hoosierbass07

Not yet but I want to try and set one up.

The last three days have been nice here in Indiana with the temps getting up near 60 to 72 but it has been windy out. I went out Monday afternoon and it was windy. I went out again today thinking it would be less windy but there was enough wind to make the fishing time not fun at all. My fish finder said the water temps around around 52 to 54 and I did not see any water readings below 50 and this was around 3:30pm. The worst thing - I see all these fish on my Garmin fish finder and try to catch them but no bites. I'm fishing deep and shallow. I don't know if they are bass or blue-gill or crappie but I figure some must be bass. Jigs, crankbaits, jerkbaits, drop-shot, nothing. I met a guy on the water who was also in a kayak and he was crappie and blue-gill fishing and guess what? He caught a bass earlier on a crappie jig fishing near the bank. Here I am with my fancy Shimano spinning reels with by two nice Fenwick HMG rods and my fish finder and tons of tackle and I get nothing. The guy fishing for blue-gill and crappie using four pound line - he gets the bass! Depressing. I did learn a few things today - scupper plugs are nice to have and I should have bought some last year. Also, I tried out my anchor for the first time. Its not very fun pulling up a two pound anchor that is twenty five feet down. Also, a two pound anchor does not keep me in one spot. Hopefully the raining weather we are suppose to get the next week or so will not fully develop and nice kayak fishing weather will arrive.

I like the dink fest because it is what I catch more times than not! Also, MLF shows the pros struggle and that's what I do more times than not. So it is more similar to me and I bet most other fishermen.

A Texas Rigged soft plastic only tournament would be cool.

I finished watching the Netflix series drama Bloodline this weekend. If anybody else has seen it, what did you think? I felt sorry for the Danny character but then feared him then felt sorry for him again. I think I could see why he had his viewpoints and feelings. Lots of casual drinking in this series and I mean lots and lots of casual drinking. This series is a little boring and some may think it is very boring but the acting it good and the stories are not dumbed-down. Bloodline is thirteen episodes long but could have been ten. If HBO can do a season of Game of Thrones in ten episodes then this show could have been done in ten and not thirteen. Over all I would give it 3 out of five stars, maybe 2 and 1/2 stars. The acting is very good but it was a tad too slow. I'm not sure I would watch a second season if it were thirteen episodes. If anybody is looking to watch something and has Netflix you might want to give this series a try. It's not action packed but does have some suspense and you do see a family in emotional pain and fear. I can't wait for the Netflix Daredevil April 10th!

I was going to start a new thread but this question might fall into physics - what are the most and least aerodynamic lures that cast well and not well when using a baitcaster? I'm trying to get into baitcasters and so far have been playing around with crankbaits. They seem to fly through the air nicely and even cut through some wind. But I read spinnerbaits catch the wind easily. So which lures catch the least amount and which lures catch the most? I want to know about all the basic ones: Texas rigged worms/stick baits/lizards/creature baits, jigs with trailers, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, frogs, walk the dog type lures, small hair jigs, inline spinners and spoons.

How come all baitcasters aren't digital controlled now? The micro technology is there. I'm surprised only the high end reels offer this and not all the other reels. Is there a downside to digital controlled baitcasters?

Do I understand this right - those reels have a computer chip inside of them? Are they powered with a battery or something? And, can you get them wet or a little wet like normal reels?

Funny you should do a review on this lure. I was thinking of doing a video or post about this lure and I've not even used it yet. lol. I received a sample pack a month or so ago. After a day I started thinking - Senko's and soft stick baits are the most awesome/effective bass lure in existence right now. But now we can get those awesome stick lures with a paddle/cut tail. I absolutely can't wait to try this lure out. In fact, when I was passing through Nashville a few weeks ago I bought a pack of Bass Pro Shops stick baits with a paddle tail. Stick baits are awesome and having a cut/paddle tail should make them even more awesome.

Yep, Dingers are the bomb! If I had to use only one lure the rest of my life it would be a five inch Texas Rigged Yum-Dinger in Watermelon Seed. Fun fun fun!

I want to see Shaw Grigsby, KVD, Aarons Martens, Ish Monroe and Greg Hackeny do well. I really enjoyed seeing Martens enjoying KVD struggling. lol. I almost bought a Hackeny jig at the store this evening just because I can't wait for this new tournament to air on TV.

I can't wait for the second MLF series to start up next week. This time they are fishing in the south. http://www.majorleaguefishing.com/News_Details_No_Photo.aspx?id=2839 This is the best fishing tournament series on TV. I'm not big fan of the new Select tournaments but the regular Challenge Cup shows are fun to watch. After watching an episode or two I really get to know the competitors better than I do when watching B.A.S.S.

