BaitMonkey1984

I don't count snagged fish. However, I would count this fish. In my mind it is analogous to catching a fish on a crank bait and having him become undone on the treble hook in his mouth but still landed on a hook up by the dorsal fin. Happens to me quite often.

Just to be clear- their is a single metal clang going from neutral into gear. Then the noise is gone.

I got into bait casters last year and purchased 7 new combos this winter. d**n bait monkey. My go to before the bait caster change was a 5" wacky rigged GYCB senko in watermelon creme. I always brought a few rods out but most times out but would throw exclusively that for 5+ years. I only use the octopus or circle hooks now, and forget what I used before then. I did recall noticing a great increase in getting the fish into the boat. The Gammys are my favorite but VMC also has good hooks too, which are much more cost effective if you fish light line and rocky bottoms. With the amount of times I break off, I do not notice a big enough difference to continue using Gammys unless they are on sale. If you are fishing areas where you do not break off, Gammy stay sharper longer.

Yes, no problem at all with the prop spinning. I thought I might have damaged the gears from pulling it from gear to neutral so quick. I trailered the boat to work today, so going to see if the noise is still there today.

I was out fishing tonight and getting no bites so went for a cruise. Was doing 20mph in my ranger r81 with 150hp 2 stroke yamaha vmax. I was easing off the throttle and slipped it into neutral quicker than I wanted to. In any event, when i shifted into gear the rest of the night the outboard made a clanking metall noise. It ran fine but wondering what the heck did i do to my motor and is it it a big repair or simle fix.

Super slick 8 is quite and casts father in my experience. I use anywhere from 6-12 lb test solely. However, I did notice that he super slick 8 frays much easier and quicker than regular power pro, only lasting a few months of moderate use.

Blows my mind the amount of people that do not carry scales. Have one in both of my boats and every tackle box i own, to avoid this mind numbing exercise. Great fish but you will never know its true weight until you put it on the scale.

Three baits...why did I buy a tournament sized rig and stuff the rod locker with combos that have every lure possible tied on if you are going to limit to a measly three baits. In order from most important: 1. GYCB 5" senko; 2. Berkley Powerbait Crazy Chigger craw; 3. Medium diving square bill crank bait.

Waiting to see what is happening with Deflategate, but happy to see my pats picking up Reggie Wayne from the Colts. Let's hope he has some gas left in the tank.

Ok, so I will be the first to join the crazy ranks with the OP. Well, sort of. I do not keep lures in the car to squeeze. However, what I do do is this- right after purchasing new lures at BPS, Cabbalas, or Dicks I usually play with the lures on my way home. So, I will have a new lure in my hand and wiggle it to look at the movement of the lure, check out the appendages, etc. My girlfriend swears I am going to get into an accident because I pay more attention to the lures than the road sometimes, so she prohibits me from doing this with her. So yea, to the OP I get where your coming from- and it just means you got bit by the bait monkey badly.

I am divided on this issue. You can certainly start fishing with live bait. It is the way we all started at an early stage-whether it was crawlers, dillies, or shiners. If you want to be cost-effective than bargain basement priced plastic worms are cheaper than live bait. Obviously if you catch your own live bait this is quite the opposite. However, there is one other as equal consideration to account for. It is easier in my opinion to start out fishing with live bait. It really is idiot proof in many ways. Using lures takes a bit more knowledge and requires you present the bait properly. Also, fish hold on longer to live bait then most plastics. If you want to get bit more often and learn how to detect a bite, then live bait is the better method to start. Again, everyone I know started of this way, and it will keep you entertained versus the potential of you throwing around a lure incorrectly and not getting bit. Do not rush ahead, as fishing is a lifelong learning experience and it takes time, patience, and experience to advance.

In my aluminum boat with 3 gal tank- about 15 for gas/oil/marvel mystery oil/seafoam/star ton stabilizer concoction. In my Ranger filled iwith a premium and the same concoction around $150.00. I don't generally mind filling up the boat- just do not like those few days when the truck and the boat are both bone dry- that makes for an expensive day.

That video is good. I would say you have two different schools of thought. First, take time to learn from the boater if they are catching fish time and time again. I would initially try to duplicate what he is doing and throwing the same as him. If that doesn't produce than you have to mix it up. I would then go to simple baits that produce, senko, spinner bait, grub, and ned rig. You can hit all levels of the water column and as IKE has said many times, and I agree the spinnerbait and the grub are dummy proof and they flat out produce. I think the ned rig is as bulletproof a fish catcher too. You should be able to get a limit using these lures and then you can throw on different lures in an attempt to upgrade your catch. Good luck.

Trolling is against the rules and strolling is still legal, last time I checked. I forget who I was watching video on earlier this year on Kentucky Lake, perhaps Davy Hite, fishing those ledges by deep cranking and pretty sure he would find the edge and stroll. I fish for salmon and trout a bit on down riggers so trolling doesn't bother me. This whole strolling though, can't ever say I thought about giving it a go.

