work on a given day. over the years i have found that spinner bait blades, sizes, types, combinations, and colors can make you pull out your hair. i have killed them on one combination one day, and go back the next, and have to change blade combintions to catch them. just one of those things that you have to let the bass tell you. bo

tom fishing at night is when you use florescent line and a black light. you can track your cast and not miss your target by ten feet. plus, you can see even the most subtle of strikes, even better than daytime. and not liking to retie at night sounds like all of my retired fishing buddies, hahaha. i have a knot that will hold up with florcarbon line. i have taught it to several that like fishing with fc, and it has resolved their broken line issues. works equally as well with mono and braid. bo bo

tom since it seems from your statement that you tend to just pull a hung jig until the line breaks, instead of trying to retrieve it, i have a question. how do you think it affects the fish in the area when you lines snaps when it breaks??? just thought it a good question to throw out. from my own experience, i have seen way too many times a good bite leave an area when breaking a line on a lure that is hung. just from my own experience i have found that i tend to spook the bass less by going in and dealing with the hung lure. a lure retriever slipped down your line ssems to be less intrusive to them. sound like a whole new thread to discuss. bo

by the way, forgot to mention that the j bend set up to keep your plastic on the hook is not any better than the sproat style. you have a vertical wall formed on the front of the hook that will hang on the lips of the bass going out, and will sometimes prevent forward motion of the hook, just has the shank slices or barbs on the sproat style. i think kent mentioned using a spring type keeper attached to the eyelet of the hook. this is a much better set up. your plastic can not slide down the hook shank blocking the throat of the hook because it is not attached to the hook shank. this set up will also come through brush and vegetation better because the plastic is more secure, and it is sitting completely behind the hook shank. bo

i see that lots of people like a spoat style hook for t-rigging. the new trokars and gammies to name a few have attached a big ol' barb the the hook shank to better hold your plastic on. has anyone stopped to think that as your plastic is pulled down the hook shank as the shank comes through the lips of the bass, that big ol' barb that is added on there can or will catch on the lips as it is passing through and prevent any further forward motion on the hook, and you will never bury the hook past the barb. anything that prevents forward motion of your hook on the hookset is not good. just my opinion. bo

glad to hear that someone still remembers and uses a hair jig. there are still many situations that hair out performs rubber or silicone.bo

some of my favorite giant worms are long john's, which are not even made anymore, and mr. twister made a 12' worm that was a good meaty worm with a twiddle tail on the end. i have tried styles like zoom's old monster, but have not had as much success with worms that classify as snaky tails. bo

tomhere are a couple of bass that came from this past week that did not get away with my jig. bo

all i can tell you is that i have caught many big bass on those 15 inch worms i mentioned earlier in this post. they catch 3 pounders as well as big ones. in our area, august seems to be a great month to use giant worms. but, as mentioned before, do not discount a giant worm during spawing season. lots of big bass are caught on your lake of the ozarks on giant worms in the summer. add them to your arsenal.bo

tom i remember some guys around here that used the stitching method. that was way back when, when we pushed the button and let the bass run after a pick up too!! hate to admit being that old. i guess that i seem to go about things differently a lot. in the hot part of summer, and also with bass usually being 30 ft. deep here at that time of year, i use a 1/2 oz weight or bigger. i have always been of the theory to entice a reflex strike rather than enticing them to eat. in fact, when worm fishing in the hottest part of the summer i use an eight inch straight tail worm with a 1/2 oz sinker, and i fish the worm much like bouncing a spoon across the bottom. i just try to make the worm jump 6 to eight inches at a time. you get the worm coming across the bottom as fast as you can. the faster the better a lot of times. recognizing the bite doing this is a bit difficult to learn though. but, when they are on this technique, it is lights out. bo

most of the worms that you are referring to would not come under the heading of giant worms, although you are right about a better selection of straight tail worms now. as for me, i like a worm with more diameter to it. most of the worms you are referring to are very slinder. also, the shakey head craze that is going on, is going back to "yesteryear" somewhat. eons ago before the revolution on the t-rig, worms were fished behind a ballhead jig. they were fished with the hook exposed or buried either way. my basketball coach fished his plastic worms on a ballhead jig, and that was way back in the middle 60's. funny how old techniques surface back up, but is called something new.bo

i prefer a straight tail worm or one with a small curly tail. i think in years past, they might have been referred to as a twiddle tail. i know the ribbon style tail is the "in" style now, but i still catch more bass on a straight tail worm. some examples would be similar to a jelly worm, or the extinct fliptail worm. bo

big worms, or giant worms as tom calls them at the right times are hard to beat for big bass. i have about 100 15" worms left from old stock that are no longer produced. i still get them out to fish with when the time is right. one of those times in my area is the dog days of summer. they just always seem to be a fish catching machine again. i have also noticed that with the notarity of lake falcon, giant worms are again coming into favor. one of the other times that giant worms work is during the spawn. big bass do not try to just carry a giant worm off the bed, they eat it. at least from my experience, they do. giant worms will always have a place in my box. and just as a note on giant baits, there is always a stretch here in the summer that giant plastic crawdads are very effective in catching big bass. bo

