jomatty

if your fishing both rocky slopes as well as stump fields and wood you are dealing with the two situations that call for different styles jig heads for me. i guess the best compromise would be the arkie but i really like football heads in rocks but not in timber. what the hell get em both. matt

i had the same color problem with the yum sprays. depending on the version it dyes the lure green or red. i sometimes will put some attractant on frogs but its more to keep em slippery in really sloppy conditions than for its traditional use. other than that i only use attractant on plastics and jigs. megastrike is far and away my favorite although i like an aerosol spray of some sort for jigs as i think it makes the strands stick together less. matt

another big thumbs up for roboworms. i pour almost all of my plastics but i definitely still buy these. i cant duplicate their colorschemes and they are just flat out a good product. matt

i usually use the spot removers as well but sometimes will use a plain ball head jig and add a keeper myself. i use the ones that are made to keep trailers on spinnerbaits and such and crimp them underneath the eye of the hook. i picked up a few packs at Smith mountain boat and tackle outside of rocky mount but you can also get similar things at BPS etc. as far as worms go i used to be a hardcore slim senko guy but now have been using a lot of roboworms and hand pours that i pour myself. the ones i pour myself are similar in shape to a zoom finesse worm. i havent given the 3x worms a full enough trial but they sure look good sticking straight up in the air like they do. i usually only use them for crigs but am definitely going to experiment with them more next year. anyone have any tips for getting them screwed on the keeper or is it just tricky with these worms. matt

hooked a porpoise? yikes. are you even allowed to do that? i dont have the stomach for that, maybe i saw flipper too many times or something. that things gonna be trouble on the pier. guess everyones gonna think im a big softie now. the only dolphins ill be catching will be mahi mahi. matt

current means different things to different people. some people say AOY indicates current, and someone even said whoever won the last tournament was the best current angler. for me you have to look at around 5 years and that is still current and a better indicator of what an angler is presently capable of than what they have done over a short period of time. luck plays too much of a factor in fishing over the short run. the longer a sample size you look at the less luck plays a part until eventually it is a zero factor. Ike had a great year but KVD is still hands down the man. he is the guy most likely to turn in a good performance on any given day imho. looking at the angler of the year standing over the last 5 years would be a good way to decide who the best is. Aaron martins would be up there too as he is really consistently good. noone would measure up to kvd though. matt

assuming you are talking about cruising bass near the surface if they are quickly swimming away they are prob. spooked. i would try to make longer casts from farther away with a weightless senko. this should get the bass to turn on it at least some of the time. matt

other than colors is there much difference. i found the first generation at around 30 bucks which is so cheap im thinking about getting them to hold me over until i can but the suit i want. matt

surprises me that so many people disagree about kvd being the current best. i know if i had to pick one guy to win on any given day id take kvd all day every day. it would be interesting to see what others who compete against these guys would say. i think they would say kvd. i dont even think ike would argue that he was a better angler than kvd. on another note that list is too funny. who is going to vote jason quinn or ish as best current angler. favorite angler maybe (i like both of these guys a lot esp. ish) but best? there are a dozen guys more deserving of that ranking

thats a tough one, as i want to fish deep and warm. oh yeah thats not one of the options. i would start at the deepest section adjacent to the warm water discharge area with a jig, but its hard to visualize exactly how large an area it is we are talking about. i guess if you started at the discharge and headed out i would fish the first depth change. matt

the only thing i have to add is that i dont always work the bait extremely slow. if im fishing it in heavy slop or pads then i usually work it very slow but it can be an underutilyzed open water bait as well. i tend to work the bait in a rythmic walk or chug in open water and more erratically in the thick stuff it takes some practice to walk the dog with a frog but once you get the technique mastered it becomes as second nature as using a sammy or spook. moving the frog in short, hopping bursts can also be deadly in open water. the most productive areas for me are actually on weed or pad edges and not in the heart of the stuff. i shorten the legs not to avoid short strikes but to aid in walking the bait. There is nothing more fun than frog fishing imho, and the spro bronzeye is my personal favorite. matt

thx rw, im definitely going uninsulated. i want something i can throw on in rainshowers as year round as possible. ive always preffered layering to keep warm anyways. matt