Spend way too much on fishing lures, tackle, rods. Without including licenses, gas, etc I would say I spend $50-100 a week easily and most weeks even more. I try to buy terminal tackle, line, etc in the winter so I don't have to buy those things in the summer and instead can buy cool baits instead some more T-rigged weights. It brings more satisfaction. Also, the MTB does a good job of reducing my spending. I know I am getting something around the 14th of every month so I don't quite feel the need to go out any buy new lures every week. I wait not so patiently for that magical box. So yes, the bait monkey beats me up on the regular.

This happened because your overfilled the spool. You said it not me. Take your time next time re-filling your spool and avoid the element of operator error.

There is nothing I do not put this stuff in. In fact, my Father always gives me a hard time because if I have an engine problem I always say it isn't anything a little marvel mystery oil can't fix. I have 2 cars, 2 boats, and lots of other small engines. I use this religiously in everything. The oil cleans out as well as lubricates. In my outboards, I specifically use this, seafoam, and the star ton enzyme treatment every fill up. My 2001 150hp yamaha; an old 7.5 hp game fisher (RIP poor outboard I retired that this year); and a 2007 8.0 hp mercury engine is always clean and run like a dream. It isn't cheap, but it is easy and it is certainly cheaper than another marina bill. Put this in everything. And by everything I mean I put some in my gas and some in my oil for my two stokes. Literally, everywhere!

So this is the first full year I have been using predominately bait casters. For many years I was a jerk bait/crankbait fisherman and the past 5 years a soft plastic fisherman- fishing almost exclusively wacky rigged GYCB senkos. This year I decided not only to get good at bait casters but also to catch fish on all different kinds of lures. I have a soft plastic collection that rivals the local Dicks Sporting Goods but was busy learning other techniques. 3 weeks ago I concentrated on Jigs and weighted t-rigged baits. On the Texas rig i would use the GYCB (light weight and gammagstu ewg 4/0 hook) flapping hawg and did pretty good but soon used up the 3 packs or so that I had of that bait. I then switched to the Powerbait Crazy Legs Chigger Craw and the bite exploded. This bait is amazing in my small lake consistently producing numbers and quality alike. As I am new to using craw style baits, I would ask for anyone with experience with this bait or with texas rigged baits in general for beginner tips. For example, I found that if I waited a second to set the hook I had better hook up ratios, similar to a frog bite. Perhaps that is why I got more fish and better percentage of hookups with the powerboat than the GYCB, as Powerboat claims fish hold on 18x longer than regular baits. I have lived and died with the GYCB senko for years, but my seance rod has seen little action over the past month. What really gets me about this bait is that it produces so much better than similar baits in the same size, same color, etc. I prefer GYCB but I could get bit on other competitors stick baits almost as good. Here there is such a noticeable difference between the Powerbait Crazy Legs Chigger craw and other lures. So any advice/tips/tricks to a beginner using this bait t-rigged would be helpful.

Well, well serve me a big piece of humble pie. In my younger years, I would have cursed you out way2slow for thinking I was stupid enough not to check the power input. Instead, I go out to the lantern in the driveway where I plug the extension cord powering the boat charger and what do I see, but the thunderstorms from a few days ago must have knocked the extension cord loose. I plug the extension cord into the power source and wholah! I was never so happy(free fixes are nice) and also so embarrassed at the same time. Thanks.

No fuses are good.

I got my boat detailed last week and was away for the week on vacation. I was rigging the boat last night to fish today and even though I always charge the boat after every outing, as it had been 10 days I wanted to ensure the batteries were charged fully. I have a cranking battery and then 2 12v batteries connected to run a 24v trolling motor. I plug in the on board charger and nothing. No lights on the charger. By the way, brand new batteries all around. Fuse box was checked, still nothing. There was still juice enough to power up everything on the boat. I checked the terminals- all look good because batteries are still new. I check the wing nut to make sure everything is tight. One wing nut was loose (trolling motor negative terminal #2) and I tighten it down. I check the remainder everything is fine. Still Nothing. I check all the cables to the terminals and when I move the cable going to the negative terminal post of the battery that had a loose wing nut it sparks. Throughly, confused and do not want to take my boat back to the marina and lose out on this nice weather here in the northeast. Any ideas/suggestions?

Congrats, but store bought dinner may not taste as good as those freshly caught fish

I saw a video of Ish at the Missle Baits booth with John Crews and Ike. Looked like he still has a jersey full of sponsors.

Can't pick one. It would be a tie for fishing deep or fishing slow. I can't seem to figure out how to catch them deep even after I find them with the fish finder. Also, when the tie is slow like this week where it is 90 all week, I work my baits faster than I should. I just like to turn and burn.

3 lbs is a good one, 5 lb is a great one here in Mass. I get out a few times a week and generally catch a few slobs right after ice-out and a few more in the heat of the summer. This year I haven't gotten anything bigger than 3lbs. That dreadful winter must have affected the fish differently and I am unable to adapt.