This afternoon I had some time to try out my new Abu Garcia Veritas 2.0 Winch baitcasting rod. I got this specifically for crankbaits. The reel I'm using is my only baitcaster - Shimano Chronarch 200e6. I bought this rod because I want to use more crankbaits this year and I'm going to specifically use my one baitcaster for crankbaits and my spinning reels for all other things. The last two years I've been trying to master this baitcaster. I got to the point where I could cast with no backlash but not light crankbaits and with no good distance. The thing is - I always ran balanced brakes - six, four, three or two. I never ran one. It really ticked me off how I could not cast any good distance. So I get to this small lake with a fishing dock and cast out with three brakes on and a standard KVD 1.5 square bill. It cast OK but once again, no great distance. So I went with two brakes on. Once again it cast OK with no backlash but no great distance. That ticked me off. So I decided to try something I have never done - try one brake on! So I put one brake on and cast and - wow! I cast a bomb and no backlash! I tried it again and I cast a bomb and no backlash. Over and over no backlash. I tried other crankbaits and I could still cast a bomb. The only time I did get backlash was when the wind picked up and I cast into it. One brake was not enough so I need two or thee. But with the wind I only needed one brake and again I could cast a bomb with no backlash. I don't know where all the so called "experts" on Youtube got their information about running balanced brakes. I took their advice the last two years and have been frustrated. Now I try one brake and it actually casts pretty darn well! Now I think I can do some hard core crankbait fishing with my baitcaster to go along with my hard core spinning reels and soft plastic fishing. Internet baitcasting experts get an F from me! Shimano Chronarch and Veritas 2.0 get an A so far.

If you are starting out bass fishing I would say start with lures that are the most effective that is soft plastic worms/lizards/stick baits. I would throw Texas rigged Yum-dingers, Texas rigged lizards and Texas rigged Berkley Power worms.

That's interesting. Next time I go out I will try to lean some and see if it happens. OK, now I'm looking at my whole video again and maybe you are right. Next time go out I'll make sure I put that transducer a little deeper in the water.

What are those vines/vertical things that hang down from the top of the screen and goes down? I've seen then on fishing TV shows and I saw them on my screen. Is that sediment or little fish? I did not see any fish with my eyes swimming around.

Here's a video I made with me using my fish finder for the first time. You can see how I have it mounted. https://youtu.be/Ui8ZluDpymc

The winner only gets $300,000.00? No wonder they become lure salesmen for the lure companies. After taxes, all those expenses traveling around the country, boat maintenance and truck, etc... I'm surprised anybody can make any decent money out of this "sport", if you consider it a sport.

I picked this rod up yesterday from Gander Mountain for $100.00 I can't wait to try it out. I did take a one year protection plan for $10.00 I have bought $70 rods from Gander Mountain but never $100.00 So with this one year plan, they told me the original receipt is good for the first 90 days then the protection plan kicks in for one year. So if I understand it - this rod should be covered all this year and into next spring. No questions asked policy they said - if I snap it in the car door they will replace it.

Man, I don't know about this fish finder thing. lol. I hooked up my Garmin Echo 200 (black and white) to my Ride 115 today and paddled around a strip pit. It was fun looking at it and looking a the depth. I turned on the function that shows fish symbols when it sees fish and it showed me some fish on the screen, but I'm not sure there were actually fish down there. I didn't have any rods with me, I was only there to try out my fish finder and make sure it worked and the batteries wouldn't catch on fire and sink my kayak. lol. Can anybody give me some basic advice on reading these things? I tried looking for that upside down V symbol but didn't really see any, at least I don't think I did. Thanks!

Go Shaw Go!

I want to hook up my Garmin Echo 200 fish finder this spring to my kayak. I have all the parts to hook it up. Now I just need to power it. The manual says the Power Source Voltage Range is 10-28 Vdc. Does that mean it can handle more than 12 volts? I know a lot of people power their sonar units from big batteries like riding lawnmower batteries that are 12 volt. I just bought plastic pack at Radio Shack that holds 8 AA batteries and I do believe that should equal 12 volts. I already tried it and it does power my Garmin. Now I'm wondering - could I go back to Radio Shack and buy a larger plastic pack that holds larger batteries like C or D and safely use those if they don't go over 28 volts? I'm going to stick with my 8 AA pack for this spring but I want to make sure I understand the voltage range right in case I want to upgrade later this spring or summer. Thanks

OK, I picked one up - DT6 in Blue-gill color. One thing I do know in the ponds I fish at, along with bass there are blue-gill and crappie. I tried finding the Mari Gras color but Gander Mountain didn't have that color in the DT6.

I can't stand those two hosts on that Fishing University show. Their social/political/corporate love indoctrination of teenagers is pathetic. These fishing shows need to stick with fishing and loving the outdoors, not religion and politics. I think one of the few who stays on topic without acting like a clown is Babe Winkelman.

They have a Mardi Gras greenish colored crankbait. Iaconelli said in a video it was colored that way because of greenish worms and soft plastics. I don't think I see too many green crankbaits. Come to think of it, I don't recall any green looking crankbaits. Would that Mardi Gras color work in dark and clear water?