Amarley

Punching is something I've never much of either, but I should. I fish some small lakes with lily pads that hold big fish. Punching would be perfect for this.

That's no big deal. Your inventory will grow over time. I started out with 3 rods and could basically fish the same techniques I can now with 20 rods. It just comes to fine tuning your rods to get very specific with techniques and cover. Plus you're buying less time in chaning out your setups while on the water. If I backlash with 10 rods, I just throw that one to the side if I can't get the nest out, haha.

7-12 typically up to 15 depending on conditions and how well I know what I'll be throwing on a given day.

I live in BG and grew up on Barren. Can't go wrong! In the summer, I fish the Walnut Creek area and have some success. Good spots are on fish maps. Stop by the tackle shop near Port Oliver and ask for some local advice. Nolin is great too, but Barren is usually better.

I fish a lot of timber and lay downs in Kentucky. Just ordered a bunch of arkies today to use this year. I really need to improve using them in open water and dragging them this summer. Thanks for the advice! I'll check out the grass jigs, too.

Skinny dippers, spinnerbaits, senkos, rage craws, shaky heads, square bills.

My area of improvement for this year is jigs. I've had a love/hate relationship with them in the past. Need to build confidence in throwing jigs. I've always gone to reaction baits in the past, and got better with shaky heads last year. This year, my focus is jigs. Dragging, flipping, pitching, swimming, etc. Anyone else have a lure they're trying to gain confidence in this year? Any tips for building confidence with jigs?

Home made purple beaver style bait on a zika rig. 7'1 MH GL2 jwr with a 6.4:1 lews speed spool.

You try it and let us know how it goes. Send pics.

That's definitely a good idea. How often do you change the grease?

Just as a word of advice from spending a couple days on this, Tractor Supply has been a huge help. Had all the parts I needed for pretty cheap. I went to every auto parts store in town and nobody knew what they were doing as well as Tractor Supply. New complete bearing kits with seals for $20 apiece, marine grease for $4 a tube and bearing buddies for about $25/pair. Definitely worth less than $100 in new parts every year to keep safe on the road.

Thought you guys may like seeing a picture of what's going on. I'll never get in a hurry to fish without checking the grease and seals on my bearings! It's not fun waiting for a tow truck with your boat on the side of the highway. It's the inner race stuck on the spindle. I've got a guy coming over tonight to help me get the race off the spindle. Hopefully, I'll be back in business this weekend.

I got in a rush and didn't check my trailer bearings before my first fishing trip of the year this Saturday. Ended up having to tow my boat back to town on the back of a flatbed. Got the boat back to change my bearings and ran into some issues with the spindle. A race is stuck on the right side spindle from overheating. I have been told two things about this current issue: 1. You can get a torch, heat up the spindle and slide it off. Move forward with replacing bearings. or 2. If a race is stuck on the spindle, it's likely the spindle is damaged or out of round, so doing number 1 above will only delay a bigger problem. This person recommended replacing the whole axle. Has anyone ran into this problem before? Any suggestions on how to handle? I know one thing, I'll always check my grease, seals and bearings several times a year from now on. Thanks

I like the BPS Senkos and Gander Mountain plastics in general. Good quality.

Hundreds. I figured out it was cheaper to make my own, so that's what I've started doing. About a $200 upfront investment and you can make thousands of baits in any color you want.

Go to Tackle Warehouse and order about 5 bags of Reaction Innovation Skinny Dippers and maybe a couple bags of Little Dippers. Skinny Dippers- Colors: 1. Junebug 2. Bad Shad 3. White Trash 4. Houdini/Shiner Fish with a EWG hook, either weighted or unweighted. I also fish them on a swim jig. I fish them like a spinnerbait, and they never get tangled up in cover. My favorite rod to fish these with is a 7' H IRod Genesis 2, 6.4:1 reel, 15 lb flouro line. I also use a 7'2 Powell Swim Jig rod with 30 lb braided line with a flouro leader. For Little Dippers 1. White Trash 2. Lime Ice 3. Junebug or a dark color I fish these on Scrounger heads, jig heads, or as swim jig trailers. You can fish these on a variety of rods, from spinning to casting. But, my favorite is to fish them with the swim jig rod mentioned above or on my 7'1 MH G Loomis GL2 Casting rod with a 6.4:1 reel and 12-14lb flouro. Hope this helps. I can promise it will be the best $40 you've ever spent on lures.

Want to get better with this lure this spring. I've used a 3-way swivel and doubled-up on them before and have had some fun with them, but always forget about them. Went and bought a few packs last night. What's your favorite way to fish this lure? Weightless, on a jig head, dead-stick, erratic retrieve? What type of cover do you look for? Thanks for the advice!

Kentucky is great. Very low cost of living in most cities and 6% state income tax. I live in Southern Kentucky, about an hour north of Nashville. I'm two hours away from Kentucky and Barkley lakes, an hour and half from Dale Hollow, two hours from Douglas and Norris, two hours from Cumberland, plus I have about 5-7 other great bass lakes within an hour and half drive. I'm also 4 hours from the Alabama lakes. Good climate most of the year. I'm happy here. If I had my choice, I'd live here or northern Alabama.

Who's your horse tomorrow? I'm hoping Evers pulls it out.

What's the first lure you go to tomorrow? What type of area is your first stop?

Brown powerpro

I know it's confusing, these are "All Pro Rods". Not the Chris Lane-sponsored "All Star Rods". They are made in Tennessee and are building a good following in this region. Just curious if anyone has had luck with them.