trimming or thinning the weedguard still does not fix the problem. if you were fishing in heavy timber or vegetation, how good would your jig be now?? pretty worthless, now it hangs on everything. a good jig should be very snagproof and yet hook accurately everytime whether casting, pitching or flipping. all jigs with a center based weedguard are never going to fit the criteria of being a "good Jig". the center based weedguard will always tend to force the hook over flat, resulting in misses, hooking all over the mouth, and lost fish because of flat hooking angles. there is a better jig on the horizon. bo

some other informatin is important to be able to pinpoint your fish. i noticed someone posted some pics of lake fork. fork is more of a flatland lake. lakes such as table rock are a highland type lake. hihgland type lake have some bluffs as well as flats. flatland type lakes do not have bluffs. good advice was given to fish the lake just as though it did not have timber. new lakes with timber have trees that still have limbs, and bass will tend to suspend in tops of trees. once the lake gets older and all that is left of the tree is the pole, bass tend not to suspend in the tree any longer. another thing in locating your bass is to understand the seasonal patterns. this will help you narrow your search down. just remember the best trees will be located on the best structure. bo

perhaps i can help with your question, and seeing that you are fishing table rock so much the better. i am still night fishing myself, and the better bass are still deep. depending on the area of the lake you are fishing, the depth of the bass is from 25 to 35 feet deep. i have not found to much action in the back of creek arms yet. all the bait fish still seem to be on the main lake. a jig seems to be the best bait. hope this might help. bo

i notice that the most mentioned modification is trimming the weedguard. why is that? i will answer that. it is because the way jigs have been made since the beginning of time, they do not hook well. it has been written since the beginning of weedless jigs to cut the weedguard down if you are not fishing around much brush and it might hook a bit better. until now there has not been one manufacture study the physics and science of how their lures hook. there is a better fishing tool on the horizon.

if i have anything to do with it, what i call traditional jigs (center based weedguard)will be a thing of the past. we have been fishing for eons with jigs that are known to not hook well. if not, then why is it constantly written if fishing with a weedless jig and not around heavy cover to cut down the weedguard so it will hook better. the science of hooking is in the process of being updated. bo

a couple of colors that have always produced for me in really muddy water is red and yellow. chartruese would come in under the yellow range. bo

colors at times can really make a difference, even in different water colors, and even at night. we have different amounts of ultra-violet present all the time. dependent on ulta-violet levels, amount of light, water color ect. different colors can show better to a fish. other factor of color would be colors of food source at a particular time of the year. here is a great example. during the full moon of march here on table rock and other area lakes, i have not found any color that will out fish a bright orange hair jig with a black 800 spring lizard pup. i have had many sit in the boat and try to prove their color is better, but they always end up asking if they could use one of my brght orange hair jigs. why is orange such a deadly color the full moon of march?? it has to do with the changes the crawdads are going through at that time. come april, you will not get one bite on that orange hair jig. if you are not throwing a jig with blue in it, you will be hard pressed to catch a bass. let the bass tell you what color. experience of course is a really big help. learn the food sources of the waters you fish, and match something to those colors. one reason that blue works so well in the white river chain of lakes is this is about the only area that i know that has the blue pinchered crawdads. red in texas works very well, and that is because of the color of crawdads there. not saying that you need every color in the rainbow, but use the basic colors and variations of. apply them to your local forage. be flexible, hone in on the best color for the particular day. instead of catching a few, catch the mother load. bo

i think you might just have an excellent idea. i have had many fisherman breaking all kinds of line, braid included and swore it was not the knot. i use a very different knot than everyone else, but the point is that after i tied their lure on for them, the "breaking" issue went away. the knots they were using were either cutting the line into, or was slipping apart. bo

kenneth i watched the video that you put up, and here are some things that i feel will help. the first thing that i noticed is you need to loosen your spool tension. it is way too tight. the next thing that i noticed is your follow through. when you raise your rod tip way up as you are doing. it will tend to make your bait go up in the air just as it is doing. your release point is not too far off, but you need to learn how to roll your wrist more. the roll and snap of your wrist is where you generate your power. i had a very bad wrist injury back in 2004. the joint in my wrist was crushed, and i do not have normal flex in it anymore. it took me over 5 years of very hard work to get enough strength in that wrist to compensate for the lost range of motion to be able to pitch adequately again. just keep practicing. here are a couple more tips. start out with something like a 1/2 oz. jig with a trailer on it. the heavier weight will help you get some length in your pitch. put out targets at various distances. remember to follow through at your target, keep the rood tip low. practice tom's roll cast too. it is also very effecient and accurate. would you do me a favor, and post another video after you have been practicing some so i can see how you are doing?? i will promise you that your practice will pay off. bo

if you are pitching, i am assuming you are fishing shallower cover. fishing shallow is not any different than fishing deep for the most part. when pitching into cover always be aware of watching your line, same as fishing deep. one thing that will come with experience is just how long to leave your jig in on spot. there are times when the bass will take your jig if you just leave it sit for several seconds. most of the time they will have it immediately when it suddenly appears right in front of them. i would advise using a mh 7' rod at least for pitching. bo