i read an experiment where some guy turned gore tex suits as well as frog toggs inside out, tied up the sleaves, fille dthem with water and let them soak over night. both performed well but the frog togs did better with absolutely no penetration. unfortunately the tester said they ripped easier. i guess i need to spring for the guidewear. is everyone prefering the goretex? i guess thats the way i need to go. how is the waterproofing on the regular version. matt

my wife has offered to buy me some raingear as a late christmas kind of thing and i am looking for suggestions. i used the search and found some stuff but still had a few questions. first off, how tough are frog toggs. ive generally heard good things about them but i spend a lot of time walking in woods etc. and want something that will not tear easily. im concerned that this will not be the case with frog toggs. i would like gore tex but its so expensive. does anyone have any suggestions on what route is best in that range. there is a supercheap columbia setup at cabelas right now and im wondering if anyone know anything about that. i also hear a lot of good things about the guidewear. is that only the gore tex version or are the other ones nice as well. any other tips are also appreciated thx matt

in water that cold i would be looking for some deeper water. find where the first sizable drop off is and focus on that.

thats a nice bass. i would of guessed it was heavier despite being skinny. well done. definitely has the mouth of a 8 pounder

what applications do you guys prefer split grip rods? just curious, matt

ribbits are far and away my favorite. they turn over less for me. 4-5/0 ewg hooks will work well but you will go through a lot of baits. i like either the mustad or owner hooks with the keeper on them the best (look similar to the horny toad hooks but are better quality). you can get a lot of life out of each toad like this. i find that i dont need a belly weight with the ribbits. i dont think that the frogs turning over hurt the action and getting bit but the hook is not in as good a position to strike and i think your hook up % is not as good if the frog is upside down. imho, matt

i always use a trailer. when i was younger i always put a powerbait grub on my spinnerbaits and caught a bunch of fish. when i started back in fishing someone told me not to use a trailer and i didnt catch any fish. put the grub back on and started catching. all this really tells me is how important confidence is in fishing and how imortant it is to like the way your bait looks. i usually use a yamamoto grub although sometimes i will use a powerbait grub on small spinerbaits or if i want a smaller profile.

i think x points are the best although i use a lot of owners and also gammies. im kinda lazy and i like being able to stop at the tackle store and pick up some hooks when im low. guess its easier to get online and order em but i still seem to prefer just stopping in and picking some up. matt

senko and jig n pig. thats the two that have influenced my fishing the most.

the thing that got me to start catching more fish on a drop shot was when i started to think of it differently than a t-rig or other things that im used to fishing. when i fish it i think of the weight like an anchor and try to keep it in one place while shaking and lowering the worm. then i pick it up and move to new spot let it fall and "anchor" again, rinse and repeat. i caught some fish dragging it around like a t-rig but for me this was more productive. i like nose hooking small roboworms. although im almost always casting it i have the best success on short to medium length casts from the boat in at least 5-6 ft of water. im certainly not saying that it cant work with long casts in shallow water this is ideal for me because when you make a long cast in shallow water it flattens the presentation out so much that its not as effective imo. just my opinion on it and im certainly no dropshot expert, matt

thats cool that you guys fish together. i wish i could get my wife to try to learn to fish a jig. i have to pry the wacky senko out of her hands to get her to use anything else. she finally fell in love with ribbits this summer though. well done both of you, matt

there are two missed fish that haunt me. ive lost some bigger fish but both of these were lost from stupidity so it really bugs me. one was at a local pond that has some 7ish lbers in it but they are very difficult to actually catch. i pitched an ika to this spot where a creek enters the pond and there is a drop off and this monster does the whirlpool swirl move on it. i see the swirl and am caught offguard and hit it with a weak half hearted hook set and it shakes its head and is gone. dont know how big it was but def over 5. the other one was at smith mountain and i was fishing a spot remover on spinning gear. i had a nice fish on and i play it up the dock i was fishing off of and for some reason try to swing it out of the water. insanely stupid. the line breaks i dive on my belly, fish swims away. would have been the nicest fish ive caught out of smith mountain. when they just come unbuttoned i can live with it, but when i do something i know much better than to do it makes me really upset with myself

i already pm you but thought id add my opinion anyways. i would definitely spend some time in that cove with the standing timber and stumps in relatively deep water. i always spend a buch of time there, although i honestly have not done especially well in that cove. it always looks so perfect but i still have had a hard time catching fish there. there are also brush piles in around 15 feet of water to the left of the boat dock and i would try there as well. matt