gulfcaptain

I cast a jig, and every now and then a t-rigged worm. But a lot of my fishing is done pitching to cover but I do cast lighter football jigs early spring.

If you're wanting to fish weedless swimbaits on an umbrella rig, why don't you fish the weighted swimbait hooks and rig them texposed? That may work but what's it look like in the water? How much open gap do you have once the worm pulls down into the bend of the hook? You could just use some hollow body swimbaits and use the Owner keeper to rig the swimbait weedless on the jig. But let us know how it works for you.

I haven't messed with the brakes at all. May look at the tension knob and snug it a little but that's about all I did with my 300.

I found out how many true friends I had after I got a DUI. I feel fortunate that I didn't have an accident, nor injure anyone in that low point of my life where I was no happy with who I was but continued to tell myself I was. Decided to quit the job I had and go back to doing what I loved working on the ocean. All the friends I thought I had vanished, but the few that were there from the start were still there for me. It sometimes takes a harsh reality check to realize what you're doing to yourself. I've had a few friends I've had to turn my back on that choose to go down the darker paths of substance abuse. I was hoping they would come back but they made their choice which I couldn't follow. Only thing I'm addicted to now is that pleasure we all get from chasing those fish we love to catch. I am blessed to have the life I have. If I had continued to make the wrong choices, well who knows where I would be right now but odds are it wouldn't be close to where I am now.

I would fish them on any 7'MH Fast action rod. There really isn't a special set-up for these. You fish them pretty much like a swimjig minus the jig.

To add to the two above. Let me say that pre-spawn occurs when the water temps reach up into the mid 50's to low 60's. Once the waters hit somewhere around 62, (give or take a few degrees) the fish move up. Normally the first fish to move up seem to be of the larger class(females). The males start looking for hard bottom areas and timber so they can make a nest. Now, all fish do not spawn at the same time, some spawn earlier, others later. Now during this time when the waters hit the mid 50's the fish do go on the feed. Look for deeper water areas, creek beds, drop offs (could be as small as a 1-2ft ledge), these are area's the fish wil move up looking for an easy meal. Like stated, spinnerbaits, cranks, jerkbaits, worms, a-rigs will all produce these stagged fish once you locate them. Now, for some strange reason the fish move up onto beds somewhere around the full moon phases and only stay for a short time. They move in waves and fish may spawn in most areas of the country from early March to mid June. Some just are late spawners. Once they are up looking to spawn site fishing can be productive if you can get past the male who is much more aggressive then the female. If you get her fired up then you probably can catch her. But it's hard to get past the male. Jerkbaits, wakebaits, and plastics all work wonders as will a frog or swimbait. Remember these fish aren't trying to eat, the just don't want it where they are. Once the fish finish spawning, the males stay with the fry for a bit to guard them while the females return to deeper areas to regroup and feed. If you see bluegill beds, these are great areas to target these fish as they feed up to regain their strengh. Normally if there are fish on beds there are fish out past them as well in the pre-spawn mood if you can locate them. During certain times you will have all three, pre-spawn, spawning, and post-spawn fish. Don't just try and fish for the ones you can see, you will be missing a lot of fish just outside them that are willing to feed and can be caught much easier then the ones that have only spawning on their minds.

just blizzards, really cold weather, and of course cabin fever for most except the few that are in the Southwest and Southern parts of the country where they may have to deal with a few t-storms, maybe a tornado or two, but can still fish without having to cut a hole in the ice......lol

If I ever can get my tackle all in one place I'll be lucky. The trunk of my car looks like the bottom of a boat/tackle locker with various boxes of worms, cranks, swimbaits, line, rods when I'm home. Then I have one of those plastic shelf organizational units you can buy at Wally World with one large drawer which will hold 8 3600 size boxes, then 2 medium which hold 3 in each, then a row of singles to store line and other misc baits or sub catagory packs of plastics. Now also have 1 3700 size tackle bag and another 3600 size bag. If I try I can get almost everything in both with 3 worm binders hanging off the shoulder straps by metal clips. But I tend to refine my amount of tackle by where I'm going to fish,but having a boat would def make it nice. Then I would have more room to buy more stuff to put in all the bins I emptied by putting those items in the boat.

sweetshirt, bennie, fleece neck gaiter, jacket. If I'm gonna get cold wearing all that, I'm gonna find something else to do.....lol

X3. You can find something like the Tracker 175W which would give you just about the same amount of room or their 19ft model (don't know the model number).

Read over the rules and see how many tournaments are in that division. FLW gives priority to non-boaters that enter all of the divisional tournaments....place their deposits for all the events. This insures that they give spots to the guys that are going to compete on the entire tour schedule to those that may be local or want to just enter one event.

I do believe that was why they made them that way. But the point I was refering to was the posts that in cooler water, if it rises slowly it will sink in hot water. That idea right there will not work if a bait slinks slowly in cooler water and rises in warm. The I Slides do the opposite of this idea of thinking. Most jerkbaits I have either rise slowly, which if that was the case the warmer water they would rise faster, others sink slowly, but I haven't fished them in warmer water to see if they float quicker. This may be an interesting idea to look into to see how each act in different temps to get a true answer opposed to guessing. My fish may have to accept my jerkbait to see if it floats in 78 degree water, then see what it does at the lake in cooler water. I kind of want to know now how it works.

Your answer to how much tackle do I carry and what's it weigh.....well decided to weigh my pack one day just to see. Light with minimal tackle....6lb, loaded with a med worm binder with punch jigs included, 2 3600 boxes, attractant, hooks, weights, 2 spare spools FC, water thermometer, pliers, cutters just under 11lbs. Think the lightest it I get is when I'm fishing swimbaits since I only carry 1 deep 3600 and an 8oz bottle of Pro Cure. Then it's only about 3-4lbs.

I used to use just bread, bring 3-4 pieces, get them up feeding on the bread, pinch a corner of a piece to hide my #16 treble hook and pitch it out. Fun to watch them suck down the piece with the hook. But corn works, and I've heard about adding vanilla, shoot that might be good to mix with the corn.

Makes you wonder with the logic with cold water being dense and a bait suspending due to that and sinking as it warms up why the new Mega Bass I Slides are slow sink in cooler water and float in warmer.

Welcome, takes time to get used to fishing a baitcaster. Wish I could help with the trade but all mine are just like the one you got. Just keep practicing and it will come.

Decent crankbait rod, I would look into Academy's H2O rod's. Can get a good crankbait rod for $60.00 either 7' or 7'10" depending on what you prefer. But if you choose something else, look for a rod with a Moderate Action and preferably a composite blank. Doesn't have to be but the slower action helps with moving baits. As far as reels, you want to find something that has around the 23-26 IPT otherwise you will wear yourself out depending on the size crankbaits you want to use (refering to deep divers greater then 8ft) Brand is up to you but you could also get into a H20 Reel at Academy and stay under your $200 budget or you can shop around and find something else. But it's like I said, look at the IPT for the reel and find something you like in that 23-26 IPT range and you will be good.

My oldest will be in 5th grade next year......Good Luck. I def have respect for anyone that wants to be a teacher especially after what most of us put them through as we grew up. Congrats on your new adventure and the beginning of a rewarding teaching career.

Not fishing, but I've been caught offshore in the Gulf of Mexico 65mi from the dock with the winds blowing out of the north pushing 45-50kts. Lets just say a 170ft crewboat feels really small in 10+ft waves or should I say white caps when you can only go at the speed of slow, throttle up one wave, then put the engines in reverse to slip down between the two to do it all over again as so the boat didn't go airborne. 5hrs and 30mi later it laid down enough (3-5ft) where I could get on top and get back to the dock.

Theres nothing wrong with your new obsession. You are growing into a full blown fisherman. No more one rod I'm good guy, soon you will need rod racks, newer reels, rods to throw worms, rods to fish frogs, rods you see on sale you must buy, new rods you want to buy. Then you will need the reels, and your justifacation is all the new rods you have to put them on. Then next year you will justify upgrading your reels with nicer ones. It's a vicous circle. I know, I just purchased 7 new reels in the last 2 weeks. But there's nothing wrong with you. Welcome to the dark side.

Just because they are "certified" doesn't mean much. I've never seen that much grease in ANY saltwater reel I fish.....any reel actually. You could always scrape out the extra and use it. May have enough for 5 or 12 other reels. There isn't a reason for that. I always thought it was a thin film, not an actual layer.

Makes us all realize that even they can't catch them everyday and have their struggles. Think the MLF forum is a great equalizer when everyone has no idea about where they are fishing.

Wouldn't mind a few packs of those Mannipulator worms myself. May have to search for them. But they did catch fish quite well.

yep 2 for myself as well. One in the 5 and one in 12, one light and one dark(this is so I know which is which. Hopefully they will be here by the middle of March.

spawn and post spawn they really shine as you can cover shallow water quickly and the fish don't like anything around their beds as well as post spawn fish looking for an easy meal. Also fish them around bluegill beds, across the tops of weedbeds or any shallow cover.